Leviticus 13:2

When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh,.... Rules are here given, by which a leprosy might be judged of; which, as a disease, was frequent in Egypt, where the Israelites had dwelt a long

When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto

In the skin, for there was the seat of the leprosy. Bright spot, shining like the scale of a fish, as it is in the beginning of a leprosy. Leprosy was a distemper most frequent in Egypt and Syria, &c., known also among the Greeks, who note that it was not so properly a disease as a defilement or distemper in the skin, whence Christ is not said to heal, but to cleanse the lepers that came to him. And this distemper is here provided against, not because it was worse than others, but because it was externally and visibly filthy, and because of its infectious nature, that hereby we might be instructed to avoid converse with such vicious persons who were likely to infect us. He shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, not to the physician, because, as was now said, it needed not so much healing as cleansing, and was rather a ceremonial pollution than a disease; and because it belonged to the priest to cleanse him, and therefore to search and discover whether he was defiled and needed cleansing. The priest also was to admit to, or exclude from, the sanctuary, and therefore to examine who were to be excluded. And the discovery of this distemper was not so difficult that it required the physician’ s art, but the priest, by experience, and the observation of those rules, might easily make it.

Leviticus 13:2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh [like] the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:Ver. 2. Like the plague of leprosy.] Leprosy is both an effect and type of sin; which is such a sickness of the soul, as those are of the body, which physicians say are corruptio totius substantiae, universal diseases tending to the issues of death. It dries up and draws out the very vital blood and life of the soul.

Verse 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, Exodus 4:6, that it was leprous as snow; and of Miriam, Numbers 12:10, that she became leprous, as white as snow; and of Gehazi, 2Kg 5:27, that, being judicially struck with the disease of Naaman, he went out from Elisha's presence a leper as white as snow. See Clarke on Exodus 4:6. In Hebrew this disease is termed צרעת tsaraath, from צרע tsara, to smite or strike; but the root in Arabic signifies to cast down or prostrate, and in AEthiopic, to cause to cease, because, says Stockius, "it prostrates the strength of man, and obliges him to cease from all work and labour." There were three signs by which the leprosy was known. 1. A bright spot. 2. A rising (enamelling) of the surface. 3. A scab; the enamelled place producing a variety of layers, or stratum super stratum, of these scales. The account given by Mr. Maundrell of the appearance of several persons whom he saw infected with this disorder in Palestine, will serve to show, in the clearest light, its horrible nature and tendency. "When I was in the Holy Land," says he, in his letter to the Rev. Mr. Osborn, Fellow of Exeter College, "I saw several that laboured under Gehazi's distemper; particularly at Sichem, (now Naplosu,) there were no less than ten that came begging to us at one time. Their manner is to come with small buckets in their hands, to receive the alms of the charitable; their touch being still held infectious, or at least unclean. The distemper, as I saw it on them, was quite different from what I have seen it in England; for it not only defiles the whole surface of the body with a foul scurf, but also deforms the joints of the body, particularly those of the wrists and ankles, making them swell with a gouty scrofulous substance, very loathsome to look on. I thought their legs like those of old battered horses, such as are often seen in drays in England. The whole distemper, indeed, as it there appeared, was so noisome, that it might well pass for the utmost corruption of the human body on this side the grave. And certainly the inspired penman could not have found out a fitter emblem, whereby to express the uncleanness and odiousness of vice." - Maundrell's Travels. Letters at the end. The reader will do well to collate this account with that given from Dr. Mead; See Clarke on Exodus 4:6.

Leprosy in man (Leviticus 13:2-46) Appearances in the skin which should be shewn to the priest (2–8) 2. a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot] Of the three words thus translated, the first is a common Heb. word for ‘lifting up,’ but employed in these chs. only in the sense of a swelling in or under the skin; the second (ṣ ?appaḥ ?ath) occurs only here and Leviticus 14:56, the form miṣ ?paḥ ?ath from the same root only in Leviticus 13:6-8; the third is from a root signifying ‘to be bright or clear,’ and is used only in these chs. They all seem to denote an appearance like that of an angry-looking boil. the plague of leprosy] rather a plague. plague] lit. ‘a stroke’ (plaga; cp. a ‘stroke’ of paralysis), which also represents the sense of the Heb. word nega‘, which gives its name to the treatise Negâim. The leper was rejected as ‘smitten of God.’ See introd. note on ch. 14.

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.

THE LEPER.2. The plague of leprosy — The word leprosy is of Greek origin, and literally signifies, the scaly disease. For its general meaning see note on Numbers 5:2.