Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 13:2
When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh [like] the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:
Leprosy in man (Lev 13:2-46)
Appearances in the skin which should be shewn to the priest (2 8)
2. a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot ] Of the three words thus translated, the first is a common Heb. word for ‘lifting up,’ but employed in these chs. only in the sense of a swelling in or under the skin; the second ( appaath) occurs only here and Lev 14:56, the form mipaath from the same root only in Lev 13:6-8; the third is from a root signifying ‘to be bright or clear,’ and is used only in these chs. They all seem to denote an appearance like that of an angry-looking boil.
the plague of leprosy ] rather a plague.
plague ] lit. ‘a stroke’ ( plaga; cp. a ‘stroke’ of paralysis), which also represents the sense of the Heb. word nega ‘, which gives its name to the treatise Negim. The leper was rejected as ‘smitten of God.’ See introd. note on ch. 14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The skin of his flesh – An expression found nowhere but in this chapter. It probably denotes the cuticle or scarf skin, as distinguished from the curls or true skin.
Rising … scab … bright spot – The Hebrew words are the technical names applied to the common external signs of incipient elephantiasis.
Like the plague of leprosy – Like a stroke of leprosy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lev 13:2-46
The plague of leprosy.
The cleansing of the leper
I. The loathsome and ghastly spectacle of a leper.
1. A leper was extremely loathsome in his person. But let me remind you that this, fearful as it seems to be, is a very poor portrait of the loathsomeness of sin. If we could bear to hear what God could tell us of the exceeding wickedness and uncleanness of sin, I am sure we should die. God hides from all eyes but His own the blackness of sin.
2. The leper was not only loathsome in his person, but was defiled in all his acts. If he drank out of a vessel, the vessel was defiled. If he lay upon a bed, the bed became unclean, and whosoever sat upon the bed afterwards became unclean too. All that he did was full of the same loathsomeness as was himself. Now this may seem to be a very humiliating truth, but faithfulness requires us to say it, all the actions of the natural man are tainted with sin. Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatsoever he does, he continues to sin against his God.
3. Being thus the medium of contagion and defilement wherever he went, the Lord demanded that he should be shut out from the society of Israel. Living apart from their dearest friends, shut out from all the pleasures of society, they were required never to drink of a running stream of water of which others might drink; nor might they sit down on any stone by the roadside upon which it was probable any other person might rest. They were, to all intents and purposes, dead to all the enjoyments of life, dead to all the endearments and society of their friends. Ay, and such is the case with the sinner with regard to the people of God.
4. Once more, the leper was wholly unable to come up to the house of God. Other men might offer sacrifices, but not the leper; others had a share in the high priests great sacrifice, and when he went within the veil he appeared for all others; but the leper had neither part nor lot in this matter. He was shut out from God, as well as shut out from man. He was no partaker of the sacred things of Israel, and all the ordinances of the Tabernacle were as nothing to him. Think of that, sinner! As a sinner full of guilt thou art shut out from all communion with God. True, He gives thee the mercies of this life as the leper had his bread and water, but thou hast none of the spiritual joys which God affords to His people.
II. I shall now bring the leper up to the high priest. Here he stands; the priest has come out to meet him. Mark, whenever a leper was cleansed under the Jewish law–the leper did nothing–the priest did all. My text asserts that if there was found any sound place in him, he was unclean. But when the leprosy had covered him, wheresoever the priest looked, then the man became by sacrificial rights a clean leper. Now, let me bring up the sinner before the great High Priest this morning. How many there are, who, as they come up hither, are ready to confess that they have done many things which are wrong, but they say, Though we have done much which we cannot justify, yet there have been many good actions which might almost counterbalance the sin. Have we not been charitable to the poor, have we not sought to instruct the ignorant, to help those that are out of the way? We have some sins we do confess; but there is much at the bottom which is still right and good, and we therefore hope that we shall be delivered. I put you aside in Gods name as unclean lepers. For you there is no hope, and no promise of salvation whatever. Here comes a second. Sir, a month or two ago I would have claimed a righteousness with the very best of them. I, too, could have boasted of what I have done; but now I see my righteousness to be as filthy rags, and all my goodness is as an unclean thing. As for the future, I can make no promise; I have often promised, and so often lied. Lord, if ever I am made whole, Thy grace must make me so.
III. Having thus brought the man before the priest, we shall now briefly turn our attention to the ceremonies which the priest used in the cleansing of the leper.
1. You will perceive, first, that the priest went to the leper, not the leper to the priest. We go not up to heaven, first, till Christ comes down from His Fathers glory to the place where we as lepers are shut out from God. Thou dost take upon Thyself the form of man. Thou dost not disdain the Virgins womb; Thou comest to sinners; Thou eatest and drinkest with them!
2. But the coming of the priest was not enough, there must be a sacrifice, and on this occasion, in order to set out the two ways by which a sinner is saved, there was sacrifice mingled with resurrection. First, there was sacrifice. One of the birds was taken, and its blood was shed in a vessel which was full, as the Hebrew hath it, of living water–of water which had not been stagnant, but which was clean. Just as when Jesus Christ was put to death, blood and water flowed from His side to be of sin a double cure, so in the earthen vessel there was received, first, the living water and then the blood of the bird which had just been slain. If sin is put away it must be by blood. There is no way of patting sin from before the presence of God except by the streams which flow from the open veins of Christ. The leper was made clean by sacrifice and by resurrection, but he was not clean till the blood was sprinkled on him. Christians, the Cross does not save us till Christs blood is sprinkled on our conscience. Yet the virtual salvation was accomplished for all the elect when Christ died for them upon the tree.
IV. That after the leper was cleansed, there were certain things which he had. To do. Yet, until he is cleansed, he is to do nothing. Tim sinner can do nothing towards his own salvation. His place is the place of death. Christ must be his life. The sinner is so lost that Christ must begin, and carry on, and finish all; but, when the sinner is saved then he begins to work in right good earnest. When once he is no more a leper, but a leper cleansed, then, for the love he bears his Masters name, there is no trial too arduous, no service too hard; but he spends his whole strength in magnifying and glorifying his Lord. I will not detain you further than to notice that this man, before he might further enjoy the privileges of his healed estate, was to bring an offering, and the priest was to take him to the very door of the Tabernacle. He never dare come there before, but he may come now. So the pardoned man may come right up to Gods mercy-seat, and may bring the offering of holiness and good works. He is a pardoned man now. You ask me how? Not by anything he did, but by what the priest did, and that alone. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Leprosy, a special type of sin
I. In the first place, leprosy is undoubtedly selected to be a special type of sin, on account of its extreme loathsomeness. Beginning, indeed, as an insignificant spot, a bright place, a mere scale on the skin, it goes on progressing ever from worse to worse, till at last limb drops from limb, and only the hideous mutilated remnant of what was once a man is left.
II. But it will be rejoined by some: surely it were gross exaggeration to apply this horrible symbolism to the case of many who, although indeed sinners, unbelievers also in Christ, yet certainly exhibit truly lovely and attractive characters (see Mar 10:21). But this fact only makes leprosy the more fitting symbol of sin. For another characteristic is its insignificant and often imperceptible beginning. We are told that in the case of those who inherit the taint, it frequently remains quite dormant in early life, only gradually appearing in later years. How perfectly the type, in this respect, then, symbolises sin! No comfort can be rightly had from any complacent comparison of our own characters with those of many, perhaps professing more, who are much worse than we. No one who knew that from his parents he had inherited the leprous taint, or in whom the leprosy as yet appeared as only an insignificant bright spot, would comfort himself greatly by the observation that other lepers were much worse; and that he was, as yet, fair and goodly to look upon. Though the leprosy were in him but just begun, that would be enough to fill him with dismay and consternation. So should it be with regard to sin.
III. And it would so affect such a man the more surely, when he knew that the disease, however slight in its beginnings, was certainly progressive. This is one of the unfailing marks of the disease. And so with sin. No man can morally stand still. Sin may not develop in all with equal rapidity, but it does progress in every natural man, outwardly or inwardly, with equal certainty.
IV. It is another mark of leprosy, that sooner or later it affects the whole man; and in this, again, appears the sad fitness of the disease to stand as a symbol of sin. For sin is not a partial disorder, affecting only one class of faculties, or one part of our nature. It disorders the judgment; it obscures the moral perceptions; it either perverts the affections or unduly stimulates them in one direction while it deadens them in another; it hardens and quickens the will for evil, while it paralyses its power for the volition of that which is holy. And not only Scripture, but observation itself, teaches us that sin, in many cases, also affects the body of man, weakening its powers, and bringing in, by an inexorable law, pain, disease, death.
