Lev 13:2, "When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. 
This past week was our national celebration of Thanksgiving, a day that is often filled with family, food, and football. However, its origins hasten back to a time when people were sincerely thankful for the saving grace of God in the very provision of the food and shelter that kept them from dying. It is traditionally traced from the Pilgrims of Plymouth, although every group of settlers in this country, from the Spanish in Florida, to the Virginia and Carolina colonies document that when finally landing in the New World, celebrations unto God for His providential hand upon them were held to express to Him their communal gratitude.
The Wikipedia Encyclopedia states the following in the progression of this country’s Thanksgiving, As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God". This was after the War for Independence had been won and the nation’s government had been established. The nation, as a whole, gave God the thanks that He deserved. 
The next focal point in the progress of the national day of Thanksgiving was when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as the countrywide day of commemoration and giving God thanks for His divine hand upon this country. This was during the Civil War and would not be fully joined in celebration by the whole nation until that war was finally concluded. The key point, however, was that even in the midst of the conflict, Lincoln felt that the Lord was to be thanked by all the people. The nation needed to acknowledge that despite every hardship and difficulty, God deserved to be given honor and gratitude.
It was Franklin Roosevelt who signed the Congressional resolution which moved the national day of giving thanks to The Lord to the fourth Thursday of November on a yearly basis, and this was immediately following our entry into World War 2. Again, it was in a time of conflict, calling upon the nation to give God thanks for the manner in which He graced this nation with His providential protection and keeping. 
The reason for this mini history lesson is to show that the basis for thanksgiving unto God resides even in this passage of our reading. God is to be thanked for the way in which He provides for His people no matter what the circumstances or the situation. Whether the events surrounding them are large or small, God makes every provision for His grace and His keeping and His mercy and His love to abound to those who belong to Him. This was in full evidence from the very beginning of His dealing with His people as we will discover in this passage. 
As well, in dealing with the scripture, it is not always necessary to read anything into it beyond what is before us. Sometimes, in the words and realties of the Word, there are aspects that can be dealt with in spiritual connotations which far transcend the mere verbiage at hand. At other times, the passages of scripture simply describe what the Lord was doing at that time with that person or people without any great need of intensive explanation and search for a greater meaning. Such may well be the case with this morning’s reading as it shows just how marvelous is the grace of God’s Hand upon His people. This is evident in His giving them direction as to how to deal with illnesses that could have decimated entire communities. 
"When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. This was the Lord’s manner of keeping His people safe from the various communicable diseases which ravished the communities of the pre-medicinal ancient world. No other early civilization had the type of quarantine restriction placed upon both the people and the garments which they wore. Only the Children of Israel were so distinguished in the way in which they had to go to the priests and be inspected when they had such marks of leprosy upon them or upon their clothing. 
The usual reading assumes that the Lord is dealing with what we now know as Hansen’s disease, or the leprosy associated with leper colonies. But while the Bible does give reference to Hansen’s disease, the terminology of this passage deals more specifically with those diseases that we know as small pox and chicken pox and measles and scarlet fever, those communicable diseases which were characterized by skin rashes. These would have decimated the homes and the community if the individual was not isolated or kept away from the general populace as ordered by the Lord through the priests. That was the only means available at the time to keep the whole community safeguarded from the onslaught of such swiftly spreading illnesses. 
The mark of leprosy on the garments was mold and mildew and fungus that could also create havoc within a household, both hygienically as well as financially since clothing was difficult to obtain and needed to be tended to with care. The fact that clothing made of linen and wool could be easily subject to mold and mildew and fungus, if left in a dampened condition, made it a frequent task within the home of airing them out and making sure they were properly dried after washing. This was in order to avoid all the necessary inspection of the priests and the ritualistic dealings with the marks of leprosy.
