Leviticus 13:1-59

3. Uncleanness due to skin and covering abnormalities chs. 13-14

Many 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 disease). [Note: See S. G. Browne, Leprosy in the Bible; E. V. Hulse, "The Nature of Biblical ’Leprosy’ and the Use of Alternative Medical Terms in Modern Translations of the Bible," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 107 (1975):87-105; John Wilkinson, "Leprosy and Leviticus: The Problem of Description and Identification," Scottish Journal of Theology 30 (1984):153-69; Rebecca A. and E. Eugene Baillie, M. D., "Biblical Leprosy as Compared to Present-Day Leprosy," Christian Medical Society Journal 14:3 (Fall 1983):27-29.] The solution to the problem involves recognizing that the Septuagint version has influenced the English translations of the Hebrew word used here, tsara’at. In the Septuagint, the Greek word lepra translates tsara’at, and the English translations have simply transliterated this Greek word because of similarities with modern leprosy. The Greeks used a different term for human leprosy: elephantiasis, not lepra. That tsara’at does not mean leprosy becomes especially clear in chapter 14 where we read that tsara’at appeared as mold and mildew in clothes and houses, something modern leprosy does not do. What tsara’at does describe is a variety of abnormalities that afflicted human skin as well as clothing and houses, coverings of various types. Lepra etymologically refers to scaliness, and tsara’at may also. [Note: See Hulse, p. 93; and Browne, p. 5.] Evidently there was enough similarity between these abnormalities for God to deal with them together in this section of Leviticus.

The section contains three parts. Moses frequently divided various material into three subsections in Leviticus. Each part in this section begins, "The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron" (Leviticus 13:1; Leviticus 14:1; Leviticus 14:33), and it closes, "This is the law for" (Leviticus 13:59; Leviticus 14:32; Leviticus 14:54).

The diagnosis and treatment of abnormalities in human skin and clothing ch. 13

We may further divide this chapter into two parts: the diagnosis and treatment of abnormalities in human skin, and the diagnosis and treatment of abnormalities in clothing and similar articles. A more detailed outline of the chapter follows. [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 194.]

Introduction Leviticus 13:1

First set of tests for skin disease Leviticus 13:2-8

Second set of tests for skin disease Leviticus 13:9-17

Third set of tests for skin disease in scars Leviticus 13:18-23

Fourth set of tests for skin disease in burns Leviticus 13:24-28

Fifth set of tests for skin disease in scalp or beard Leviticus 13:29-37

A skin disease that is clean Leviticus 13:38-39

Baldness and skin disease Leviticus 13:40-44

Treatment of those diagnosed as unclean Leviticus 13:45-46

Diagnosis and treatment of skin disease in clothing Leviticus 13:47-58

Summary Leviticus 13:59

Rooker saw seven types of infectious skin diseases in Leviticus 13:1-44: skin eruptions (Leviticus 13:1-8), chronic skin disease (Leviticus 13:9-17), boils (Leviticus 13:18-23), burns (Leviticus 13:24-28), sores (Leviticus 13:29-37), rashes (Leviticus 13:38-39), and baldness (Leviticus 13:40-44). [Note: Rooker, pp. 186-92.]

Before proceeding, we need to note that by "treatment" we do not mean that God prescribed a way by which people or objects afflicted with "leprosy" could recover. Rather the "treatment" dealt with how people were to relate to God and the sanctuary in view of these problems. He was not dealing with them as a physician but as a public health inspector. His objective was not their physical recovery in this legislation but their proper participation in worship.

Typically in each case we read four things: a preliminary statement of the symptoms, the priestly inspection, the basis of the priest’s diagnosis, and the diagnosis itself and the consequences.