CHAPTER 13

(1490 B.C.)

THE SIGNS OF LEPROSY

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, saying,

²When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the Priest, or unto one of his sons the Priests (considering all the minute attention given to this disease, we know that God intended for leprosy to be a type of sin. From this Chapter, we will learn how absolutely horrible, putrefying, deadly, evil and destructive that sin actually is, which the Holy Spirit strongly desires that we learn.

If it is to be noticed, if it was thought that the person possibly had contracted leprosy, he was to be brought to the Priests for inspection, and not to a physician. This further shows that God intended for this dread malady to be a portrayal, a type, of sin. The Priest was a Type of Christ; so the sinner is to be brought to Christ):

³And the Priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the Priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. (The Priest alone could diagnose the plague of leprosy. It really didnt matter what others said, only what the Priest said; likewise, it is what Christ, i.e., the Word, says that provides the true course. It doesnt matter what man says about sin; its what the Lord says about sin.)

⁴If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the Priest shall shut up him who has the plague seven days (the Priest was not guided by his own thoughts, his own feelings, or his own wisdom; he was to be guided strictly by the Word of the Lord, which had been given to him by Moses):

⁵And the Priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the Priest shall shut him up seven days more:

⁶And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the Priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. (We learn from this that Holiness cannot permit anyone to remain in who ought to be out; and, on the other hand, Grace will not have anyone out who ought to be in.)

⁷But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he has been seen of the Priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the Priest again.

⁸And if the Priest see that, behold, the scab spreads in the skin, then the Priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy. (If the Word is not the infallible guide, then terrible injustices will be done, people will be hurt, and souls could even be lost. It is incumbent upon Preachers and, in fact, all Believers, that the Word of God be the deciding factor in everything.)

⁹When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the Priest (leprosy was, for the most part, hereditary; after afflicting the parent, it was very apt to break out in the child; this is a perfect description of the terrible malady of sin; sin began in Adam, our first parent, and has passed on to the entirety of the human race):

¹⁰And the Priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising:

¹¹It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the Priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean (in other words, there is no doubt that this individual has leprosy).

¹²And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him who has the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the Priest looks;

¹³Then the Priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean who has the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. (A leper, white all over, was clean. He was a leper, but the disease was not active in him; it was, in a sense, dead. Thus, sin should be dead in the Christian [Rom., Chpt. 6].)

¹⁴But when raw flesh appears in him, he shall be unclean.

¹⁵And the Priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. (As the signs of leprosy were obvious here, likewise, ultimately, the signs of sin will become obvious.)

¹⁶Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the Priest;

¹⁷And the Priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the Priest shall pronounce him clean who has the plague: he is clean. (Everyone who trusts Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross can be pronounced as clean.)

¹⁸The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed,

¹⁹And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish, and it be shewed to the Priest;

²⁰And if, when the Priest sees it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the Priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.

²¹But if the Priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark; then the Priest shall shut him up seven days:

²²And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the Priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. (It is the responsibility of the Preacher of the Gospel to pronounce sin as sin; unfortunately, the modern Church has, by and large, attempted to redefine sin by referring to it by other names. For instance, drunkenness is referred to as a disease.)

²³But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burning boil: and the Priest shall pronounce him clean.

²⁴Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burns have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white;

²⁵Then the Priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the Priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. (As is painfully obvious, the very smallest speck of leprosy was intolerable; likewise, the smallest amount of sin is intolerable with God.)

²⁶But if the Priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the Priest shall shut him up seven days (for inspection):

²⁷And the Priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the Priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

²⁸And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the Priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation of the burning.

²⁹If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard;

³⁰Then the Priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the Priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.

³¹And if the Priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the Priest shall shut up him who has the plague of the scall seven days:

³²And in the seventh day the Priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin;

³³He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the Priest shall shut up him who has the scall seven days more:

³⁴And in the seventh day the Priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the Priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.

³⁵But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing;

³⁶Then the Priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the Priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean.

³⁷But if the scall (a scab-like sore which was surface only) be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the Priest shall pronounce him clean.

³⁸If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots;

³⁹Then the Priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white: it is a freckled spot that grows in the skin; he is clean.

⁴⁰And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean.

⁴¹And he who has his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. (The minute directions given in this Chapter, and the care and patience enjoined by the Priests, show how God distinguishes between sin and infirmity.)

⁴²And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead.

⁴³Then the Priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appears in the skin of the flesh;

⁴⁴He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the Priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean: his plague is in his head. (As the Priest pronounced the leprosy, likewise, the true Preacher of the Gospel, as previously stated, is to correctly identify sin.)

⁴⁵And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent (carries the spiritual meaning that mans personal righteousness is insufficient for acceptance by God; the lepers torn garment says, I am undone, useless, and I am separated from God), and his head bare (this signifies that the sinner had, and has, no protection against the anger and wrath of God; in other words, he is naked to the Judgment of God), and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. (When any person professes Salvation by any means other than Christ and the Cross, whether they realize it or not, they are saying, Unclean, unclean.)

⁴⁶All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled (sin defiles, and in every capacity); he is unclean: he shall dwell alone (despite the noise and the crowds, there is a terrible loneliness about sin); without the camp shall his habitation be (sin separates people from God).

⁴⁷The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woolen garment, or a linen garment;

⁴⁸Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woolen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin;

⁴⁹And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the Priest:

⁵⁰And the Priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that has the plague seven days:

⁵¹And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.

⁵²He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woolen or in linen, or anything of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.

⁵³And if the Priest shall look, and, behold the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin;

⁵⁴Then the Priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more:

⁵⁵And the Priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his color, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without.

⁵⁶And if the Priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof:

⁵⁷And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading plague: you shall burn that wherein the plague is with fire.

⁵⁸And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which you shall wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean.

⁵⁹This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or anything of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean. (Leprosy in a garment is a type of sin in a mans circumstances, or habits. The Priest was commanded to show the same patience and care in judging a garment as in judging a man.

Sometimes a Christian must abandon part of his business because of evil attaching to it, and sometimes he must abandon it all together. This is a principle which affects the whole Christian life.

The carnal mind finds this Chapter tiresome, uninteresting, and unpleasant; however, to the spiritual mind, it is humbling and comforting. Love untiring and infinite wisdom are the foundation of these Statutes. The Reader finds himself as a moral leper in the tender, patient, wise, and loving hands of the Heavenly Priest; and, accordingly, he studies every word with humiliation and adoration Williams.)