Mark 1:40
 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." 

The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called leprosy. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18–59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4–8).

On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Ritual contamination and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting.

Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called lashon harah which literally means the evil tongue. The term refers to gossip and slander because after slandering Moses, her brother and divinely appointed leader of Israel, Miriam was afflicted by this leprosy (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity are irrelevant today because they technically only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time.

At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would ignore the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fear of defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where he met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7).

The Talmud tells of one called, The Leper Messiah. It presents a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come and by what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because he might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is:  ‘The Leper Scholar’.

Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of his days who stayed away, Yeshua came to us and voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He even contaminated himself by touching our leprosy. While were still in our mortal decaying condition, he entered our house to fellowship with us. But the story doesn't end here; the most wonderful part of it is that as he goes back to his Father and our God, he takes us with him to partake of his pure resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

1 Corinthians 8:4
…  "an idol has no real existence,"…
 

When Israel made the Golden Calf, they were not transferring their worship of Hashem to that of another deity. In their mind, they were still worshipping Adonai, albeit in a syncretized version. A literal translation of what Moses says in Exodus 32:4 reads: "this is your God Israel who brought you out of Egypt". They thought they could worship Adonai by the medium of something familiar, in this case the calf. Contrary to the claimed deities of the day, being the Creator of all things, the God of Abraham did not want to be represented through the mere medium of one His creations.

Let's look at idolatry in religion today. While the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church are a mixed bowl of ancient Jewish Messianism and their respective pagan cultures, Western Protestantism seems to have has adopted a form of religion that is very reminiscent to Hellenic ascetism and transcendentalism, along with an anti-Biblical materialism philosophy that over glorifies independence, wealth, and prosperity over the virtues of generosity, humility, and a submissive spirit.

There is also a form idolatry that empowers words of affirmation, astral bodies, and geometric shapes, through fear and acknowledgment. Hashem indeed created all languages, geometry, and the astral bodies, all in order to glorify Him (Revelations 4:11); that is why the enemy is intent on high-jacking creation for his own purposes. Witches today center their worship around new moons, and call some of their feast days ‘Sabbaths’. Does it mean that we should stop obeying God’s commandment to sanctify the new moon and remember the Sabbath just because the devil perverted these things (Numbers 29:6; Exodus 20:8)? Should we stop recognizing God’s Holy Days just because pagans also have special days (Colossians 2:16)? In the Bible God used a brazen snake on a pole to heal His people. They were told if they just gaze at it they will live. Several hundred years later, a Judean King Josiah had to destroy it because people had made it an object of worship (Numbers 21:8; 2 Kings 18:4).  

As a French-born naturalized American, as long as I am on American soil the laws of France cannot affect me. In the same manner, when we renounce allegiance to the enemy, as long as we remain on spiritual God’s territory, none of the devil’s trinkets have power over us. Idols, astral bodies, and geometric shapes only have the power we allot them through fear or ignorance.

Judaism teaches that when we use an element of creation for the glory of God we capture it from the hands of the enemy to the glory of God. Wood can make an idol, but also an Ark to house a Torah scroll. Metal can make money, the love of which is the source of all evil, but it also can be fashioned into a head piece to crown the King of Kings. Mathematics, Geometry, physics and astronomy are all related as sciences proving God’s ownership of creation.

It is high time we recapture God’s creation and give it back to him, along with our own hearts, minds, souls, and spIrits. 

Luke 14:23
And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

Abraham was known for his hospitality. He used to send his servant Eliezer search the wilderness for guests to bring to his table. Once there, Abraham served them a table that made them praise the God Creator of all things. This was his way to introduce people to God. If Eliezer came back empty handed, Abraham himself took off by the highways and byways compelling them to come in.

When Moses watched over Jethro's flocks, one of his Father-in-law's sheep went missing. Moses immediately left the flock and did not return till he that lost sheep (however rebellious it as) and secured it back in the flock of his father-in-law. From His throne up above God saw the whole thing and decided that if Moses was so faithful with Jethro's flock, He could be assigned to Israel: His own flock. Weather these two mishnaic legends are true I do not know, but they certainly found their way as parables in the mouth of the Master.

The Torah teaches us that we should return lost items (Deuteronomy 22:1-3). On the strength of this command, sages instituted that if you find something, you are to be the guardian over it until you find its owner and are able to restitute it. A story is told of an old Rabbi who found a bag of seed forgotten by a traveler on his property. The Rabbi found it secured it in his barn. After a year, fearing the seed would spoil he sowed the seed then harvested it and stored the proceeds in his barn. When later the rightful owner came to inquire about this lost bag of seed, the old Rabbi returned it with a profit.

Even so, through year of bad politics and History, Israel has lost the identity of its Messiah. Christians on the other hand, have lost the Torah. We who have found the 'Seeds' of the Kingdom of true King of Israel and His Torah are responsible to return it to those who lost it.

The seeds of Messianic Judaism have been sown into the world and produced a beautiful culture among those who practice it. The Master charged us to also go into all the world and make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:19). He taught us the virtue of leaving the ninety-nine behind to go rescue the one lost one (Matthew 18:12-14). He also told us to go by the highways and byways to compel them to come in (Matthew 22:9).

After all, isn't it what He did? Hasn't he left the realm of glory by the side of the Father in order to walk our dusty roads and find us who were lost and wandering, that He may return us to His father, with a profit?

Matthew 10:28
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

In his exhortation to the Children of Israel towards obedience to God, Moses reminds them of the sin of the Golden Calf; he warns them against idolatry with the words, For Adonai your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24). The writer of the Book of Hebrews admonishes his readers to obedience using this same passage (Hebrew 12:29).

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest (Mt Horeb) … But you have come to Mount Zion (in Jerusalem where Messiah was crucified). This whole chapter is usually read as an antithesis between Mt Horeb and Mt Zion. It is usually interpreted in the assumption of a spiritual opposition between the two mountains:  "you haven't come to Moses, but to Yeshua; not to the Torah, but to 'grace'; not to the Old Testament, but to the New. God was mean before, but now He is nicer!". This is a flawed understanding and even a minimal understanding of not only the context of the chapter, but also of the style of Jewish writers reveals it.

In this passage the writer makes a point for people to obey and fear God's discipline (Hebrews 12: 1-17) using the traditional 'kol v'homer' argument so often used by Paul, Yeshua, all the prophets and apostolic writers. In the same manner that Yeshua said (my narration) "if God clothes the lilies of the field which are here today and burned tomorrow better than even King Solomon in all his glory, won't he also clothe you?", the writer of Hebrews declares, "you think Mount Horeb, the mountain of Moses and of the congregation in the desert was so awesomely terrible that people who disobeyed died a terrifying death? Mt Zion, the mountain of the firstborn (Yeshua) in Jerusalem is even more deserving of your respect." He says; See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth (Moses), much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven (Yeshua) (Hebrews 12:25). Now we get the intended message: "You saw what happen to those who disobeyed at Mt Horeb? Mt Zion is even more terrifying!"

In this day and age people tend to have a very familiar relationship with Yeshua; they remember the baby born in Bethlehem, He who cried at the death of His friend Lazarus, the gentle Lamb who opened not His mouth as He was reviled by both His brothers and the pagans. We tend to forget though that the baby grew up to be the returning King clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and vested in all the authority and power of God to execute judgment and vengeance on His enemies and on all those who defy His rule (Revelations 19). He is able not only to kill the body, but He can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

 May we stand and be warned: Serve Adonai with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalms 2:11-12).