Leviticus 13:1-17 comments: malignant skin diseases

 

Leviticus 13:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, 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: 3  And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. 4  If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: 5  And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more: 6  And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 7  But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: 8  And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy. 9  When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; 10  And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; 11  It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean. 12  And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; 13  Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. 14  But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. 15  And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. 16  Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest; 17  And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean.

 

Leprosy in early modern English, the language of the King James era, included many malignant skin diseases. Neither the Hebrews of 3,000 BC nor the translators of the King James era of 1600 would have restricted it to what it is called today, Hansen’s Disease, named after the Norwegian doctor, Gerhard Hansen, who identified the bacterial agent that causes it in 1873. But, don’t read that back into the Bible. Leprosy would have been a much broader umbrella in 1611 as well as in the millennia before that. In the 1600s even Elephantiasis, caused by a parasite, was regarded as a type of Leprosy.

So, modernists should stop criticizing the Bible by saying that this or that is not a symptom of Leprosy but of some other illness. Just think malignant, perhaps contagious, skin disease like they would have thought.

Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Leviticus 13, made two very interesting points. The first was, “Concerning the plague of leprosy we may observe in general, 1. That it was rather an uncleanness than a disease; or, at least, so the law considered it, and therefore employed not the physicians but the priests about it.” He also wrote about this Leprosy in the Bible as being different than what we consider Leprosy in modern times, “That it is a plague not now known in the world; what is commonly called the leprosy is of a quite different nature. This seems to have been reserved as a particular scourge for the sinners of those times and places.” 

The priests here are doing double-duty, as diviners of ritually clean and unclean as well as public health workers. Egypt, from whence the Hebrews had escaped, had priests who were also doctors mixing magic and medicine although certainly not all Egyptian priests were physicians. Many sources report that Leprosy is first mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus manuscript from around 1550BC. The Hebrews probably picked up the potential for Leprosy from their stay in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 28:27  The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

 

But, the potential for Leprosy, the presence of bacterium or parasites, does not mean that everyone will get it or everyone would. There is a reason why some contract a disease that many others were exposed to but didn’t contract. Was it a punishment for sin or was this, like Job’s affliction, allowed for reasons we cannot know in this life but simply must trust God in regard? This Leprosy underscores that there is a discrimination, a judgment between clean and unclean.