The Four Lepers

And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come (2Kings 7: 8, 9)

As I continue the message on tyrants, I want us to look at the antidote to all that power our access to God and favor of people gets us into. I ended on the note that we need to be very clear on what exactly God expects of us as well as connect all these people sold out to our anointing or appearance of it to this God we are representing.

I want us to study these four lepers to get better motivation to pursue God’s agenda with greater focus. I thank God for a ministry friend who brought this message to my attention as I can share it on this forum.

Who were lepers? These were people who had some skin conditions that required them to be removed from the community to be able to check their infections from spreading. They were ceremonially unclean and therefore would defile anything their bodies touched.

And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. (Leviticus 13:45, 46)

That is the reason we find them outside the city that is under a siege.

Another thing we need to know about them is that due to the fact of their uncleanness, they were fed like mongrels – food was more or less thrown at them. This is because any utensil they touched became unclean. In fact some were required to be broken to pieces once they touched any uncleanness. In all probability they were given food in broken or worn utensils that were otherwise useless so that they would not require all the purification or destruction the touch of a leper would require.

They also never came in contact with people. What with the defilement they carried with them? They couldn’t greet or even touch any clean person. Touching a person made him unclean for a whole seven days, requiring elaborate purification on the third and seventh days.

They could neither trade nor engage in any activity that brought them anywhere near people.

In summary these people lived a miserable life of rejection. They ate scraps from the same community. Even the person who contracted leprosy in his wealth was divorced from his wealth as he could not touch any of it. Imagine eating scraps in shards from your own wealth?

And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king's son was over the house, judging the people of the land. (2Kings 15:5)

This was a king (Uzziah) who had gone beyond his mandate and was stricken with leprosy. Even he was thrown aside from society and could no longer reign.

That is why we see them closer to the enemy instead of the city where their people dwelt. I doubt they even had houses to live in.

In all probability these people fed from the dumpsters of the cities. They were the scavengers as even their child or parent could not come close to them or anywhere they lived. Even a faithful spouse could only love them from a distance, hoping and waiting for them to heal if ever they did.

They were not any threat to the Syrians as this enemy knew that they were such rejects. I am sure they used to roam around the enemy dumpster to scavenge for food and it did not arouse any suspicion as they did not come close to them.

And that is why we see them thinking of saving their lives.

If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. (2Kings 7:4)

It was a joke that they were talking about surrendering to the Syrians. I am sure the Syrians used to see them roaming all over scavenging for food. You see they were the owners of the whole land. The only place they did not control was the city because it was all locked up. And that is why they had laid a siege against it so that the famine so caused would make it possible for them to break through its defenses. They therefore knew about the existence of these lepers very well.

But to the lepers they were still the powerful enemy. They could not just walk to them and ask for food as their food was not meant for any Israelites. The Syrians had come to ensure that Israel either surrenders or dies. That might be the reason they thought of surrendering.

There was another risk of going to the enemy. Chances were that since they knew that these were lepers they would simply stone them to death. They were therefore sweetening their tongues to soften the hearts of this enemy.

But they realized that God had gone ahead of them. A prophet had given a word about provision that had to come to pass.

Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. (2Kings 7:1)

Their desperation was therefore an act of God to bring His word to come to pass. They were the evangelists He will use to take the breakthrough message to Israel. God had already performed the miracle. What He required was for someone to take the report to the starving city, because He had said it.

Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:12)

They therefore get to the enemy camp and are astounded. It is completely deserted, yet not ravaged as nothing is taken from it. It appeared as if the Syrians had been raptured. There were horses harnessed, probably some food cooking and clothes strewn all over. It was an amazing sight.

I do not want to go into all the drama preachers make of how God made the Syrians run away or what He used. I will leave that to the dramatists. I will just say what the Bible says, that God created a sound in the ears of this army that convinced them that a greater army was rushing in to confront them. Then He elevated the level of their fear a notch higher so that they did not even want to wait to see them. What kind of fear would cause someone think he can outrun a horse? But then we see them run away on foot and leave their horses.

To the lepers this represented an answer to prayer in a big way. They were coming to beg but found that they had all the food in the whole camp. They had come to Ephesians 3: 20 all of a sudden

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

They first eat to their fill since that was their initial concern. Then they see treasure and clothes. Gold and silver could be easily cleansed from impurity so that to them was worth taking as they would use it to barter for food. They of course needed clothes since like I have said that they probably slept outside. Second is that they could not wash their clothes where others did and so their clothes were hopelessly filthy. So they carry and hide.