V. It is another remarkable feature of the disease that, as it progresses from bad to worse, the victim becomes more and more insensible. A recent writer says: Though a mass of bodily corruption, at last unable to leave his bed, the leper seems happy and contented with his sad condition. Is anything more characteristic than this of the malady of sin? The sin which, when first committed, costs a keen pang, afterward, when frequently repeated, hurts not the conscience at all. Judgments and mercies, which in earlier life affected one with profound emotion, in later life leave the impenitent sinner as unmoved as they found him.
VI. Another element of the solemn fitness of the type is found in the persistently hereditary nature of leprosy. It may indeed sometimes arise of itself, even as did sin in the case of certain of the holy angels, and with our first parents; but when once it is introduced, in the case of any person, the terrible infection descends with unfailing certainty to all his descendants; and while, by suitable hygiene, it is possible to alleviate its violence, and retard its development, it is not possible to escape the terrible inheritance. Is anything more uniformly characteristic of sin? The most cultivated and the most barbarous alike, come into the world so constituted that, quite antecedent to any act of free choice on their part, we know that it is not more certain that they will eat than that, when they begin to exercise freedom they will, each and every one, use their moral freedom wrongly–in a word will sin.
VII. And again, we find yet another analogy in the fact that, among the ancient Hebrews, the disease was regarded as incurable by human means; and, notwithstanding occasional announcements in our day that a remedy has been discovered for the plague, this seems to be the verdict of the best authorities in medical science still. That in this respect leprosy perfectly represents the sorer malady of the soul, every one is witness. No possible effort of will or fixedness of determination has ever availed to free a man from sin. Neither is culture, whether intellectual or religious, of any more avail.
VIII. Last of all, this law teaches the supreme lesson, that as with the symbolic disease of the body, so with that of the soul–sin shuts out from god and from the fellowship of the holy (see Rev 21:27; Rev 22:15). (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Discipline in the Church
1. Of the necessity and moderation of discipline in the Church.
2. That the discipline of the Church be advisedly exercised, not rashly precipitated.
3. Of the wholesome power left to the Church, of binding and loosing, and of obedience to be given thereunto.
4. The law declares mens sins, but does not heal them.
5. Of the diversity of censures in the Church. (A. Willet, D. D.)
Sin as a disease
1. Sin the cause of diseases.
2. To take heed of the least sins.
3. Ministers to rebuke sin.
4. Not to go forward in sin.
5. Not to sin against the conscience.
6. Not to be swift to judge others.
7. To shun the company of the wicked.
8. Against pride in apparel. (A. Willet, D. D.)
Leprosy
Sin is a corrupting and disorganising disease, as well as a brutal degradation and hereditary uncleanness. It is a loathsome putrescence of the whole nature. It is a sickness of the whole head, and a faintness of the whole heart. Deliverance from it is called a cure and a healing, as well as a pardon. Notice its beginnings. Leprosy was, for the most part, hereditary. After doing its work in the parent it was very apt to break out in the child. Sin began in Adam, and having wrought nine hundred years in him he died; but the taint of it was left in all who sprang from him. But leprosy was not always hereditary. Hence the necessity of a special symbol on the subject of innate depravity, such as we have in the preceding chapter. The germ of all human sin is derived from our connection with a fallen parentage. But leprosy, whether hereditary, or contracted by contagion or otherwise, began far within. Its seat is in the deepest interior of the body. It is often in the system as many as three or a dozen years before it shows itself. How exactly this describes sin l Nero and Caligula were once tender infants, apparently the very personifications of innocence. Who that saw their sweet slumbers upon the bosoms of their mothers would ever have suspected that in those gentle forms were latent seeds which finally developed into bloody butchery, and tyranny, and vice, at which the world for ages has stood amazed! And little do we know of those depths of deceit which we carry in ourselves, or to what enormities of crime we are liable any day to be driven. The taint of leprosy is within, and nothing but watchfulness and grace can keep it from breaking out in all its corrosive and wasting power.
1. The first visible signs of leprosy are often very minute and inconsiderable, and not easily detected. A small pustule or rising of the flesh–a little bright red spot like that made by a puncture from a pin–a very trifling eruption, indentation, or scaliness of the skin–or some other very slight symptom, is usually the first sign which it gives of its presence. And from these small beginnings the whole living death of the leper is developed. How vivid the picture of the fact, that the worst and darkest iniquities may grow out of the smallest beginnings! A look of the eye, a desire of the heart, a thought of the imagination, a touch of the hand, a single word of compliance, is often the door of inlet to Satan and all bells troops.
2. Leprosy is also gradual in its development. It does not break out in its full violence at once. Its first manifestations are so trifling that one who did not understand it would consider it nothing at all. No man is an outbreaking and confirmed villain at once. People are shocked, and hold up their hands in horror at scandalous crimes; but they forget that these are only the easy sequences of little indulgences and sins of which they take no account. They need to be told that there is a close interior brotherhood and cohesion between sins, and that he who takes one to his favour is at once beset with all the rest.
3. Again, leprosy is in itself an exceedingly loathsome and offensive disorder–a kind of perpetual small-pox, only more deeply seated and attended with more inward corruption.
4. Again, leprosy under this law carried with it a most melancholy condemnation of Jewish leper was not only horribly diseased, but also fearfully cursed in consequence of his disease. He was pronounced unclean by the law and by the priests. Such is the type, and it is the same with the antitype. Every sinner is condemned as well as diseased, and condemned for the very reason that he is diseased. There is a sentence of uncleanness and exclusion upon him. He has no fellowship with the saints, and no share in the holy services of Gods people. He is a spiritual outcast–a moral leper–unclean, and ready for the realms of everlasting banishment and death.
5. And yet the picture is not quite complete. It remains to be said that there was no earthly cure for leprosy. The prophet of God, by his miraculous power, could remove it, but no human power or skill could. It was beyond the reach of physician or priest. And so it is with sin. It is a consumption which cannot be cured–a cancer which cannot be extracted–a leprosy which cannot be cleansed–except by the direct power of Divine grace. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The gospel of the leprosy
1. It is a work both difficult and weighty for people to discern and judge aright of their own spiritual condition. This appears by all these rules and directions.
2. It is the priests office to judge of the leprosy. Goal has given His ministers power to retain and remit sins (Joh 20:23).
3. Note the rules of trial, whereby the priest is to judge of the leprosy.
(1) If it be but skindeep, it is not the leprosy, he is clean; but if deeper, he is unclean (Lev 13:3-4; Lev 13:20; Lev 13:25; Lev 13:30). A child of God may have spots in his skin, frailties in his life; but his heart is sound. There are other sins rooted deep in the heart, that affect the vitals.
(2) Does it stand at a stay, or does it spread further and further (Lev 13:5-8; Lev 13:23; Lev 13:27-28; Lev 13:34; Lev 13:36-37)? Evil men grow worse and worse: their corruptions gain ground upon them. But it is a sign there is some beginning of healing if it stand at a stay. If the Lord be healing a sinner, mortifying his lusts, he is clean.
(3) If there be proud raw flesh in the rising, he is not to be shut up in suspense; the thing is evident (Lev 13:9-11; Lev 13:14-15). Pride, presumption, and impatience of reproof, are bad signs.
(4) If all be turned white, a man is clean (Lev 13:12; Lev 13:17; Lev 13:34).
(a) The natural reason. It is a sign of some inward strength of nature, that it expels the disease, and sends it forth to the outward parts.
(b) The spiritual reason. A humble acknowledgment of the overspreading corruption of our nature, and flying to Christ for help under a thorough conviction and sense of our total uncleanness and pollutedness; this is a sign the plague is healed, and the leper made clean.
(5) In ease the leprosy be in the head, he is doubly unclean (Lev 13:44). Where sin has prevailed so far as to blind the very mind and understanding, men are more incapable of conversion than others, because so far from conviction.
4. Note the duties imposed upon the leper (Lev 13:45-47).
(1) Rend clothes. Sign of sorrow and lamentation.
(2) Bare head.
(3) Cover lips to express shame.
(4) Give warning to others to shun him. A scandalous sinner must not charge others with his failings, but load his own conscience, and take his guiltiness home to himself.
(5) Dwell alone. Excommunication. (S. Mather.)
Avoidance of false suspicion
When you read in the fourth verse of shutting up the parties for seven days, and then to look on it again, you may note with yourself, how greatly God hateth hasty, rash, and uncharitable judgment. A thing which many men and women, otherwise honest and good, are carried away withal, to their own great hurt, not only in soul, but in worldly reputation also, and to the bitter and biting discomfort of those whom they ought to love and judge well of. Nay, you may reason further with yourself thus: That if in a matter thus subject to the eye, as these sores were, yet God would have no haste, but a stay for seven days, and longer as occasion served, before any judgment should be given that the party was unclean. Oh, how much more doth He abhor haste and love leisure, in pronouncing of the hearts and thoughts of our friends and neighbours which are not seen, nor subject to an easy censure? (Bp. Babington.)
