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.