They go to another tent and carry the same things.

It was a windfall for them. Imagine all this fortune they have come across all of a sudden? And they had the whole night to get as much as they could before the city stirred. Talk about being moved from the grass to grace in an instant. Talk about overflow.

Then they come to the point I want to bring across. They come to a realization that they needed to look at their position with a higher view of reality.

Surely God did not remove the enemy for the direct and simple provision of the lepers. Surely God did not answer the prayers of the lepers just to meet their immediate needs. Surely this windfall was not for the purposes of meeting the pressing needs of the four.

God was greater than the small world of the lepers’ needs, pressing as they were. God’s provision was wider than the narrow prayer of provision for this highly disadvantaged group. They reasoned contrary to Gehazi, the automatic choice to receive a double portion of Prophet Elisha.

… Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? (2Kings 5:26b)

They realized that God was as concerned for the starving city. That the reason He sent them to the Syrians was so that they see the hand of God as concerned their provision. But even more important was that He wanted them to take the message of this breakthrough to the others.

Was that easy? I think it was probably the most difficult decision in their whole lives. They were surrendering their provision for the uncertainty of a city that was least concerned for their welfare. They were ceding that overflow to resume their scavenging pattern once the city gains access to all that provision.

You see they were still lepers, unwanted and untouchable even by those who loved them. Taking the tidings to the city was therefore tantamount to surrendering their good fortune for nothing as the appreciation of the city will not extend beyond the initial gratitude. It will not last beyond an hour as they will remember that they were lepers who must be the rejects of society.

Taking the tidings to the city meant that their fortune would change almost instantaneously, and that negatively. I cannot imagine the thoughts that went through their minds as they were contemplating taking the news to the city. There could not have been worse news to these lepers. No wonder it was a revelation directly from God. And it agrees with the scriptures.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35)

Taking the news to the city was in actual fact condemning themselves to their scavenging ways.

Wouldn’t it have been better if they amassed enough treasure at least until daybreak? What difference would it make as the city was going to sleep anyway? Couldn’t they at least sleep in a clean comfortable tent for once before the city came to spoil their party?

But they realized that God had opened that door for the city and not for them. However much they would have tried to justify their need for their own security and comfort they knew that they really had no reason in the reality of God.

The Bible is replete with example after another of people who lost their spiritual connection at the face of expediency.

Jeroboam son of Nebat was promised the kingdom of Israel by a prophet. After it came to pass he became scared that the continuance of his people to worship in Jerusalem posed a threat to his kingdom. He forgot the promise and created alternative worship to stop his people from being drawn to God who had promised him the ten tribes. He eventually lost everything.

King Saul was so scared of the army forsaking him that he resorted to sin to rally them around him. He lost the kingdom.

Gehazi could not take it when Elisha refused a gift willingly offered. From much of the story of the prophet they really did not have much. He therefore decided to counter the prophet’s folly. He became leprous.

Judas wisely siphoned some ministry funds for a rainy day. It is interesting that his greatest break led him to suicide.

There is one incident where I see someone taking the lepers’ route. This is the slave girl that had been captured by the Syrians and taken to Naaman’s house.

Like the lepers, a slave was hopelessly disadvantaged apart from being really abused. How does this girl connect his tormenters to the God of Israel for healing? How does one show that kind of love to an enemy? But like the lepers she takes spiritual responsibility irrespective of the consequences.

I am sure at the back of her mind she expected to be punished for as much as hinting a solution from a vanquished enemy and gods. Weren’t there prophets in Syria who offered more drama? But she spoke her mind anyway. The fact that she was not abused for daring to pour scorn on the gods of Syria confirmed that she was God’s mouthpiece in that situation.

What am I driving at? A tyrant becomes so by focusing on self. He can’t be called so if he uses his power for the benefit of others. And that is where these lepers come in. They threw away their advantage for the good of the society that had trashed them. They realized that their situation was too small compared to a starving city, even if the city would not change their treatment of her ‘saviors’. The lepers would continue living in the wild and scavenging the waste of the city as soon as their heroic deed was forgotten, which would be before the week was over.

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

What drove the lepers to such an apparently foolish action is the realization that God’s purpose is bigger than personal interest. They wasted their chances because they knew that God had a bigger focus than the four lepers. Answer to prayer, though they must have prayed endlessly for provision, was not constrained to their narrow needs.

