(Tame' pronounced Tah-may')

 

There he was, all scarred and torn,

And bleeding from his sores,

"Tame'! Tame'!", The leper cries, "Unclean!",

He loud implores.

 

The Pharisee cannot come near,

His robes he must not soil,

Though such a sight is sad, indeed,

Disgust makes him recoil.

 

"Unclean! Unclean!", The man must cry

Lest some should come too near.

Tame'! Tame'!", They hear him say,

Year after year, after year, after year.

 

Home and family now are gone,

And life has lost its taste.

Each day the pain grows worse, and worse,

And hope begins to waste.

 

Caught in this way, with hope most gone,

A man drew near one day.

He showed no fear, and no disgust

Though the man still cried, "Tame'."

 

Amazed, the man looked up to see

What sort of man would draw

So near a man unclean as he;

A man unclean by law!

 

He quickly dropped his head and cried

With all his heart and soul:

"Tame'! Tame'!, Unclean within!

Unclean! Unclean of soul!"

 

"I cannot cleanse myself!", He cried.

"But thou canst make me white,

And heal the bleeding sores of sin

That come from Satan's blight."

 

"I will.", He said; "Be thou made whole;

I gave my all for you.

I save you by my grace alone,

And do what you can't do."

 

The man was healed, and now he cries;

"I'm clean, all clean within!

The blood of Christ now makes me whole;

It cures the guilt of sin!"

 

"No more, the shame of bleeding sin

No more, the cry: "Tame’"

Forever now, the Lamb of God

Has taken it away!"

 

He follows now, the Lamb of God,

Of Whom they said, "Away!"

Yet, He's the One; The only One

Who hears the cry, "Tame'!"

 

TAME'

    Tame' is the Hebrew word for "unclean". When a person had a condition that was described in the Levitical ordinances as being ceremonially unclean, then they must go about crying, "Unclean! Unclean!" If they failed to do this they were subject to capital punishment, which meant stoning.

    The reason for this was that if anyone came too close, or came into direct contact with them, then they too, became ceremonially unclean for a prescribed time. These laws and ordinances all were given to Israel that they might be a type, or that they might picture something to us that would be true spiritually rather than naturally.

    The bible says all these things happened to them for ensamples to us upon whom the ends of the age are come. So they were actually meant to give a picture of some reality that takes place in the Spirit. Leprosy is a type, or a picture of SIN. There was no cure for it. The person who contracted it was completely ostracized from family and society in general. He must go about declaring his shame to all.

    How like the picture of one in sin. One whom society cannot help; those with a form of godliness cannot help, they might defile themselves. Family can't help, and in many cases are the first to give up on such a one. He is without hope in the world; a castaway! He has no man to help him. How sad and heart-rending is such a sight.

    Such is also true of the backslider. The one who at one time knew the comfort and peace of the Lord but somehow fell away and began to dwell in a "far country," far from his heavenly Father. They who fall into this category are like Cain. They become wanderers upon the face of the earth with none to help them.

    But, Praise the Lord!, there is help in Jesus Christ. He doesn't only GIVE an answer to the problem of sin, HE IS THE ANSWER TO SIN, and He is married to the backslider. He is able to come near, and those in union with Him can and will come near to such a person because the same love and compassion for the lost, the sick, the dying, the homeless, and hopeless that beats in the breast of the Master beats within the breasts of His sons.

    Jesus is the only answer for sin, and He will never, no, never turn even one away who truly desires to be made clean and whole from the ravages of sin.