Leviticus 13:25

13:18-44 The priest is told what judgment to make, if there were any appearance of a leprosy in old sores; and such is the danger of those who having escaped the pollutions of the world are again entangled therein. Or, in a burn by accident, ver. 24. The burning of strife and contention often occasions the rising and breaking out of that corruption, which proves that men are unclean. Human life lies exposed to many grievances. With what troops of diseases are we beset on every side; and thy all entered by sin! If the constitution be healthy, and the body lively and easy, we are bound to glorify God with our bodies. Particular note was taken of the leprosy, if in the head. If the leprosy of sin has seized the head; if the judgment be corrupted, and wicked principles, which support wicked practices, are embraced, it is utter uncleanness, from which few are cleansed. Soundness in the faith keeps leprosy from the head.

Then the priest shall look upon it,.... And examine it, whether it has the marks and signs of a leprosy or not, such as follow: behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white; which before was black, or of another colour from white, and is now, turned into the whiteness of chalk, as the Targum of Jonathan: and it be in sight deeper than the skin; the same Targum is,"and its sight or colour is deeper in being white like snow, more than the skin;''but this respects not the colour of it, as appearing to the sight, but the depth of the spot, going below the skin into the flesh, which, with the change of hair, are the two signs of leprosy, Leviticus 13:3, it is a leprosy broken out of the burning; which sprung from thence, and what that had issued in: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean; a leper, and to be treated as such: it is the plague of leprosy; being a plain case, according to the rules by which it was to be judged of.

9-37. if the rising be white—This BRIGHT WHITE leprosy is the most malignant and inveterate of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and it was marked by the following distinctive signs: A glossy white and spreading scale, upon an elevated base, the elevation depressed in the middle, but without a change of color; the black hair on the patches participating in the whiteness, and the scaly patches themselves perpetually enlarging their boundary. Several of these characteristics, taken separately, belong to other blemishes of the skin as well; so that none of them was to be taken alone, and it was only when the whole of them concurred that the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physician, was to pronounce the disease a malignant leprosy. If it spread over the entire frame without producing any ulceration, it lost its contagious power by degrees; or, in other words, it ran through its course and exhausted itself. In that case, there being no longer any fear of further evil, either to the individual himself or to the community, the patient was declared clean by the priest, while the dry scales were yet upon him, and restored to society. If, on the contrary, the patches ulcerated and quick or fungous flesh sprang up in them, the purulent matter of which, if brought into contact with the skin of other persons, would be taken into the constitution by means of absorbent vessels, the priest was at once to pronounce it an inveterate leprosy.

A temporary confinement was them declared to be totally unnecessary, and he was regarded as unclean for life [Dr. Good]. Other skin affections, which had a tendency to terminate in leprosy, though they were not decided symptoms when alone, were: "a boil" (Le 13:18-23); "a hot burning,"—that is, a fiery inflammation or carbuncle (Le 13:24-28); and "a dry scall" (Le 13:29-37), when the leprosy was distinguished by being deeper than the skin and the hair became thin and yellow.

The fourth case ( Leviticus 13:24-28 ): if there was a burnt place upon the skin of the flesh (מבות־אשׁ, a spot where he had burnt himself with fire, the scar of a burn), and the "life of the scar" - i.e., the skin growing or forming upon the scar (see Leviticus 13:10 ), - "becomes a whitish red, or white spot," i.e., if it formed itself into a bright swollen spot. This was to be treated exactly like the previous case. המּכוה שׂאת ( Leviticus 13:28 ), rising of the scar of the burn, i.e., a rising of the flesh and skin growing out of the scar of the burn.

[Reformed Biblical] is. Or white , i.e. or only white, without any mixture of red in it. This clause seems to overthrow that exposition of the Hebrew word adamdam which is given by a learned man, Lev_13:19, because this colour which is here said to be only white , is distinguished from that which is here called adamdam , which therefore must be some other colour than that of snow, which though very light or bright, yet is only white. Leviticus 13:25 Leviticus 13:26 ## Somewhat dark, or, contracted , i.e. not spreading . See Lev_13:6. Leviticus 13:27 Leviticus 13:28 i.e. Arising from the burning mentioned Lev_13:24. Leviticus 13:29 Leviticus 13:30 The leprosy in the body turned the hair white, in the head or beard it turned it yellow. And if a man’s hair was yellow before, this might easily be distinguished from the rest, either by the thinness or smallness of it, which is here noted, or by its peculiar kind of yellow, for there are divers kinds or degrees of the same colour manifestly differing one from another, as in green colours, &c. Leviticus 13:31 ## And that there is no black hair in it; for had that appeared, it had ended the doubt, the black ha ir being a sign of soundness and strength of nature, Lev_13:37, as the yellow hair was a sign of unsoundness. Leviticus 13:32 Leviticus 13:33 ## He shall be shav en, for the more

13 . with rigour ] The rare word found otherwise only in v. 14, Leviticus 25:43 ; Leviticus 25:46 ; Leviticus 25:53 (all P or H); Ezekiel 34:4 . The root is not in use in Heb.; in Aram. it means to rub ( Luke 6:1 Pesh.), or crush small . 13, 14 . The parallel, from P, to vv. 11, 12, and continuation of v. 7. P states simply the fact of the oppression, without referring to the grounds prompting it.

Verses 13, 14. - These state the uses of the chambers just described, and now named holy chambers , to denote their separation and dedication to sacred purposes. Those purposes, again, are defined as two. The chambers were to serve as dining-halls and robing rooms for the priests when they officiated in the temple. The most holy things ; literally, the holy of the holies (comp. Ezekiel 41:4 ; Ezekiel 43:12 ; Ezekiel 45:3 ; Ezekiel 48:12 ; Leviticus 2:3 ; Leviticus 6:17, 25, 29 ; Leviticus 7:1, 6 ; Leviticus 10:12, 17 ; Leviticus 14:13 ; Leviticus 24:9 ; Leviticus 27:28 ; Numbers 18:9 ), signified those portions of the different sacrificial offerings which were to be eaten by the priests as the servants and representatives of Jehovah (see Keil's 'Biblische Archaologie,' 1. § 46) or of the people (see Kurtz's ' Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament,' p. 240, Eng. transl.). Under the Law these were appointed to be eaten in the holy place beside the altar ( Leviticus 10:12, 13 ; Numbers 18:10 ); in Ezekiel's temple, a special quarter in the near vicinity of the house should be reserved for this purpose. There those portions of the sacrifices that could be eaten were to be consumed; as e.g. , the flesh of the sin and trespass offerings, and the meal of the meat offering; but as these could not be at once used, they were to be deposited there until they were prepared for eating, the flesh by being boiled and the meal by being mixed with oil.