Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 13:38
If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, [even] white bright spots;
White spots in the skin (38, 39)
These, if they are dull, and not of the character described in Lev 13:3, are a ‘tetter’ ( freckled spot A.V.), a skin disease which is not of a leprous character. The Heb. word boha (only in Lev 13:39) is still used by the Arabs to denote this kind of eruption.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
38, 39. If a man . . . or a womanhave in the skin of their flesh bright spotsThis modificationof the leprosy is distinguished by a dull white color, and it isentirely a cutaneous disorder, never injuring the constitution. It isdescribed as not penetrating below the skin of the flesh and as notrendering necessary an exclusion from society. It is evident, then,that this common form of leprosy is not contagious; otherwise Moseswould have prescribed as strict a quarantine in this as in the othercases. And hereby we see the great superiority of the Mosaic law(which so accurately distinguished the characteristics of the leprosyand preserved to society the services of those who were laboringunder the uncontagious forms of the disease) over the customs andregulations of Eastern countries in the present day, where all lepersare indiscriminately proscribed and are avoided as unfit for freeintercourse with their fellow men.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If a man also, or a woman,…. One or the other, for the law concerning leprosy respecteth both:
have in the skin of their flesh bright spots; and them only; not any rising or swelling, nor scab, nor scall, nor boil, nor burning, only bright spots, a sort of freckles or morphew:
[even] white bright spots; these, Ben Gersom observes, are white spots, but not plagues; and which were in whiteness inferior to the four species of the plague of leprosy, the white spot, the white swelling, and the scab of each.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Harmless leprosy. – This broke out upon the skin of the body in plaits, “white rings.” If these were dull or a pale white, it was the harmless bohak , (lxx), which did not defile, and which even the Arabs, who still call it bahak , consider harmless. It is an eruption upon the skin, appearing in somewhat elevated spots or rings of inequal sizes and a pale white colour, which do not change the hair; it causes no inconvenience, and lasts from two months to two years.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
38 If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; 39 Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean. 40 And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. 41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. 42 And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; 44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. 45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. 46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
We have here,
I. Provisos that neither a freckled skin nor a bald head should be mistaken for a leprosy, v. 38-41. Every deformity must not forthwith be made a ceremonial defilement. Elisha was jeered for his bald head (2 Kings ii. 23); but it was the children of Bethel, that knew not the judgments of their God, who turned it to his reproach.
II. A particular brand set upon the leprosy if at any time it did appear in a bald head: The plague is in his head, he is utterly unclean, v. 44. If the leprosy of sin have seized the head, if the judgment be corrupted, and wicked principles which countenance and support wicked practices, be embraced, it is an utter uncleanness, from which few are ever cleansed. Soundness in the faith keeps the leprosy from the head, and saves conscience from being shipwrecked.
III. Directions what must be done with the convicted leper. When the priest, upon mature deliberation, had solemnly pronounced him unclean,
1. He must pronounce himself so, v. 45. He must put himself into the posture of a mourner and cry, Unclean, unclean. The leprosy was not itself a sin, but it was a sad token of God’s displeasure and a sore affliction to him that was under it. It was a reproach to his name, put a full stop to his business in the world, cut him off from conversation with his friends and relations, condemned him to banishment till he was cleansed, shut him out from the sanctuary, and was, in effect, the ruin of all the comfort he could have in this world. Heman, it would seem, either was a leper or alludes to the melancholy condition of a leper, Ps. lxxxviii. 8, c. He must therefore, (1.) Humble himself under the mighty hand of God, not insisting upon his cleanness when the priest had pronounced him unclean, but justifying God and accepting the punishment of his iniquity. He must signify this by rending his clothes, uncovering his head, and covering his upper lip, all tokens of shame and confusion of face, and very significant of that self-loathing and self-abasement which should fill the hearts of penitents, the language of which is self-judging. Thus must we take to ourselves the shame that belongs to us, and with broken hearts call ourselves by our own name, Unclean, unclean–heart unclean, life unclean, unclean by original corruption, unclean by actual transgression–unclean, and therefore worthy to be for ever excluded from communion with God, and all hope of happiness in him. We are all as an unclean thing (Isa. lxiv. 6)–unclean, and therefore undone, if infinite mercy do not interpose. (2.) He must give warning to others to take heed of coming near him. Wherever he went, he must cry to those he saw at a distance, “I am unclean, unclean, take heed of touching me.” Not that the leprosy was catching, but by the touch of a leper ceremonial uncleanness was contracted. Every one therefore was concerned to avoid it and the leper himself must give notice of the danger. And this was all that the law could do, in that it was weak through the flesh; it taught the leper to cry, Unclean, unclean, but the gospel has put another cry into the lepers’ mouths, Luk 17:12; Luk 17:13, where we find ten lepers crying with a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. The law only shows us our disease; the gospel shows us our help in Christ.