I am not and will never be the centre of the universe. God is. Not only has He created everything in existence, He has created the same for His purpose.

It is therefore a very narrow view when I treat my prayer and its answer as if it starts and ends with me. In fact that is what creates the tyrants we saw in the last post. Even the provision we celebrate falls on the same premise. The fact that I have got what I needed does not necessarily mean it is for my consumption, even if I had fasted for it for long. God is the one who determines the purpose of that provision.

I know this is a hard teaching. To many even the story of the lepers, compelling as it is might not challenge them to change.

As some of you know I do not raise support. This means I wait for God to provide whichever means He uses. Provision for me is therefore supposed to be jealously guarded so that it can accomplish all that it is meant for especially as I do not know the next time provision would come.

One such time I got money for paying house rent. Then a friend called me in desperate straits as he was either being evicted or his house being locked for rent arrears. What was I supposed to do? I prayed and asked God for direction and He told me to go and clear that friend’s rent. So I paid someone’s rent instead of mine.

I can give you many such testimonies where God gives supposedly to meet my needs then redirects that provision elsewhere. And I have a few friends with similar experiences.

Why does God give you whatever He does? Do you ever ask Him that question or do you become content with the provision and lock out any other purpose for it? Are you the centre of your world yet proudly calling yourself a servant of the King of the universe?

Is it illogical to think that God provides for you as provision for somebody else? Do you think God released all that favor your way for your narrow self-centered use? Do you think all those gifts come your way because you are the neediest? Do you think all those scholarships and job offers come your way because your family is the only one in need of them? Do you think all those goodies come to you so that you can have a surplus? Are all those airtime credit and shopping vouchers that expire before you can use them really meant for you? Do you think that all those gadgets you continue to receive as gifts are for your exclusive use?

If that is your thinking, I am sorry to tell you that you and Balaam are not much different. The only difference might be the price tag attached. You and Judas are birds of a feather, the difference being that there is no Jesus to sell that primitively. You and Gehazi are buddies, only that you have overthrown the prophet and are the willing recipient of all those gifts.

What is the application? I know some are asking.

Like Christ said and we have seen with these lepers making a clean break with my security might be the thing that will connect me to heaven’s agenda. We will gain when we decide to lose for a higher purpose.

What do you do with all those gifts you receive? Why do you not divert them for a month to someone else even if it means living frugally? Why don’t you give all those unopened envelopes you are given without even opening them to someone you know will need the little or much in them.

Is your car small for your family? Why not give it to someone who needs it even before getting a bigger one? Is your furniture in need of a makeover? Give it out instead of selling it.

You see the lepers were trashing their security to connect with God’s purpose. And therein lay their breakthrough. I believe that act of surrender opened the doors of healing for them. Though it is not recorded, the least God could have done to such an act of faith is healing.

And that is what we invite to our corner when we decide to tackle the tyranny our positions draw toward our persons like bees to a flower by going the lepers’ way. We trash everything that we deem security for the common good of the people we serve even though they may laugh at us for that kind of folly.

Are people jostling for the spiritual position you hold? Why not leave it for them? But what if they will trash me aside? Remember the lepers.

Is your position as pastor/ senior pastor/ bishop/ apostle/ vision bearer attracting undue attention from people closest to you or people who have done nothing to take the ministry where it is? Just give it to them. Unless what you run is yours and only uses Christ’s name or church to fulfill legal requirements. Or unless you believe God can use only you.

Are you afraid of taking a sabbatical or an elongated leave from ministry? Prove your closeness to the heart of God by letting go and letting God. Are you afraid that people are scheming to shove you aside? Leave before they do it. That is unless what you are running uses Christ for a rubber stamp or marketing gimmick when is simply your business.

It is our insecurities that drive us farthest from the cross of Christ. It is our surrender of our security that opens us to the freshness of God’s revelation. That might be the reason there are so many recycled and repackaged messages we are hearing nowadays. It is so sad that you can hear a preacher preaching a sermon as if he prepared with another one whose sermon was almost identical. The only problem being that they are continents apart. That is the reason many prophets are so predictable in their predictions.

Or we can continue being tyrants since there are more examples of them than that of the lepers. But then we should not be surprised when we experience emptiness.

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalm 106:15)

Or even worse is like those examples in your team you lose ultimately.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

Those are the cards on the table. Play the ones you please yet knowing where it all will end.

This message looks at the spiritual tyrant. God willing I will build one on how to avoid that tyranny as I start ministry.