In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Jan 8, 2022, Kyle Kettering explored some Talmudic traditions about the Messiah involving skin conditions.
One remarkable one, attributed to Rabbi Yitzhak in b. Sanhedrin 97a, says that the Messiah would come when the "heresy" of Christianity fills the kingdom. This claim was based on Lev 13:12-13, which declares a person ritually clean when a skin condition completely covers his body and is no longer spreading. To Christian ears, this sounds remarkably like Jesus' statement in his Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24:14: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
Also remarkable is the story about the "leper Messiah" in b. Sanhedrin 98a. Another midrash describes the Messiah as "leprous scholar." These traditions are based on Isa 53:4, which says that the Suffering Servant would be "stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." The Messiah not only takes sickness away; he takes it upon himself.
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