The Son of David Will Not Come Until the Whole World…
There are some difficult to understand passages in the Scripture, nevertheless they are with prophetic meanings. One of them is the law of leprosy on an inflicted one whose body is completely covered with this disease. But what does it have to do with the Son of David who is expected to come?
The law of the leprosy we find in Leviticus 13 and 14.
And if leprosy breaks out all over the skin, and the leprosy shall cover all the skin of the infected one, from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks, then the priest shall look and see, if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce the infected one clean. It has all turned white, he is clean. But the day raw flesh appears on him, he is unclean. And the priest shall look at the raw flesh and pronounce him to be unclean – the raw flesh is unclean, it is leprosy. Or when the raw flesh changes and turns white again, he shall come to the priest. And the priest shall look at him and see, if the infection has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce the infected one clean, he is clean. (Lev 13:12-17)
The law of the leprosy teaches that when an inflicted one’s body is partially covered with leprosy, he is declared by the priest “unclean” which literally means “defiled”. He is in a serious condition, since his skin is covered by leprosy. This condition requires the infected one to be isolated outside of the camp until his complete recovery. But when all of his whole body is covered by leprosy, then an odd decision is taken by the priest: he is pronounced “cleaned”. We should expect in such a situation that a body that is completely covered by leprosy is the worst condition one can be in. Should we not expect that with every other disease? Is it not logical to draw such a conclusion?
The mystical “disease” called tsara’at
Before we begin to study the matter concerning “leprosy”, a common translation for tsara’at, first let us recall the story of Miriam smitten with צָרַעַת tsara’at (Num 12:9-10) for her speech against her brother Mosheh (Num 12:1); as well as Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, whose greed brought him the same disease tsara’at (2Ki 5:22-27). Or, King Uzziah, who wanted to burn incense in the Temple contrary to the Torah of YHVH and was smitten with tsara’at (2Ch 26:16-20). We should notice that sin is the reason for the afflictions in all of these instances and the tsara’at condition is an affliction from YHVH, as clearly seen in Lev 14:34, as we read,
When you come into the land of Kana’an, which I am giving to you as a possession, and I put a plague of leprosy in a house in the land of your possession, (Lev 14:34)
Therefore, we see in this verse that the origin of tsara’at is YHVH, not of a natural cause, and the affliction is a result of discipline whose goal is to evoke repentance and restitution from the afflicted person. And as we know, teshuvah, repentance, which literally means “to turn back”, leads to the restoration of the afflicted one to YHVH. But, we should also note that no specific sin is even mentioned in the laws of the צָרַעַת tsara’at. The rabbinical teaching says that lashon hara (evil tongue) is what causes the tsara’at, but such a connection cannot be found anywhere in the Torah or in the entire Tanak.
So, the first thing we need to clarify in this study is what צָרַעַת tsara’at is. The translation of the Hebrew word tsara’at as “leprosy” is actually a mistranslation that has led to a great deal of confusion among the scholars. This confusion is prompted by the consistent LXX rendering of tsara’at as “lepra”, “leprosy”, resulting in a long mistakenly association with Hansen’s Disease named after the Norwegian G.H.A. Hansen, who isolated the leprosy pathogen in 1868. But, the problem with this translation of the Hebrew word tsara’at is that Hansen’s Disease is actually not a skin disease at all. It is a chronic granulomatous communicable disease characterized by inflamed nodules beneath the skin and wasting of body parts, caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae.
While most of the scholars identify this affliction with heavenly origin, others suggest that it is actually psoriasis, favus, or leukoderma. They identify tsara’at with these diseases, because of what Leviticus 13 describes as symptoms of this affliction: psoriasis is a chronic, non-infectious skin disease characterized by the presence of slightly raised reddish patches of various sizes covered by dry, grayish-white or silvery scales. Favus is a much more severe and damaging infection in which the fungus invades both the hair and the full thickness of the skin. Yellow, cup-shaped crusts are formed round loose wiry hairs which are the color of hay. Scar tissue develops in the deeper parts of the skin which results in permanent loss of hair, leaving a smooth, glossy, thin white patch. Leukoderma is a condition in which patches of normal skin lose their natural coloring and become completely white. It differs from psoriasis and favus in affecting only the color of the skin and not penetrating below the surface.
