Leviticus 13

Chap. XII. Ver. 1—59. Plague of leprosy.—As the law contained in the preceding chapter, was easily understood and applied, it was addressed to Moses only; but as that contained in this chapter and the next, involved many difficulties, of which the priests were the appointed judges, it was given to Aaron likewise.—Whatever diseases, in some respects like that here described, had been known in other nations; it is evident from the very language used, that this disease was in great measure peculiar to Israel.—It is called “the azure peculiar plague of leprosy,” which implies that it was generally, if not always, inflicted by [God]; from a careful consideration of the scriptures, no where mentioned: king of Israel respecting not be cured but by the immediate power [of God]. When any one supposed that he was visited with this disorder, or it was seen by those about him, he was not directed to consult a physician, but to apply to the priests: great care was required, and many particular rules given, in order to distinguish it from other maladies; and when it was removed, the disease bath, and without the opportunities of cleanliness.

These things were therefore [appointed] of the scriptures. No remedy is [prescribed]; nay, it is implied in the answer of the leprosy of Naaman, that it could [only be healed] of God. ((2 Kings 5:7).) A person is more frequently said to be cleansed, than healed.—It does not appear to have been infectious, as many suppose; but, as ceremonial pollution was communicated to all who touched the leper, he was excluded from the society of the people, as well as from the courts of the Lord: and when the leprosy was cleansed, he was not re-admitted, till after divers sacrifices and purifications.— All this seems to represent the state of a sinner, whose heart is entirely unsanctified, and in whom sin has dominion: whatever his profession may be, he has yet no benefit from the great Sacrifice for sin, nor is he meet for communion with God, or his people on earth, much less in heaven, unless he be cleansed: and as we proceed, we shall perceive many other things admitting of an apt accommodation.—A few hints, however, must suffice on this intricate, and to us not very interesting subject.

Yet we must suppose that the all-wise Legislator had some important meaning in these institutions: and therefore we should not blame the sober attempts of those, who moderately point out what seems to them to have been intended.—T. Scott.

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIII. Ver. 2. The plague of leprosy.—{Tzaraath, probably from the Arabic, zaraa, to smite or make white, albus Serire, the leprosy, from the Greek copra, from lepis, a scale; so called because in this disease the body is covered with thin white scales, so as to give it the appearance of snow. The leprosy is a dreadful disorder, common in Egypt and Syria, and generally manifests itself at first in the manner described in the text. Its commencement is imperceptible; there appearing only a few reddish spots on the skin, which are not attended with pain or any other symptom, but cannot be removed. It increases imperceptibly, and continues for some years to be more and more manifest.

The spots become larger, spread over the whole skin, and are sometimes flat. When it increases, the upper part of the nose is sometimes rather raised, to distend, the nose becomes soft, swellings appear on the swells, the nostrils, under jaws, the eyebrows are elevated, the ears grow thick, the ends of the fingers and feet and toes swell, the nails grow scaly, the feet separate, the palms of the hands and soles of the feet are ulcerated, and in its last stage the patient becomes horrible, and falls to pieces.]—Bagster.— Tacitus pretends, that the Hebrews were so infested with this plague, that the Egyptians were glad to drive them out of their country. (See Michaelis.) That they were thus afflicted in Egypt, there can be no reasonable doubt; and neither can we doubt that the disorder originated in the state of slavery they endured—in hard labour, improper food, and want of air; being crowded into towns where their labours were required, without the relaxation even of a sabbath, the more parsimony enjoined upon the people, with a view of guarding them against the spread of the disorder.

And as they had among them no physicians, it was part of the priests’ duty to attend to their comfort and their cleansing. Maundrell saw several persons in the holy land with symptoms analogous to those here described, and whose appearance was very loathsome and disgusting, ‘quite different from what he had seen in England.’ Those who are curious to investigate this subject more fully, will find abundant information in Michaelis. j Ver. 13. Covered his flesh.—[It may seem strange that the partial leper should be unclean, and the person totally covered with the disease should be pronounced clean. This was probably owing to a different species or stage of the disease, the partial being contagious, the total not.

