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The next ceremonial uncleanness is that of the leprosy, concerning which the law was very large and particular; we have the discovery of it in this chapter, and the cleansing of the leper in the next. Scarcely any one thing in all the levitical law takes up so much room as this. I. Rules are here given by which the priest must judge whether the man had the leprosy or no, according as the symptom was that appeared. 1. If it was a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot (v. 1-17). 2. If it was a bile (Lev 13:18-23). 3. If it was in inflammation (Lev 13:24-28). 4. If it was in the head or beard (Lev 13:29-37). 5. If it was a bright spot (Lev 13:38, Lev 13:39). 6. If it was in a bald head (Lev 13:40-44). II. Direction is given how the leper must be disposed of (Lev 13:45, Lev 13:46). III. Concerning the leprosy in garments (Lev 13:47, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 13 In this chapter an account is given of the various sorts of leprosy, and the rules by which they were to be judged of, Lev 13:1 of the bright spot and scab, Lev 13:4 of the rising or swelling, Lev 13:9 of the bile or hot ulcer, Lev 13:18 of the hot burning or inflammation, Lev 13:24 of the plague of the scall, Lev 13:29 of bright spots or blisters, Lev 13:38 and of shedding the hair, and baldness, Lev 13:40 of what the leper was to do, and to be done unto, Lev 13:45 of the leprosy in garments made of linen, woollen, or of skin, Lev 13:47.

Laws relative to the leprosy. It is to be known by a rising in the flesh, a scab, or a bright spot, Lev 13:1, Lev 13:2. When the priest sees these signs he shall pronounce the man unclean, infected with the leprosy, and unfit for society, Lev 13:3. Dubious or equivocal signs of this disorder, and how the person is to be treated in whom they appear, Lev 13:4-8. In what state of this disorder the priest may pronounce a man clean or unclean, Lev 13:9-13. Of the raw flesh, the sign of the unclean leprosy, Lev 13:14, Lev 13:15. Of the white flesh, the sign of the leprosy called clean, Lev 13:16, Lev 13:17. Of the leprosy which succeeds a boil, Lev 13:18-20. Equivocal marks relative to this kind of leprosy, Lev 13:21, Lev 13:22. Of the burning boil, Lev 13:23. Of the leprosy arising out of the burning boil, Lev 13:24, Lev 13:25. Equivocal marks relative to this kind of leprosy, Lev 13:26-28. Of the plague on the head or in the beard, Lev 13:29. Of the scall, and how it is to be treated, Lev 13:30-37. Of the plague of the bright white spots, Lev 13:38, Lev 13:39. Of the bald head, Lev 13:40, Lev 13:41. Of the white reddish sore in the bald head, Lev 13:42-44. The leper shall rend his clothes, put a patch on his upper lip, and cry unclean, Lev 13:45. He shall be obliged to avoid society, and live by himself without the camp, Lev 13:46. Of the garments infected by the leprosy, and the signs of this infection, Lev 13:47-52. Equivocal marks relative to this infection, and how the garment is to be treated, by washing or by burning, Lev 13:53-58. Conclusion relative to the foregoing particulars, Lev 13:59.

It shall be washed the second time - According to the Jews the first washing was to put away the plague, the second to cleanse it. Both among Jews and Gentiles the leprosy has been considered as a most expressive emblem of sin, the properties and circumstances of the one pointing out those of the other. The similitude or parallel has been usually run in the following manner: - 1. The leprosy began with a spot, a simple hidden infection being the cause. 2. This spot was very conspicuous, and argued the source whence it proceeded. 3. It was of a diffusive nature, soon spreading over the whole body. 4. It communicated its infectious nature, not only to the whole of the person's body, but also to his clothes and habitation. 5. It rendered the infected person loathsome, unfit for and dangerous to society because of its infectious nature. 6. The person infected was obliged to be separated from society, both religious and civil; to dwell by himself without the camp or city, and hold commerce with none. 7. He was obliged to proclaim his own uncleanness, publicly acknowledge his defilement, and, sensible of his plague, continue humbled and abased before God and man. How expressive all these are of the nature of sin and the state of a sinner, a spiritual mind will at once perceive. 1. The original infection or corruption of nature is the grand hidden cause, source, and spring of all transgression. 2. Iniquity is a seed that has its growth, gradual increase, and perfection. As the various powers of the mind are developed, so it diffuses itself, infecting every passion and appetite through their whole extent and operation. 3. As it spreads in the mind, so it diffuses itself through the life; every action partaking of its influence, till the whole conduct becomes a tissue of transgression, because every imagination of the thoughts of a sinner's heart is only evil continually, Genesis 6. This is the natural state of man. 4. As a sinner is infected, so is he infectious; by his precept and example he spreads the infernal contagion wherever he goes; joining with the multitude to do evil, strengthening and being strengthened in the ways of sin and death, and becoming especially a snare and a curse to his own household. 5. That a sinner is abominable in the sight of God and of all good men, that he is unfit for the society of the righteous, and that he cannot, as such, be admitted into the kingdom of God, needs no proof. 6. It is owing to the universality of the evil that sinners are not expelled from society as the most dangerous of all monsters, and obliged to live without having any commerce with their fellow creatures. Ten lepers could associate together, because partaking of the same infection: and civil society is generally maintained, because composed of a leprous community. 7. He that wishes to be saved from his sins must humble himself before God and man, sensible of his own sore and the plague of his heart; confess his transgressions; look to God for a cure, from whom alone it can be received; and bring that Sacrifice by which alone the guilt can be taken away, and his soul be purified from all unrighteousness. See the conclusion of the following chapter at Lev 14:53 (note).

