The Third Book of Moses, called Leviticus
Leviticus 13
Chapter XIII · Vol. I, pp. 381–384
1 The laws and tokens whereby the priest is to be guided in discerning the leprosy.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising,1 a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like a the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the b priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:2
1 Or, swelling.
a Nu. 12.10. 2 Ki. 5.27. 2 Sa. 3.29. 2 Ch. 26.19. Ps. 41.8; 38.5. Mat. 8.2,3. De. 32.5. Is. 1.6; 64.6.
b Ac. 4.12. Job 33.23,24.
2 The high-priest and his sons held the office of physician, and herein typified him who said, 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' Mat. 9.12,13. Do not then hide the leprosy of sin, but bring poor sinners to Jesus, carry them in the arms of prayer; bring them to his ministers; and all insufficient in themselves, 2 Co. 2.16, though his ministers be, they have 'a treasure in earthen vessels,' 2 Co. 4.7, that can enrich the poorest, and a 'balm in Gilead,' Je. 8.22, for the most deadly disease.—C.
3 And the priest shall c look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is d turned white, and the plague in sight be e deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and f pronounce him unclean.
c Re. 2.23. Ac. 20.28. He. 13.7. Ro. 3.19,20; 7.7.
d Ho. 7.9. Eze. 16.30.
e 2 Ti. 2.16,17; 3.13. Ge. 13.13.
f Ro. 3.19,20. Mat. 16.19; 18.18. Jn. 20.23.
4 If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall g shut up him that hath the plague seven days:
5 And, the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more:
6 And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall h pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he l shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
h 1 Ki. 8.38,46. Ec. 7.20. Ja. 3.2. 1 Jn. 1.8-10. Ga. 5.17.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
7 But if the scab k spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again:
k ver. 27,35,51. 2 Ti. 2.16; 3.13. Is. 1.6. Ps. 38.3. Ro. 6.12,20. Mat. 12.43-45.
8 And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy.
9 When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest;
10 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be l quick raw flesh3 in the rising,
11 It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean.
12 And if a leprosy break out l abroad in the skin, and the leprosy m cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh;
m Jn. 16.8,9. 1 Ki. 8.38. Job 40.4; 42.6. Is. 64.6. Ro. 7.14.
13 Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean.4
4 When the leprosy has covered all the flesh, why is the patient pronounced clean? It was the symptom that the diseased action was over, and that nothing but the marks of its ravages remained. Even so is it with sin. When the sinner has discovered the full extent of his misery, and cries out, 'Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death,' Ro. 7.24, then, and not till then, can he thank God for healing, through Jesus Christ his Lord.—C.
14 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean.
15 And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean; for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy.
16 Or if the raw flesh n turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest;
n Ro. 7.14-21. Ga. 5.14. Phi. 3.6, with 1 Ti. 1.13,15.
17 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean.6
6 The principal symptoms to be noted in these verses (9-17), are 'the quick raw flesh in the tumour,' indicating a sharp, corrosive humour, breaking through the skin in a particular part. It was thus distinguished from a disorder, called indeed the leprosy, but of another nature, which freely broke out in a white scurf all over the body, but without the raw flesh. The former indicated an inveterate leprosy, and whenever it appeared rendered the person unclean; but the latter did not. As these are thus contrasted, the latter aptly represents that consciousness of sin which produces unreserved ingenuous confessions, and patience of reproof; and the former may perhaps denote the disposition of unhumbled sinners to resist conviction, and amidst the clearest evidence of criminality, to be angry with the mildest reproof.—I.
18 The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a bile, and is healed;
19 And in the place of the bile there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish,6 and it be showed to the priest;
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
6 Here the priests are directed how to distinguish between any ordinary malady which might follow an old ulcer after it had been healed, and the leprosy breaking out on the spot. The word rendered 'reddish' probably signifies 'very shining,' and seems distinguished from a dusky white, as a symptom of leprosy.—I.
20 And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it o be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the bile.
o Mat. 13.15; 12.45. Jn. 5.14. 2 Pe. 2.20-22.
21 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days:
22 And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.
23 But if the bright p spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burning bile; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
24 Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a 7 hot burning,8 and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot,9 somewhat reddish, or white;
7 Heb. a burning fire.
8 This is a case of leprosy springing from another skin affection—such as a burn, or a carbuncle, or a boil.—P.
9 Bright spot. How expressive as an emblem of sin and sinners. It is but a spot, for which the sinner pleads as Lot for Zoar, 'Is it not a little one?' Ge. 19.20. Nay, of which he affirms, as rebellious Israel, 'I am innocent, I have not sinned,' Je. 2.35. It is a 'bright spot,' the florid complexion of youth and health. So, the fools that 'make a mock at sin,' Pr. 14.9, do also often 'glory in their shame,' Phi. 3.19. And in this false judgment the world cordially joins, and 'they that forsake the law praise the wicked,' Pr. 28.4. The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth, Ps. 10.3. And knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.—C.