Again, God’s provision for His people was through the priestly order since they were the ones who stood before the people as God’s representatives. They had the responsibility of placing themselves between the people and God and of putting their health on the line in dealing with the infectious elements that could ravish the whole populace. They were God’s ordained instruments to make sure that His people were as protected and shielded as they could be from those things which caused such detriment to the rest of the nations surrounding them. For that provision, God is to be thanked with all our hearts because it shows that He cares for His own in a way that manifests His full covering to the nth degree. 
Because of this great charge to guard the people, there was very much that the Lord expected of the priests as well as the people’s estimation of the priestly order as we read in Deut 17:8-10. They were the ones who would deal with anything that was not easily handled between the people themselves. Deut 17:8-10, "If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. And you shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you. 
	The people were instructed to listen to the priests and to abide by their decisions, as we read in Deut 24:8. They were to obey the priests in all that they decided and taught because the priests were to do so from the trueness of their hearts unto the Lord, to guard and to protect and to keep the people safe from harm, even from each other. Deut 24:8, "Be careful against an infection of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests shall teach you; as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Their decisions carried the weight of the Lord within the minds and the actions and the attitudes of the people. 
	Sadly, despite all the warnings of the Lord, the priests were corrupted with the attitude of self-importance and self-elevation over the rest of the people. As we read in Mal 2:4-8, they allowed their place of service to the Lord and to the people to be perverted into thinking that they were to be served by the people thus making their position one of exclusiveness rather than as shepherding and caring for the people. 
	Mal 2:4-8, "Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi," says the Lord of hosts. "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me, and stood in awe of My name. "True instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. "For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. "But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of hosts. 
    	Despite this abrogation of their duties, the priestly order was still the means by which the health of the nation was protected during the days before medical advancements were established. The Lord Jesus, when He walked on this earth, still gave them the due that God had bestowed upon them by sending those whom He healed to the priests for their required examination. He did not just dismiss them, but allowed them the place of service to which they were chosen.
	This is recorded for us in the healing of the man who did have Hansen’s disease in Luke 5:12-14. Please turn to it so we can read it together. Luke 5:12-14, And it came about that while He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." And He stretched out His hand, and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him. And He ordered him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, for a testimony to them." 
    	Notice that the healed man was directed to go to the priests for their inspection of his body as a testimony to them of the cleansing and healing work of God. They were not to be ignored, but to be given the opportunity for their due service as the representatives of God’s providential hand upon His people. Without the priest’s blessing, this healed man would not be allowed to reenter the society from which he had been basically banished, again for the protection of the whole population.
	Then in Luke 17:12-16, we can read together of the healing of the ten leprous men by Jesus. Again, He directed them to go to the priests in order to be declared clean and then enabled to return into their respective communities. Luke 17:12-16, And as He entered a certain village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And when He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 
	What we need to recognize in this passage is what brings us back to our opening remarks concerning Thanksgiving and the manner in which we should always give God all expressions of gratitude for His marvelous hand of mercy and grace upon us. We should ever be like the Samaritan who was healed from such a vile and stigmatizing illness. He, alone …turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. He recognized and offered thanksgiving to the One Who had healed him, thus giving God all the glory and the praise and the adoration. 
	As a nation, as the Church of God, as a family, and as individual believers, it is incumbent upon us to so offer God our sincerest and heart-felt thanks for the fact that He has saved us unto Himself. If we truly consider where the Lord has manifested His Sovereign and profound and Omniscient and Omnipotent work of His so great love upon us, nationally and personally, we will have to acknowledge that He has mightily and gloriously blessed us every day. He is at work bringing forth His providential blessing upon us and we need to give Him the credit and the praise and the gratitude that He, Alone deserves. It is our rightful honor to so declare our thankfulness unto God for Who He is and what He has done! Let that praise of thankfulness resound, not just one day a year, but every moment of every day from hearts that are truly grateful unto God! So be it!
	"When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Deut 33:29. "Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, Who is the shield of your help, And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, And you shall tread upon their high places." Amen.