Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18

✴️Thin-skinned – Hypersensitive to criticism, reproach, or rebuff; easily offended; touchy. Oversensitive and irritable. Defensive. Requiring careful handling; delicate. Feeling superior to others . Disdainful. Fruitless.

Synonyms: hothead, touchy, oversensitive, irritable, easily offended, testy, volatile, reactive, emotional, defensive, high-strung, fragile, temperamental, petulant, prickly, edgy, tense, vulnerable, neurotic, thin-skinned, sensitive, huffy, susceptible, snappy, moody, uptight, agitated, brittle, tetchy, excitable, short-tempered, nervy, querulous, impatient, peevish, grumpy, discontented, hypersensitive, ill-tempered, cranky

✴️Defile – To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to befoul; to pollute. To lower in status, esteem, quality, or character. To desecrate or profane. To injure in purity of character; to corrupt. To make ceremonially unclean.

✴️Disease – A particular quality, habit, or disposition regarded as adversely affecting a person. Uneasiness; pain; distress; trouble; discomfort. An abnormal condition of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, inflammation, environmental factors, or genetic defect, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs, symptoms, or both. Any disorder or depraved condition or element, moral, mental, social, or political.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word ‘Tzara’at’ is frequently mistranslated to English as leprosy. It has nothing to do with what the leprosy of today, known as “Hansen’s Disease”. That is a long term infection that can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. Leprosy in the Old Testament was just a general term for any progressive skin disease.  It describes various ritually unclean disfigurative conditions of the skin and hair.  It even describes mold and mildew on clothing made of linen or wool and on homes. 

✴️Flesh – The pulpy substance of a fruit or vegetable. “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” Matthew 7:20

✴️Skin – The thin layer of tissue forming the natural outer covering of the body of a person. “In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.” Psalm 102:5

✴️Rising – Increasing in wealth, power, or distinction. That which rises; a tumor; a boil. “The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.” Numbers 23:24

✴️Scab – A dry, rough protective crust that forms over a cut or wound during healing. A person or thing regarded with dislike and disgust. “My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.” Job 7:5

✴️Bright – Giving out or reflecting a lot. Spot – A moral blemish or stain. “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:27

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear; sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.  Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21

“For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.” 2 Corinthians 12:20

👉“Thin-skinned” Miriam

“A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.” Proverbs 16:28

“Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate.” Psalm 101:5

“While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman.  They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?  Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the Lord heard them. (Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth.)

So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So, the three of them went to the Tabernacle.  Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle.  “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward.  And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:

“If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions.  I would speak to them in dreams.  But not with my servant Moses.  Of all my house, he is the one I trust.  I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles!  He sees the Lord as he is.  So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant, Moses?”

“The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy.  When Aaron saw what had happened to her, he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed. Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”

So, Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!” But the Lord said to Moses; “If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? So, keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back.”

So, Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again. Then they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.” Numbers 12

👉“Thin-skinned” Naaman & Gehazi

“Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.” Proverbs 29:11

“An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.” Proverbs 18:1

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” James 1:19-20

“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” James 3:16

“Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.  She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.  “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied.  “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God?  Can I kill and bring back to life?  Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes?  Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.  Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.”

But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?”

So, he turned and went off in a rage.

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So, he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

 The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

 “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

“Go in peace,” Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought.  As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

So Gehazi hurried after Naaman.  When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him.  “Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered.  “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim.  Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’”

“By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman.  He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing.  He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi.  When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house.  He sent the men away and they left.

When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”

“Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered.

But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you?  Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves?  Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.” 2 Kings 5

👉More “Thin-Skinnery”

“Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight.” Romans 12:16

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” Philippians 2:3

“Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.” Jude 1:10

“Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord.  This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate.  They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die?  If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die.  And if we stay here, we will die.  So, let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans.  When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” So, they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys.  They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank.  Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them.  They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right.  This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us.  Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”

One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city.  Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed.  So let us send them to find out what happened.”

So, they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army.  He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight.  So, the messengers returned and reported to the king. Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans.  

Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.  It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.” 2 Kings 7

👉“Thin-skinned” Uzziah

“A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord.” Proverbs 19:3

“But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.  He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.  Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord.  That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense.  Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry.  While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead.  When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out.  Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.  He lived in a separate house—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.” 2 Chronicle 26:16-21

But to the man or woman with leprosy, the spiritual disease of “thin-skin”, God says:

“What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.

When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.

You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son. When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you.

“Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.” Psalms 50