Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 14:35
And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me [there is] as it were a plague in the house:
And he that owneth the house shall come, and tell the priest,…. As soon as he observes any sign of leprosy in it, or which gives him a suspicion of it:
saying, it seemeth unto me [there is] as it were a plague in the house; he must not say expressly there is one, how certain soever he may be of it, because the matter must be determined by a priest: so runs the Jewish canon i, he whose the house is comes and declares to the priest, saying, there appears to me as a plague in the house; and though he is a wise man, and knows that there is a plague certainly, he may not determine, and say, there appears to me a plague in the house, but there appears to me as it were a plague in the house; it looks like one, there is some reason to suspect it.
i Misn. Negaim, c. 12. sect. 5. Jarchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When the evil showed itself in a house, the owner was to send this message to the priest, “ A leprous evil has appeared in my house, ” and the priest, before entering to examine it, was to have the house cleared, lest everything in it should become unclean. Consequently, as what was in the house became unclean only when the priest had declared the house affected with leprosy, the reason for the defilement is not to be sought for in physical infection, but must have been of an ideal or symbolical kind.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(35) He that owneth the house.As in the case of the suspicious symptoms in human beings, the suspected house is forthwith to be examined by the priest.
Saying, It seemeth to me . . . According to the authorities in the time of Christ, this prescribes the formula which the owner of the house is to use when he communicates the fact to the priest. Hence they enacted that though he be himself an expert in these matters, and know certainly that it is leprosy, he is not to say positively to the priest, The plague has appeared in my house, but It seemeth to me . . . as it were, &c, because it was the office of the priest to pronounce a positive sentence on the subject.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
35. Tell the priest This obligation, laid upon every householder, would tend to a scrupulous care of the house and be promotive of health. It also tended to magnify the office of the priest.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 14:35 And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me [there is] as it were a plague in the house:
Ver. 35. As it were a plague. ] He might not flatly say, it was the leprosy, till the priest had so pronounced it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a plague: Deu 7:26, Jos 7:21, 1Sa 3:12-14, 1Ki 13:34, Psa 91:10, Pro 3:33, Zec 5:4
Reciprocal: Lev 13:2 – the plague of leprosy