Cripples

People whose walk, physical or spiritual, is hindered by deformity, permanent or temporary.

Physically crippled from birth

And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.

Physically crippled in life

By accident

2 Samuel 4:4 See also 2 Samuel 9:3, 2 Samuel 9:13

And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

By God

Genesis 32:24–25 God had a purpose in the crippling of Jacob: it was a mark of his meeting with God. See also Genesis 32:31–32; Hebrews 11:21

So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.

By Satan

Luke 13:11 See also Luke 13:16

and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.

Cripples healed

By Jesus Christ

Luke 7:22 parallel Matthew 11:4–5 See also Matthew 15:30–31; John 5:1–9

So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

By others

Acts 3:7 See also Acts 4:9–10, Acts 8:7, Acts 14:9–10

Taking him by the right hand, Peter helped him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.

Cripples and OT sacrifice

Leviticus 21:18–19 A man must be without defect. Physical disability is a defilement to holiness. See also Leviticus 21:6

No man who has any defect may approach — no man who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed; no man who has a broken foot or hand,

Crippled animals

Malachi 1:8 Animals, like people, must be holy, without defect, when brought to the LORD. See also Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 3:1, Leviticus 4:3, Leviticus 22:18–25; Numbers 6:14, Numbers 28:3; Deuteronomy 15:21, Deuteronomy 17:1; Malachi 1:13–14

When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.

Spiritual aspects of being crippled

Physical crippling preferable to spiritual lameness

Matthew 18:8 See also Mark 5:29–30, Mark 9:43

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

Cripples disadvantaged in life but welcome in the kingdom of God

Micah 4:6–7 See also Jeremiah 31:8; Ezekiel 34:16; Luke 14:13, Luke 14:21

“On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted. And I will make the lame into a remnant, the outcast into a strong nation. Then the LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.

Spiritual cripples healed

Isaiah 35:6 See also Hebrews 12:13

Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.