Releasing the Captives – Tzaria-Metzora – April 29

God loves to set people free! When the LORD set the Israelites free from the control of Pharaoh and took them out of the land of Egypt, He declared them to be His people and set them apart as a unique nation on the earth (Ex. 19:5-6). The nation of Israel was called to live separate from the nations around them as Moses reminded the people in the book of Deuteronomy:

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. – Deut. 7:6

The Israelites were called to be a holy people to the LORD and to walk a different path on this earth.

The Torah, which the LORD gave to the Israelites through His servant Moses, is filled with laws and ordinances that the people were to keep in order to fulfill their calling as a holy people and a separate nation. The instructions in the Torah cover every aspect of life from birth to the grave and provide many specifics regarding food, farming, hygiene, and ceremonial worship. These laws and ordinances were given to the Israelites to teach them how to live before a holy God and how to properly handle the Land that God was giving them as an inheritance, the Promised Land of Israel.

In this week’s Torah Portion we read about certain regulations that were to be carefully adhered to regarding when a person was considered clean or unclean, pure or defiled. In each situation there were strict laws to be adhered to regarding the path to cleansing and purification.

The two main areas of cleansing and purification that are focused on in this week’s reading are the areas of skin disease and the discharge of blood from the body. I will be focusing on the area of skin disease in this week’s study. To read more about the issue of the discharge of blood, I recommend last year’s commentary: The LORD Your Healer

Tzara’at – צרעת – Leprosy

The subject of various skin diseases which make a person unclean encompasses a huge section of this week’s reading. Chapters thirteen and fourteen of the book of Leviticus focus on the subject of these various skin diseases and on the process of how a person can be declared clean.

The general term which is used throughout these chapters in Leviticus to explain various skin diseases is the Hebrew word “צרעת” – “tzara’at” and is commonly translated in English as the word “leprosy.” Leprosy for sure would be included in this word for various skin diseases, however, we need to understand that the word is used in a more general manner. The word for a person that has a skin disease is the word “מצורע” – “metzora,” which is commonly translated as a “leper,” but again, it is a general word for a person who has a skin disease.

Ha’Metzora – המצורע – The Leper

The person who became infected with a skin disease was to go through a process of identifying the skin disease under the direction of a priest. The priest was the one who would determine whether or not the skin disease was considered clean or unclean and the priest was the only one who could make the final decision that a person was cleansed from his or her unclean state.

If a person went through the process of having his or her skin checked over the time period permitted by the priest and they were unable to be cleansed from their skin disease, they were to be labeled as a leper and they were to live in seclusion from the community of Israel, as described in the Torah:

As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. – Lev. 13:45-46

To live in an “unclean” state was not only embarrassing, it is also demanded an extreme position of Isolation from others.

The one who was classified as a leper was to live in separation from the community of Israel. Of course there was always the possibility that a person could be cured from various skin diseases, however if he or she were not cured, they would live in continual isolation as a leper.

To Be An Outcast

In a Jewish commentary, which I studied in connection to Leviticus chapters thirteen and fourteen, I read the following reality for the leper:

Transient skin conditions were treated over a prescribed period, after which the inflicted person was readmitted into the community. If the condition was seen to be permanent, when a cure was impossible, the individual was banished from the community until he was cured, perhaps even for the rest of his life. – Drazin, Israel & Wagner, Stanley M. Onkelos on the Torah. Leviticus. Gefen Pub. Jerusalem. 2011. p. 89

Without a cure the leper was to remain isolated all of the days of his or her life. Living with the pain and discomfort of a disease is one difficulty that a person endures, however, being banished from one’s community is a hardship that is unthinkable. A leper was to live alone; away from family, from friends, and from everyone whom they knew.

The leper was sure of only one thing; during the process of determining the state of his or her skin disease and until he or she was declared clean they would live in isolation. The only contact with other human beings that a leper could have was with other lepers. Being a leper was like living as a prisoner in one’s body. Lepers were to live as outcasts.

Healing the Lepers

We read about several people in the Bible who contracted leprosy. Those who were cured from leprosy were only cured in a supernatural way. In the Old Testament, from Miriam (Num. 12) to Naaman (2 Kings 5), every person who contracted leprosy and was healed became cleansed from their leprosy by the supernatural power of God.

In the New Testament we also read about those who were cured of leprosy through the power of Yeshua. In keeping with the law of the Torah, Yeshua sent those who were cured of leprosy to the priests to verify that they were cured, enabling them to be accepted back into the community. Yeshua also instructed the lepers to show themselves to the priests as a testimony to the priests of what He had done by healing the lepers (Matt. 8:1-4. Luke 17:11-19).

Prophecy Fulfilled

Healing lepers was one of the ways in which Yeshua proved that He was the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. When John had been put in prison, he seconded guessed whether or not Yeshua was really the Messiah. The dialogue between John and Yeshua was intermediated by John’s disciples and went as followed:

Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of the Messiah, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Yeshua answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” – Matt. 11:2-6

Yeshua answered John by declaring that the many works which took place through Him clearly testified to the power of God in His life, including the cleansing of lepers.