2. He must then be shut out of the camp, and afterwards, when they came to Canaan, out of the city, town, or village, where he lived, and dwell alone (v. 46), associating with none but those that were lepers like himself. When king Uzziah became a leper, he was banished from his palace, and dwelt in a separate house, 2 Chron. xxvi. 21. And see 2 Kings vii. 3. This typified the purity which ought to be preserved in the gospel church, by the solemn and authoritative exclusion of scandalous sinners, that hate to be reformed, from the communion of the faithful. Put away from among yourselves that wicked person, 1 Cor. v. 13.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 38, 39:
The text gives the method of determining whether a skin spot or blemish were leprous or not.
“Freckled spot,” bohak, and bahereth (also translated “bright spot”). The apparent distinction between these two terms: bohak denotes a harmless freckle spot that may or may not be a skin eruption; bahereth denotes an eruption which may also be leprous.
The person having the bohak spots was considered clean.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(38) If a man also or a woman.The fifth case, discussed in Lev. 13:38-39, is the harmless leprosy, which does not render the patient unclean.
Bright spots, even white bright spots.These white spots, which are of unequal size, and a little higher than the skin, generally appeared on the neck and face, and did not change the colour of the hair.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Dealing With Rashes ( Lev 13:38-39 ).
Lev 13:38-39
“And when a man or a woman has in the skin of the flesh bright spots, even white bright spots, then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be of a dull white, it is a minor skin disease, it has broken out in the skin. He is clean.”
This kind of skin complaint can be dealt with quickly. If the person has white bright spots and they are a dull white it is simply a minor skin disease and can be ignored. The person is clean. It may be impetigo, or acne, or eczema. It would be a different matter if they were the inflamed white vesicles of clinical leprosy.
It matters not how small and insignificant something is, Jesus Christ is still interested in it. It is by constantly coming to Him that we make sure that any ‘spots’ we have are not signs of something which could destroy us. Fortunately much of the time our ‘spots’ turn out not to be too important, and can be removed by our own decisions. But we would be foolish to ignore them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
So infinitely important is the doctrine of being convinced of a leprous state, and of the impossibility of being cleansed by anything short of divine power; that the HOLY GHOST prosecutes in these verses the same subject. The leper is here shown the dreadful state of being shut out, while the disease remained uncured, from all civil or religious communion. And as an evidence that he himself is conscious of it, he is continually to keep in mind and as frequently to cry out, by way of deterring any from approaching him, unclean, unclean. And what was all this designed to show, but that, in a gospel sense, when the heart is thoroughly awakened by almighty grace, to a knowledge of its own sinfulness and loathsomeness before GOD, to manifest by retirement from the world, and lying low in the dust under a deep sense of humiliation, that the unhumbled heart is at length subdued, and the man accepts the punishment of his iniquity. Covering the upper lip, renting the clothes, dwelling alone, and walking with the head bare; all these are so many outward signs, of an inward sorrow of soul. The church is represented as speaking this language of penitence by the prophet, when confessing we are all as an unclean thing. Isa 64:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Patches of skin go completely white when a person contracts leucoderma (eczema). The law did not regard this type of skin disorder as serious enough to render the afflicted person unclean.