Leviticus 13 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

The laws and tokens whereby the pried is to be guided in discerning the leprosy in men, and in garments.

Before Christ 1490.

When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh, &c.— Maimonides, who may well be supposed the best judge in this case, tells us, that of these three marks, which were supposed to be prognostics of the leprosy, the first is a bright spot, one species of which is an exceeding whiteness, like that of snow; the second (rendered very properly by us a rising, or swelling, as it comes from the verb נשׂא nasa, to raise, elevate, &c.) is a whiteness inferior to the former, like that of clean wool; the third is inferior in whiteness to the second, resembling the plaister of a wall. Various have been the opinions of learned men respecting this loathsome and contagious disease of the leprosy. Calmet, in particular, has written a large and learned dissertation upon it; though, after all, many doubts do, and in all probability will remain concerning it: For this reason, I shall not attempt to enter minutely into the subject, but shall briefly propose what I have to offer.

In the first place, then, I cannot be of their opinion who think that the disease was supernatural, and immediately indited by the hand of God; "for," as Dr. Mead observes, "there is no time in which this disease was not known: but it was always more severe in Syria and Egypt than in Greece and other parts of Europe; and it is, even at this day, frequent in those regions. For I have been assured by travellers, that there are two hospitals for the leprous alone in Damascus; and there is a fountain at Edessa in which great numbers of people, afflicted with this cuticular foulness, wash daily, as was the ancient custom. Moreover, we read the principal signs which occur in the description of the Mosaic leprosy (excepting only the infection of the clothes and houses, of which see in their place) recorded by the Greek physicians. Hippocrates calls the white leprosy the Phoenician disease." See his works, B. 5: ch. 28 sect. 19. To what Dr. Mead has said respecting the frequency of this disease in the Eastern countries, let us add, that, in the 11th and 12th centuries lepers were very common in Europe, which is generally thought to have been owing to the communication with Syria and those parts by means of the crusades. And to shew that the state of the case is still the same in the East, we read the following account in Mr. Maundrell's Journal, &c. "I saw," says he, "in the Holy Land several persons attacked with Gehazi's disease. .. . particularly at Sichem, now called Naplosu; there I found ten of them. .. . they came with little baskets in their hands to receive alms. .. . their touch being always reckoned contagious, or, at least, impure. This disorder, such as I saw it in that country, is so terrible, that it may be considered as the worst corruption of human bodies while alive: and it is certain, the sacred writers could never have found out a more proper example whereby to express whatever is most odious in vice." These particulars seem abundantly to prove that the disease was not supernatural.

Secondly, Let it be observed, that it does not appear that no natural and medical means were used for the cure of this disease. The persons separated for it, most probably, used some means for the cure of it during the time of their separation. The priest was only to examine whether they were clean or not: and the sacrifices and ceremonies mentioned chap. 14: were not used in order to cure the infected person of the leprosy, but as a legal purification or cleansing after that cure was perfected; nor does this render either the immediate infliction of the disease, or the immediate cure of it without human means, the less miraculous, as in the case of Gehazi, Naaman, or the lepers cured by the Lord Jesus. "I am well aware," says Dr. Mead, "that it is related, ch. Leviticus 14:34 as if God himself had struck the house with this plague: but it is well known, that that way of speaking is not uncommon in the Jewish history; as in unexpected evils and dreadful calamities, which are sometimes said to be sent by the hand of God, though they may be produced by natural causes: nor can I be easily induced to believe with some divines, that God, who commanded his people to be always free from every sort of impurity, would vouchsafe to work a miracle to inflict this most loathsome punishment, except in some extraordinary instance like that of Miriam and Gehazi; Numbers 12:10. 2 Kings 5:27."

I observe, thirdly, that, among other nations, those who were affected with leprosy, were also separated from the community; which was the case both among the Persians and the Greeks, and shews it to have been a common and contagious disorder, as, indeed, Moses speaks of it: from whose manner of writing nothing miraculous can justly be concluded, though great wisdom is observable in the precautions which he uses to prevent the infection of so horrible a disorder. See 2 Kings 7:3.

Fourthly, Though it does not concern us to trace out the natural causes of this disease, yet we cannot omit mentioning the ingenious opinion of Calmet, who thinks that the distemper was owing to little worms or animalcules between the skin and the flesh, which, though not perceptible to the naked eye, are discovered by microscopes, as is found to be the case in other cutaneous disorders: and this hypothesis, he observes, will account for the symptoms of the distemper, whether in men, houses, or garments.

And pronounce him unclean— Hebrew, shall pollute him, "that is," says Dr. Beaumont, "by his word he maketh him clean or unclean: and in this sense the ministers of Christ in the Gospel are said to bind and to loose sinners, when they declare them so to be by the word of God; so this Hebrew phrase to pollute him or cleanse him, meaneth, to pronounce him to be so."

And shall not shut him up— "For trial, as in the former case, Leviticus 13:5 but he shall remove him out of the camp, to dwell by himself, till he is perfectly clean." See Leviticus 13:46. There seems to be no doubt, from this state of the case, that proper medicinal means were used, as we have observed, during this time of the leper's separation without the camp. The reader will excuse us if we do not enter minutely into all the symptoms of this disease; we refer the curious to Calmet and Le Clerc's Dissertations.

And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, &c.— It may appear extraordinary, that a man, who is all over leprous, should be pronounced clean, and yet one, who is but partially leprous, should be unclean. "The difficulty contained in this passage will vanish," says Dr. Mead, "if we suppose, as it manifestly appears to me, that it points out two different species of the disease: the one, in which the eroded skin was ulcerated; the other, which spread on the surface of the skin only, in the form of rough scales; and from this difference it happened that the former species was, and the other was not, contagious." See his Epist. Medicinal. lib. 7: Ephesians 2.