John, who is generally known as John the baptist, knew the Holy Scriptures well and he would have easily understood that Yeshua was saying to him regarding the signs that would accompany the Messiah which are written about in the prophets:

Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. – Isaiah 35:4-6

The salvation of God would be accompanied by the many miracles which are listed here in this prophecy; blind eyes seeing, deaf ears hearing, the lame walking, and the mute shouting for joy. Although many of the miracles which Yeshua performed are listed here in Isaiah 35, it is interesting to note that this prophecy never mentions the healing of lepers.

John had certainly heard about all of the things that Yeshua had done in the lives of the people and he had to conclude that Yeshua was the Messiah. At the same time, I would imagine that John must have been struggling with the reality of God’s provision of salvation through the Messiah while he sat in prison. Didn’t God also promise that one of the signs of the Messiah in the prophets would be that the captives would be released and that prisoners would be set free? (Ps. 146:7. Is. 42:7.49:9. 61:1, etc…)

The Ministry of Yeshua

When Yeshua first began His earthly ministry He declared through the words of the prophet Isaiah exactly who He was and the kind of supernatural activities that He would be performing:

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:16-21

Yeshua declared boldly to all of those in the synagogue in Nazareth that this prophecy from Isaiah was fulfilled in His life.

 

The verses that Yeshua read in the above quotation are taken from Isaiah 61. The activities that are listed in these verses include:

• • Preaching the gospel to the poor
  • Proclaiming release to the captives 
  • Restoring sight to the blind 
  • Setting the oppressed free 
  • Proclaiming the favorable year of the LORD 

Again, there is no mention of cleansing the leper in this list. In fact, there is no prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures regarding the healing or cleansing of the leper. The words leper and leprosy never even appear in any of the prophetic books. If cleansing of the leper is a miracle that Yeshua listed as a sign to John proving that He was the Messiah, why is not found in one of the prophecies of the Old Testament?

Proclaiming Release to the Captives

I believe the answer to the above question is found in a careful examination of the quote by Yeshua from Isaiah 61. In Isaiah 61:1 we read the following phrase that Yeshua declared would be fulfilled through His life: “…to proclaim release to the captives,…” John the baptist might have hoped that this part of the Messiah’s work would be fulfilled in His life. John was held captive in prison and was surely longing to be set free. Why didn’t Yeshua set John the baptist and other captives free if that is what He came to do?

The phrase “to proclaim release to the captives” in Hebrew is “לקרוא לשבוים דרור” – “likro lishevuyim dror” and is accurately translated from Hebrew to English in this sentence. I will just point out that the Hebrew word “דרור” – “dror” means “liberty, freedom,” or “release.” This word is only used seven times in the Bible and is used to describe the year of Jubilee: “You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants.” (Lev. 25:10) Every fiftieth year in the Land of Israel was to be a Jubilee year; a year of release, of freedom, and of liberty.

It seems consistent with the ministry of Yeshua that the outworking of proclaiming “release to the captives” which was prophesied in Isaiah 61:1 included the various people that Yeshua set free from illness, demonic oppression, and leprosy which held people captive for years of their life. Everyone who suffers from an incurable condition feels enslaved to their illness. The desire of the leper, and all who continually suffer physically and spiritually, is to be set free in order to live again.

Setting Men Free

Yeshua came to set men free. People are held captive by many things in life and in all spheres of life: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I believe the miraculous signs that Yeshua performed on the earth were done to verify who He was as the anointed One of God who came to take away the sin of the world. Opening the eyes of the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, and cleansing lepers from their leprosy were all supernatural signs to show the world that God has come to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

The life and message of Yeshua centered on releasing captives from everything that binds human beings, and most importantly the sin that enslaves every individual. As much as Yeshua desired to release people from years of captivity to illness and disease, Yeshua’s greatest desire was to set all of humanity free from the lies of this world in order to know and worship Him:

So Yeshua was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” – John 8:31-32

The greatest freedom that any of us will ever know is found in Yeshua and His words alone. To know Yeshua is to know freedom and life. To reject Yeshua is to remain a captive of darkness and death.

Releasing the Captives

Yeshua has come to set the captives free. His work started 2000 years ago in a synagogue in Nazareth and it has been continuing ever since. All those who have come to know Yeshua and have been set free from sin and darkness are called to walk in that freedom and to share the truth of Yeshua so that others may be set free as well. Yeshua Himself declared these words to His disciples:

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. – Matt. 28:18-20

By teaching others the words of Yeshua as He has commanded us, we are continuing in the work that He started in setting the captives free. Let us continue the work of releasing the captives that Yeshua has begun in each of us!

Shabbat Shalom – We welcome your comments below!

If you enjoyed reading this article, share it today with friends!  We also invite you to sign up for our weekly Torah Portion commentary on the sidebar to the right.  

Help keep our weekly commentaries free and available to all. Click here to donate today: 

Torah Portion: Lev. 12:1 – Lev. 15:33 

Haftara: 2 Kings 7:3-20

Return to Torah Portion Homepage

Copyright Jewels of Judaism.  All rights reserved 2017