Lepers

While it is disputed that modern leprosy is the same disease as that which we see in the Old Testament, in ancient times those people who were lepers were cast out of the camp, town or village and left on their own, usually to die a miserable death. In the Old Testament at Numbers chapter 12 we see that Miriam had spoken against Moses, and was struck with a plague of leprosy. She was relieved of her plague after seven days, according to the Word of Yahweh, but she spent those seven days as an unclean person outside of the camp. In 2 Kings chapter 7 there were four leprous men stuck outside of the gates of Samaria, who were portrayed as having expected death.  

Ministry of Christ

Christ tells the disciples of John that His mission is true in these signs, at Matthew 11:5, that: “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

We have prophecies concerning the blind and the deaf in Isaiah, however there is evidently nothing in these prophecies about lepers. At Isaiah 29:18 we read: “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” And at Isaiah 35:5: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.”

It is an opinion, that while the healing of lepers is not specifically prophesied of the ministry of Christ, and since contracting the disease in the ancient world was so horrible a sentence of death, that Yahshua's having cleansed lepers was symbolic of His mercy upon the children of Israel: that no matter how horrible the sentence of death, His promise uttered through the prophets was to cleanse them of all of their sins, and as Isaiah 45:25 says, He promises to justify all of the offspring of Israel, without exception and no matter how grievously they have sinned.