Jesus Heals a Leper and Creates Much Excitement.

  43 And he strictly charged him, ^c to tell no man [The language used indicates that Jesus sternly forbade the man to tell what had been done. The man's conduct, present and future, shows that he needed severe speech. In his uncontrollable eagerness to be healed he had overstepped his privileges, for he was not legally permitted to thus enter cities and draw near to people ( Numbers 5:2 Numbers 5:3 ); he was to keep at a distance from them, and tame--unclean, unclean" ( Leviticus 13:45 Leviticus 13:46 ; Luke 17:12 Luke 17:13 ). The man evinced a like recklessness in disregarding the command of Jesus]: ^b and straightway sent him out,

  ^a 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; {^b say nothing to any man:}

[Several reasons are suggested why the Lord thus commanded silence: 1. It may have been better for the man not to mention his cure ( John 9:34 ). 2. He required the decision of the priest to make him legally clean; and too much talk might so prejudice the priests as to lead them to refuse to admit his cure. 3. But the best reason is that it accorded with our Lord's general course, which was to suppress excitement, and thus prevent too great crowds from gathering about him and hindering his work. To take this view is to say that Jesus meant to prevent exactly what happened] ^c but go, and show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, ^b the things which {^a the gift that} Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. [Though healed of his leprosy, the man was not legally clean until declared so by the priest. The priest alone could readmit him to the congregation. The local priest inspected the healed leper, and if he was found clean or cured, he was purified by the use of two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, razor and bath. After seven days he was again inspected, and if still cured the priest repaired with him to the temple, where he offered the gift for his cleansing, which was three lambs, with flour and oil; or if the leper was poor, one lamb and two doves or pigeons, with flour and oil ( Leviticus 14: .). The healed leper was a testimony that Messiah, the great Physician, had come, and that he respected the law of Moses. This testimony was given both to priests and people.]

  ^a 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; {^b say nothing to any man:}

  45 But he went out [from the presence of Jesus and from the city], and began to publish it much, and to spread abroad the matter,

  {^c 15 But so much the more went abroad the report concerning him:}

. [The leper was so elated that he could scarcely refrain from publishing his cure, and he must also have thought that this was what wanted--that in commanding him not to publish it he did not mean what he said] and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. ^b insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city [Not a natural or physical inability, but the inability of impropriety. Jesus could not do what he judged not best to do. The excitement cause by such an entry was injurious in several ways: 1. It gave such an emphasis to the miracles of Jesus as to make them overshadow his teaching. 2. It threatened to arouse the jealousy of the government. 3. It rendered the people incapable of calm thought. Two things constantly threatened the ministry of Jesus, namely, impatience in the multitude, and envious malice in the priests and Pharisees. Jesus wished to add to neither of these elements of opposition. Thus the disobedience of the leper interrupted Jesus, and thwarted him in his purpose to visit the villages. Disobedience, no matter how well-meaning, always hinders the work of Christ],

  {^c 15 But so much the more went abroad the report concerning him:}

  ^c 16 But he withdrew himself in the deserts, {^b was without in desert places:} [That is, the the remote grazing-lands like that desert in which he afterwards fed the five thousand. Such was our Lord's unexampled meekness that he preferred the silent deserts to the applause of multitudes. His meekness was as high above the capacity of a merely human being as were his miracles] ^c and prayed. [Luke's gospel is pre-eminently the gospel of prayer and thanksgiving] ^b and they came to him from every quarter.