Or— But. Houbigant.

REFLECTIONS.—We have here the treatment of the plague of leprosy. 1. In the examining of it, the priest was to use the greatest circumspection and deliberation. Rash censures, or hasty conclusions, ill become God's ministers. God lays down his rule of judgment. By the word of God must every man's spiritual estate be determined. 2. If, after the leper was shut up, the sore were deep, and spread, then he was pronounced unclean. Scandalous sins are a just cause of exclusion from the church of God; and when, instead of mending after reproof, the evil spreads, then there is little hope. 3. No time need be spent in waiting where raw flesh appeared in the sore. Pride and self-righteousness are evident marks of a confirmed state of spiritual leprosy. 4. But if he were white all over he was pronounced clean. They who see and feel their universal depravity and corruption will come to Christ to be made whole. 5. After inspection, though clean, he must wash his clothes. We need not only have our sins once pardoned through the blood of the Lamb, but must every day come to the same fountain.

Somewhat reddish— Very shining, exceeding bright. See Noldius, 779. See Numbers 12:10. 2 Kings 5:27.

Or if there be any flesh, &c.— Jameson renders this, Again, if in the skin of the flesh there shall have been a burning of fire, and the burning, when healed, shall leave a white brightness, intensely shining, &c.

If a man or woman hath a plague upon the head or the beard— Maimonides tells us, that in this sort of leprosy the hair on the head or beard fell off by the roots, and the place of the hair remained bare. Bishop Patrick observes, that this seems to have been that kind of disease which, Pliny says, came into Italy in the middle of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, and was called mentagra, because it commonly began in the chin, and was so loathsome, that any death was preferable to it.

REFLECTIONS.—What bodies of corruption do we bear about with us! How abominable to be proud of that which may be shortly so loathsome! Other appearances of leprosy are mentioned in an old ulcer, or burn, or scald-head, with directions for the priest's judgment. Note; 1. Old sins breaking out afresh are very bad symptoms of the uncured leprosy of sin. 2. A froward spirit, like the burn in the flesh, continuing unsubdued, is a plain proof of the unsoundness of the heart.

The man whose hair is fallen off his head, &c.— The sacred writer intends in these words to instruct the priest, that the loss of hair by sickness, or age, was not to be esteemed a token of leprosy.

A white reddish sore— Houbigant constantly renders this, partly white, and partly red, which is the colour of flesh infected with leprosy.

The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes, &c.— When the priest discovered the symptoms of leprosy in a man, and declared him unclean, he was not only to be separated from the people, but in all respects to appear and behave as a mourner; rending his clothes, (Genesis 37:34.Job 2:12.) uncovering his head, (ch. Leviticus 10:6.) and putting a covering upon his upper lip, that is, concealing the lower part of his face with the skirt of his garment, which was with the Jews a sign of mourning and of shame, (Ezekiel 17:22.Micah 3:7.) and, consequently, very proper for the leper, who was to proclaim himself unclean, that all might avoid him, as well on account of the infection, as of legal pollution; see Lamentations 4:15.

REFLECTIONS.—1. A bald head, or freckled face, must not be mistaken for leprosy. Not every failing is the proof of a bad heart. 2. But if in the bald head the plague is found, he is utterly unclean. A conscience defiled with sin makes a man unclean; but a head filled with infidelity, and enmity against the Gospel, for the most part renders the state utterly desperate. 3. The leper convicted must cry out, Unclean, unclean; and, no doubt, it was an exceeding bitter cry, when from that hour he was in a manner buried alive, by his exclusion from human society and removal from the congregation of God's people. Every soul convinced of sin will adopt the leper's cry, and own itself through original sin, and still more through actual transgression, unclean, unclean, justly deserving to be cast out from God to all eternity! 4. He must dwell alone, or only with lepers like himself, without the camp; and none must approach him for fear of defilement. Note; (1.) It is dangerous to come into the company of open sinners, lest, by seeing and partaking of their sins, we partake of their plagues. (2.) The soul that dies in an unconverted state, with the leprosy of sin not cured by the blood of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of the living God, will be for ever banished from the presence of God and his people, and shut up with sinners like himself in the belly of hell.

The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in— After having spoken of the leprosy in human creatures, the sacred writer proceeds to that very peculiar species of the disorder which affected garments, of whatever composition, and which, Calmet thinks, may well be accounted for upon that hypothesis which we mentioned before, observing, that as the Israelites in the wilderness were but ill provided in change of raiment, their linen, for want of being often changed and washed, would be more apt to breed those infectious worms which occasioned the distemper; and the rather, as the stuff whereof their garments were made was probably ill dressed, they not having then arrived at great perfection in the art of scouring cloth: and this, he thinks, may be one reason why Moses prohibits the use of linen and woollen interwoven, because such garments would be as subject to the infection as stuffs entirely of wool.

Whether—in the warp, or woof— The warp is that range of threads which are set or fixed lengthwise in the loom, and through which the weaver shoots the cross threads called the woof; and I apprehend that the expression in the sacred writer means no more than the general texture of the linen or woollen garment, as much as to say, whether it be in the texture of linen or of woollen: and so, in the 59th verse, it is used again to express its being woven. Should it however be supposed, that a real distinction between warp and woof is intended, there seems no impropriety in supposing, that the infection might be originally in either the thread which composed the warp, or in that which composed the woof; and from thence communicated to the whole garment.

Note; The leprosy of sin cleaves, in some sense, to the very garments which cover us when abused to the service of pride and lust; and not the garments, but they that wear them, must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.