Sin may be invisible to human eyes
A lady, whose portrait had often been successfully taken before, paid a visit one day to the photographers for the purpose of having a new one taken. After she had sat for it in the usual way, the photographer retired with the plate to examine the picture which the suns light had drawn there, but as the lines gradually developed in the chemical bath a strange sight was revealed. In the portrait the ladys face appeared covered with a number of dark spots; but yet no one looking at her that day was able to detect the slightest trace of them in her face I But the next day the explanation came. The spots had then become distinctly visible. The lady was ill of small-pox, of which she died. The faint yellow of the spots, some time before human eyes could discern it, had been marked by the pure light of the sun, and traced in darkened spots in that inexorably true picture drawn on the photographic plate, revealing the horrible disease that already, though as yet invisible to human eyes, was seated there. (Biblical Treasury.)
The importance of attending to the disease of sin
Sin is an awful disease. I hear people say, with a toss of the head, and with a trivial manner: Oh, yes, Im a sinner. Sin is an awful disease. It is leprosy. It is dropsy. It is consumption. It is all moral disorders in one. Now, you know there is a crisis in a disease. Perhaps you have had some illustration of it in your own family. Sometimes the physician has called, and he has looked at the patient and said: That case was simple enough; but the crisis has passed. If you had called me yesterday, or this morning, I could have cured the patient. It is too late now; the crisis has passed. Just so it is in the spiritual treatment of the soul–there is a crisis. Before that, life. After that, death. Oh, as you love your soul, do not let the crisis pass unattended to. There are some here who can remember instances in life when, if they had bought a certain property, they would have become very rich. A few acres that would have cost them almost nothing were offered them. They refused them. Afterwards a large village or city sprang up on those acres of ground, and they see what a mistake they made in not buying the property. There was an opportunity of getting it. It never came again. And so it is in regard to a mans spiritual and eternal fortune. There is a chance; if you let that go, perhaps it never comes back. Certainly that one never comes back. (H. W. Beecher.)
Leprosy and six hereditary
Never shall I forget a visit which I paid to the leper hospital outside the East Gate of Damascus, which tradition says occupies the site of Naamans house. A woman was crossing the courtyard, whose loathsome features seemed all but eaten away by disease. In her hands–the fingers of which were almost consumed by leprosy–she held a sweet-looking infant, as fair and pretty a child as one could desire to see. The contrast was most painful. Life and health and innocence seemed to sleep in the arms of sin, disease, and death. I said to the missionary who accompanied me, Surely the woman is not the mother Of the child? He said, Yes, she is; the child does not show the leprosy now, but it is in the blood, and before long it will probably appear; and if the infant live long enough she will be as bad as the mother. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? (J. W. Bardsley.)
Ministers must seek to produce conviction of sin
A devoted minister relates the following: A friend of mine was visiting a dying carter, and said to him, My friend, do you feel yourself a sinner? I do not know that I am, was the reply; I suppose I am like other people; I do not feel very bad. We must get that point settled, said my friend. Let me ask you a few questions. Have you ever taken too much to drink? Well, fellows like me, you know, are likely to do that now and then, out as we are in all weathers. I am not asking you about the weathers, my question is, Have you done this? Yes, I have. Have you ever sworn? Well, we carters are a rough lot, and a mans temper sometimes– Stop! you admit that you have sworn, that you have cursed, and taken Gods name in vain. Did you ever break the Lords day? Well, it would be difficult for us carters, busy as we are with our horses, to keep the Lords day. Stop! here are three things–drunkenness, profane swearing, and Sabbath-breaking-that you admit yourself guilty of. How can you say that you are not a sinner? You must take your place as a sinner, my friend; and the sooner you do it, the better. He did so, and found mercy and pardon through the atoning blood of Christ. It is of no use for men to deny, or try to explain away, the fact of their sinfulness; they will never take their true place until they do so as sinners in the sight of God.
The difficulty of knowing aright ones true spiritual state
A young lady, who was under concern of soul, said to Dr. Nettleton: I certainly do desire to be a Christian. I desire to be holy. I would give all the world for an interest in Christ. What you say will not bear examination, said Dr. Nettleton. If you really desire religion for what it is, there is nothing to hinder you from possessing it. I can make a representation which will show you your heart, if you are willing to see it. I am, she replied. It will look very bad, said Dr. N., but if you are willing to see it, I will make the representation. Suppose you were a young lady of fortune; and suppose a certain young man should desire to possess your fortune, and should, for that reason, conclude to pay his addresses to you. But he does not happen to be pleased with your person. He does not love you, but hates you. And suppose he should come to you, and say, I really wish I could love you, but I do not. I would give all the world if I could love you; but I cannot. What would you think of that young man? We may readily guess the confusion and silence to which she was brought, by this faithful exposure of the deception which she had practised upon herself. (Sword and Trowel.)
Sinners ought to be willing to know their true state
A man once said this to Dr. Nettleton, I sincerely desire to be a Christian. I have often gone to the house of God, hoping that something which should be said might be sent home to my mind by the Spirit of God, and be blessed to my salvation. You are willing, then, are you not, said Dr. N., that I should converse with you, hoping that my conversation may be the means of your conversion? I am, was his reply. If you are willing to be a Christian, added Dr. Nettleton, you are willing to perform the duties of religion; for this is what is implied in being a Christian. Are you willing to perform these duties? I do not know but that I am, was the rather doubtful reply. Well, then, you are the head of a family. One of the duties of religion is family prayer. Are you willing to pray in your family? I should be, he replied, if I were a Christian; but it cannot be the duty of such a man as I am to pray. The prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. And is it not, said Dr. Nettleton, an abomination unto the Lord to live without prayer? But just let me show you how you deceive yourself. You think you really desire to be converted. But you are not willing to be convicted. Just as soon as I mention a duty which you are neglecting, you begin to excuse and justify yourself, on purpose to keep your sin out of sight. You are not willing to see that it is an heinous sin to live in the neglect of family prayer. How can you expect to be brought to repentance until you are willing to see your sinfulness; and how can you flatter yourself that you really desire to be a Christian while you thus close your eyes against the truth? (Sword and Trowel.)
A diseased nature
It is not necessary to split hairs over the doctrine of original sin, nor to trip against stumblingblocks labelled transmitted iniquity, in order to arrive at the conclusion that man as he is in this world needs moral helps. It was forcibly said, by way of illustration, that a wolf cub has probably never killed a sheep, but it undoubtedly will if it lives and has a chance–because it has the wolf nature. Man does not need to look outside of his own heart, if he be honest, to know that he has in his nature a tendency to sin-that he needs constraints around him and a new spirit within him to keep him true to the higher life. Sin progressive:–Amongst many other diseases that the body is incident unto, there is one that is called by the name of gangrena, which doth altogether affect the joints, against which there is no remedy but to cut off that joint where it settled, otherwise it will pass from joint to joint, till the whole body is endangered. Such is the nature of sin, which unless it be cut off in the first motion, it proceedeth unto action, from action to delectation, from delight unto custom, and from that unto habit, which being as it were, a second nature, is never, or very hardly removed without much prayer and fasting. (J. Spencer.)
The power of one sin
While I was walking in the garden one bright morning, a breeze came through and set all the flowers and leaves a-fluttering. Now, that is the way flowers talk, so I pricked up my ears and listened. Presently an old eldertree said: Flowers, shake off your caterpillars. Why? said a dozen altogether, for they were like some children who always say, Why? when they are told to do anything. Bad children, those! The elder said: If you dont, theyll gobble you up. So the flowers set themselves a-shaking, till the caterpillars were shaken off. In one of the middle beds there was a beautiful rose, which shook off all but one, and she said to herself: Oh, thats a beauty! Ill keep that one. The elder overheard her, and called out: One caterpillar is enough to spoil you. But, said the rose, look at his brown and crimson fur and his beautiful black eyes, and scores of little feet. I want to keep him. Surely one wont hurt me. A few mornings after I passed the rose again. There was not a whole leaf on her; her beauty was gone, she was all but killed, and had only life enough to weep over her folly, while the tear stood like dewdrops on her tattered leaves. Alas! I didnt think one caterpillar would ruin me!
