Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 13:39
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.
Freckled spot – If Lev 13:12 refers to the Lepra commonis, the Hebrew bohaq here may denote some kind of eczema, a skin disease of a somewhat similar external character.
Lev 13:38, Lev 13:39 would seem more in their natural place between Lev 13:17-18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Darkish white, or contracted, or confined to the place where they are, and white.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then the priest shall look,…. Upon the man or woman that has these spots, and upon the spots themselves, and examine them of what kind they are:
and, behold, [if] the bright spots in the skin of their flesh [be] darkish white; their whiteness is not strong, as Jarchi observes; but dusky and obscure, or “contracted” w; small white spots, not large and spreading:
it [is] a freckled spot [that] grows in the skin; a kind of morphew, which the above writer describes as a sort of whiteness which appears in the flesh of a ruddy man:
he [is] clean; from leprosy; this is observed, lest a person that is freckled and has a morphew should be mistaken for a leprous person; as every man that has some spots, failings, and infirmities, is not to be reckoned a wicked man.
w “costractae”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(39) Then the priest shall look.If the priest, upon examination, finds that these elevated spots are of a dull or palish white colour, then he is to pronounce the patient clean, that is, free of leprosy, since it is simply a white eruption or tetter, which lasts for a few months, causes no inconvenience, and by degrees disappears of itself. Hence it is called bahack, or white scurf, and not leprosy. This nameless disorder, which still prevails in the East, is to this day called by the Biblical name bahack.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. A freckled spot Hebrew, bohak. In the R.V., “tetter.” This constitutes a new case, since these peculiar spots do not appear on the parts where the hair grows thick, but only on the neck and face. It is remarkable that the modern Arabs have a kind of leprosy in which some little spots show themselves here and there, called bohak, a word containing the same consonants as the Hebrew term which we are now considering. These spots gradually spread, continuing sometimes only about two months, and then gradually disappearing. They are not contagious nor hereditary, nor specially painful. The treatment of the bohak in Lev 13:38-39 seems to be unnaturally sandwiched between the leprosy of the hairy head and that of the bald head. The sacred writers do not always observe that order of statement required by our canons of rhetoric.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 13:39 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.
Ver. 39. A freckled spot. ] Or white leprous eruption. This made not a man unclean: no more do mere infirmities make God abhor us.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
darkish white = faintish, or dead white; a harmless eruption, or “tetter”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
if the bright: Ecc 7:20, Rom 7:22-25, Jam 3:2
a freckled spot: The word bohak, from the Syriac behak, to be white, or shining, here rendered “a freckled spot,” is used by the Arabs to denote a kind of leprosy, of which Niebuhr says, “Bohak is neither contagious nor dangerous. A black boy at Mocha, who was affected with this eruption, had here and there upon his body white spots. We were told that the use of sulphur had relieved this boy for a time, but had not entirely removed the disease.” He adds subsequently from Forskal’s papers, “The Arabs call a sort of leprosy, in which some little spots shew themselves here and there on the body, behaq; and it is without doubt the same as is named bohak, (Lev 13:1-59). They believe it to be so far from contagious, that one may sleep with a person affected without danger.
“On the 15th day of May, 1765, I myself first saw the Bohak leprosy in a Jew at Mocha. The spots in this disease are of an unequal size. They do not shine; are not perceptibly higher than the skin; and do not change the colour of the hair. Their colour is an obscure white, inclining to red. The rest of the skin of the patient was darker than that of the people of the country in general; but the spots were not so white as the skin of an European, when not sun-burnt. The spots in this leprosy do not appear on the hands, or near the navel, but on the neck and face, yet not on that part where the hair grows thick. They gradually spread, and continue sometimes only about two months, but in some cases one or two years, and then disappear by degrees, of themselves. This disorder is neither contagious nor hereditary, nor does it occasion any inconvenience.” Hence a person infected with the bohak is declared clean.”
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 13:39; Lev 13:42. If the spots be darkish white When there was no other symptom but that of whiteness in the skin, the priest was to be cautious not to pronounce it a leprosy, unless the spots were perfectly bright; for if there was any cloudiness in them, it was not a leprosy. And he is informed that a mans losing his hair by sickness or age, which made him bald, must not be taken for a sign of leprosy. But, (Lev 13:42,) If there were a white reddish sore It was a sign that such baldness came not from age, nor any accident, but from the leprosy.