Lange Commentary - Leviticus 13:1 - 13:46

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Lange Commentary - Leviticus 13:1 - 13:46


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

A.—EXAMINATION AND ITS RESULT

Lev_13:1-46

1And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, 2When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of the flesh like the plague [a spot] of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: 3and the priest shall look on the plague [spot1] in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague [spot1] is turned white, and the plague [spot1] in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague [spot1] of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. 4If 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 turned3 white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague [shall bind up the spot] seven days: 5and the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague [spot1] in his sight be at a stay, and the plague [spot1] spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up [shall bind it up4] seven days more: 6and the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark [spot1be somewhat faint], and the plague [spot1] 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. 7But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been 8seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: and if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy.

9When the plague [spot1] of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; 10and 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 [a mark of] raw flesh 11in the rising; it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up [bind it up4]: for he is unclean.

12And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague [spot1] from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; 13then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague [pronouncethe spot1clean4]: it [Hebrews 10] is all turned white: he is clean. 14But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. 15And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. 16Or if the raw flesh turn [change] again, and be changed [be turned10] unto white, he shall come unto the priest; 17and the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague [spot] be turned into [unto] white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague [pronounce the spot1clean4]: he is clean.

18The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed, 19and in the place of the boil14 there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish [and glistening], and it be shewed to the priest; 20and if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague [spot1] of leprosy broken out of the boil.14 21But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark 22[faint5]; then the priest shall shut him up [shall bind it up4] seven days: and if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague [spot1]. 23But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burning boil [a scar of the boil]; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

24Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning [a burn by fire], and the quick flesh that burneth [the mark of the burn8] have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish [glistening13], or white: 25then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague [spot1] of leprosy. 26But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other [omit other] skin, but be somewhat dark [faint5]; then the priest shall shut him up [shall bind it up4] seven days: 27and the priest shall look upon him the seventh day; and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague [spot1] of leprosy. 28And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark [faint5]: it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation [a scar15] of the burning.

29If a man or woman have a plague [spot1] upon the head or the beard; then the priest shall see the plague [spot1]: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a [omit a] yellow thin hair; 30then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. 31And if the priest look on the plague [spot1] of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall [shall bind up4the spot1of the scall] seven days: 32and in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague [spot]: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin; 33he shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall [shall bind up the scall4] seven days more: 34and in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 35But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; 36then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean. 37But if the scall be in his sight at a stay and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

38If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; 39then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish [faint5] white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean.

40And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. 41And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. 42And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore [glistening13spot1]; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. 43Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore [spot1] be white reddish [glistening13] in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; 44he is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague [spot1] is in his head.

45And the leper in whom the plague [spot1] is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip [his mouth], and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. 46All the days wherein the plague [spot1] shall be in him he shall be defiled: he is unclean: he shall dwell alone [apart]; without the camp shall his habitation be.

B.—LEPROSY IN CLOTHING AND LEATHER

Lev_13:47-59

47The garment also that the plague [spot1] of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen 48garment, or a linen garment; whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin; 49and if the plague [spot1] be greenish or reddish [very green or very red] in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is a plague [spot1] of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest: 50and the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague [spot,1and bind up4the spot1] seven days: 51and he shall look on the plague [spot1] on the seventh day: if the plague [spot1] 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 [spot1] is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean. 52He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or anything of skin, wherein the plague [spot1] is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. 53And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague [spot1] be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; 54then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague [spot1] is, and he shall shut [bind4] it up seven days more: 55and the priest shall look on the plague [spot1], after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague [spot1] have not changed his color, and the plague [spot1] be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without. 56And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark [the spot1be somewhat faint5] 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: 57and if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is a spreading plague [omit a and plague;] thou shalt burn that wherein the plague [spot1] is, with fire. 58And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague [spot1] be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean.

