Samaria

History

Four 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.