What The Mosaic Law's Test for Leprosy Was All About

Examination of People and Garments

Leviticus 13

A Test for Leprosy

Leviticus 13:1- 8

¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. ³ The priest shall look at the mark on the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean. ⁴ But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body, and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate him who has the infection for seven days. ⁵ The priest shall look at him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the infection has not changed and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him for seven more days. ⁶ The priest shall look at him again on the seventh day, and if the infection has faded and the mark has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a scab. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean.

⁷ “But if the scab spreads farther on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again to the priest. ⁸ The priest shall look, and if the scab has spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy.

Thoughts on the Passage

Leprosy was a terrible thing to strike a person or a family for the Israelites in the dessert. And, in the absence of medics, it was the priests that were in charge of determining that it was leprosy, and if it wasn’t when the person who was afflicted could be deemed clean again. What is important to note is that this illness, in a practical sense, was identified with being ‘unclean’.

Chuck Smith says, “God wanted them to be very careful to, number one, if it was leprosy, to isolate them from the people to keep this disease from spreading. And so, it was a quarantine kind of thing. But secondly, the careful examination so that no one would be isolated who was not truly a leper. So, God wanted them to be careful in both directions. Make sure it's leprosy so that in case it is leprosy, the person can be isolated from the community so that the disease would not spread. But secondly, make sure if it isn't, that this person doesn't have this isolation from the community itself.”

I often feel that today we deal with the same dilemmas in other parts of life – sending children to school when they are sick because both parents have to work; or letting accused individuals go on one's own recognizance without posting bail because the ‘judge’ deems him/her to not be a danger to society; or whether a pit bull is a pit bull and it doesn’t matter that one particular dog of that kind has not killed a child yet.

Clearly, the priests, with these limited instructions from God as to what to look for, had a very difficult decision to make in each case.  The ramifications of error for the individual, the family, and the whole camp were severe.

David Guzik says, “The methodology in this passage erred on the side of safety. If a person could not be pronounced ‘clean’ with certainty, they were then isolated until they could be pronounced clean.” He maintains judgments “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.”

Of course, we do the opposite today in most cases – Charters of Rights or equivalents in many countries give the individual total say in what happens to him/her in many situations and what he/her can do, even if there is solid evidence that the likelihood of harming others exists.

Guzik also quotes Harrison who says, “The Hebrew priest-physicians appear to have been the first in the ancient world to isolate persons suspected of infectious or contagious diseases.” The reason for this was that smallpox, measles, and scarlet fever might start out with a skin condition considered to be leprosy – and the person would be isolated for the necessary time until the condition cleared up. God once again put this quarantine in place to prevent the spread of these diseases among His people.

Robert Jamieson says that the fact that the test for leprosy was incorporated in the Mosaic laws indicates leprosy was becoming rampant in the camp and that it happened soon after they left Egypt indicating that country where it was endemic was the source. He believes this was not hereditary with the Israelites, but rather that they got it from intercourse with the Egyptians and from the unfavorable circumstances of their condition in the house of bondage. Jamieson gives us the most “Dr. Luke-like treatment” to leprosy of all the commentators I turned to and you can read more of his comments here Jamison on Leprosy and Leviticus 13.

Matthew Henry takes a little different approach to leprosy. He sees it more as ‘uncleanliness’ rather than an illness. His argument is that the law involved priests not physicians (although I am not convinced they had any doctors traveling with them), thus indicating it had to do with being spiritually clean. He argues that Christ cleansed lepers, rather than heal them. Are we quibbling over words here?

He goes on to say we need to note it was a plague inflicted immediately by the hand of God, and not by natural causes as other diseases – thus requiring management by divine law, not medicine. He goes on to say, the leprosies of Miriam, Gehazi, and King Uzziah were all as a result of the punishments for particular sins.

He goes on to give more rationale for his thinking. Those interested should refer to Henry on Leprosy and Leviticus 13.

I think we got a lot more out of this passage than I originally thought we would.  Stay tuned as we what happens to those that were in fact pronounced to be lepers and thus were ‘unclean’.

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