25 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be q turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out in the burning; wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.
q ver. 18-22. Ro. 1.27.
26 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days.
27 And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.
28 And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation of the burning.
29 If a man or woman have a plague upon the r head or the beard;1
r Is. 1.5. Mi. 3.11. 2 Pe. 2.1,2. Ps. 52.1; 73.8,9. 1 Ki. 12.28. Je. 18.18.
1 The priests were here taught to distinguish the leprosy among the hair on the head or beard from other disorders which might resemble it. The yellow thin hair, instead of the white, was here the symptom of leprosy in connection with the marks before laid down, and the black hair of the contrary.—I.
30 Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight s deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.
s 2 Ti. 2.16,17; 3.13. Ho. 7.9.
31 And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days:
32 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be t not in sight deeper than the skin,
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
t De. 29.29. 1 Co. 4.5; 13.5. Mat. 7.1-4.
33 He shall be u shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more.
u Col. 3.5. 1 Th. 5.21. Ro. 8.13.
34 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be x not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
36 Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean.
37 But if the scall be in his sight z at a 2 stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
z ver. 5,6,23,28,32,34. Job 40.4,5,&c. Ro. 7.24.
2 Leprosy brought to a stay was healed. So 'wicked men and seducers naturally wax worse and worse,' 2 Ti. 3.13; but if their sin be once arrested in this downward course, the sinner is saved. He that, by grace, 'stands still,' sees 'the salvation of God,' Ex. 14.13. Paul the persecutor is smitten to the ground, and rises Paul the apostle and faithful servant of Jesus, Ac. 9.4,20.—C.
38 If a a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots;
39 Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin: he is clean.
40 And the man whose b hair is fallen off his head, he is bald;3 yet is he clean.
b 1 Ki. iii. viii. with xi. Ps. lxiii. with 2 Sa. xi. Re. 2.5.
3 The leprosy in the bald head is here distinguished from mere baldness. The word rendered 'reddish' here also means very shining. It is observable that he that was leprous in the head was pronounced 'utterly unclean.' This denoted the great danger of bad principles.—I.
41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead-bald; yet is he clean.
42 And if there be in the c bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead:
43 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald-head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh,
44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly4 unclean; his plague is in his head.
4 It is a well-known medical fact, that certain eruptions on the head are peculiarly inveterate. The leprous head is pronounced 'utterly unclean;' spiritually it is the disease described, Ro. 1.22,28, in which men 'professing themselves wise, become fools,' when, 'even as they do not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gives them over to a reprobate mind.' These are utterly unclean, their leprosy is in their head.—C.
45 And the leper, in whom the plague is, d his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, e Unclean, unclean.
46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean, he shall dwell alone; f without the camp shall his habitation be.5
f Nu. 5.2; 12.14. 2 Ki. 15.5; 7.3. Lu. 17.12. 1 Co. 5.6,11,13. 2 Th. 3.6,14. He. 12.15. La. 1.8; 3.28.
5 It would seem that a number of cutaneous diseases, different in origin, in symptom, and in kind, are here grouped under the one name leprous. Some of them do not render the person affected unclean; some are curable; while some are said to be utterly unclean, and appear to have been considered incurable. There is little, if any, resemblance between any of these forms of what may be termed Mosaic leprosy and the loathsome disease which now gets that name in the East. The so-called leprosy of modern Syria is Elephantiasis Græcorum. It is common in some few villages in the country. In Damascus there are two hospitals for lepers or persons afflicted with elephantiasis, but I have never heard of a native Damascene being afflicted with it.—P.
47 The g garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment or a linen garment;6
g Ps. 14.2-4. Is. 59.3-15. Ro. 1.21-31; 3.10-18. Tit. 3.3. Ep. 2.2,3; 4.17-19. 1 Co. 6.9,10.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
6 The transmission of the worst contagion by garments is the opinion of the highest medical authorities, Mead, Russell, &c., and it is admitted in the sanitary regulations of all civilized countries: but the visible symptoms of disease in garments have not been noticed by these writers. Michaelis, on the authority of an experienced manufacturer, describes a disease in woollen cloth analogous to that described by Moses, and which he attributes to the commixture of dead wool—that is, the wool of sheep that had died by disease. Calmet attributed the disease both in men and in garments to microscopic animalculae, an idea that modern observation and discovery render not improbable. The law whereby the suspected garment was to be tried by washing, and, if found infected, which condemned it to be rent or burned, ver. 56, 57, operated at once as a check upon the sale of infectious clothing, and the most effectual preservative of the public health; while it reminded the possessor of the moral contagion that may lie in the love of 'purple and fine linen,' Lu. 16.19, the necessity of washing his robes, and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, Re. 7.14, 'of being saved with fear, pulled out of the fire,' and of 'hating even the garment spotted by the flesh,' Jude 23.—C.
