Chapter 13

Skin Diseases

    • The Lord told Moses and Aaron:

      • When a person has a swelling, rash, or a discoloration in the skin that may develop into a serious skin disease they must be brought to one of the priests, and the priest will examine the affected area of the skin. If the hair in the area has turned white and the infection appears to be more than skin-deep, then it is a serious skin disease and the priest will pronounce the person unclean. However, if the affected area is just a superficial white discoloration of the skin and the hair in the area hasn’t turned white, then the priest will put the person in quarantine for 7 days. The priest will re-examine the person on the 7th day and if the condition has not changed or spread, the person will be quarantined for another 7 days. The priest will again re-examine the person at the end of 7 days and if the condition has faded and still not spread, the priest will pronounce them clean after they have washed their clothes. However, after the person has been declared clean, if the rash returns and spreads, they must go back to the priest to be examined. If the priest sees that the rash has indeed spread and is a skin disease, the priest must pronounce the person unclean.

        • Guzik writes, “In this sense, the priests served as public health officers and diagnosed the disease from this carefully defined criteria, not from intuition or guessing…These judgments were based on sound medical diagnosis and concern. They were made more with the idea of protecting the community from the outbreak of disease than with the idea of the rights of the individual. “

        • In Guzik’s commentary, he quotes Harrison, “The Hebrew priest-physicians appear to have been the first in the ancient world to isolate persons suspected of infectious or contagious diseases.”

      • Anyone who develops a skin disease must be brought to the priest to be examined. If the priest sees a white swollen area in which some of the hair has turned white and there is an open sore in that area, this is the sign of a chronic skin disease and the priest must pronounce the person unclean. In these cases, the person will not be quarantined because it is clear that they have a chronic skin disease (noted as “leprosy” in some translations). During the periods when the skin disease is all white, the priest will declare the person clean, but during the periods when the person has open sores, the priest will declare them unclean.

      • If anyone has a boil on their skin that is healing, but a white swelling or reddish-white spot appears where the boil was, the person must go to the priest to be examined. If the priest finds that the hair in the area has turned white and that the boil has turned into a skin disease, the priest must declare the person unclean. If there is no white hair and the spot appears superficial, the person must be quarantined for 7 days. If the condition spreads during the time of the quarantine it is a skin disease and the priest must declare the person unclean. However, if the area doesn’t change, then it is just a scar left from the boil and the priest will declare the person clean.

      • If anyone gets burned and the area changes color to reddish-white or shiny white they must be examined by the priest. If the hair in the area has turned white and the problem appears to be beyond skin-deep, then a skin disease has infected the burn and the person must be pronounced unclean. If there is no white hair in the area and the condition appears superficial, the priest will quarantine the person for 7 days. On the 7the day, the priest will re-examine the person. If the affected area has spread, it is a skin disease, and the priest will declare the person unclean. However, if the affected area hasn’t spread, it was merely swelling or a scar from the burn and the person will be pronounced clean.

      • If anyone has a sore on their head or chin they must go to the priest to be examined. If the condition looks more than skin-deep or if it has sparse, yellow hair on it, it is a scabby sore and the priest must pronounce the person unclean. If the priest finds that the sore is only superficial but there is no black hair in it, the person must be quarantined for 7 days. The priest will re-examine the person on the 7th day and if he finds that the scabby sore hasn’t spread, doesn’t have any sparse yellow hair, and is only superficial, the person must shave off all of their hair except the hair on the affected area and remain in quarantine for another 7 days. The priest will re-examine the person on the 7th day, if the sore has not spread, the person must wash their clothes, then the priest will pronounce them clean. If the sore returns and spreads after they have been declared clean, they must go back to the priest to be examined. If it has spread, it doesn’t matter if there is yellow hair on it or not, the priest will declare them unclean. However, if the color of the scabby sore hasn’t changed and black hair has grown on it, the person has healed and the priest will declare them clean.

      • If anyone gets shiny white patches on their skin they must go to the priest to be examined. If the patches are only pale white, it’s a harmless rash and the person will be declared clean.

