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Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Leviticus 13:1-59

Detection of leprosy (13:1-59)Biblical scholars and medical scientists alike have shown that the leprosy the Old Testament speaks of was not always the disease that we know as leprosy today. The word had a broad meaning that covered a number of infectious skin diseases, some of which were curable. It applied even to fungus or mildew on clothes and buildings.Laws laid down in these chapters concerned two main things. Firstly, because such disease was symbolic of sin, it made people ceremonially... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Leviticus 13:9

"When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; and the priest shall look; and, behold, if there be a white rising in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising, it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean: he shall not shut him up; for he is unclean. And if the leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Leviticus 13:9

9-37. if the rising be white—This BRIGHT WHITE leprosy is the most malignant and inveterate of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and it was marked by the following distinctive signs: A glossy white and spreading scale, upon an elevated base, the elevation depressed in the middle, but without a change of color; the black hair on the patches participating in the whiteness, and the scaly patches themselves perpetually enlarging their boundary. Several of these characteristics, taken... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 13:1-46

Abnormalities in human skin 13:1-46God dealt with 21 different cases of skin diseases in this pericope. Some of these may have included measles, smallpox, scarlet fever, and other diseases characterized by skin rash. [Note: Harris, p. 577.] Some authorities believe that exact identification of the various forms of scaly skin disorders described in this chapter is impossible today. [Note: Browne, pp. 5-6.] Others feel more confident. One authority suggested the following identifications. [Note:... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 13:1-59

3. Uncleanness due to skin and covering abnormalities chs. 13-14Many translations and commentaries have regarded the legislation in these chapters as dealing with leprosy, but this is misleading. The confusion has arisen because the term "leprosy" appears in most English texts in these chapters, and English readers automatically think that what we know as modern leprosy is in view. However as the chapters unfold it becomes increasingly clear that what is in view is not modern leprosy (Hansen’s... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 13:9-17

These tests were appropriate when raw flesh appeared in an infected area of the skin. White hair in the raw flesh area was a sure sign of serious skin disease.If the afflicted person became completely white rather than blotchy, the priest was to consider him or her clean. Evidently it was the patchy condition of the skin that made the person unclean. Another explanation is that a totally white condition indicated that the disease was over or not contagious. [Note: Bush, p. 119; Keil and... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 13:1-59

Uncleanness connected with LeprosyIt is tolerably certain that the leprosy of the OT. is not the leprosy of the Middle Ages, which is still to be found in the East. The latter is a terrible and loathsome disease, called elephantiasis, in consequence of which the skin thickens, the features are distorted, and the very limbs mortify and drop off from the body. The leprosy of the Bible is a skin disease, known as psoriasis, in which the skin and hair grow white, and which is accompanied with scab... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Leviticus 13:9

(9) When the plague of leprosy is in a man.—The second case, discussed inverses 9-17, is of leprosy re-appearing after it has been cured, when a somewhat different treatment is enjoined. In its re-appearance, as in its first manifestation, the patient is forthwith to be brought to the priest. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Leviticus 13:10

(10) If the rising be white.—If the distemper actually returns, one of two symptoms indicates it. A white rising will be noticed in the skin, which changes the black hair into white. The white hair only then indicates the disorder when it co-exists with the white rising or swelling which produced it. If the original white swelling, which discoloured the hair, disappears, and a fresh white swelling forms itself around the existing white hair, it is no indication of uncleanness.And there be quick... read more

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