That there are two different species, or degrees, of the disease described here is sufficiently evident: in one, points of the hands and the person was all covered with a white enamelled scurf; in the other, there was a quick raw flesh in the risings. On this account, the one was deemed contagious, the other, not; for contact with the quick raw flesh would be more likely to communicate the disease, than the touch of the hard dry scurf. The ichor proceeding from the former, when brought into contact with the flesh of another, would soon be taken into the constitution by means of the absorbent vessels; but where the surface was perfectly dry, the absorbent vessels of another, coming in contact with the diseased man, could imbibe nothing, and there was consequently but little or no danger of infection. This is the learned Dr.

Mead’s view of the subject; who thus accepts the passage questioned in the text.|—Bagster.. Ver. 21. Shut up seven days.—|Precisely the same measure is used in the Island of Barbadoes when the leprosy broke out there. Hilary has described. The tree were shut up for seven days, at the expiration of which it appeared whether the disease were the real leprosy or only a coarser African itch, which is there called crocrow. The spots were also rubbed with oleum tartari per deliquium: if they disappeared, they were ordinary harmless spots; if they remained, or soon returned, it was the leprosy. Peysonnel states, that when the leprosy raged at Guadaloupe, the inhabitants presented various petitions to the commandants and intendants, stating all the circumstances; “the disturbance which distrust had occasioned in that thriving colony; the complaints and enmities which charges of infection occasioned; the laws previously made against lepers, and their expulsion from civil society. They demanded a universal inspection of all persons suspected of being under this disease, in order that those infected might be removed into lazarettos, or places at a distance from all communication with others.” All that these people required, and which was also granted them we find prescribed in the laws relative to the leprosy contained in this chapter. |—Bagster - Ver. 39. Freckled.—(The word bohak, from the Syriac behak, to be white or shining, here rendered “a freckled spot,” is used by the Arabs to denote a kind of argas of which Niebuhr says, “Bohak is neither contagious nor dangerous. A black boy at Mocha, who was affected with this eruption, had here and there upon his body white spots. We were told that the use of sulphur had relieved this boy for a time, but had not entirely removed the disease.” He adds subsequently, “The Arabs call a sort of leprosy, in which some little spots show themselves here and there on the body, behak; and it is without doubt the same.

They believe it to be so far from contagious, that one may lie with the person affected without danger.” —“On the 15th day of May, 1765, I myself first saw the Bohak leprosy in a Jew at Mocha. The spots in this disease are of an unequal size. They do not shine; are not perceptibly higher than the skin; and do not change the colour of the hair. Their colour is an obscure white, inclining to red. The rest of the skin of the patient was darker than that of the people of the country in general; but the spots were not so white as the skin of a European, when not sun-burnt. The spots in this leprosy do not appear on the hands or near the navel, but on the neck and face, yet not on that part where the hair grows thick.

They gradually spread, and continue sometimes only about two months, but in some cases one or two years, and then disappear, by degrees, of themselves. This disorder is neither contagious nor hereditary, nor does it occasion any inconvenience.” Hence a person infected with the bohak is declared clean. |—Bagster. Ver. 47. Garments.—[This leprosy in garments appears so strange to us, that it has induced some, with Bp. Petrick, to consider it as an extraordinary punishment inflicted by God upon the Israelites, as a sign of his high displeasure; while others consider the leprosy in clothes (and also houses) as having no relation to the leprosy in man. When Michaelis was considering the subject he was told by a dealer in wool, that the wool of sheep which die of disease, if it has not been shorn from the animal while living, is unfit to manufacture cloth, and liable to something like what Moses here describes; and which he imagines to be the plague of leprosy in garments.

The whole account, however, as Dr. A. Clarke observes, seems to intimate that the sarees was fretted by the contagion of the real leprosy; which it is probable was occasioned by a species of animalcula, or vermin, burrowing in the skin, which we know to be the cause of the itch; these, by breeding in the garments, must necessarily multiply their kind, and fret the garments, i.e., copes a bdo of the finer parts, after the manner of moths, for their nourishment. The infection of garments has frequently been known to cause the worst species of scarlet fever, and even the plague; and those infected with psora or itch animal have communicated the disease even in six or seven years after the infection.

]—Bagster.