Biblical leprosy is an affliction of the skin, the permeable membrane which connects us to the world. It erupts when something has gone wrong with that connection, when we slander others, when our relationship with the world outside has become distorted.
Biblical justice demands that the leper becomes the outsider. His clothes are torn. His hair is left dishevelled. He is removed “outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45–46).
Yet biblical leprosy is a temporary condition. From outside the camp, the leper can shift perspective, see things differently, and rehabilitate himself, as evident from the story in this week’s haftarah from where the above verse is taken.
Four starving lepers are outside the camp waiting for death. There is no food where they are or in the city where they came from, so they head to the camp of Israel’s enemies, the Arameans, only to discover that they have fled.
Delighted, the lepers gorge themselves on food and drink until it dawns on them, “We are not doing right!” (Lo ken anachnu). It’s that moment we all experience when we embark down a certain path only to discover that it’s the wrong one. We need to back up or change course. In this case, the lepers inform the Israelite gatekeepers that the Arameans have fled, and the people are saved from starvation.
The term lo ken, “it is not right” is used elsewhere. Laban uses it when telling the young, love-struck Jacob that younger daughters do not marry before older daughters, lo yeose ken (Genesis 29:26). Joseph uses it when taking the hand of his ailing father, Jacob, from the head of Ephraim, his youngest son, with the intention of placing it on Manasseh, his firstborn, indicating that only the firstborn is deserving of blessing (Genesis 48:18).
The common denominator of these two stories is a challenge to the assumptions of the age. A younger daughter might marry before an older sibling. A younger sibling might be blessed. The way things have always been, are not always good.
The insight of the four lepers is similar. What they learn is that the natural inclination to prioritise the self to the exclusion of others is lo ken, not right. We need to fight against innate tendencies and habits, no matter how deeply rooted they may be. Through this understanding, the lepers earn the right to rejoin the community of Israel.
