Leviticus 13 · a question people ask
Did people get it because they had sinned?
Leviticus 13 doesn't say. It never asks what the person did or names a cause; it asks what the priest sees (13:3) and whether the person is clean or unclean (13:46). Other passages do record it coming as a judgment for a wrong: on Miriam after she and Aaron spoke against Moses, when "The LORD’s anger burned against them" (Numbers 12:9) and "Miriam was leprous, as white as snow" (Numbers 12:10); on Gehazi after he took silver and clothing from Naaman (2 Kings 5:20-24) and told Elisha, "Your servant went nowhere" (2 Kings 5:25), when Elisha said, "the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you" (2 Kings 5:27); and on King Uzziah, who "went into the LORD’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense" (2 Chronicles 26:16), "because the LORD had struck him" (2 Chronicles 26:20). Others are named with no reason given: Naaman "was a leper" (2 Kings 5:1), and "there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate" (2 Kings 7:3). The law in this chapter is the same whatever the cause.
The verses
“The priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body. If the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the plague of leprosy; so the priest shall examine him and pronounce him unclean.”
“All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside of the camp.”
“Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.”
“The LORD’s anger burned against them; and he departed. The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.”