If the plague be turned into white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean
At first sight it seems strange to ordain that the man should be reckoned clean if the leprosy were out upon him and covered him wholly. The reason, however, may be–
1. Natural.
2. Moral.
If natural, then it is either because the leprosy is not so infectious when it has thus come all out on the body, the hard, dry scurf not being likely to spread infection, whereas the ichor of raw flesh would (see Bagster); or, because it really is not a proper leprosy if it so come out–it is a salt humour cast out by the strength of the mans constitution, and is not deep-seated. It is rather a relief to the constitution; as when measles or small-pox come out to the surface of the body, recovery is hopeful. If it was for a moral reason, then it seems meant to teach that the Lord has a deep abhorrence of a corrupt nature–deeper far than merely of corrupt actions. We are ever ready to take home the guilt of evil deeds, but to palliate the evil of a depraved heart. But the Lord reverses the case. His severest judgment is reserved for inward depravity. And yet more. Is it not when a soul is fully sensible of entire corruption (as Isa 1:5) that salvation is nearest? A complete Saviour for a complete sinner? If there appeared any raw flesh, then the man is unclean. For this indicates inward disease–not on the surface only. It is working into the flesh. But if the raw flesh, turn and be changed into white, then it is plain that the disease is not gone inwards; it is playing on the skin only. Let him stand, therefore, as clean. Perhaps the case of a pardoned man may be referred to again in this type. His iniquity comes all out to view, when it is thrown into the fountain opened; and the inner source of it is checked. The seat of corruption has been removed, But if, after the appearance of pardon, the man turn aside to folly (if raw flesh appear), he is to be counted unclean. If, however, this turning aside to folly be checked, if this backsliding be healed, then it is like the raw flesh, turning into white–it evidences that his nature is sound–it has not returned to its state of thorough depravity. (A. A. Bonar.)
Unclean, unclean.
The leper diseased
Leper, canst thou not read thy case here? Afflicted, exercised, tempted, downcast child of God, dost thou not see thy character here described by an inspired pen?
1. The leper in whom the plague is. Is sin your plague? Take all your worldly anxieties, tie them up in one bundle, and put them into the scale; now place in the other scale the plague of sin. Which scale goes down? If you are a spiritual leper, you will say, Oh, it is sin, sin, that I sometimes fear will be a millstone to drown my soul in hell. And canst thou find this mark, the leper in whom the plague is? Is not this a very striking expression, In whom ? I think Paul has hit the matter to a nicety; and well he might, for he wrote as a man who knew what he was writing about; he says, The sin that dwelleth in me. Sin is not like a martin that builds its nest under the eaves, which sticks to the house, but is not in the house. Neither is sin a lodger to whom you can give a weeks or a months notice to quit; nor is it a servant whom you may call up, pay him his months wages, and send him about his business. No, no. Sin is one of the family who dwells in the house, and will not be turned out of the house–haunts every room, nestles in every corner, and like the poor ejected Irish of whom we read, will never leave the tenement while stick or stone hangs together. Is not this the case with you? Does not sin dwell in you, work in you, lust in you, go to bed with you, get up with you, and all the day long, more or less, crave, design, or imagine some evil thing? Do you feel sin to be a plague and a pest, as it must be to every living soul? Then are you not something of a leper if the plague dwell in you?
2. But the lepers clothes were to be rent.
(1) This was a sign of mourning. Grief, sorrow, is their continual portion on account of the leprosy that is in them.
(2) Rending the clothes was also a sign of abhorrence. Thus the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy, when the Lord Jesus, in answer to his question, affirmed that He was the Son of God.
(3) The rent clothes, therefore, of the leper show his self-abhorrence and self-loathing. Seeing the holiness and purity of God it is with him as with Job. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
(4) The rent clothes was also a figure of a rent and contrite heart. Rend your hearts, says the prophet, and not your garments; implying that though the rent garment was a figure of a rent heart, yet the outward mark was nothing without the inward feeling.
3. But the leper was also to have his head bare. No covering from Gods wrath was allowed him; bareheaded he stood exposed to the winds and storms of heaven, bare before the lightnings flash. And does not this represent the poor sinner without a covering before God; sensible that he is amenable to Gods justice and eternal indignation?
4. But he was also to have a covering on his upper lip. And this for the same reason that we cover the mouth of the grave–to present the infection of his breath. If he covered but the lower lip, the breath might come forth. Have you ever thought and felt that there was sin enough in your heart to infect a world? that if every man and woman in the world were perfectly holy, and you were left freely to give vent to every thought and imagination of your carnal mind, there was sin enough there to taint every individual? It is so, felt or not; for sin is of that infectious nature that there is enough in one mans heart to fill all London with horror. Oh, when a man knows this he is glad to have a covering for his upper lip! He cannot boast then of what a good heart he has, nor what good resolutions he has made, or what great performances he means to accomplish. He has at times a very Vesuvius in him, and wants no one to come within the mouth of the crater. If a man has a covering upon the upper lip he will not boast of his goodness.
5. But the leper was to have a cry in his mouth. That cry was Unclean, unclean. It was a warning cry. He was to shout to the passengers, if any were drawing near, Unclean, unclean; come not near me; I am a leper; I shall pollute you; beware of my breath, it carries infection with it; touch me not; if you touch me you will be tainted with the same malady; beware of me; keep your distance; standoff! Yes, but you say, Come; I am not so bad as that; I am religious, and holy, and consistent. I am sure I need not cover my upper lip and cry, Unclean, unclean. Oh, no; certainly not. You are not a leper. You have had years ago a rising, or a boil, and at the priests direction you have washed your clothes and are clean. But if you do not feel to be a leper, there are those who do; and such do cry, and ever must cry, Unclean, unclean. And if they do not uncover all their sores to men, they can do so to God.
6. But all the (lays wherein the plague was in the leper he was to be defiled; he was unclean. Such is a spiritual leper; defiled by sin; polluted from head to foot, as long as the leprosy remains.
7. But what was the necessary consequence of this? He shall dwell alone. A solitary religion is generally a good religion. Gods tried people have not many companions. The exercised cannot walk with the unexercised; the polluted with the unpolluted; the sick with the well; tile leper with the clean; for how can two walk together except they be agreed? (J. C. Philpot.)
Disease and sin
This great fact that a disease in the body was typical of a malady in the soul reminds us at once that there was perfect harmony between the body and the soul, between things spiritual and things temporal, between things heavenly and things earthly. There is enough of the harmony still surviving to show what and how rich it once was. The historical statement in this chapter is, that the leprosy overspread the whole body, till it became, in language used by one of the prophets, white as snow; the whole physical economy was infected with its deadly poison. And, in that respect, it was the type, and is indeed referred to in the New Testament as the type, of that sin which has infected the whole soul and body of mankind. Take any one faculty that is within us, and we shall find on it the great leprosy, or taint, or moral influence of sin. Mans intellect has in it still remaining energies that give token of what it once was; but it has in it also defects, and tremulousness, and weakness, and paralysis, that indicate that it is the subject of some great derangement. I need not attempt to prove that the heart also is defiled. Our blessed Lord gives the heart its faithful character when He says, Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murder, adultery, and such like; and these are the things that defile a man. Truly, therefore, and justly did the Psalmist pray, Create in me a clean heart, O God: renew a right spirit within me. But not only are the heart and intellect affected, as I have shown you, but the conscience also has suffered, and is poisoned by the universal disease. It is sometimes overflowed by guilty passions, it is sometimes silent when it ought to rebuke them; sometimes quiescent when it ought to assert its original authority, and sometimes the democracy of the passions rises in fierce array, dethrones the monarch that ought to govern them, and prompts man to pursue the infatuated course that leads to his ruin. And in the worst of cases this power of conscience is often perverted to the wrong side, sanctioning the sins which it ought to abhor. When the intellect that discerns, the heart that loves or hates, and the conscience that testifies what is right or wrong, are thus infected, truly may we say with Isaiah, The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint, &c. Were the tokens and the evidences of the assertion I have made not so obvious and so numerous as they actually are, you find other proofs in the miser fixing his heart upon gold, in spite of the decisions of intellect, the better impulses of the heart, and the rebukes of conscience. You find the drunkard still indulging in his cups, notwithstanding a thousand testimonies within and without, that he is ruining soul and body. You find the Pharisee robbing widows houses, and making long prayers for a pretence. You find the very religion of love and truth corrupted into the religion of superstition, of hate, and a lie. So depraved and fallen is man that it looks that, if he had the power, he would turn redemption itself into a nullity, or into a curse. There is, then, on all sides the evidence of some great derangement. We never can suppose we were made so. Disease seems to us natural, but it is most unnatural; error, sin, hate, all seem to us normal and ordinary, but they are really altogether the reverse. We find, on tracing the similitude between the disease which is here mentioned, that the leper had to be insulated from the rest of the world, and left by himself to get rid of the disease that thus separated him. So the sinner, in Gods moral government, must be for ever separated from the communion and company of the holy, if he continue the subject of this great moral malady–sin. The lepers disease was so bad that it was incurable by human means. It is so with sin. Like the leprosy, in the next place, sin is contagious. The characteristic disease of the Israelite spread from person to person, from house to house, and throughout the whole land. And who needs to be taught that evil communications corrupt good manners? Who needs to learn that there is in an evil word, in a crooked course, a contagious influence that is distilled upon susceptible and sensitive and living hearts? In the ancient economy, the party to whom the leper presented himself, was not the physician, as in other diseases, but the priest. And this shows that it was a disease in some shape intimately associated with mans guilt, or with sin. A Jew of old, like a Gentile now, if taken ill, applied to the physician; but when infected with this great typical disease, he did not go to the physician, but to the priest. But, more than this, even the priest could not heal him; the priest had no prescription that could heal him, no balm that could remove it. All that he could do was to say, You are healed, or You are not healed, or, You are advancing towards convalescence, or the reverse. The priest was to pronounce him clean, or to pronounce him unclean. But how much better is the economy under which we live! Our High Priest can not only pronounce us clean, but make us clean; He can not only say that we are justified, but He can justify us by His perfect righteousness, forgive us by His atoning blood, by His sanctifying Spirit, through His inspired Word. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
The separating influences of sin
Any one who has visited Jerusalem may have seen the lepers standing day by day near the Jaffa Gate soliciting alms from those passing the threshold of the city which they themselves were not allowed to enter. Most travellers who have either witnessed this painful sight or visited the houses of the lepers at the Zion Gate must have recalled the words, Without the camp shall his habitation be. No type so strikingly brings out the separating influences of sin as that of leprosy; telling the sinner, in no uncertain tones, that unless his sin be pardoned, his leprosy cleansed, he shall never enter the gates of the heavenly city. Howels, in one of his sermons, finely says that when Adam sinned, God, having locked the gate of Paradise to prevent the entrance of men, cast the key into the very depths of hell. There it lay, and man must for ever have been excluded–without the camp, the place of Gods dwelling, whether typified by garden, camp, or city, must his habitation have been–had not the Son of God, with His Fathers will and pleasure, wrought our deliverance. As He stood on the edge of the fiery abyss–the wrath of God due to mans sin–He drew back. Again He looked into the terrible gulf. Then, with a love incomprehensible were it not Divine, He plunged into its depths, found the key, ascended upon high, led captivity captive, opened the gate of Paradise; and now the kingdom of heaven is open to all believers. (J. W. Bardsley, M. A.)
