Leper Healed
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well knew that if the fact of his cleansing the leper was noised abroad,
those in a similar condition would be urgent to obtain the same cure.
This would raise the cry that the people would be contaminated by
contact with the loathsome disease of leprosy. His enemies would
seize such an opportunity to accuse and condemn him.
Jesus knew that many of the lepers who would seek him did not
deserve the blessing of health, nor would they use it to the honor and
glory of God should they obtain it. They had no real faith nor principle,
but only a strong desire to be delivered from the certain doom that
awaited them. The Saviour also knew that his enemies were ever
seeking to limit his work and turn the people from him. If they could
use the case of the cleansed leper for that purpose they would do so.
But in directing the healed man to present his offering to the priest, as
enjoined by the law of Moses, he would convince them that he was not
opposed to the Jewish code, if their minds were open to conviction.
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