SEV Biblia, Chapter 13:2
Cuando el hombre tuviere en la piel de su carne hinchazón, o postilla, o mancha blanca, y hubiere en la piel de su carne como llaga de lepra, será traído a Aarón el sacerdote, o a uno de los sacerdotes sus hijos;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Leviticus 13:2
Verse 2. The plague of leprosy] This dreadful disorder has its name leprosy, from the Greek lepoa, from lepiv, a scale, because in this disease the body was often covered with thin white scales, so as to give it the appearance of snow. Hence it is said of the hand of Moses, Exod. iv. 6, that it was leprous as snow; and of Miriam, Num. xii. 10, that she became leprous, as white as snow; and of Gehazi, 2 Kings v. 27, that, being judicially struck with the disease of Naaman, he went out from Elisha's presence a leper as white as snow. See's note on "Exod. iv. 6". In Hebrew this disease is termed t[rx tsaraath, from [rx tsara, to smite or strike; but the root in Arabic signifies to cast down or prostrate, and in AEthiopic, to cause to cease, because, says Stockius, "it prostrates the strength of man, and obliges him to cease from all work and labour." There were three signs by which the leprosy was known. 1. A bright spot. 2. A rising (enamelling) of the surface. 3. A scab; the enamelled place producing a variety of layers, or stratum super stratum, of these scales. The account given by Mr. Maundrell of the appearance of several persons whom he saw infected with this disorder in Palestine, will serve to show, in the clearest light, its horrible nature and tendency. "When I was in the Holy Land," says he, in his letter to the Rev. Mr. Osborn, Fellow of Exeter College, "I saw several that laboured under Gehazi's distemper; particularly at Sichem, (now Naplosu,) there were no less than ten that came begging to us at one time. Their manner is to come with small buckets in their hands, to receive the alms of the charitable; their touch being still held infectious, or at least unclean. The distemper, as I saw it on them, was quite different from what I have seen it in England; for it not only defiles the whole surface of the body with a foul scurf, but also deforms the joints of the body, particularly those of the wrists and ankles, making them swell with a gouty scrofulous substance, very loathsome to look on. I thought their legs like those of old battered horses, such as are often seen in drays in England. The whole distemper, indeed, as it there appeared, was so noisome, that it might well pass for the utmost corruption of the human body on this side the grave. And certainly the inspired penman could not have found out a fitter emblem, whereby to express the uncleanness and odiousness of vice."-Maundrell's Travels. Letters at the end. The reader will do well to collate this account with that given from Dr. Mead; See the note on "Exod. iv. 6".
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh , etc.] Rules are here given, by which a leprosy might be judged of; which, as a disease, was frequent in Egypt, where the Israelites had dwelt a long time, and from whence they were just come; and is doubtless the reason, as learned men have observed, that several Heathen writers make the cause of their expulsion from Egypt, as they choose to call it, though wrongly, their being infected with this distemper; whereas it was the reverse, not they, but the Egyptians, were incident to it f430 . Moreover, the leprosy here spoken of seems not to be the same with that disease, or what we now call so, though some have thought otherwise; it being rather an uncleanness than a disease, and the business of a priest, and not a physician to attend unto; and did not arise from natural causes, but was from the immediate hand of God, and was inflicted on men for their sins, as the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah show; and who by complying with the rites and ceremonies hereafter enjoined, their sins were pardoned, and they were cleansed; so that as their case was extraordinary and supernatural, their cure and cleansing were as remarkable: besides, this impurity being in garments and houses, shows it to be something out of the ordinary way. And this law concerning it did not extend to all men, only to the Israelites, and such as were in connection with them, such as proselytes. It is said f431 , all are defiled with the plague (of leprosy) except an idolater and a proselyte of the gate; and the commentators say f432 , even servants, and little ones though but a day old; that is, they are polluted with it, and so come under this law. Now the place where this disorder appears is “in the skin of the flesh”; that is, where there is a skin, and that