Leprous outcasts in England
A gentleman visiting the venerable church of St. Marys in the village of Minster, near Ramsgate, said to the guide, What means this hole through the wall? That, replied the guide, recalls a fact which is full of interest and pathos. In the twelfth century there were a number of lepers in the neighbourhood. You will understand, of course, that they were obliged to live by themselves, and were supported by charity. Over at the old Abbey you may still see the place where bread and other food was passed out to them. Being unclean, and afflicted with a horrible and incurable disease which was contagious, they were not allowed in church, or to come in contact with healthy persons, so they had no way of taking any direct part in the worship of God. Both as to soul and body they were driven out from all intercourse with the rest of mankind. Yet many of them longed for some sound or sight that might comfort them in their sad, loathsome, and hopeless condition. Taking pity on the poor creatures, the monks made this hole in the wall, so that, one at a time, they could see the priests ministering at the altar, hear the music, and perhaps a few words of the Mass. Then they would go back to their huts and caves, trusting that in heaven, if not on earth, they might be free from the dreadful curse under which they suffered. That is why this hole is called the Lepers Squint. Poor outcasts! my heart aches to think of them, though they are all dead and gone these seven hundred years.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. The plague of leprosy] This dreadful disorder has its name leprosy, from the Greek , from , a scale, because in this disease the body was often covered with thin white scales, so as to give it the appearance of snow. Hence it is said of the hand of Moses, Ex 4:6, that it was leprous as snow; and of Miriam, Nu 12:10, that she became leprous, as white as snow; and of Gehazi, 2Kg 5:27, that, being judicially struck with the disease of Naaman, he went out from Elisha’s presence a leper as white as snow. See Clarke on Ex 4:6.
In Hebrew this disease is termed tsaraath, from tsara, to smite or strike; but the root in Arabic signifies to cast down or prostrate, and in AEthiopic, to cause to cease, because, says Stockius, “it prostrates the strength of man, and obliges him to cease from all work and labour.”
There were three signs by which the leprosy was known.
1. A bright spot.
2. A rising (enamelling) of the surface.
3. A scab; the enamelled place producing a variety of layers, or stratum super stratum, of these scales.
The account given by Mr. Maundrell of the appearance of several persons whom he saw infected with this disorder in Palestine, will serve to show, in the clearest light, its horrible nature and tendency.
“When I was in the Holy Land,” says he, in his letter to the Rev. Mr. Osborn, Fellow of Exeter College, “I saw several that laboured under Gehazi’s distemper; particularly at Sichem, (now Naplosu,) there were no less than ten that came begging to us at one time. Their manner is to come with small buckets in their hands, to receive the alms of the charitable; their touch being still held infectious, or at least unclean. The distemper, as I saw it on them, was quite different from what I have seen it in England; for it not only defiles the whole surface of the body with a foul scurf, but also deforms the joints of the body, particularly those of the wrists and ankles, making them swell with a gouty scrofulous substance, very loathsome to look on. I thought their legs like those of old battered horses, such as are often seen in drays in England. The whole distemper, indeed, as it there appeared, was so noisome, that it might well pass for the utmost corruption of the human body on this side the grave. And certainly the inspired penman could not have found out a fitter emblem, whereby to express the uncleanness and odiousness of vice.” – Maundrell’s Travels. Letters at the end. The reader will do well to collate this account with that given from Dr. Mead; See Clarke on Ex 4:6.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the skin, for there was the seat of the leprosy.
Bright spot, shining like the scale of a fish, as it is in the beginning of a leprosy.
Leprosy was a distemper most frequent in Egypt and Syria, &c., known also among the Greeks, who note that it was not so properly a disease as a defilement or distemper in the skin, whence Christ is not said to heal, but to cleanse the lepers that came to him. And this distemper is here provided against, not because it was worse than others, but because it was externally and visibly filthy, and because of its infectious nature, that hereby we might be instructed to avoid converse with such vicious persons who were likely to infect us.
He shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, not to the physician, because, as was now said, it needed not so much healing as cleansing, and was rather a ceremonial pollution than a disease; and because it belonged to the priest to cleanse him, and therefore to search and discover whether he was defiled and needed cleansing. The priest also was to admit to, or exclude from, the sanctuary, and therefore to examine who were to be excluded. And the discovery of this distemper was not so difficult that it required the physicians art, but the priest, by experience, and the observation of those rules, might easily make it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. When a man shall have in theskin, c.The fact of the following rules for distinguishing theplague of leprosy being incorporated with the Hebrew code of laws,proves the existence of the odious disease among that people. But ashort time, little more than a year (if so long a period had elapsedsince the exodus) when symptoms of leprosy seem extensively to haveappeared among them and as they could not be very liable to such acutaneous disorder amid their active journeyings and in the dry openair of Arabia, the seeds of the disorder must have been laid inEgypt, where it has always been endemic. There is every reason tobelieve that this was the case: that the leprosy was not a familycomplaint, hereditary among the Hebrews, but that they got it fromintercourse with the Egyptians and from the unfavorable circumstancesof their condition in the house of bondage. The great excitement andirritability of the skin in the hot and sandy regions of the Eastproduce a far greater predisposition to leprosy of all kinds than incooler temperatures; and cracks or blotches, inflammations or evencontusions of the skin, very often lead to these in Arabia andPalestine, to some extent, but particularly in Egypt. Besides, thesubjugated and distressed state of the Hebrews in the latter country,and the nature of their employment, must have rendered them veryliable to this as well as to various other blemishes andmisaffections of the skin; in the production of which there are nocauses more active or powerful than a depressed state of body andmind, hard labor under a burning sun, the body constantly coveredwith the excoriating dust of brick fields, and an impoverisheddietto all of which the Israelites were exposed while under theEgyptian bondage. It appears that, in consequence of these hardships,there was, even after they had left Egypt, a general predispositionamong the Hebrews to the contagious forms of leprosyso that itoften occurred as a consequence of various other affections of theskin. And hence all cutaneous blemishes or blainsespecially suchas had a tendency to terminate in leprosywere watched with ajealous eye from the first [GOOD,Study of Medicine]. A swelling, a pimple, or bright spot onthe skin, created a strong ground of suspicion of a man’s beingattacked by the dreaded disease.