      • If a man loses his hair (either just on his forehead or all over his entire head) and becomes bald, he is still clean. However, if a reddish white sore appears in the bald area, this is a skin disease and he must go to the priest to be examined. If the priest finds swelling around the sore and it looks like a skin disease, the priest will declare him unclean.

        • All of these instructions sound tedious, but Guzik explains the importance, “This section clearly shows the very specific rules for making a specific diagnosis of leprosy. The specific details given in so many different situations emphasize that God did not want this to be guesswork but the result of careful examination. Such a serious diagnosis should not be guessed… Leprosy was dealt with so seriously because it was such a horrible disease, and it was also a dramatic picture of sin and its spiritual operation in human beings…When leprosy first appears on your skin, it begins as small, red spots. Before too long they get bigger, and start to turn white, with a shiny or scaly appearance. Pretty soon the spots spread over the entire body and the hair begins to fall out – first from the head, then even from the eyebrows. As things get worse, the finger nails and toenails become loose; they start to rot and eventually fall off. Then the joints of fingers and toes begin to rot and start to fall off piece by piece. The gums start shrinking and can’t hold teeth anymore, so each of them is lost. Leprosy keeps eating away at the face until the nose is literally lost, and the palate and even eyes rot – and the victim wastes away until death.”

      • Anyone who has a skin disease must tear their clothes and leave their hair uncombed. They have to cover their mouths and yell, “Unclean, unclean!” has long as they have the infection. They must also live outside the camp, alone.

        • NLT Illustrated Study Bible, “Tearing one’s clothing, letting one’s hair go uncombed, and covering the mouth were common ways of expressing mourning (10:6). The cry of “Unclean! Unclean!” denoted social unacceptability as much as a health threat. It warned others that the individual’s skin disorder could be contagious and that holy things should not touch the unclean person…This ensured that the infection would not spread others and that uncleanness would not come in contact with holy things.”

        • “ As stringent as all this was, eventually they Jews went further. In the days of Jesus many Jews thought two things about a leper: You are the walking dead and you deserve this because this is the punishment of God against you… Jewish custom said that you should not even greet a leper, and you had to stay six feet away from a leper. One Rabbi bragged that he would not even buy an egg on a street where he saw a leper, and another boasted that he threw rocks at lepers to keep them far from him. Rabbis didn’t even allow a leper to wash his face…But Jesus was different. He loved lepers; He touched them and healed them when they had no hope at all (Matthew 8:1-4 and Luke 17:11-19).” (Guzik)

        • Guzik also remarks, “Because of modern drugs and treatments, leprosy is almost unknown in the western world – the United States’ only two leper colonies have been shut down. But worldwide there are some 15 million lepers, almost all of them in third-world nations.”

Contaminated Fabrics

    • If green or red mildew contaminates wool or linen fabric or leather, it must be shown to the priest. The priest will place the item in quarantine for 7 days. He will inspect it on the 7th day and if the mildew has spread, it is declared unclean and must be completely destroyed by fire. However, if the mildew hasn’t spread, the item must be washed and quarantined for another 7 days. At the end of 7 days, the priest will inspect it again. If the contaminated area hasn’t changed color even after being washed, even if it didn’t spread, the item must be completely burned up. However, if the discolored area has faded after being washed , the priest will cut that spot out of the cloth. If the spot re-appears later, the mildew is spreading and the item must be completely burned. However, if the mildew spot completely disappears, it must be washed again, then the priest will declare it clean.

      • Some Bible versions say “leprous plague” instead of “mildew. Guzik explains, “In Old Testament times, the term leprosy had a broad definition and could include some forms of mold or fungi.”

      • NLT Illustrated Study Bible states, “The rainy season in Israel, when the weather is humid and cool, extends from mid-October through March. Mildew flourishes during this time, and the spores can trigger serious allergic reactions, posing a health problem. The regulations for mildew in clothing were similar to those for infections in people. If the mildew showed signs of spreading, it was serious. If it could be stopped or washed or cut out, a garment could be saved. This process was similar to the treatment of rot and mold in buildings (14:33-53).