is seen; for there are some places, the Jewish writers say, are not reckoned the skin of the flesh, or where that is not seen, and such places are excepted, and they are these; the inside of the eye, of the ear, and of the nose: wrinkles in the neck, under the pap, and under the arm hole; the sole of the foot, the nail, the head and beard: and this phrase, “in the skin of his flesh”, is always particularly mentioned; and when there appeared in it a rising, scab, or bright spot ; the scab that is placed between the rising or swelling, and the bright spot, belongs to them both, and is a kind of an accessory, or second to each of them: hence the Jews distinguish the scab of the swelling, and the scab of the bright spot; so that these make four in all, as they observe f434 . And to this agrees what Ben Gersom on this text remarks; the bright spot is, whose whiteness is as the snow; the rising or swelling is what is white, as the pure wool of a lamb of a day old; the scab is what is inferior in whiteness to the rising, and is as in the degree of the whiteness of the shell or film of an egg; and this is the order of these appearances, the most white is the bright spot, after that the rising, and after that the scab of the bright spot, and after that the scab of the rising or swelling; and, lo, what is in whiteness below the whiteness of this (the last) is not the plague of leprosy: and it be in the skin of his flesh [like] the plague of leprosy ; either of the above appearances in the skin, having somewhat in them similar to the leprosy, or which may justly raise a suspicion of it, though it is not clear and manifest; then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests ; for, as Jarchi notes, there was no pollution nor purification of the leprosy, but by the mouth or determination of a priest. And a good man that was desirous, and made conscience of observing the laws of God, when he observed anything of the above in him, and had any suspicion of his case, would of himself go, and show himself to the priest; but if a man did not do this, and any of his neighbours observed the appearances on him, brought him to the priest whether he would or not, according to the text, he shall be brought : that is, as Aben Ezra explains it, whether with or without his will; for he that sees in him one of the signs, shall oblige him to come to the priest; and who observes, that by Aaron the priest is meant, the priest anointed in his room; and by his sons the priests, the common priests, who are found without the sanctuary; such as the priests of Anathoth, but who were not of those that were rejected.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-17 - The plague of leprosy was an uncleanness, rather than a disease. Chris is said to cleanse lepers, not to cure them. Common as the leprosy wa among the Hebrews, during and after their residence in Egypt, we have no reason to believe that it was known among them before. Their distressed state and employment in that land must have rendered the liable to disease. But it was a plague often inflicted immediately by the hand of God. Miriam's leprosy, and Gehazi's, and king Uzziah's were punishments of particular sins; no marvel there was care taken to distinguish it from a common distemper. The judgment of it was referre to the priests. And it was a figure of the moral pollutions of men' minds by sin, which is the leprosy of the soul, defiling to the conscience, and from which Christ alone can cleanse. The priest coul only convict the leper, (by the law is the knowledge of sin,) but Christ can cure the sinner, he can take away sin. It is a work of grea importance, but of great difficulty, to judge of our spiritual state We all have cause to suspect ourselves, being conscious of sores an spots; but whether clean or unclean is the question. As there wer certain marks by which to know it was leprosy, so there are marks of such as are in the gall of bitterness. The priest must take time i making his judgment. This teaches all, both ministers and people, no to be hasty in censures, nor to judge anything before the time. If some men's sins go before unto judgment, the sins of others follow after and so do men's good works. If the person suspected were found to be clean, yet he must wash his clothes, because there had been ground for the suspicion. We have need to be washed in the blood of Christ from our spots, though not leprosy spots; for who can say, I am pure from sin?
Original Hebrew
אדם 120 כי 3588 יהיה 1961 בעור 5785 בשׂרו 1320 שׂאת 7613 או 176 ספחת 5597 או 176 בהרת 934 והיה 1961 בעור 5785 בשׂרו 1320 לנגע 5061 צרעת 6883 והובא 935 אל 413 אהרן 175 הכהן 3548 או 176 אל 413 אחד 259 מבניו 1121 הכהנים׃ 3548