However, we read in Lev 13:12-17 that if tsara’at breaks out blooming on the skin and covers the whole of the skin from head to toe, the priest is to pronounce the person “clean”, which literally means “undefiled”, because the afflicted person has turned quite white, i.e., his body has all become white. In other words, the tsara’at laws tells us that the person is pure, if either is nothing on his skin or the whole body is covered with tsara’at, and anything between these two conditions is declared defiled. How would that make any sense? Again, if tsara’at is to have natural causes, the breaking out of it in this complete and rapid way upon the surface of the whole body is to be considered the crisis or the peak of the disease. We should note here that as tsara’at, regarded as a decomposition of a living body, is an image of death, and as such it introduces the same destruction of life not only in a physical, but also in a spiritual sense. For this very reason the afflicted person is not only excluded from attending the Temple service, meaning he cannot bring his offerings to YHVH, but also cut off from the covenant nation Israel. But after the recovery from tsara’at, the person is received into the fellowship of the covenant nation by a rite of purification and admitted as a member into living fellowship with YHVH in His sanctuary. Hence, the purification prescribed is divided into two stages, separated from one another by an interval of seven days. The first stage (Lev 14:2-8) includes the examination of the afflicted one by the priest to declare him defiled or undefiled, and the second stage (Lev 14:9-20) effects his restoration to the community and his admission to the sanctuary. It commences on the seventh day with shaving off and washing the whole body. On the eighth day a sacrificial atonement takes place by bringing sin and guilt offerings of two lambs without blemish, a ewe-lamb of a year old.
The laws of tsara’at are further extended to include the house of the afflicted. (Lev 14:34). Lev 14:54-57 contains the concluding formula to chapters 13 and 14 concerning the laws of tsara’at to teach Israel in the day of the defilement, namely, to give directions for the time when Israel will deal with clean and unclean issues. This is very important moment in our study of the matter of tsara’at to keep in mind, as we will return to it later.
So far we should have noticed a few odd things concerning the laws of tsara’at: (1) tsara’at is not a disease, let alone Hansen’s Disease; (2) it is not contagious, as it seems that the priest was not concerned with being in close proximity and even in the house of the afflicted one; (3) no prescription or cure is given in the Torah as to how to treat the affliction; (4) tsara’at is to be left to die away in a unspecified period of time: all depended on YHVH’s will. This comes to mean that tsara’at skin affliction has nothing at all to do with medicine and illness. From the law of tsara’at we understand that the priest in case of tsara’at is to function not as a medical doctor, but as a mediator authorized by YHVH to identify the degree of defilement and administer the separation of “the defiled person” from the society. So, we see the odd things in the law of tsara’at: (1) the afflicted person מְּצֹרָ֔ע metsora, is diagnosed as טָמֵא tahmey, defiled, but is never treated; (2) he is banished from the community for the duration of tsara’at, but is not contagious; (3) He offers sin and guilt offerings, but his sin and guilt are not clearly defined in the Torah.
Who is this person called metsora and what is this mystical “disease” called tsara’at?
Tsara’at and the Son of David in the end-time prophecy
The Talmudic Rabbis saw this unexpected ruling in the law of tsara’at as a hint to the end-time prophecy and the coming of the son of David. They say that Mashiach the son of David will come at a time when Israel is severely oppressed, when the Roman Empire will convert to heresy. We read in Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 97a, as follows:
Thus hath R. Johanan said: in the generation when the son of David [i.e., Messiah] will come, scholars will be few in number, and as for the rest, their eyes will fail through sorrow and grief. Multitudes of trouble and evil decrees will be promulgated anew, each new evil coming with haste before the other has ended.
R. Nehorai said: in the generation when Messiah comes, young men will insult the old, and old men will stand before the young [to give them honour]; daughters will rise up against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. The people shall be dog-faced, and a son will not be abashed in his father’s presence.
Does that not sound like the words of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of David, in Matthew 24? For more insight on the signs of the coming of the Messiah, refer to Chapter Signs of the Messiah of the present author’s book Reckoning of Time.
We further read,
It has been taught, R. Nehemiah said: in the generation of Messiah’s coming impudence will increase, esteem be perverted, the vine yield its fruit, yet shall wine be dear, and the Kingdom will be converted to heresy* with none to rebuke them. This supports R. Isaac, who said: The son of David will not come until the whole world is converted to the belief of the heretics. Raba said: What verse [proves this]? it is all turned white: he is clean.**
*[Heb. Minuth. By ‘the Kingdom’ is meant the Roman Empire, and the statement is a remarkable forecast by R. Nehemia (150 C.E.) of the conversion of Rome to Christianity under Constantine the Great in 313; v. however, Herford, Christianity in the Talmud, 207ff.]
**Lev. XIII, 13. This refers to leprosy: a white swelling is a symptom of uncleanliness; nevertheless, if the whole skin is so affected, it is declared clean. So here too; when all are heretics, it is a sign that the world is about to be purified by the advent of Son of David.
And another quote from Sanhedrin 97a:
Our Rabbis taught: For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself of his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left*: the son of David will not come until denunciators are in abundance.
*When he seeth that their power is gone’ is interpreted as meaning that they will be at the mercy of informers; then God will judge his people — redeem them through the Messiah.
The Son of David, the tsara’at sufferer for us
In Talmud Sanhedrin 98b we read about a debate on the Messiah’s name, which refers to the Messiah, the Son of David, as the tsara’at sufferer smitten by God:
His name is Menahem the son of Hezekiah, for it is written, Because Menahem [‘the comforter’], that would relieve my soul, is far. The Rabbis said: His name is ‘the leper scholar,’ as it is written, ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted.’
