Commentary on the Four Gospel Books
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
G107 The Lord Jesus Heals Ten Lepers
Luke 17:11–19

Download PDF:
https://od.lk/f/MV8zNTUzNDE0MjBf
https://od.lk/fl/MV8xODI0MzMzNl8

Please share this website with all your friends and family members. Thank you, and God bless.

All New Testament verses quoted in this article are from the English Majority Text Version, and Old Testament verses are from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Luke 17: 11-19

11 And it happened while He was traveling to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood at a distance.

13 And they lifted their voice and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 And seeing them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went away, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, seeing that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,

16 and fell down on his face at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan.

17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18 Were not any found returning to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

In the Bible, the noun “צָרַעַת” (tzara’at – H6883) /tsaw-rah’-ath/ in the original Hebrew and the noun “λέπρα” (lepra – G3014) /lep’-rah/ in the original Greek are both used to refer to leprosy. In Greek, there is also the noun “λεπρός” (lepros – G3015) /lep-ros’/ used to refer to a person with leprosy.

Leprosy in the Bible includes Hansen’s disease caused by the Hansen bacterium, as well as other dermatological conditions caused by fungi, parasites, or skin infections, such as psoriasis, ringworm (also known as tinea or tinea corporis), scabies, and chronic ulcers, among others.

Leviticus 13–14 describes the symptoms considered to be signs of leprosy as follows:

1. Symptoms on the skin:

• A white swelling on the skin.
• White or reddish-white spots appear.
• A sore that does not heal, often deeper than the skin and showing signs of spreading.
• Hair within the affected area turns white.
• Raw flesh (reddened skin) appears within the white area.
• The affected area spreads outward.

2. Symptoms on the head and beard:

• Thin yellowish spots appear.
• Hair becomes thin and yellow in color.
• Bald areas show white or reddish-white patches.

In addition, the term leprosy is also used to refer to cases of defilement caused by mildew or mold on garments made of wool or linen; on warp or weft threads made of linen or wool; on articles made of leather; and on building materials used in houses.

Leprosy, caused by the Hansen bacterium, has symptoms such as: skin lesions, loss of sensation in the affected areas, and peripheral nerve damage. The disease progresses slowly and can last for many years. If left untreated, after 5–10 years, it may lead to deformities, especially in the hands, feet, and face. Forms of deformity include loss of fingers or toes due to nerve damage and secondary infections; collapse of the nose due to destruction of nasal cartilage; loss of eyebrows; and thickened, rough facial skin.

In rare cases, the body’s immune system can control the disease on its own, leading to an improvement in symptoms without treatment. However, the severe form rarely heals on its own and often causes serious damage if not treated with modern antibiotics, which have only been available since the 20th century.

Leprosy, caused by the Hansen bacterium, is not easily contagious. It spreads only through close and prolonged contact with an untreated patient, and most people have natural immunity. The main mode of transmission is through the inhalation of bacteria from the respiratory droplets of an infected person (coughing, sneezing, spitting) during frequent contact. It may also spread through skin-to-skin contact or contact with contaminated surfaces, but this is very rare. The bacteria do not spread through casual handshakes, sharing food and drinks, or through insects.

About 95% of people who come into contact with the Hansen bacterium do not develop the disease because their natural immune systems prevent infection. Only a small number of people with genetic predispositions or weakened immune systems are more susceptible. The disease is more common in tropical regions with high population density and poor sanitation, such as certain areas in India, Brazil, and Indonesia.

Once patients begin treatment, the risk of transmission drops significantly and they usually become non-contagious within a few weeks of antibiotic use. The average incubation period is between two and five years, but in some cases, it can extend up to twenty years.

According to Old Testament law, all individuals with leprosy—whether caused by the Hansen bacterium or other serious skin diseases—were required to be isolated and not allowed to approach those who were not infected in order to prevent transmission or ceremonial defilement (Leviticus 13:45–46). The afflicted person had to be examined by a priest and declared clean through purification rituals before being permitted to rejoin the community both socially and ceremonially (Leviticus 14:2–32).

