Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/899

 (see Lev 13:5), and black hair grew out of it, he was healed, and the person affected was to be declared clean.

verses 38-39
Lev 13:38-39Harmless leprosy. - This broke out upon the skin of the body in בּהרת plaits, “white rings.” If these were dull or a pale white, it was the harmless bohak, ἀλφός (lxx), which did not defile, and which even the Arabs, who still call it bahak, consider harmless. It is an eruption upon the skin, appearing in somewhat elevated spots or rings of inequal sizes and a pale white colour, which do not change the hair; it causes no inconvenience, and lasts from two months to two years.

verses 40-41
Lev 13:40-41The leprosy of bald heads. - קרח is a head bald behind; גּבּח, in front, “bald from the side, or edge of his face, i.e., from the forehead and temples.” Bald heads of both kinds were naturally clean.

verses 42-44
But if a white reddish mole was formed upon the bald place before or behind, it was leprosy breaking out upon it, and was to be recognised by the fact that the rising of the mole had the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body. In that case the person was unclean, and to be pronounced so by the priest. “On his head is his plague of leprosy,” i.e., he has it in his head.

verses 45-46
With regard to the treatment of lepers, the lawgiver prescribed that they should wear mourning costume, rend their clothes, leave the hair of their head in disorder (see at Lev 10:6), keep the beard covered (Eze 24:17, Eze 24:22), and cry “Unclean, unclean,” that every one might avoid them for fear of being defiled (Lam 4:15); and as long as the disease lasted they were to dwell apart outside the camp (Num 5:2., Num 12:10., cf. 2Ki 15:5; 2Ki 7:3), a rule which implies that the leper rendered others unclean by contact. From this the Rabbins taught, that by merely entering a house, a leper polluted everything within it (Mishnah, Kelim i. 4; Negaim xiii. 11).