Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 13:30
Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it [be] in sight deeper than the skin; [and there be] in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it [is] a dry scurf, [even] a leprosy upon the head or beard.
30. yellow thin hair ] The Heb. word for ‘yellow’ is used only here and in Lev 13:32 ; Lev 13:36.
a scall] a dry scall A.V.; the Heb. word nthek is used only in this section, and denotes ‘what one is inclined to scratch or tear away’ ( Oxf. Lex.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Scall – As this is the name for another disease not allied to the leprosy, it would have been better to retain the original word netheq. It is a true elephantiasis, and is recognized by modern writers under the name of the Fox mange.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The leprosy in the body turned the hair white, in the head or beard it turned it yellow. And if a mans hair was yellow before, this might easily be distinguished from the rest, either by the thinness or smallness of it, which is here noted, or by its peculiar kind of yellow, for there are divers kinds or degrees of the same colour manifestly differing one from another, as in green colours, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then the priest shall see the plague,…. The person on whom it is shall come or be brought unto him; and he shall look upon it and examine it:
and, behold, if it [be] in sight deeper than the skin; which is always one sign of leprosy;
[and there be] in it a yellow thin hair; like the appearance of thin gold, as the Targum of Jonathan; for, as Ben Gersom says, its colour is the colour of gold; and it is called thin in this place, because short and soft, and not when it is long and small; and so it is said, scabs make unclean in two weeks, and by two signs, by thin yellow hair, and by spreading, by yellow hair, small, soft, and short t: now this is to be understood, not of hair that is naturally of a yellow or gold colour, as is the hair of the head and beard of some persons, but of hair changed into this colour through the force of the disease; and so Jarchi interprets it, black hair turned yellow; in other parts of the body, hair turned white was a sign of leprosy, but here that which was turned yellow or golden coloured: Aben Ezra observes, that the colour expressed by this word is, in the Ishmaelitish or Arabic language, the next to the white colour:
then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; declare him a leper, and unfit for company, and order him to do and have done for him the things after expressed, as required in such a case:
it [is] a dry scall; or “wound”, as the Septuagint version; “nethek”, which is the word here used, Jarchi says, is the name of a plague that is in the place of hair, or where that grows; it has its name from plucking up; for there the hair is plucked away, as Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom note:
[even] a leprosy upon the head or beard; as the head is the seat of knowledge, and the beard a sign of manhood, and of a man’s being arrived to years of discretion; when wisdom and prudence are expected in him; this sort of leprosy may be an emblem of errors in judgment, of false doctrines and heresies imbibed by persons, which eat as doth a canker, and are in themselves damnable, and bring ruin and destruction on teachers and hearers, unless recovered from them by the grace of God.
t Negaim, c. 10. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(30) Behold, if it be in sight deeper.Better, Behold, if its appearance is deeper. The first symptom of its existence is the same as usualthe depression of the affected spot.
And there be in it a yellow thin hair.Whilst the symptom of leprosy in other parts of the body consisted of the hair turning white on the affected spot, in the case of this distemper breaking out on the head or chin it was indicated by the naturally black hair changing its colour into a golden appearance, and becoming short. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the colour of the hair became like that of the new plumage of young pigeons after they have lost their first feathers, or, in other words, like the appearance of thin gold. By the thin hair those authorities who came in contact with the disorder understand small or short hair. Hence they laid down the following rule: The condition of the hair constituting one of the signs of leprosy is its becoming short; but if it be long, though it is as yellow as gold, it is no sign of uncleanness. Two yellow and short hairs, whether close to one another or far from each other, whether in the centre of the affected spot or on the edge thereof,no matter whether the affection on the spot precedes the yellow hair, or the yellow hair precedes the affection on the spot,are symptoms of uncleanness.
It is a dry scall, even a leprosy.The ancient canons laid down by those authorities in the time of Christ who had the official treatment of this distemper define the word (nethek), which is translated dry scall by an affection on the head or chin, which causes the hair on those affected parts to fall off by the roots, so that the place of the hair is quite bare.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 13:30 Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it [be] in sight deeper than the skin; [and there be] in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it [is] a dry scall, [even] a leprosy upon the head or beard.
Ver. 30. A yellow thin hair. ] Which is a true sign of a scall.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thin = short. An infallible sign of leprosy. A long hair, even though “yellow”, no sign. In other parts of the body the hairs would be short and white. Compare Lev 13:10.
scall = scab.
even = it [is].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
scall: Lev 13:34-37, Lev 14:54
Reciprocal: Lev 13:32 – yellow hair Isa 3:17 – smite Joh 20:4 – outrun
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 13:30. A yellow thin hair The leprosy in the body turned the hair white, in the head or beard it turned it yellow. And if a mans hair was yellow before, this might easily be distinguished from the rest, either by the thinness or smallness of it, or by its peculiar kind of yellow, for there are divers kinds of the same colour, manifestly differing from one another.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13:30 Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it [be] in sight deeper than the skin; [and there be] in it a yellow thin {i} hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it [is] a dry scall, [even] a leprosy upon the head or beard.
(i) Which was not wont to be there, or else smaller than in any other part of the body.