There are no details in the Bible that indicate whether the cases of leprosy healed in Scripture were caused by the Hansen bacterium or were other serious skin diseases. However, most Bible readers believe that the case of Naaman the commander from Syria (2 Kings 5:1–14) and the cases of those healed by the Lord Jesus were instances of leprosy caused by the Hansen bacterium.

In addition to the ten lepers healed by the Lord Jesus, which we are studying in this lesson, there is also the case of one leper whom the Lord Jesus reached out to, touched, and healed. That healing is recorded in Matthew 8:1–4, Mark 1:40–45, and Luke 5:12–16, which we have already studied.

Luke 17:11

11 And it happened while He was traveling to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

From Galilee, the Lord Jesus traveled by foot back to Jerusalem to attend the Passover in the year 27. This was also the Passover during which He was arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified, completing the redemption of humanity from the consequences and judgment of sin [1]. This journey was first recorded by Luke starting in Luke 13:22. The journey required about three days of walking over a distance of approximately 120 kilometers.

From the border of Samaria and Galilee to Jerusalem is a distance of about 80 kilometers. Therefore, when the story we are studying took place, the Lord Jesus and His disciples had traveled one day’s journey and were ready to rest overnight.

Luke has a habit of grouping events that happened during the ministry and spiritual work of the Lord Jesus by theme rather than in chronological order. Because of this, the story of the ten lepers being healed may have occurred before the events recorded in Luke 14:1–17:10.

Luke 17:12-13

12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood at a distance.

13 And they lifted their voice and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

“A certain village” could be the village of Gynae, now called Jenin, located in the southernmost part of Galilee, a few kilometers from the border of Samaria. This is an important transitional point on the route from Galilee to Jerusalem, passing through Samaria. Lepers, being isolated from society, could have lived in a deserted area outside the village. Because the village was near the border of Samaria, there was one Samaritan among the group of ten lepers.

Lepers could stay outside the city or village, begging from travelers from a distance. If they had wealthy relatives, those relatives might support them by leaving clothes and food by the roadside for them to pick up. It is very likely that the ten lepers had heard travelers or family members speak of the Lord Jesus and His power to heal and cast out demons. Therefore, when they recognized the Lord Jesus along with His disciples and, very likely, the large crowd following Him entering the village, they stood together at a distance by the roadside to call out to Him.

Luke clearly states that ″ten men who were lepers″ indicated that they recognized the Lord and desired to receive His healing blessing. However, they obeyed the law and did not dare to come close to Him.

Their prayer shows that they acknowledged Him and had faith in Him. They called Him by name and addressed Him as ″Master.″ They pleaded for His mercy. The request for mercy implies a plea for healing. This is a prayer from those seeking to receive healing from the Lord Jesus, similar to the cases of the two blind men in the city of Capernaum (Matthew 9:27); the father whose son was demon-possessed (Matthew 17:15); and the blind beggar named Bartimaeus in the city of Jericho (Mark 10:47–48).

Luke 17:14

14 And seeing them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went away, they were cleansed.

When the Lord Jesus saw them and heard their cries, He did not immediately heal them. Instead, He told them, ″Go show yourselves to the priests.″

Old Testament law required a person to visit the priests only after their leprosy had healed so the priests could examine and confirm the healing. In the case of these ten lepers, the Lord Jesus told them to go to the priests while they were still leprous. This was a test of their faith. Faith requires obedience without reasoning or seeing. The Bible explains:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1).

The ten lepers looked forward to being healed by the Lord Jesus because they had faith in Him through the words they had heard about Him. The Bible also tells us:

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).

Therefore, it is very likely that the Spirit spoke in their spirits about the Lord Jesus being the One with the power to heal them. They also had faith in the Lord Jesus’ command, even though they had not yet seen their bodies healed.

They believed they would be healed if they obeyed His word. So, they left and set out to find the priests to be examined.

They were not healed until they were on their way to the priests. Faith was expressed through action, leading to a miracle and bringing healing.

