Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 14:39
And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look,…. On the seventh day from his shutting of it up, he shall open it again, go into it, and observe in what condition it is:
and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the walls of the house: the hollow strakes are become deeper, or the coloured spots are become larger: spreading was always a sign of leprosy, both in the bodies of men, and in garments.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(39, 40) And the priest shall come again.If on inspecting it again at the end of the first weeks quarantine, the priest finds that the depression or discolouring has spread in the walls, thus indicating the progress of the disease, just as in the case of leprous men and garments (see Lev. 13:5), he is to order the affected stones which exhibit these symptoms to be pulled out of the walls, and to be cast into the unclean receptacle which was prepared outside every city for carcases and filth of every kind, just as there was outside the city a clean place for the deposition of the ashes of the sanctuary. (See Lev. 4:11.) It will be seen that out of the eight verbs used in Lev. 14:40-42 in connection with the removing of the affected stones and the constitution of new ones, the scraping, and the plaistering, six are in the plural: viz., they shall take, they shall cast (Lev. 14:40); they shall pour out, they shall scrape off (Lev. 14:41); they shall take, they shall put them (Lev. 14:42); and two are in the singular: viz., he shall take other mortar, he shall plaister (Lev. 14:42). From this the authorities during the second Temple concluded, and hence enacted, that if the affected stones are in a partition wall which divides two houses occupied by two different owners, both alike must take part in the first six acts, whilst the new mortaring and the plaistering must be done by the owner of the affected house alone.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. Be spread This was the third and decisive test.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
the seventh day = on the seventh day. Note the frequency of this number throughout, and see App-10.
spread. This is a bad sign in noting the presence and workings of our inward corruption.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lev 13:7, Lev 13:8, Lev 13:22, Lev 13:27, Lev 13:36, Lev 13:51, The consideration of the circumstances will exhibit the importance and the propriety of the Mosaic ordinance on the subject of the house leprosy.
1. Moses ordained that the owner of a house, when any suspicious spots appeared on the walls, should be bound to give notice of it, in order that the house might be inspected; and that person, as in the case of the human leprosy, was to be the priest, whose duty it was. Now this would serve to check the mischief at its very origin, and make every one attentive to observe it.
2. On notice being given, the priest was to inspect the house, but the occupant had liberty to remove everything previously out of it; and that this might be done, the priest was empowered to order it ex officio; for whatever was found within a house declared unclean, became unclean along with it.
3. If, on the first inspection, the complaint did not appear wholly without foundation, but suspicious spots or dimples were actually to be seen, the house was to be shut up for seven days and then to be inspected anew. If, in this interval, the evil did not spread, it was considered as have been a circumstance merely accidental, and the house was not polluted; but if it had spread, it was not considered a harmless accident, but the real house leprosy; and the stones affected with it were to be broken out of the wall, and carried to an unclean place without the city, and the walls of the whole house here scraped and plastered anew.
4. If, after this, the leprosy broke out afresh, the whole house was to be pulled down, and the materials carried without the city. Moses therefore, never suffered a leprous house to stand.
5. If, on the other hand, the house being inspected a second time, was found clean, it was solemnly so declared, and offering made on the occasion; in order that every one might know for certain that it was not infected, and the public be freed from all fears on that score. By this law many evils were actually prevented – it would check the mischief in its very origin, and make every one attentive to observe it: the people would also guard against those impurities whence it arose, and thus the health be preserved and not suffer in an infected house. These Mosaic statues were intended to prevent infection by the sacred obligations of religion. Ceremonial laws many keep more conscientiously and sacredly than moral precepts.