24 Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white;

25 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

26 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days:

27 And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

28 And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation of the burning.

We have heard how the priest would examine a simple spot in the skin, a boil, and today’s verses talk about a “burn” in the skin. At first I thought by “burn” it meant some feverish heat in the skin, but apparently the Hebrew word used, מִכְוָה (mikvah), means that the flesh had literally been burned by fire or hot metal or a smoldering stick or something like that. These verses are talking about burn wounds that become corrupted afterward.

This continues the pattern of leprosy that grows out of trauma to the body. With the simple spot, the disease developed by unknown means within the body. With the boil, a foreign agent got lodged in the skin and became an inflamed abscess. Now we have a scorching heat that burned the flesh and leaves it vulnerable other afflications.

The priest examining wounds in the skin for infection is a microcosm of what it means to live in a fallen world. We have a good system, with a clear order of how it should work, where if everything worked perfectly it would be able to sustain, grow, and repair itself in perpetuity. But inevitably, something goes wrong. Not only does something bad happen to the system, but the bad thing inevitably disrupts the function of a part of that system and causes it to not perfectly sustain, grow, and repair itself. In a word, corruption. A system that can be harmed, wounded, even killed, but then can restore itself is incorruptible. But we as individuals and societies are systems that are harmed, wounded, even killed, and left permanently dysfunctional and broken as a result. Corruptible. It is true for our bodies. It is true for our societies. It is true for our governments.

As with the leprosy, sometimes corruption in the system can be eradicated. Other good systems in the body/society/government can correct it or even cut the bad part out. Indeed, the system may overcome many corruptions, but gradually the acquisition of corruption will outstrip the ability to remove it, the system will become less effective at healing itself, and one day a corruption will come that is never removed. We will require a Savior to refresh us out of the fallen world entirely then.