THE LAWS AND TOKENS IN DISCERNING LEPROSY. (Lev. 13:1-59) When a man shall have in the skin, &c.--The fact of the following rules for distinguishing the plague of leprosy being incorporated with the Hebrew code of laws, proves the existence of the odious disease among that people. But a short time, little more than a year (if so long a period had elapsed since the exodus) when symptoms of leprosy seem extensively to have appeared among them; and as they could not be very liable to such a cutaneous disorder amid their active journeyings and in the dry open air of Arabia, the seeds of the disorder must have been laid in Egypt, where it has always been endemic. There is every reason to believe that this was the case: that the leprosy was not a family complaint, hereditary among the Hebrews, but that they got it from intercourse with the Egyptians and from the unfavorable circumstances of their condition in the house of bondage. The great excitement and irritability of the skin in the hot and sandy regions of the East produce a far greater predisposition to leprosy of all kinds than in cooler temperatures; and cracks or blotches, inflammations or even contusions of the skin, very often lead to these in Arabia and Palestine, to some extent, but particularly in Egypt. Besides, the subjugated and distressed state of the Hebrews in the latter country, and the nature of their employment, must have rendered them very liable to this as well as to various other blemishes and misaffections of the skin; in the production of which there are no causes more active or powerful than a depressed state of body and mind, hard labor under a burning sun, the body constantly covered with the excoriating dust of brick fields, and an impoverished diet--to all of which the Israelites were exposed while under the Egyptian bondage. It appears that, in consequence of these hardships, there was, even after they had left Egypt, a general predisposition among the Hebrews to the contagious forms of leprosy--so that it often occurred as a consequence of various other affections of the skin. And hence all cutaneous blemishes or blains--especially such as had a tendency to terminate in leprosy--were watched with a jealous eye from the first [GOOD, Study of Medicine]. A swelling, a pimple, or bright spot on the skin, created a strong ground of suspicion of a man's being attacked by the dreaded disease. then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, &c.--Like the Egyptian priests, the Levites united the character of physician with that of the sacred office; and on the appearance of any suspicious eruptions on the skin, the person having these was brought before the priest--not, however, to receive medical treatment, though it is not improbable that some purifying remedies might be prescribed, but to be examined with a view to those sanitary precautions which it belonged to legislation to adopt.

Leprosy. - The law for leprosy, the observance of which is urged upon the people again in Deu 24:8-9, treats, in the first place, of leprosy in men: (a) in its dangerous forms when appearing either on the skin (vv. 2-28), or on the head and beard (Lev 13:29-37); (b) in harmless forms (Lev 13:38 and Lev 13:39); and (c) when appearing on a bald head (Lev 13:40-44). To this there are added instructions for the removal of the leper from the society of other men (Lev 13:45 and Lev 13:46). It treats, secondly, of leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather articles, and the way to treat them (Lev 13:47-59); thirdly, of the purification of persons recovered from leprosy (Lev 14:1-32); and fourthly, of leprosy in houses and the way to remove it (vv. 33-53). - The laws for leprosy in man relate exclusively to the so-called white leprosy, λεύκη λέπρα, lepra, which probably existed at that time in hither Asia alone, not only among the Israelites and Jews (Num 12:10.; Sa2 3:29; Kg2 5:27; Kg2 7:3; Kg2 15:5; Mat 8:2-3; Mat 10:8; Mat 11:5; Mat 26:6, etc.), but also among the Syrians (Kg2 5:1.), and which is still found in that part of the world, most frequently in the countries of the Lebanon and Jordan and in the neighbourhood of Damascus, in which city there are three hospitals for lepers (Seetzen, pp. 277, 278), and occasionally in Arabia (Niebuhr, Arab. pp. 135ff.) and Egypt; though at the present time the pimply leprosy, lepra tuberosa s. articulorum (the leprosy of the joints), is more prevalent in the East, and frequently occurs in Egypt in the lower extremities in the form of elephantiasis. Of the white leprosy (called Lepra Mosaica), which is still met with in Arabia sometimes, where it is called Baras, Trusen gives the following description: "Very frequently, even for years before the actual outbreak of the disease itself, white, yellowish spots are seen lying deep in the skin, particularly on the genitals, in the face, on the forehead, or in the joints. They are without feeling, and sometimes cause the hair to assume the same colour as the spots. These spots afterwards pierce through the cellular tissue, and reach the muscles and bones. The hair becomes white and woolly, and at length falls off; hard gelatinous swellings are formed in the cellular tissue; the skin gets hard, rough, and seamy, lymph exudes from it, and forms large scabs, which fall off from time to time, and under these there are often offensive running sores. The nails then swell, curl up, and fall off; entropium is formed, with bleeding gums, the nose stopped up, and a considerable flow of saliva... The senses become dull, the patient gets thin and weak, colliquative diarrhea sets in, and incessant thirst and burning fever terminate his sufferings" (Krankheiten d. alten Hebr. p. 165).