then he shall be brought untoAaron the priest, c.Like the Egyptian priests, the Levitesunited the character of physician with that of the sacred office andon the appearance of any suspicious eruptions on the skin, the personhaving these was brought before the priestnot, however, to receivemedical treatment, though it is not improbable that some purifyingremedies might be prescribed, but to be examined with a view to thosesanitary precautions which it belonged to legislation to adopt.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh,…. Rules are here given, by which a leprosy might be judged of; which, as a disease, was frequent in Egypt, where the Israelites had dwelt a long time, and from whence they were just come; and is doubtless the reason, as learned men have observed, that several Heathen writers make the cause of their expulsion from Egypt, as they choose to call it, though wrongly, their being infected with this distemper; whereas it was the reverse, not they, but the Egyptians, were incident to it z. Moreover, the leprosy here spoken of seems not to be the same with that disease, or what we now call so, though some have thought otherwise; it being rather an uncleanness than a disease, and the business of a priest, and not a physician to attend unto; and did not arise from natural causes, but was from the immediate hand of God, and was inflicted on men for their sins, as the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah show; and who by complying with the rites and ceremonies hereafter enjoined, their sins were pardoned, and they were cleansed; so that as their case was extraordinary and supernatural, their cure and cleansing were as remarkable: besides, this impurity being in garments and houses, shows it to be something out of the ordinary way. And this law concerning it did not extend to all men, only to the Israelites, and such as were in connection with them, such as proselytes. It is said a, all are defiled with the plague (of leprosy) except an idolater and a proselyte of the gate; and the commentators say b, even servants, and little ones though but a day old; that is, they are polluted with it, and so come under this law. Now the place where this disorder appears is “in the skin of the flesh”; that is, where there is a skin, and that is seen; for there are some places, the Jewish writers c say, are not reckoned the skin of the flesh, or where that is not seen, and such places are excepted, and they are these; the inside of the eye, of the ear, and of the nose: wrinkles in the neck, under the pap, and under the arm hole; the sole of the foot, the nail, the head and beard: and this phrase, “in the skin of his flesh”, is always particularly mentioned; and when there appeared in it
a rising, scab, or bright spot; the scab that is placed between the rising or swelling, and the bright spot, belongs to them both, and is a kind of an accessory, or second to each of them: hence the Jews distinguish the scab of the swelling, and the scab of the bright spot; so that these make four in all, as they observe d. And to this agrees what Ben Gersom on this text remarks; the bright spot is, whose whiteness is as the snow; the rising or swelling is what is white, as the pure wool of a lamb of a day old; the scab is what is inferior in whiteness to the rising, and is as in the degree of the whiteness of the shell or film of an egg; and this is the order of these appearances, the most white is the bright spot, after that the rising, and after that the scab of the bright spot, and after that the scab of the rising or swelling; and, lo, what is in whiteness below the whiteness of this (the last) is not the plague of leprosy:
and it be in the skin of his flesh [like] the plague of leprosy; either of the above appearances in the skin, having somewhat in them similar to the leprosy, or which may justly raise a suspicion of it, though it is not clear and manifest;
then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests; for, as Jarchi notes, there was no pollution nor purification of the leprosy, but by the mouth or determination of a priest. And a good man that was desirous, and made conscience of observing the laws of God, when he observed anything of the above in him, and had any suspicion of his case, would of himself go, and show himself to the priest; but if a man did not do this, and any of his neighbours observed the appearances on him, brought him to the priest whether he would or not, according to the text,
he shall be brought: that is, as Aben Ezra explains it, whether with or without his will; for he that sees in him one of the signs, shall oblige him to come to the priest; and who observes, that by Aaron the priest is meant, the priest anointed in his room; and by his sons the priests, the common priests, who are found without the sanctuary; such as the priests of Anathoth, but who were not of those that were rejected.
z Est elephas morbus—–gignitur Aegypto. Lucret. l. 6. ver. 1112. a Misn. Negaim, c. 3. sect. 1. b Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. c Misn. Negaim. c. 6. sect. 8. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. d Misn. ib. c. 1. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn. – Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot.” , a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.), signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple. , an eruption, scurf, or scab, from to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel). .)le , from , in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras. , a stroke (lit., “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.), but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:3 A person so diseased was to be pronounced unclean, ( a) if the hair of his head had turned white on the mole, i.e., if the dark hair which distinguished the Israelites had become white; and ( b) if the appearance of the mole was deeper than the skin of the flesh, i.e., if the spot, where the mole was, appeared depressed in comparison with the rest of the skin. In that case it was leprosy. These signs are recognised by modern observers (e.g., Hensler); and among the Arabs leprosy is regarded as curable if the hair remains black upon the white spots, but incurable if it becomes whitish in colour.
Lev 13:4-6 But if the bright spot was white upon the skin, and its appearance was not deeper than the skin, and the place therefore was not sunken, nor the hair turned white, the priest was to shut up the leper, i.e., preclude him from intercourse with other men, for seven days, and on the seventh day examine him again. If he then found that the mole still stood, i.e., remained unaltered, “in his eyes,” or in his view, that it had not spread any further, he was to shut him up for seven days more. And if, on further examination upon the seventh day, he found that the mole had become paler, had lost its brilliant whiteness, and had not spread, he was to declare him clean, for it was a scurf, i.e., a mere skin eruption, and not true leprosy. The person who had been pronounced clean, however, was to wash his clothes, to change himself from even the appearance of leprosy, and then to be clean.
Lev 13:7-8 But if the scurf had spread upon the skin “after his (first) appearance before the priest with reference to his cleansing,” i.e., to be examined concerning his purification; and if the priest notice this on his second appearance, he was to declare him unclean, for in that case it was leprosy.
Lev 13:9-17 The second case (Lev 13:9-17): if the leprosy broke out without previous eruptions.
Lev 13:9-11 “If a mole of leprosy is in a man, and the priest to whom he is brought sees that there is a white rising in the skin, and this has turned the hair white, and there is raw (proud) flesh upon the elevation, it is an old leprosy.” The apodosis to Lev 13:9 and Lev 13:10 commences with Lev 13:11. living, i.e., raw, proud flesh. the preservation of life (Gen 45:5), sustenance (Jdg 6:4); here, in Lev 13:10 and Lev 13:24, it signifies life in the sense of that which shows life, not a blow or spot ( , from to strike), as it is only in a geographical sense that the verb has this signification, viz., to strike against, or reach as far as (Num 34:11). If the priest found that the evil was an old, long-standing leprosy, he was to pronounce the man unclean, and not first of all to shut him up, as there was no longer any doubt about the matter.
Lev 13:12-13 If, on the other hand, the leprosy broke out blooming on the skin, and covered the whole of the skin from head to foot “with regard to the whole sight of the eyes of the priest,” i.e., as far as his eyes could see, the priest was to pronounce the person clean. “He has turned quite white,” i.e., his dark body has all become white. The breaking out of the leprous matter in this complete and rapid way upon the surface of the whole body was the crisis of the disease; the diseased matter turned into a scurf, which died away and then fell off.
Lev 13:14-19 “But in the day when proud flesh appears upon him, he is unclean,…the proud flesh is unclean; it is leprosy.” That is to say, if proud flesh appeared after the body had been covered with a white scurf, with which the diseased matter had apparently exhausted itself, the disease was not removed, and the person affected with it was to be pronounced unclean.
The third case: if the leprosy proceeded from an abscess which had been cured. In Lev 13:18 is first of all used absolutely, and then resumed with , and the latter again is more closely defined in : “if there arises in the flesh, in him, in his skin, an abscess, and (it) is healed, and there arises in the place of the abscess a white elevation, or a spot of a reddish white, he (the person so affected) shall appear at the priest’s.”
Lev 13:20 If the priest found the appearance of the diseased spot lower than the surrounding skin, and the hair upon it turned white, he was to pronounce the person unclean. “It is a mole of leprosy: it has broken out upon the abscess.”
Lev 13:21-23 But if the hair had not turned white upon the spot, and there was no depression on the skin, and it (the spot) was pale, the priest was to shut him up for seven days. If the mole spread upon the skin during this period, it was leprosy; but if the spot stood in its place, and had not spread, it was , “the closing of the abscess:” literally “the burning;” here, that part of the skin or flesh which has been burnt up or killed by the inflammation or abscess, and gradually falls off as scurf ( Knobel).
