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 head even to his feet, as far as appeareth to the priest; then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. But whensoever raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall look on the raw flesh, and pronounce him unclean: the raw flesh is unclean: it is leprosy. Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, then he shall come unto the priest; and the priest shall look on him; and, behold, if the plague be turned into white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean.

"And when the flesh hath in the skin thereof a boil, and it is healed, and in the place of the boil there is a white rising, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then he shall be showed to the priest; and the priest shall look; and, behold, if the appearance thereof be lower than the skin, and the hair thereof he turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy, it hath broken out in the boil. But if the priest look on it, and behold, there be no white hairs therein, and it be not lower than the skin, but be dim; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: and if it spread abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. But if the bright spot stay in its place, and be not spread, it is the scar of the boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

"Or when the flesh hath in the skin thereof a burning by fire, and the quick flesh of the burning become a bright spot, reddish-white, or white; then the priest shall look upon it; and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and the appearance thereof be deeper than the skin; it is leprosy, it hath broken out in the burning: and the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the skin, but be dim; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: and the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: if it spread abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. And if the bright spot stay in its place, and be not spread in the skin, but be dim; it is the rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is the scar of the burning."

From these instructions, it appears that the principal tell-tale signs of leprosy were: (1) white hairs in the affected area; (2) the encroachment of the disease below the epidermis; and (3) the progressive invasion of more and more body tissue. These certainly were "signs" that a priest could accurately discern and required no medical expertise to determine. Due to the very nature of such things as boils and burns, there must frequently have been occasions in which the people were beset with great anxieties in their fear of leprosy.

What of those who were declared unclean? Their lot was tragic indeed. They were compelled to dress as mourners (Leviticus 10:6; 21:10; Ezekiel 24:17; Micah 3:7), and to dwell apart from all human habitation (2 Kings 7:3; 15:5; Luke 17:12), and to warn any person passing by through chance by crying "Unclean! Unclean! ... Like the Pariah in India, they were untouchable."[4] How dramatically this contrasts with the teaching of Jesus who did not hesitate to touch lepers, or even the dead (Mark 1:40f).

This writer visited a leper camp (a shanty town), in Pusan, Korea, in 1953 and still remembers it as one of the most soul-shaking, repugnant, and heartbreaking scenes ever witnessed. The human misery and wretchedness of such a place is beyond description. Language as a means of conveying thought is unequal to the task of any adequate description, and the emotional impact of the place lingered for days. Having walked through the grounds, laid out in little rows where the inmates had improvised the worst housing ever seen on earth, and the little canals of running water that served the dual purpose of latrines and their source of drinking water, those of us who walked through had a feeling that the soles of our shoes were infected. Some of us cleaned our shoes repeatedly, but the feeling lingered! Food? It was garbage, not even "good" garbage, but the refuse of the teeming city of Pusan. May God have mercy upon those who exist in such camps until mercifully relieved by death! That it was such a place as this to which all lepers of that era were confined casts a grim light indeed upon the serious business described in this remarkable chapter. People, already desensitized by the horrible leprosy would smoke a discarded cigarette butt, allowing it to burn their stub fingers, no longer sensitive to pain - eyelids missing, lips, teeth, hair, portions of the cheek, stub feet, arms, no ears, or only two holes for a nose. How horrible!