59This is the law of the plague [spot1] of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or anything of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

Footnotes: 

Lev_13:2. ðֶâַò , a word of very frequent occurrence in these two chapters where it is uniformly translated in the A. V. (except Lev_13:42-43, sore) plague, as it is also in Gen_12:17; Exo_11:1; Deu_24:8 (in reference also to leprosy); 1Ki_8:37-38; Psa_91:10. Elsewhere the renderings of the A. V. are very various: sore, stroke, stripe, wound. By far the most common rendering in the LXX. is ἁöÞ =tactus, ictus. The idea of the word is a stroke or blow, and then the effect of this in a wound or spot. Clark therefore would translate here stroke, which meets well enough the meaning of the word itself, but does not in all cases convey the sense in English. It is perhaps impossible to find one word in English which can be used in all cases; but that which seems best adapted to Leviticus is the one given by Horsley and Lee, and adopted here: spot. So Keil, Wilson and others. There is no article in the Heb.

Lev_13:4. The construction in Lev_13:3-4; Lev_13:10 is without a preposition; in Lev_13:16-17 it is with the preposition ìְ , as is expressed in the A. V.

Lev_13:3. The sense is here undoubtedly the scarf skin (Clark), the cuticle, in contradistinction to the cutis, the true skin below. So Wilson, who says: “This distinction in reality constitutes one of the most important points of diagnosis between real leprosy and affections of the skin otherwise resembling leprosy.” But as we have in Heb. only the one word òåֹø for both (except the ἁð . ëÝã . âֶּìֶã , Job_16:15), there does not seem to be warrant for changing the translation, especially as in English skin answers to either with the same indefiniteness.

Lev_13:4-5, etc. According to Rosenmüller and Gesenius, ðֶâַò is used by metonymy for the person upon whom it is. This view is adopted by Lange. It appears in the Targ. of Onk. and in the Vulg., and has been followed by the A. V. Far better is the rendering of the Sam., LXX. and Syr.: the priest shall bind up the spot, or sore. This is the exact translation of the Heb., and is advocated by Horsley, Boothroyd, and many others. Fuerst does not recognize the sense by metonymy. The same change should perhaps also be made in ver.12. See Exegesis. In the case of shutting up the leprous house (Lev_14:38) the word house is distinctly expressed in the Heb.

Lev_13:6. ëֵּäָä =dim, pale, faint, weak, dying. The idea is that of something in the process of fading away, disappearing. LXX. ἀìáõñὰ , Vulg. obscurior.

Lev_13:6. It does not appear why the conjunction in the A. V. should be printed in italics; it is, however wanting in 18 MSS., the Sam., and LXX.

Lev_13:9. The conjunction is wanting in the Heb., but is supplied in the Sam. and versions.

Lev_13:4. The construction in Lev_13:3-4; Lev_13:10 is without a preposition; in Lev_13:16-17 it is with the preposition ìְ , as is expressed in the A. V.

Lev_13:10; Lev_13:24. îִçְéָä , according to Rosenmueller and Fuerst an indication, and this is the sense given in Targ., Onk. and the Syr., and apparently also in the Vulg. The LXX. renders ἀðὸ ôïῦ ὑãéïῦò ôῆò óáñêὸò ôῆò æþóçò ἐí ôῇ ïὐëῇ , taking the î as preposition, and understanding it, as the Rabbins, of a spot of proud flesh in the midst of the cicatrice. The margin of the A. V. is the quickening of living flesh; scar would express the sense, but this is appropriated to öָøֶáֶú , Lev_13:23; Lev_13:28, and mark gives the exact rendering of the Hebrew, and meets the requirements of the context.

Lev_13:13. The pronoun should obviously refer to the man rather than the spot.

Lev_13:16. ðֶäôַּêְ . This being the same verb as is used in Lev_13:3-4; Lev_13:17, in the same sense, the rendering should certainly be the same. The alteration in the A. V. was evidently on account of the previous translation of éָùׁåּá by turn. It is better to put the new word there.

Lev_13:2. ðֶâַò , a word of very frequent occurrence in these two chapters where it is uniformly translated in the A. V. (except Lev_13:42-43, sore) plague, as it is also in Gen_12:17; Exo_11:1; Deu_24:8 (in reference also to leprosy); 1Ki_8:37-38; Psa_91:10. Elsewhere the renderings of the A. V. are very various: sore, stroke, stripe, wound. By far the most common rendering in the LXX. is ἁöÞ =tactus, ictus. The idea of the word is a stroke or blow, and then the effect of this in a wound or spot. Clark therefore would translate here stroke, which meets well enough the meaning of the word itself, but does not in all cases convey the sense in English. It is perhaps impossible to find one word in English which can be used in all cases; but that which seems best adapted to Leviticus is the one given by Horsley and Lee, and adopted here: spot. So Keil, Wilson and others. There is no article in the Heb.