Lev 13:24-28 The fourth case (Lev 13:24-28): if there was a burnt place upon the skin of the flesh ( , a spot where he had burnt himself with fire, the scar of a burn), and the “life of the scar” – i.e., the skin growing or forming upon the scar (see Lev 13:10), – “becomes a whitish red, or white spot,” i.e., if it formed itself into a bright swollen spot. This was to be treated exactly like the previous case. (Lev 13:28), rising of the scar of the burn, i.e., a rising of the flesh and skin growing out of the scar of the burn.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2. When a man shall have in the skin. Since every eruption was not the leprosy, and did not render a man unclean, when God appoints the priests to be the judges, He distinguishes by certain marks a common eruption from the leprosy; and then subjoins the difference between the various kinds of leprosy. For the disease was not always incurable; but, only when the blood was altogether corrupted, so that the skin itself had become hardened by its corrosion, or swollen by its diseased state. This, then, must be observed in the first place, that the Greek and Latin word lepra, and the Hebrew צרעת tzaragmath, extend further than to the incurable disease, which medical men call elephantiasis (4) both on account of the hardness of the skin, and also its mottled color; not, however, that there is an entire agreement between the thickness of the man’s skin and that of an elephant, but because this disease produces insensibility of the skin. This the Greeks call Ψώρα, and if it be not a kind of leprosy, it is nearly allied to it. Thus we see that there was a distinction between the scab and leprosy; just as now-a-days, if it were necessary to judge respecting the itch, (which is commonly called the disease of St. Menanus, (5) the marks must be observed, which distinguish it from leprosy. But, as to the various kinds of leprosy, I confess that I am not a physician, so as to discuss them accurately, and I purposely abstain from close inquiry about them, because I am persuaded that the disease here treated of affected the Israelites in an extraordinary manner, which we are now unacquainted with; for what do we now know of a leprous house? Indeed it is probable that, since heathen writers knew that the Jewish people suffered from this disease, they laid hold of it as the ground of their falsehood, that all the descendants of Abraham were infected with the itch, and were driven away from Egypt, lest others should catch it from them. That (6) this was an ancient calumny appears from Josephus, both in the ninth book of his Antiquities, and in his Treatise against Apion; and it is repeated both by C. Tacitus and Justin. Yet I make no doubt that the Egyptians, a very proud nation, in order to efface the memory of their own disgrace, and of the vengeance inflicted upon them by God, invented this lie, and thus grossly turned against this innocent people what had happened to themselves, when they were smitten with boils and blains. But we shall see hereafter, amongst God’s curses, that He chastised His people with the same plagues as He had inflicted on the Egyptians:
“The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab,” etc. (Deu 28:27.)
Whence it may be probably inferred, that God avenged the crimes of His ancient people with special judgments, which are now unknown to us; just as afterwards new diseases arose, from which those in old times were free. At any rate, Josephus, by clear and solid arguments, exposes the absurdity of this accusation, that Moses was driven from Egypt with a crowd of exiles, lest they should infect the country with their disease; because, if they had been universally affected with this malady, he never would have imposed such severe laws for separating the lepers from general society.
God first commands that, whenever a suspicion of leprosy arose, the man was to present himself to the priest; if any symptom of leprosy appeared, He commands him to be shut up for a period of seven days, until it should appear from the progress of the disease that it was incurable leprosy. That God should have appointed the priests to be judges, and those, too, only of the highest order, is a proof that His spiritual service was rather regarded than mere bodily health. If any shall inquire whether leprosy is not a contagious disease, and whether it be not therefore expedient that all who were affected by it should be removed from intercourse with others, I admit, indeed, that such is the case, but I deny that this was the main object in view. For, in process of time, physicians would have been better able to decide by their art and skill: whereas God enjoined this decision upon the priests alone, and gave them the rule whereby they were to judge. Nor did He appoint the Levites indiscriminately, but only the sons of Aaron, who were the highest order, in order that the authority of the decision might be greater. It was, then, by a gross error, or rather impudence, that the Papal priests ( sacrifici) assumed to themselves this jurisdiction. It was (they say) the office of the chief priests under the Law to distinguish between the kinds of leprosy; and, therefore, the same right is transferred to the bishops. But they carry the mockery still further: the official (7) the bishop’s representative, sits as the legitimate judge; he calls in physicians and surgeons, from whose answers he pronounces what he confesses he is ignorant of himself. Behold how cleverly they accommodate a legal rite to our times! The mockery, however, is still more disgusting, when in another sense they extend to the whole tribe of priests what they have said to belong solely to the bishops; for, since the sin under which all labor is a spiritual leprosy, they thence infer that all are excluded from the congregation of the faithful until they shall have been purged and received by absolution, which they hold to be the common office of all the priests. They afterwards add, that judgment cannot be pronounced till the cause is heard, and so conclude that confession is necessary. But, if they choose to have recourse to subtleties, reason would rather conduct us to the opposite conclusion; for God did not desire the priests to take cognizance of a hidden disease, but only after the manifest symptoms had appeared: hence it will follow, that it is preposterous to bring secret sins to judgment, and that wretched men are dragged to their confession contrary to all law and justice. But, setting aside all these absurdities, an analogy must be observed between us and God’s ancient people. He of old forbade the external uncleanness of the flesh to be tolerated in His people. By Christ’s coming, the typical. figure has ceased; but we are taught that all uncleanness, whereby the purity of His services is defiled, is not to be cherished, or borne with amongst us. And surely excommunication answers to this ceremony; since by it the Church is purified, lest corruptions should everywhere assail it, if wicked and guilty persons occupied a place in it promiscuously with the good. The command of God that, whilst the disease was obscure and questionable, the infected person should be shut up for seven days, recommends moderation to us, lest any, who is still curable, should be condemned before his time. In fact, this medium is to be observed, that the judge should not be too remiss and hasty in pardoning, and still that he should temper severity by justice; and especially that he should not be too precipitate in his judgment. What we translate “shall pronounce him clean, or unclean,” is in Hebrew, “shall clean, or unclean him;” thus the dignity of the judgment is more fully established, as though it had proceeded from God Himself; and assuredly no medical skill could declare on the seventh day a leprosy to be incurable, respecting which there was doubt so short a time before, unless God should in some special manner discover the uncleanness, and guide the eyes of the priests by His Spirit.
(4) Ladrerie — Fr.
(5) St. Mehan — Fr. C. probably wrote Melanus. St. Mean, or Melanus, was a Welshman, who founded the monastery of Gael, now called St. Meen’s, of which he became abbot, and where he died. At his tomb wonderful cures were effected, chiefly of cutaneous diseases, especially “itch and scab, to which a mineral well, which bears the name of the saint, and in which the patient bathes, seems greatly to contribute,” quoth honest Alban Butler.
(6) The reference here, I think, ought to be Josephus, Jewish Antiq., Book 3. ch. 11. Section 4. See also, “Against Apion,” Book 1. Section 25, et seq. Tacitus, Hist. v. 3. Justin, 36. 2.
(7) Monsieur I’official, etc. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Dealing With Skin Eruptions ( Lev 13:2-8 ).
Lev 13:2-3
“When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it become in the skin of his flesh the plague of a suspicious skin disease, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests, and the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh, and if the hair in the plague be turned white, and the appearance of the plague be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is the plague of a suspicious skin disease, and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.”
If a man discovers that he has a skin eruption he is required to report it to the priests. This is because it, temporarily at least, makes it dangerous for him to enter the tabernacle court in case he is not a whole person, in case he is ‘unclean’. The priests will then examine it, and if the hair in the eruption or spot has turned white and the eruption or spot appears to be more than skin deep they are to declare it a suspicious skin disease, possibly a type of leprosy.
Lev 13:4-6
“And if the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and the appearance of it is not deeper than the skin, and its hair is not turned white, then the priest shall shut up the one who has the plague seven days, and the priest shall look on him on the seventh day, and, behold, if in his eyes the plague be at a standstill, and the plague be not spread in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up seven days more, and the priest shall look on him again the seventh day, and, behold, if the plague be dim, and the plague be not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.”
On the other hand if the hair in the plague spot is not white, and the eruption or spot does not appear to go deep they are to put him in quarantine for seven days and then view it again. Then they must re-examine it, and if it has still not changed they must quarantine him for a further seven days, and if after the fourteen days it appears no worse, but rather a little better, he declares it to be only a scab and declares the man clean. All the man has to do then is to wash his clothes and be clean. One reason for this, of course, is in case the scab has affected the clothes while he has been waiting. But the ritual reason would be in order to remove from him the taint of the place where he was in quarantine, and to reveal him as ‘clean’.
Lev 13:7-8
“But if the scab spread abroad in the skin, after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall show himself to the priest again, and the priest shall look; and, behold, if the scab be spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a suspicious skin disease.”
On the other hand, if the scab spreads while he is in quarantine, or even after he has been released, the man must immediately call for the priest, who will re-examine it, and if he sees that it has spread he must declare the man unclean.
The main point of this process as far as the priests were concerned was that it protected the holiness of the Sanctuary, and of Israel, but the second benefit as far as Israel was concerned was that a man with a suspicious skin disease would either be cleared, or would be removed from the camp so as to prevent infection.
