Leviticus 13:38 ¶ If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; 39 Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean. 40 And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. 41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. 42 And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; 44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. 45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. 46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
A person with freckles or a bald head is not necessarily unclean.
But a person who is pronounced as having Leprosy must protect other people from
any chance of contagion by covering his mouth and shouting, “Unclean, unclean!”
That person must also live apart from the others, clearly for their protection
making this a public health issue.
The modern notion of Leprosy is mildly contagious and passed from
person to person over long periods of contact by what comes out of the nose and
the mouth so covering the upper lip is important.
Leviticus 13:47 ¶ The
garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen
garment, or a linen garment; 48 Whether it
be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in
any thing made of skin; 49 And if the
plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the
warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy,
and shall be shewed unto the priest: 50
And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath
the plague seven days: 51 And he shall
look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment,
either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is
made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.
52 He shall therefore burn that garment,
whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the
plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.
53 And if the priest shall look, and,
behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the
woof, or in any thing of skin; 54 Then
the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is,
and he shall shut it up seven days more: 55
And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and,
behold, if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not
spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret
inward, whether it be bare within or without. 56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the
plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it
out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof:
57 And if it appear still in the
garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is
a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is
with fire. 58 And the garment, either
warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash,
if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time,
and shall be clean. 59 This is
the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in
the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to
pronounce it unclean.
Leprosy is like sinful flesh that contaminates our soul. We wear
it in this life covered with the contagion of sin. I thought there was an
interesting comment in Jude’s letter, just before Revelation.
Jude 21 Keep yourselves in
the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. 22 And of some have compassion,
making a difference: 23 And others save
with fear, pulling them out of
the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
In
Isaiah treasured garments will be removed in judgment as our flesh will be
destroyed.
Isaiah 3:18 In that day the
Lord will take away the bravery [bravery in 1611 also meaning
fine clothes carrying on a former meaning of pretentious and showy] of their
tinkling ornaments about their feet,
and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, 19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the
mufflers, 20 The bonnets, and the
ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, 21 The rings, and nose jewels, 22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the
mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, 23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the
hoods, and the vails. [When we get to Isaiah I will define some of these
words more clearly.]
We must be wary about treasuring the garment of our flesh. In the
context of Peter talking about wives influencing their husbands disobedient to
God’s word, assuming they are unbelievers, a topic which Paul talked about at
length he wrote;
1Peter 3:3 Whose adorning
let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let
it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
But,
in Revelation the righteousness offered through Christ is likened to fine
linen.
Revelation 19:8 And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine
linen is the
righteousness of saints.
Diseases can be contracted through contact with infected clothing
or reusable grocery bags and the like today as evidenced by two papers I read
recently about a soccer team who all become infected with a stomach illness and
airline staff who become infected by clothing worn by infected people. My point
is that infected clothing can make a healthy person sick. Sources I have read
said that even what we call Leprosy today, Hansen’s Disease, can be contracted
indirectly through contaminated clothing.
Warp and woof are threads in a woven fabric with warp being threads running
lengthwise and woof with threads running crosswise. The phrase has come down to
us from the 1800s meaning the basic structure or foundation of anything.
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