Leviticus 13:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,.... Aaron is addressed again, though left out in the preceding law, because the laws concerning leprosy chiefly concerned the priests, whose business it

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, No JFB commentary on this verse.

Leviticus 13:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying,Ver. 1. And the Lord spake.]

XIII.(1) And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron.—As laws of leprosy chiefly concerned the priests, who had to examine the symptoms and to decide whether they indicated the distemper or not, the Lord addressed the regulations to Aaron as well as to Moses. The leprosy discussed in this and the following chapters consists of three general classes: viz., (1) leprosy of man (Leviticus 13:2-46); (2) leprosy of garments (Leviticus 13:47-59); and (3) leprosy of houses (Leviticus 14:33-57). When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh.—In discussing the leprosy of man, the lawgiver enumerates six different circumstances under which it may develop itself. The first circumstance adduced in Leviticus 13:2-6 is of its developing itself without an apparent cause. Hence it was enjoined that if anyone should notice in the skin of his flesh a rising or swelling, he should be taken to the priest. As the description of these symptoms is very concise, and requires to be specified more minutely for practical purposes, the spiritual guides of Israel, who had to explain the law to the priests during the second Temple, and who came in personal contact with this distemper, defined them as follows :— A rising.—That is, a swelling, or swollen spot.Or bright spot.—That is, a bright or glossy pimple. But these symptoms, when indicative of leprosy, assume respectively one of two colours, a principal or a subordinate colour. The principal colour of the rising spot is like that of an egg-shell, and the secondary one resembles white wool; whilst the principal colour of the bright pimple is white as snow, and the subordinate resembles plaster on the wall. Then he shall be brought unto Aaron.—The following rules obtained during the second Temple with regard to the examination of the patient. Though anyone may examine the disease except the patient himself or his relations, yet the priest alone can decide whether it is leprosy or not, because the law declares that the priests must decide cases of litigation and disease (Deuteronomy 21:5); hence the patient must “be brought unto Aaron,” &c. But though the priests only can pronounce the patient clean or unclean, even if he be a child or a fool, yet he must act upon the advice of a learned layman in those matters. If the priest is blind of one eye, or is weak-sighted, he is disqualified for examining the distemper. The inspection must not take place on the Sabbath, nor early in the morning, nor in the middle of the day, nor in the evening, nor on cloudy days, because the colour of the skin cannot properly be ascertained in those hours of the day; but it must take place in the third, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, and ninth hours.

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, and how the person is to be treated in whom they appear, 4-8. In what state of this disorder the priest may pronounce a man clean or unclean, 9-13. Of the raw flesh, the sign of the unclean leprosy, 14, 15. Of the white flesh, the sign of the leprosy called clean, 16, 17. Of the leprosy which succeeds a boil, 18-20. Equivocal marks relative to this kind of leprosy, 21, 22. Of the burning boil, 23. Of the leprosy arising out of the burning boil, 24, 25. Equivocal marks relative to this kind of leprosy, 26-28. Of the plague on the head or in the beard, 29. Of the scall, and how it is to be treated, 30-37. Of the plague of the bright white spots, 38, 39. Of the bald head, 40, 41. Of the white reddish sore in the bald head, 42-44. The leper shall rend his clothes, put a patch on his upper lip, and cry unclean, 45. He shall be obliged to avoid society, and live by himself without the camp, 46. Of the garments infected by the leprosy, and the signs of this infection, 47-52. Equivocal marks relative to this infection, and how the garment is to be treated, by washing or by burning, 53-58. Conclusion relative to the foregoing particulars, 59. NOTES ON CHAP. XIII

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.