Leviticus 13:45

_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._ The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent ... The person who was declared affected with the leprosy forthwith exhibited all the tokens of suffering from a heavy calamity. Rending garments and uncovering the head were common signs of mourning. х_ PAARUWA`_ (H6544), signifies bare, naked, also 'free;' and hence, some render it, as the Arabic version does, 'forbore to cut or shave his hair,' (Parkhurst, on _ PAARA`_ (H6544), No. 8:)] As to 'the putting a covering upon the upper lip,' that means either wearing a moustache, as the Hebrews used to shave the upper lip (Calmet), or simply keeping a hand over it, or veiling the mouth [Septuagint, peri to stoma autou peribalesthoo, cov

45,46 When the priest had pronounced the leper unclean, it put a stop to his business in the world, cut him off from his friends and relations, and ruined all the comfort he could have in the world. He must humble himself under the mighty hand of God, not insisting upon his cleanness, when the priest had pronounced him unclean, but accepting the punishment. Thus must we take to ourselves the shame that belongs to us, and with broken hearts call ourselves "Unclean, unclean;" heart unclean, life unclean; unclean by original corruption, unclean by actual transgression; unclean, therefore deserving to be for ever shut out from communion with God, and all hope of happiness in him; unclean, therefore undone, if infinite mercy do not interpose. The leper must warn others to take heed of coming near him. He must then be shut out of the camp, and afterward, when they came to Canaan, be shut out...

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 to have a _covering upon his upper lip_, his jaws being tied up With a linen cloth, after the same manner in which the Jews bind up the dead, which custom is still observed among the Jews in Barbary on funeral occasions: a custom which, from Ezekiel 24:17, we learn had prevailed very anciently among the Jews in Palestine. He was also to cry, _Unclean, unclean_, in order to prevent any person from coming near him, lest the contagion might be thus communicated and diffused through society; and hence the Targumist render it, _Be not ye made unclean! Be not ye made_ unclean...

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 personal deserts: he bore about with him at once the deadly fruit and the symbol of the sin of his race. Exodus 20:5. As his body slowly perished, first the skin, then the flesh, then the bone, fell to pieces while yet the animal life survived; he was a terrible picture of the gradual corruption of the spirit worked by sin. HIS HEAD BARE - Rather, “his head neglected.” See...

EXPOSITION UNCLEANNESS DERIVED FROM LEPROSY OR CONTACT WITH LEPERS AND LEPROUS THINGS (Leviticus 13:1, Leviticus 14:1). A third cause of uncleanness is found in a third class of offensive or repulsive objects. There is no disease which produces so foul an appearance in the human form as leprosy. There was, therefore, no disease so suitable for creating ceremonial, because representing spiritual, uncleanness. The name leprosy has been made to cover a number of diseases similar but not identical in character. There are many spurious forms of leprosy, and many diseases akin to leprosy which do not

AND THE LEPER IN WHOM THE PLAGUE [IS],.... Meaning not he only that has the plague of leprosy in his head, but every sort of leper before mentioned in this chapter: HIS CLOTHES SHALL BE RENT; not that he might the more easily put on his clothes without hurting him, as some have thought; or that the corrupt humours might evaporate more freely, for evaporation would rather be hindered than promoted by being exposed to cold; nor that he might be known and better avoided, for his cry after mentioned was sufficient for that; but as a token of mourning: and so Aben Ezra having mentioned the former reason, that he might be known by going in a different habit, adds, or the sense is, as a token of mourning; for he was to mourn for the wickedness of his actions; for, for his works came this plague of leprosy upon him; and so the Jews in common understand it, not as a disease arising from natural...

3. LEPROSY: TYPE OF INDWELLING SIN CHAPTER 13 _ 1. Leprosy in a person (Leviticus 13:1)_ 2. The infected garment. (Leviticus 13:47) 3. The cleansing of the garment (Leviticus 13:58) The entire chapter treats of leprosy. It has been argued from the side of critics that the disease described here is not the one we know as leprosy, but only a similar disease of the skin. The arguments advanced to support this objection are silenced by Matthew 8:1. The man who came to our Lord had leprosy. The Lord told him “show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testi

GENERAL PROCEDURE. Certain classes of signs arouse suspicion. The priest is to inspect. If he sees them to be distinctly leprous, the patient is to be so treated; otherwise he is to be secluded for one or two periods of seven days; if there is no further spreading, he is discharged clean. LEVITICUS 13:1. FIRST CASE. A ring or scab on the flesh. If there are white hairs more than skin-deep, the disease is present. LEVITICUS 13:9. RECOVERY OF CLEANNESS. The grounds for deciding as to whether the leprosy has run its course are as follows; if the hair is white and there is raw flesh, the patient needs no isolation for inspection purposes, the decision can be made at once; but if he is white all over, the disease is regarded as at an end; probably a case of leucoderma is in m

RENT. See note on Leviticus 10:6. COVERING. muffler. 'UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN. ' Figure of speech _Epizeuxis,_ App-6, to emphasize the _condition._ Leprosy is the great type of sin: and teaches that the sinner is not only lost and ruined on account of what he has _done,_ but on account of what he _i_ s. The former needed atonement to procure _judicial_ righteousness, but the latter requires. Divine act and cleansing to give him an _imputed_ righteousness. The former we have through Christ's atonement, the latter we have from God in Christ. It is not enough to confess what we "have done "or "left undone"; there must be also the confession "there is no health in us". Compare Isaiah 6:5.J

_his clothes shall be rent_ not the usual Heb. word, but one used only here and in Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10; Jewish tradition exempted women from rending their clothes. The actions of the leper here prescribed are those of a mourner; rending the garments, and letting the hair go loose (cp. Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10; Ezekiel 24:17), covering the upper lip (cp. Ezekiel 24:17;...