Daily we too should bring ourselves for examination before our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. We must ask ourselves, ‘if I come up for examination before Him with Whom we have to do, what is there in me that will reveal me as unwhole, imperfect, unclean, fit only to be cast out of His presence? And if there is present sin which goes deep or is spreading we must bring it to Him for Him to deal with. We must seek for the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, to cleanse us from all sin (1Jn 1:7). Then we can come for our further examination without fear. The plague will have been stayed and we will have been made clean. It will turn out that our sin, while disfiguring, was but a scab on something quickly healed by the Great Physician and as quickly dealt with. Although in many cases the scab may remain.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 13:2. When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh, &c. Maimonides, who may well be supposed the best judge in this case, tells us, that of these three marks, which were supposed to be prognostics of the leprosy, the first is a bright spot, one species of which is an exceeding whiteness, like that of snow; the second (rendered very properly by us a rising, or swelling, as it comes from the verb nasa, to raise, elevate, &c.) is a whiteness inferior to the former, like that of clean wool; the third is inferior in whiteness to the second, resembling the plaister of a wall. Various have been the opinions of learned men respecting this loathsome and contagious disease of the leprosy. Calmet, in particular, has written a large and learned dissertation upon it; though, after all, many doubts do, and in all probability will remain concerning it: For this reason, I shall not attempt to enter minutely into the subject, but shall briefly propose what I have to offer.
In the first place, then, I cannot be of their opinion who think that the disease was supernatural, and immediately indited by the hand of God; “for,” as Dr. Mead observes, “there is no time in which this disease was not known: but it was always more severe in Syria and Egypt than in Greece and other parts of Europe; and it is, even at this day, frequent in those regions. For I have been assured by travellers, that there are two hospitals for the leprous alone in Damascus; and there is a fountain at Edessa in which great numbers of people, afflicted with this cuticular foulness, wash daily, as was the ancient custom. Moreover, we read the principal signs which occur in the description of the Mosaic leprosy (excepting only the infection of the clothes and houses, of which see in their place) recorded by the Greek physicians. Hippocrates calls the white leprosy the Phoenician disease.” See his works, B. 5: ch. 28 sect. 19. To what Dr. Mead has said respecting the frequency of this disease in the Eastern countries, let us add, that, in the 11th and 12th centuries lepers were very common in Europe, which is generally thought to have been owing to the communication with Syria and those parts by means of the crusades. And to shew that the state of the case is still the same in the East, we read the following account in Mr. Maundrell’s Journal, &c. “I saw,” says he, “in the Holy Land several persons attacked with Gehazi’s disease . . . . particularly at Sichem, now called Naplosu; there I found ten of them . . . . they came with little baskets in their hands to receive alms . . . . their touch being always reckoned contagious, or, at least, impure. This disorder, such as I saw it in that country, is so terrible, that it may be considered as the worst corruption of human bodies while alive: and it is certain, the sacred writers could never have found out a more proper example whereby to express whatever is most odious in vice.” These particulars seem abundantly to prove that the disease was not supernatural.
Secondly, Let it be observed, that it does not appear that no natural and medical means were used for the cure of this disease. The persons separated for it, most probably, used some means for the cure of it during the time of their separation. The priest was only to examine whether they were clean or not: and the sacrifices and ceremonies mentioned chap. 14: were not used in order to cure the infected person of the leprosy, but as a legal purification or cleansing after that cure was perfected; nor does this render either the immediate infliction of the disease, or the immediate cure of it without human means, the less miraculous, as in the case of Gehazi, Naaman, or the lepers cured by the Lord Jesus. “I am well aware,” says Dr. Mead, “that it is related, ch. Lev 14:34 as if God himself had struck the house with this plague: but it is well known, that that way of speaking is not uncommon in the Jewish history; as in unexpected evils and dreadful calamities, which are sometimes said to be sent by the hand of God, though they may be produced by natural causes: nor can I be easily induced to believe with some divines, that God, who commanded his people to be always free from every sort of impurity, would vouchsafe to work a miracle to inflict this most loathsome punishment, except in some extraordinary instance like that of Miriam and Gehazi; Num 12:10. 2Ki 5:27.”
I observe, thirdly, that, among other nations, those who were affected with leprosy, were also separated from the community; which was the case both among the Persians and the Greeks, and shews it to have been a common and contagious disorder, as, indeed, Moses speaks of it: from whose manner of writing nothing miraculous can justly be concluded, though great wisdom is observable in the precautions which he uses to prevent the infection of so horrible a disorder. See 2Ki 7:3.
Fourthly, Though it does not concern us to trace out the natural causes of this disease, yet we cannot omit mentioning the ingenious opinion of Calmet, who thinks that the distemper was owing to little worms or animalcules between the skin and the flesh, which, though not perceptible to the naked eye, are discovered by microscopes, as is found to be the case in other cutaneous disorders: and this hypothesis, he observes, will account for the symptoms of the distemper, whether in men, houses, or garments.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Let the Reader keep in view through the whole of this account of the leprosy of the body, the striking affinity and agreement it bears to the sin of the soul. As first, it was deemed to be incurable by any human art or means. Nay, it was thought an impious presumption on the prerogative of GOD, to attempt to heal it. And is not this exactly the case in respect to the guilt of our fallen nature? Who can forgive sins but GOD alone? Mar 2:7 . And secondly, everyone infected by this filthy disease was to show himself to the priest. And who doth not see in this, that precious doctrine of the gospel shadowed forth, that the sinner must be brought unto JESUS before that he can find healing in his blood from sin? 1Jn 1:7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 13:2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh [like] the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:
Ver. 2. Like the plague of leprosy. ] Leprosy is both an effect and type of sin; which is such a sickness of the soul, as those are of the body, which physicians say are corruptio totius substantiae, universal diseases tending to the issues of death. It dries up and draws out the very vital blood and life of the soul.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the plague = spot: mark too weak for person, though suited for house (Lev 14:34): “plague” and “stroke”would be too strong in every case.
leprosy. Hebrew. zar’ath, from zar’a, to strike down, a leper being one stricken of God. One of the four points which Christ endorses Leviticus as being written by Moses:
1. Circumcision, Lev 12:3 (Joh 7:22, Joh 7:23).
2. Law of leper, Lev 14:3-32 (Mat 8:4).
3. The shewbread. Lev 24:5-9 (Mat 12:4).
. Death penalty for cursing parents, Lev 20:9 (Mar 7:10).
Leprosy is the type of what man is by nature. (All the offerings relate to what man has done or not done.) It has reference to the evil “in” him (Lev 13:2, Lev 13:9), not to the outcome of it. See note on Lev 13:45.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Leprosy
Leprosy speaks of sin as
(1) in the blood;
(2) becoming overt in loathsome ways;
(3) incurable by human means. The anti-type as applied to the people of God is “sin,” demanding self-judgment 1Co 11:31 and “sins,” demanding confession and cleansing. 1Jn 1:9.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
rising: or, swelling
a scab: Lev 14:56, Deu 28:27, Isa 3:17
the plague of leprosy: Tzaraath, the Leprosy, from the Greek , from , a scale; so called, because in this disease the body is covered with thin white scales, so as to give it the appearance of snow. The leprosy is a dreadful, contagious disorder, common in Egypt and Syria, and generally manifests itself at first in the manner described in the text. Its commencement is imperceptible; there appearing only a few reddish spots on the skin, which are not attended with pain or any other symptom, but cannot be removed. It increases imperceptibly, and continues for some years to be more and more manifest. The spots become larger, spread over the whole skin, and are sometimes rather raised, though generally flat. When it increases the upper part of the nose swells, the nostrils distend, the nose becomes soft, swellings appear on the under jaws, the eyebrows are elevated, the ears grow thick, the ends of the fingers, feet, and toes, swell, the nails grow scaly, the joints of the hands and feet separate, the palms of hands and soles of the feet are ulcerated, and in its last stage the patient becomes horrible, and falls to pieces. Lev 14:3, Lev 14:35, Exo 4:6, Exo 4:7, Num 12:10, Num 12:12, 2Sa 3:29, 2Ki 5:1, 2Ki 5:27, 2Ch 26:19-21, Isa 1:6
he shall: Deu 17:8, Deu 17:9, Deu 24:8, Mal 2:7, Mat 8:4, Mar 1:44, Luk 5:14, Luk 17:14
Reciprocal: Lev 13:3 – shall look Lev 13:6 – a scab Lev 13:27 – it is the plague of leprosy Lev 13:49 – it is Lev 22:4 – a leper
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 13:2. A rising, a scab, or bright spot The leprosy appeared in one of these three forms. Now, as these marks might sometimes be upon the skin when there was no leprosy, rules are here given whereby the priests might discern between a plague of leprosy and the resemblance of it; that accordingly they might pronounce a person clean or unclean. Some of the symptoms of the leprosy here described are of a very extraordinary nature, particularly its infecting houses and garments. This has led several of the learned, Le Clerc in particular, to imagine that Mosess leprosy was one of those diseases which Providence occasionally inflicts upon mankind in certain ages and countries, as a chastisement for peculiar sins, and to bring them to repentance and reformation. Thus much is certain, that what we now call the leprosy is very different from what went by that name in former times.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13:2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh {a} [like] the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:
(a) That it may be suspected to be leprosy.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Serious skin disease apparently began with some sort of swelling or a shiny patch on the skin (Lev 13:2). Serious skin disease resulted in uncleanness, but less important conditions might not.