The Bible also teaches God’s people that:

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

The ten lepers were healed because of their faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus, serving as a shining example for God’s people of a life lived by faith, not relying on what the eyes see.

Have we ever asked the Lord to resolve difficulties without faith in Him and the promises in the Bible? Have we ever set conditions, obeying Him only after seeing His answer? The Bible records:

“But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing, for he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he shall receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7).

Whether the life of God’s people is abundant both physically and spiritually depends on whether they have faith in the Lord and in His Word and whether they fully obey the Lord.

According to Leviticus chapter 14, when a person with leprosy is healed, they must appear before the priests to be examined and declared clean. Then, they must offer a sacrifice to God.

In Old Testament times, the priests, from the tribe of Levi and especially the descendants of Aaron, primarily served in the Temple in Jerusalem after King Solomon built the Temple. However, they did not serve only there. Priests were distributed throughout the land of Israel to serve in local communities, especially during the period before the Temple became the sole center of worship.

For example, during the time of the Judges and the early period of the Kings, priests served at local places of worship such as Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:3) or the “high places” (2 Kings 17:9). Even after the reforms of King Josiah (2 Kings 23), when worship was centralized in Jerusalem, priests still lived and served in many other places to assist the people with ritual matters, including the examination of leprosy.

According to the historian Josephus, the priests, descendants of Aaron, primarily served in the Temple in Jerusalem, where they performed sacrificial rituals and festivals. However, not all priests worked at the Temple at the same time. They were divided into 24 divisions, each serving at the Temple for about one week, twice a year (1 Chronicles 24:1–19). When not serving at the Temple, the priests returned to their towns and villages throughout Judea, Galilee, and surrounding regions.

Although Josephus does not directly mention priests examining lepers in local areas, he describes that priests and Levites lived in many places outside Jerusalem, such as in Galilee and other cities. This suggests that they could carry out ritual duties, such as inspecting leprosy, within local communities (Antiquities 7.14.7; Antiquities 20.8.8).

In the time of the Lord Jesus, the Temple in Jerusalem was the center of worship for the God of Israel. Many important rituals, such as the offering of sacrifices, were performed there. However, priests and Levites still lived and served in many different regions, such as Galilee, where there were synagogues and Jewish communities.

Although the Lord Jesus told the ten lepers to “go, show yourselves to the priests,” the Bible does not specify that they had to go to the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The event took place in the region between Samaria and Galilee, far from Jerusalem. This implies that they could have sought out priests in a closer local area, such as in synagogues or places where priests served, to have their healing examined and confirmed as clean. However, afterward, they would have had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice.

We can understand that the ten lepers went immediately in the direction they knew they would find the priests. We do not know how far they had traveled before the healing occurred. We only know that the healing happened while they were on their way to see the priests.

Luke 17:15-16

15 And one of them, seeing that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,

16 and fell down on his face at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan.

Although all ten were healed, only one immediately returned, loudly praising the God. When he reached the Lord Jesus, he fell face down at His feet to give thanks.

Let us imagine the scene of the Lord Jesus and His disciples, perhaps accompanied by the crowd following Him, continuing to enter the village when they hear voices praising the God from behind. Everyone stops and turns to look, seeing a man who is likely running toward them while loudly praising the God. When he comes near and falls face down before the Lord Jesus, everyone realizes that he is one of the ten lepers who had been healed. And he is a Samaritan.

The Samaritans descended from the people of Israel; they are the descendants of Israelites who intermarried with foreigners and lived together in the region of Samaria, hence being called Samaritans. According to the history written by the Samaritans themselves, they are descendants of the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Both Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph. In the time of the Lord Jesus, the Samaritan population numbered several hundred thousand, but today, fewer than a thousand remain.

The land of Samaria is located roughly in the middle of the territory of Israel, bordering Galilee to the north and Judea to the south. The people of Israel despised and detested the Samaritans, considering them unclean and heretical because the Samaritans were not ethnically pure and had built their own Temple to worship God on Mount Gerizim.