Also, Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson leader of Lubavitcher sect, in his commentary on Isa 53, Gutnic Edition Chamash, Vol. 3, p. 111, says “… The Messiah is the tsara’at sufferer for us …” Indeed, Rev 13:3-8 instructs us that at the time of Messiah’s coming the whole world will be in the grip of a terrible heresy and blasphemy, and worship of the dragon and the ten-horned beast, when every government will be completely covered with sin and guilt of anti-Semitism, and the cruel persecution of the faithful remnant. We further read,
And I saw one of his heads, as having been slain to death, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the earth marveled after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to fight with him?” And he was given a mouth speaking great matters and blasphemies, and he was given authority to do so forty-two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against Elohim, to blaspheme His Name, and His Tent, and those dwelling in the heaven. And it was given to him to fight with the set-apart ones and to overcome them. (Rev 13:3-8)
The law of tsara’at says that when some areas of the body is afflicted, the sufferer is defiled, but when the whole body is completely covered by the plague, then the priest pronounces him clean. By the natural laws, this should be the worst condition one can be in, but the Torah says only in this condition the priest can pronounced the afflicted one clean. How could we understand this paradox? Does YHVH means something deeper, a hidden message, in His law?
In Revelation, we read that “all the earth marveled after the beast speaking great matters and blasphemies against Elohim, to blaspheme His Name, and His Tent, and those dwelling in the heaven”. The whole world is found defiled marveling after the beast! In the context of the Torah and Revelation, the world is approaching the final stage of the heavenly tsara’at, when the whole body is completely covered by affliction. But when the entire world is completely covered with the disease of blasphemy and false worship, then the Messiah, the High Priest according to the order of Malkitsedek (the Righteous King), will put an end of it, redeem the world, and pronounce it clean. And this is the law of tsara’at. Therefore, the Sages are right to say that Mashiach the son of David will come at a time when the whole [body of] world converts to heresy and Israel is severely oppressed by the world.
What Israel need to learn until the Son of David comes
With that being said, and more particularly that the complete tsara’at represents the wickedness that has covered the whole body, we need to examine the current political situation in the world and see what we can learn from it. The military experts and political analysts have written a great deal of commentaries on the North Korean crisis and the Iranian connection, and an eventual second Korean War. We will not comment on it except what has already been written in the article Wicked Fire Prophesied in Zechariah 5. But what we will do is to look at the troublesome time we live in, which the present author calls Time of Reckoning, from an angle that few may have seen it. It seems that since the upset U.S. presidential election in 2016, President Donald Trump has upset some people, and the leftist protesters are not meant.
There is a particular group of influential people who think of and consider themselves as superior intellectual, social, and economic elite of the world. They believe they are the chosen ones who possess the power and authority to sit on the top of the world and govern it as if there will be no consequences to pay. They think of themselves as the untouchables. These are the most influential and powerful people who pull the strings behind the scene and they are simply known, as The Bilderberg Group, the governing body of secret societies such as Illuminati, Free Masons, Knights, Skull and Bones, eugenicists, etc. But the present author just calls them “The Image of the Beast”, the image of the New World Order, The Ten Horned Beast in Book of Revelation. The Bilderberg Group’s grip on the whole earth is the tsara’at that has covered the whole body, that is soon to be removed. This tsara’at is the wickedness prophesied in Lev 13:12-17 for the last days. For more insight, refer to Parts II and III of the present author’s book Reckoning of Time.
President Donald Trump upset these people with his election. It seems he has turned America and the rest of the world into a direction different from the direction the Bilderberg Group was leading the world before 2017. President Trump took important executive decisions on abortions, restoring the religious freedom in America, and the last but not the least, he turned America back to Israel. It seems he is doing the right things. But, The Bilderberg Group is not expected to sit on their hands and wait. They are not called the image of the beast without any resemblance. They have already lost time and probably patience and will start pushing their agenda for a full execution. What they are expected to do next is to either lure President Donald Trump into their sphere of influence by the means of intimidation, or to simply remove him from the world affairs. Either way, it will be the wrong way for them, because it will be the Almighty’s way, anyway. The Writing on the Wall was written long time ago, but they do not realize that.
Then, if the rabbis are correct in the prophetic interpretation the laws of tsara’at, as the present author believes they are, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of David, will come in time when Israel is severely oppressed by the New World Order; this time is known in the Scripture as Ya’akov’s troubles, or The Birth Pangs of the Messiah.
In conclusion, what we studied concerning the laws of tsara’at and the Son of David, the tsara’at sufferer, comes to teach Israel that the so-called “land for peace” initiatives are part of the tsara’at, and that in the day when the defilement will be abundant, Israel needs to trust only the Highest, not America, not even the mighty IDF, but YHVH alone. The laws of tsara’at also give directions for the time when Israel will have to distinguish the clean and unclean in her policy of the Land. Because the Son of David is coming speedily.
This time has already come! The Time of Reckoning.
Navah
May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach, Son of David, speedily in our days.