HEBREW WORD STUDY – VITILIGO – TSARA’ATH – צרעת  

Numbers 12:10,14:  “And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, [she was] leprous. (14) And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in [again].”

Ok, so if God did not leave in a huff, why did he afflict Miriam with leprosy?   Well, first tell me where it says that God afflicted her with leprosy?  It just says that when the cloud was lifted Miriam was simply leprous.  It does not even say leprous white as snow, just as snow.  Yes, snow is white but it is also flaky white flakes.  In Hebrew the word leprosy is tsara’ath.  For one thing what we call leprosy today is not necessarily tsara’ath.  It could be but tsara’ath is just a skin condition.  It could be as extreme as the leprosy is today which is not white or like snow but a decaying of the skin to simple eczema or flaking of dead skin.  There is a condition known as vitiligo which is common among dark-skinned people where their skin loses its pigmentation or color.  I’ve known people who had this, it is not dangerous or life-threatening, it is not even uncomfortable but it is very unsightly.  In ancient times this condition was associated with death because you turned pale like a dead person only you were not dead, nor even close to it.  There are a number of things that could bring on vitiligo such as too much exposure to the sun, or radiation, diet, immune system etc.  But one big cause is stress.  What can have been more stressful to Miriam than to have God appear to her while she was unclean and then receive a reprimand from God?   I don’t believe God put this skin condition, tsara’ath upon her, she put it on herself with her stress. 

Moses pleaded with God to heal her and God, the opportunist that He is, pointed out to Moses that if a father spits in his daughter’s face would she not be ashamed?  In ancient times if a daughter or son did something that shamed their father, their father would publically spit in the child’s face.  This would be so shameful to the child that the child would have to leave for a while and could not face the parent.  Within the Jewish culture, the child would have to separate from the community for seven days to think over their shameful act and repent.  In a way, the white flaky skin was almost like God spitting on her and causing her to be ashamed and since it was tsara’ath she was banished from the community. Flaky skin was dead skin after all and you were not to touch anything dead as it was unclean so if the flakes fell on someone they would be unclean. Thus those with tsara’ath of any sort were banished from the community.  God said she had to live in silence for seven days after which she may return and her skin condition would be cleared up.  In those seven days, she could repent and God could meet her, hug her, tell it was all ok and reconcile with her.  

Those seven days worked for Miriam because after that she became almost like a spiritual leader to the Hebrew people, their worship leader and more popular than Aaron and Moses because people saw she had a beautiful, loving relationship with God. 

So we come to the end of my rather off the reservation take on this story of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.  I know it doesn’t fit what you learned in Sunday School which most likely would have caused you to be afraid of God and thinking some minor infraction of God’s rules like saying something bad about the pastor would bring the wrath of God upon you.  I have never been comfortable with that interpretation.  You see, my earthly father never inflicted any harm upon when he corrected me.  He usually did what God did, give me a stern lecture explaining what I did was wrong then he would shake his head and say; “I never thought a son of mine would do such a thing.” Then he would yalak, depart leaving me totally so stressed out I could have broken into hives. I would be banished to my room to think about what I did and the afterward, things were ok between my father and I.  So, I guess that is why I translate this the way I do, I have a bias about my Father God, that he does not get angry with me, just disappointed, hurt, grieved to the point that He must yalak and leave me thinking over what I did to break that relationship.