The Samaritans have their own Pentateuch copied by themselves in Hebrew, with content not significantly different from the Jewish Pentateuch. Today, the discrimination of the people of Israel against the Samaritans has greatly diminished. The Samaritans have established many synagogues within the territory of Israel. Many Israeli communities interact with the small Samaritan communities and accept them as part of Israel. The Samaritans themselves also acknowledge that they are original Israelites from Samaria.

We can somewhat imagine the feelings of the Samaritan who was healed of leprosy by the Lord Jesus. He was joyful, filled with reverence for the God, and full of gratitude toward the Lord Jesus. That is why, upon realizing he had been healed, he immediately turned back, sought out the Lord Jesus to give thanks, and loudly praised the God.

The Samaritan who was healed valued giving thanks to the Lord Jesus. Therefore, he returned to thank Him before going to show himself to the priests. His returning to give thanks to the Lord Jesus also served as a testimony to those present about the healing power of the Lord Jesus. At the same time, it was an opportunity for him to hear the Lord’s words in verse 19.

Luke 17:17-18

17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18 Were not any found returning to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

The Lord Jesus’ statement recorded in verse 18 implies that the other nine were all Israelites. He called the Samaritan ″this foreigner,″ meaning someone outside the community of the people of Israel.

The Israelites considered themselves a people who feared God and had a covenant with Him. They despised the Samaritans, regarding them as unclean and heretical. Yet, when receiving the grace of God, the nine Israelites did not eagerly show gratitude to the Lord as the Samaritan did.

The question of the Lord Jesus: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” emphasizes that returning to praise the God and thank the Lord Jesus, as the Samaritan did, is the right thing to do. However, those who considered themselves the rightful descendants of Abraham did not show reverence and gratitude to the Lord when they received His grace, unlike the one they regarded as a foreigner.

Every day in our lives, we are under the providence of the God, receiving added grace and renewed strength from the Lord Jesus, comforted and guided into all truth by the Holy Spirit. Do we always show reverence and gratitude to the Triune God? Is our life always a song of praise to God and a reflection of His glory? The Word of God teaches:

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

We thank the God not only when He blesses us, but we thank Him in everything. This means that no matter what happens to us, we still offer thanks to the God. For ″we know that all things work together for good to those who love *God, to those who are called according to His purpose.″ That purpose is that the God makes us conform to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28–29).

Luke 17:19

19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

The Lord’s statement: “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well″ affirms that the Samaritan was granted salvation because of his faith in Him. He needed to begin a new way of life as a person who had been saved.

The phrase ″made you well″ in the Lord Jesus’ statement refers not only to being delivered from physical illness but also to being saved from the power and consequences of sin. A person who has faith in the Lord and is granted healing of the physical body is, at the same time, given the forgiveness of sins so that they may live a new, holy life—set apart from sin, in faith in the Lord—a life of reverence, gratitude, and obedience to Him.

The ″salvation″ the Samaritan received also proclaims that the gift of salvation is given to all people, not only to the people of Israel.

We conclude this lesson here.

May the Holy Spirit guide us into all the truths of God’s Word (John 16:13). May the Word of God sanctify us (John 17:17). May the Faithful *God of Peace Himself sanctify our spirit, soul, and body entirely, without blame (1 Thessalonians 5:23), at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior. Amen!

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
05/24/2025

Notes:

[1] https://preachingfromthebible.net/the-day-of-the-lords-death-and-the-day-of-the-lords-resurrection/

[2] Antiquities 7.14.7: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-7.html

[3] Antiquities 20.8.8: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-20.html

About Using “*God”, “the God” and “holy spirit”

Wherever the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible use a definite article with a noun to denote GOD, we translate it into English as *God or “the God” to refer to God the Father. We understand that “God,” without a definite article, was used as a collective noun for all and any of the three Persons of the Godhead. And “God,” with a definite article, was used to refer to God the Father.

In the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the term “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) without the definite article “the” (το) is used to denote the power of God, which is given by God the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit” (το πνευματι το αγιω) is God, and “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) is the power that comes from God.