Lepers draw near

As soon as Jesus has come down from the mountain from which He preached, His new Sinai, a leper “coming-to worshiped Him” (Matthew 8:1).  In the LXX, “coming-to” ( proserchomai ) means a liturgical approach, Aaron’s approach to the altar (Leviticus 9:7) or the unauthorized “coming-to” holy things by an unclean person (Leviticus 22:3).  Coming-to a holy thing while suffering from skin disease was enough to get one cut off from before Yahweh (Leviticus 22:4-6).

Yet, here comes a leper to Jesus, coming-to Him and offering worship to the human altar, to the Holy One of Israel.  Instead of cutting Him off, Yahweh in flesh touches and cleanses him.

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