CHAPTER XIII _Laws relative to the leprosy. It is to be known by a_ rising in the flesh, _a_ scab, _or a_ bright spot, 1, 2. _When the priest sees these signs he shall pronounce the man_ _unclean, infected with the leprosy, and unfit for society_, 3. _Dubious or equivocal signs of this disorder... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:2. _THE PLAGUE OF LEPROSY_] This dreadful disorder has its name _leprosy_, from the Greek λεποα, from λεπις, a _scale_, because in this disease the body was often covered with _thin_ _white scales_, so as to give it the appearance of _snow_. Hence it is said of the hand of Moses,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:3. _THE PRIEST SHALL - PRONOUNCE HIM UNCLEAN._] וטמא אתו _vetimme otho_; literally, _shall pollute him_, i. e., in the Hebrew idiom, shall _declare_ or _pronounce_ him _polluted_; and in Leviticus 13:23, it is said, _the priest shall pronounce him clean_, וטהרו הכהן vetiharo hacc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:13. _IF THE LEPROSY HAVE COVERED ALL HIS FLESH, HE SHALL_ _PRONOUNCE_ HIM _CLEAN_] Why is it that the _partial_ leper was pronounced _unclean_, and the person _totally_ covered with the disease _clean_? This was probably owing to a different _species_ or _stage_ of the disease; t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:18. _IN THE SKIN THEREOF, WAS A BOIL_] _Scheuchzer_ supposes this and the following verse to speak of phlegmonic, erysipelatous, gangrenous, and phagedenic ulcers, all of which were subjected to the examination of the priest, to see whether they were infectious, or whether the lep... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _A PLAGUE UPON THE HEAD OR THE BEARD_] This refers to a disease in which, according to the Jews, the hair either on the head or the chin dropped out by the roots.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _THE SCALL SHALL HE NOT SHAVE_] Lest the place should be irritated and inflamed, and assume in consequence other appearances besides those of a leprous infection; in which case the priest might not be able to form an accurate judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 45. _HIS CLOTHES SHALL BE RENT, C._] The leprous person is required to be as one that mourned for the dead, or for some great and public calamity. He was to have his clothes rent in token of extreme sorrow his head was to be made bare, the ordinary bonnet or turban being omitted; and he was t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _THE GARMENT ALSO_] The whole account here seems to intimate that the garment was _fretted_ by this contagion; and hence it is likely that it was occasioned by a species of small _animals_, which we know to be the cause of the _itch_; these, by breeding in the garments, must necessarily mu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:52. _HE SHALL THEREFORE BURN THAT GARMENT_] There being scarcely any means of _radically_ curing the infection. It is well known that the garments infected by the _psora_, or itch animal, have been known to communicate the disease even six or seven years after the first infection.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:54. _HE SHALL SHUT IT UP SEVEN DAYS MORE_] To give time for the spreading of the contagion, if it did exist there; that there might be the most unequivocal marks and proofs that the garment _was_ or was _not_ infected.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 13:58. _IT SHALL BE WASHED THE SECOND TIME_] According to the Jews the _first_ washing was to put away the _plague_, the _second_ to _cleanse_ it. BOTH among Jews and Gentiles the leprosy has been considered as a most expressive emblem of sin, the properties and circumstances of the... [ Continue Reading ]