Not an outcast, but cleansed.
We must renew our minds be cleanse and trust
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “leper” is a person who has leprosy: someone who is disliked and avoided by other people.
A Leper is a castaway, castoff, an outcast.
Scientifically, leprosy is a slowly progressive, chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, that damages nerves, skin, and mucous membranes, and can lead to loss of sensation, paralysis, gangrene, and deformity if untreated. It is also called Hansen’s disease. (Dictionary.com)
Leprosy has been well known since ancient times when widespread fear of those afflicted with the disease caused them to be treated as outcasts. Today, the term leper is often used to refer to a person excluded from society. (Dictionary.com.)
The Lord wants us to know that He loves us. He thinks about us even when we do not ask. God knows that we need to be cleansed. He knows that we need salvation. Therefore, He prepared that cleansing for us through Yeshua. Even when we are unclean, God loves us and uses us. Therefore, we are not outsiders or outcasts, deformed or cut off. When our encounter with God comes, we should say, “YES!”
Let’s examine the story of the four lepers in 2 Kings 7:3-20
“3 Now there were four men with tzara‘at at the entrance to the city gate, and they said to each other, ‘Why should we sit here till we die? 4 If we say, “We’ll enter the city, then the city has been struck by the famine, so we’ll die there. And if we sit still here, we’ll also die. So let’s go and surrender to the army of Aram; if they spare our lives, we will live; and if they kill us, we’ll only die.’ 5 They got up during the twilight to go to the camp of Aram. But when they reached the outskirts of the camp of Aram, they saw no one! 6 For Adonai had caused the army of Aram to hear the sound of chariots and horses; it sounded like a huge army; and they said to each other, ‘The king of Isra’el must have hired the kings of the Hitti and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.’ 7 So they jumped up and fled in the twilight, leaving their tents, horses, donkeys and the whole camp just as it was, and ran for their lives. 8 When these men with tzara‘at reached the outskirts of the camp, they entered one of the tents, ate and drank; then took some silver, gold and clothing; and went and hid it. Next they returned and entered another tent, took stuff from there, and went and hid it. 9 But finally they said to each other, ‘What we are doing is wrong. At a time of good news like this, we shouldn’t keep it to ourselves. If we wait even till morning, we will earn only punishment; so come on, let’s go and tell the king’s household.’ 10 So they came and shouted to the gatekeepers of the city and told them the news: ‘We went to the camp of Aram, and no one was there, no human voice — just the horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents left in place.’ 11 The gatekeepers called and told it to the king’s household inside. 12 Then the king got up in the night; he said to his servants, ‘I’ll tell you what Aram has done to us. They know that we’re hungry, so they’ve gone outside the camp and hidden in the countryside, saying, “When they come out of the city, we’ll take them alive and then get inside the city.”’ 13 One of his servants answered, ‘I suggest letting some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city — they’re like everything else in Isra’el that remains, like everything else in Isra’el, practically finished — and we’ll send and see.’ 14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of Aram, saying, ‘Go, and see.’ 15 They went after them all the way to the Yarden, and found the entire distance strewn with clothing and other articles Aram had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and ransacked the camp of Aram — with the result that six quarts of fine flour was sold for only a shekel and half a bushel of barley for a shekel, in keeping with what Adonai had said.
17 The king put the servant on whose arm he had leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him down in the gateway, so that he died, as the man of God had said he would, who spoke when the king came to him. 18 For the man of God had said to the king, ‘Tomorrow by this time six quarts of barley will sell for only a shekel and half a bushel of fine flour for a shekel [in the market] at the gate of Shomron’; 19 the servant had answered the man of God, ‘Why, this couldn’t happen even if Adonai made windows in heaven!’ and Elisha had said, ‘All right, you yourself will see it with your own eyes; but you won’t eat any of it!’ 20 That is exactly what happened to him, because the people trampled him down in the gateway, so that he died.” CJB
1: Why did God choose four men?
The number four in Hebrew is “dalet.” The dalet looks like a tent door and it signify a needy person, poor, or impoverished. It represents lowliness of possessing nothing that belongs to you. The dalet also signifies an open door to hope. An open door to leave the old ways behind and embark in new thinking and putting our hope in God because He has the best for us if we trust in Him.
So, we have here four men that are lepers. They have nothing but death knocking on their door. As a unit of one, they come up with a plan, an open-door plan with a desire for Life and not death.
Proverbs 16:9 “A person may plan his path, but Adonai directs his steps.” CJB
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.” CJB
2: God opens the doors for the Lepers with His compassion.
Deuteronomy 30:15 “Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil.” CJB
The lepers went to the city and found no one. God made this happen for them. They plundered, ate, drank, and hid some items. God did not hide this opportunity from them. He revealed this in their hearts and the carried out this desire. The lepers had a new mindset. God renewed their minds and they took that open door, that new idea. The lepers could have hidden these findings for themselves, but they also opened their compassion and their hearts and shared. They helped the rest of Israel at a time of scarcity, a time of need. Israel was feeling lowly, impoverished, poor, and outcast. They too thought that they were about to die; but, God came in their mist in the form of four lepers and they lived because they opened their minds to something new.
3: Do what is right.
Isaiah 56:1 “Here is what Adonai says: “Observe justice, do what is right,
for my salvation is close to coming, my righteousness to being revealed.” CJB
Zechariah 7:9 “In the past Adonai-Tzva’ot said, ‘Administer true justice. Let everyone show mercy and compassion to his brother.’” CJB
The lepers told themselves that it was not right to hide these things from Israel. So, darkness was shunned and Light was exposed. Darkness was defeated and Light overcame. Darkness was cut off and the Light was a cleansing. If we do what is right, we are allowing God to cleanse us. Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” NIV
4: Israel trusted
The gatekeepers trusted the lepers. They opened their hearts to hear and believe.
The king, though skeptical at first, also trusted and sent men to investigate. The King also listened to wise counsel.
All Israel trusted and followed through so the prophesy of God came true. 2 Kings 7:1 says, “Elisha answered, “Listen to the word of Adonai. Here is what Adonaisays: ‘Tomorrow, by this time, six quarts of fine flour will sell for only a shekel, and half a bushel of barley for a shekel [in the market] at the gate to Shomron.” CJB
Isaiah 40:28-31 “28 Haven’t you known, haven’t you heard that the everlasting God, Adonai, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow tired or weary? His understanding cannot be fathomed. 29 He invigorates the exhausted, he gives strength to the powerless. 30 Young men may grow tired and weary, even the fittest may stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in Adonai will renew their strength, they will soar aloft as with eagles’ wings;
when they are running they won’t grow weary, when they are walking they won’t get tired.” CJB
5: The doors of Heaven did open.
The doors of heaven are always open for us. Are we willing to listen to the counsel of the Lord? Are we willing to hear His voice and see His compassion and Love? We must open our minds and our hearts and believe.
The captain did not believe in that open door from heaven.
He doubted.
He did not trust in God.
He mocked God.
He thought of God as a wimpy God with no power.
He was deceived by the enemy.
He did not allow his mind to be renewed, to be changed.
Isaiah 40:2 “’Tell Yerushalayim to take heart; proclaim to her that she has completed her time of service, that her guilt has been paid off, that she has received at the hand of Adonai double for all her sins.’” CJB
We do not hear any more about the lepers in this story but they trusted, they acted, they believed, they became wealthy, they were not hungry anymore, and they did what was just. They were not outcast, disliked or avoided. The gatekeepers listen to them. The Lepers in the sight of God were cleansed.