48 Whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin;
49 And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be showed unto the priest.
50 And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days.
51 And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be h spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin, the plague is a i fretting leprosy; it is unclean.
h 2 Ch. 28.22. 2 Ti. 2.16, 17; 3.13.
i ch. 14.44. Eze. 16.43.
52 He shall therefore k burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.
53 And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin;
54 Then the priest shall command that they washl the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more.
55 And the priest shall look on the plague after that it is washed: and, behold, m if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not spread, it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire: it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without.7
m See ver. 53.
7 Heb. whether it be bald in the head thereof, or in the forehead thereof.
56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof:
57 And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin, it is a spreading plague; thou shalt n burn that wherein the plague is with fire.
Notes
[Ver. 2. Leprosy, derived from a Greek word signifying a scale, is one of the most terrible of the many diseases our 'flesh is heir to.' Willan describes three varieties that have been observed in Western Europe, and Mason Good, who examined the subject, not merely as a physician, but as an expositor of Scripture, considers them as identical with the three forms described by Moses about 3000 years ago. Bateman is disposed to consider the Jewish leprosy as confined to one incurable form; but, under the general name bahereth, Moses includes three specific varieties, one of which (ver. 39) does not even render the patient unclean. These three forms of the disease are all characterized as commencing with bright spots, depressed in the centre, or as Moses describes it, lower than the skin, and surrounded by reddish prominent circles. Sometimes these spots are as small as if produced by the puncture of a pin, and frequently situated on the front of the legs, immediately below the knees, or about the elbows, and sometimes on the face; they soon enlarge, generally preserving a circular form, and are propagated to different parts until they finally coalesce and cover the whole body; in one species with white scaly inerustation, in another with patches dark and livid, and in either case extremely loathsome to the beholders and distressing to the sufferer. But though the leprosy appears at first as a mere local disease in the skin, it afterwards discovers its constitutional character, and the bones and joints, and in some cases the teeth, are affected; the toes and fingers fall off in succession, and the body remains a miserable fragment of its former self, where life still lingers in the midst of indescribable torments. The disease, in certain of its stages and circumstances, is confessedly contagious, though this characteristic, on an imperfect induction of observations and facts, Rayer has ventured to deny; and in every sense in which a disease can be so called it is also hereditary. Amongst the most striking peculiarities of this disease, as observed by medical travellers in some of the Asiatic islands, is the fearful and disgusting demoralization which reigns in the separated dwellings of the miserable outcasts; and in this combination of sin and misery, mutually producing one another, the victim frequently lingers during fifty years, in body and spirit waxing worse and worse—the emblem of sin, the warning of judgment to sinners. C.]
Ver. 3. [The whitening of the hair by age is one of the natural admonitions whereby man is warned, 'Prepare to meet thy God,' Am. 4.12. A similar but premature whitening by the leprosy gave warning to the Jew, a warning the more impressive as his hair was ordinarily raven black.—Note, The symptoms of age, or debilities of early disease, are merciful premonitions of death—'O, that men were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!' De. 32. 29. C.]
Ver. 45. [The clothes rent—the emblem of deep religious sorrow before God, Ezr. 9. 5, an outward token to the inward man of the heart, Joel 2. 13. The head bare.—The head, the highest part of the body, the seat of all the chief instruments of sense, becomes the emblem of wisdom and power, and by consequence of honour, Ge. 3. 15; Is. 7. 8. The head uncovered was therefore the acknowledgment that disease, as the bondage of Satan, Lu. 13. 16, as the harbinger of death, and the 'wages of sin,' Ro. 6. 23, was the greatest dishonour, 1 Co. 15. 43. The covering upon the upper lip, or, as some translate it, the bandage upon the chin, after the Jewish manner of dressing the dead, joined with the cry of unclean, was the emblem of the 'mouth stopped' by the broken law, and only permitted to plead 'guilty before God,' Ro. 3. 19. C.]
Reflections.—In this filthy distemper, for which no cure but the power of God is prescribed, with shame and confusion of face I behold the penal, the dreadful, the defiling, the spreading, and obstinate nature of reigning corruptions, and how they exclude from fellowship with God and his people! Jealous of myself, it becomes me to present my heart and my ways before my all-seeing High-priest that he may search and try me. If he find me pining away in mine iniquity, wilfully increasing unto more ungodliness, depending on self-righteousness as the ground of my acceptance with God, habitually disposed to rage at reproof, fixed in gross heresy, or given to boast of that which is plainly sinful, I am certainly a leper, a servant of sin; and let me with the deepest agony and grief bewail my condition, while by faith I apply to him, for his word only can effect the cure, and his grace relieve the misery. If he find in me the opposite marks of real grace, particularly a deep sense of universal filthiness in heart and life, still let me wash myself in Jesus' blood, on account of my remaining corruptions and daily infirmities.—Let me submit to his trial the garments of my conversation, that he may purge out what is amiss, and save my soul though my works should be burned up.—Let ministers learn with what tenderness and exact attention to God's prescriptions they should judge of the states of others in order either to admit them to, or exclude them from, the seals of God's covenant.