Lev. 13–14: The Laws Relating to Leprosy The leprosy is the most terrible of all the disorders to which the body of man is subject. There is no disease in which hope of recovery is so nearly extinguished. From a commencement slight in appearance, with but little pain or inconvenience, often in its... [ Continue Reading ]
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 elephant... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HAIR IN THE PLAGUE IS TURNED WHITE - The sparing growth of very fine whitish hair on leprous spots in the place of the natural hair, appears to have been always regarded as a characteristic symptom. THE PLAGUE IN SIGHT BE DEEPER THAN THE SKIN OF HIS FLESH - Rather The stroke appears to be deepe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PLAGUE SPREAD NOT - Rather, advance not, so as to show that the disease is under the cuticle and assuming the symptoms of Leviticus 13:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
SOMEWHAT DARK - Rather, somewhat dim: that is, if the spot is dying away.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEN OF THE PRIEST FOR HIS CLEANSING - The purport of these words is doubtful. They probably mean “seen by the priest and pronounced clean,” and refer to the visit of the suspected leper to the priest at the end of the second week. But some have taken the words to mean “seen by the priest with a vie... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THE RISING BE WHITE - Or, If there be a white rising. The term very probably denotes the white Bulla or patch of Anaesthetic elephantiasis when it has re-appeared. QUICK RAW FLESH IN THE RISING - The margin gives the literal rendering. The symptom here noted exhibits a more advanced stage of the... [ Continue Reading ]
The disease here indicated appears to be that now known as Lepra commonis, the common White Leprosy, or Dry Tetter. It first shows itself in reddish pimples, the surface of which becomes white and scaly, spreading in a circular form until they meet each other and cover large patches of the body. It... [ Continue Reading ]
LOWER THAN THE SKIN - Rather, reaching below the scarf skin.... [ Continue Reading ]
A BURNING BOIL - Rather, the scar of the ulcer; literally, “the burn of the ulcer.”... [ Continue Reading ]
The sense of this verse is: “Or if there be flesh of which the skin has been affected by severe inflammation, and the sore of the inflammation has become a glossy spot, somewhat reddish or white.”... [ Continue Reading ]
“And if the glossy spot continues unchanged and makes no advance in the skin, and is rather indistinct” (see the note at Leviticus 13:6), “it is the mark of the inflammation, and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the (mere) hurt of inflammation.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SCALL - As this is the name for another disease not allied to the leprosy, it would have been better to retain the original word נתק _netheq_. It is a true elephantiasis, and is recognized by modern writers under the name of the Fox mange.... [ Continue Reading ]
There is no black hair in it More probably, there is no yellow hair in it.... [ Continue Reading ]
BE IN HIS SIGHT AT A STAY - Or, Does not alter in appearance.... [ Continue Reading ]
FRECKLED SPOT - If Leviticus 13:12 refers to the Lepra commonis, the Hebrew בהק _bôhaq_ here may denote some kind of eczema, a skin disease of a somewhat similar external character. Leviticus 13:38, Leviticus 13:39 would seem more in their natural place between Leviticus 13:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
SORE - Rather, stroke. It is the same word which elsewhere in this and the next chapter is rendered plague.... [ Continue Reading ]
The leper was to carry about with him the usual signs of mourning for the dead. Compare Leviticus 10:6 and margin reference. The leper was a living parable in the world of the sin of which death was the wages; not the less so because his suffering might have been in no degree due to his own persona... [ Continue Reading ]
DWELL ALONE - More properly, dwell apart; that is, separated from the people. Though thus excluded from general contact with society, it is not likely that lepers ceased to be objects of sympathy and kindness, such as they now are in those Christian and Moslem countries in which the leprosy prevail... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GARMENT - Rather, The clothing, referring to the ordinary dress of the Israelites in the wilderness; namely,, a linen tunic with a fringe Numbers 15:38 and a woolen cloak or blanket thrown on in colder weather.... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, “And the clothing in which there is a stroke of leprosy, whether the stroke is in clothing of wool or in clothing of linen; or in yarn for warp or in yarn for woof, either for linen clothing or for woolen clothing; or in a skin of leather or in any article made of leather.”... [ Continue Reading ]
A FRETTING LEPROSY - i. e. a malignant or corroding leprosy. What was the nature of the leprosy in clothing, which produced greenish or reddish spots, cannot be precisely determined. It was most likely destructive mildew, perhaps of more than one kind.... [ Continue Reading ]
SOMEWHAT DARK - Rather, somewhat faint. Compare Leviticus 13:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
EITHER - in these verses, should be or. See Leviticus 13:47, Leviticus 13:49. It should be noticed that no religious or symbolic rite is prescribed for leprosy in clothing. The priest had only to decide whether the process of decay was at work in the article presented to him and to pronounce accord... [ Continue Reading ]