Lev_13:17. The preposition is the same as in the previous verse, and the change in the A. V. may have been simply accidental.

Lev_13:18. The word áּåֹ seems redundant, and is wanting in 4 MSS. and the Sam.

Lev_13:18 (bis), 20, 23. ùֶׁçִéï , burning ulcer, would perhaps be a better, because a more general word; but boil was probably understood with sufficient latitude.

Lev_13:19. àֲãַîְãָּîֶú . The reduplication of the letters in Heb. always intensifies the meaning (see Bochart, Hieroz. Pt. II., lib. V., c. vi., Ed. Rosen. III., p. 612 ss.); if therefore this be translated red at all, it must be very red, which would be inconsistent with the previous white. This obvious inconsistency has led the ancient versions into translations represented by the somewhat reddish of the A. V., and frequently to rendering the previous conjunction or. But as there is no conjunction at all in the Heb., it seems better to follow the suggestion of Pool, Patrick and others, and understand the word as meaning very bright, shining, glistening. Comp the description of leprosy, Exo_4:6; Num_12:10; 2Ki_5:27.

Lev_13:23; Lev_13:28. ö× äַîִּëְåָä , öָøֶáֶú äַùְּׁçִéï , Rosenmueller, cicatrix ulceris. So all the ancient versions, and so Gesenius. So also Coverdale and Cranmer, and so Riggs. Fuerst, however, inflammation.

Lev_13:24. The margin of the A. V. is better than the text. This paragraph (Lev_13:24-28) is plainly in relation to leprosy developing from a burn on the skin. So Gesen, Fuerst, Pool, Patrick, etc. So the LXX. and Vulg.

Lev_13:31. The meaning of ùָׁçֹø =black is established. The LXX., yellow, can therefore only be considered as an emendation of the text, substituting öָäֹá , and this is followed by Luther, Knobel, Keil, Murphy and others; it is, however, sustained by no other ancient version nor by any MS., and the change in the LXX. must be considered as simply an effort to avoid a difficulty. Keil and Clark propose, as a less desirable alternative, the omission of the negative particle. There is, however, no real difficulty in the text as it stands. See Exegesis.

Lev_13:32. The Sam. here substitutes ðֶúֶ÷ , scall, for ðֶâַò , spot.

Lev_13:39. áֹּäַ÷ , a word ἁð . ëÝã . according to Gesen. a harmless eruption of a whitish color which appears on the dark skin of the Arabs, and is still called by the same name.

Lev_13:40. ÷ֵøֵçַ , used here apparently for the back of the head in contradistinction to âִּáֵּçַ the fron4, which occurs only here (but its derivative, âַּáַּçַú , is found Lev_13:42 bis, 43 and 55). ÷ֵøֵçַ , however, is elsewhere baldness in general. Comp. Deu_14:1.

Lev_13:45. Comp. Textual Note5 on Lev_10:6.

Lev_13:45. ùָׂôָí . There is some doubt as to the true meaning. It is translated beard in the A. V., 2Sa_19:24 (25), and so Fuerst and Gesenius would render it here, guided by the etymology. All the ancient versions, however, translate it either mouth or lips, and a word etymologically signifying beard (or rather the sprouting place of hair) would easily come to have this sense in use. It is a different word from the æָ÷ָï =beard of Lev_13:29.

Lev_13:46. áָּãָã . The alone of the A. V. would ordinarily be a good enough translation, but is liable to be misunderstood. The leper was simply to dwell apart from the clean Israelites, but might and did live with other lepers.

Lev_13:49. éְøַ÷ְøַ÷ . The reduplication of the letters intensifies the meaning. Comp. note13 on Lev_13:19. àֲãַîְãָּîֶú , too, as noted above, may here mean either very red, or, as before, glistening. There is so little knowledge about the fact that neither of them can be certainly decided upon; but as in this case we have the disjunctive (as also in Lev_14:37), it seems more probable that two distinct colors were intended.

Lev_13:55. The margin of the A. V. gives the literal rendering of the Heb. bald in the head thereof, or in the forehead thereof, and there can be no doubt that these are terms figuratively applied to the cloth or skin for the right and wrong side, as in the text.