Leviticus 13

CHAPTER 13

Regulations About Infectious Skin Diseases (13:1–46)

1 This chapter deals with infectious³⁵ or communicable conditions, both those affecting people (verses 1–46) and those affecting objects (verses 47–59). The conditions affecting people were primarily skin diseases, or diseases (such as smallpox and measles) that manifested themselves in the skin. Skin disease was obviously important in ancient Israel, not only because of its visibility—it readily identified one as being ceremonially unclean³⁶(verse 3)but also because it easily spread from one person to another and thus endangered the whole community.

As with the other laws concerning cleanness (Chapters 11–12), these laws about infectious skin diseases had a dual purpose. First, they prevented anyone who was ceremonially unclean from entering the tabernacle area and defiling that which For those who could not afford a lamb, two doves and two young pigeons could be offered. This was the same offering that Mary, the mother of Jesus, offered when her own time of purification was over (Luke 2:22–24). was holy; second, they served as public health measures to prevent the spread of disease. The priests, then, were kept busy; they not only had to teach the law and conduct the tabernacle services but they also had to serve as public health officials for the community.

It is hard to identify the skin conditions discussed in this section. They clearly include contagious diseases such as smallpox, leprosy, eczema, and fungal infections; they also include noncontagious diseases such as psoriasis, leukoderma, burns and boils. The critical job of the priest was not to make a scientific diagnosis but to determine whether the condition was contagious, communicable.³⁷ If it was communicable, then the person was labeled “ceremonially unclean” and had to live outside the camp (verse 46). No medical treatment is mentioned;in the ancient world the only effective remedy for infectious (or communicable) disease was quarantine isolation. Today, even with modern health were applied. Although the priests medicine, quarantine is sometimes necessary.³⁸

A question needs to be asked here: Does this chapter imply that disease is caused by or associated with sin? In other words, is disease a sign of moral uncleanness? In most instances, the answer is “No.”

In the majority of cases, disease is not the direct result of sin (see John 9:1–3). For example, getting an infectious skin disease does not mean that one has committed a specific sin.³⁹ But from a broader perspective, all disease is ultimately caused by the “Original Sin” of our first parents in the Garden of Eden (Genesis Chapter 3). Disease is a sign of decay and death; this was the punishment God gave mankind because of Adam and Eve’s sin (see General Article: The Fall into Sin).

Since that time, God has occasionally punished people for some sinful behavior by afflicting them with a plague or a disease (Leviticus 26:14–16; Numbers 12:9–15; 2 Chronicles 26:16–21). But in most cases of illness, we must not make moral judgments about the immediate cause of that illness. The people with infectious skin diseases described in this chapter were not assumed to have sinned; they were considered ceremonially unclean only because their disease was contagious.⁴⁰

2–44 Seven types of skin disease are discussed in these verses: a swelling or a rash or a bright spot that might or might not become an infectious skin disease (verses 2–8); an actual infectious skin disease (verses 9–17); a boil (verses 18–23); a burn (verses 24–28); a sore on the head or chin (verses 29–37); white spots on the skin (verses 38–39); and loss of hair (verses 40–44).

In each case, sound principles of public were not expected to make an exact medical diagnosis, by applying these laws they could determine if the person’s skin disease was contagious or not. Conditions that were superficial or which caused only whitening or scarring of the skin were considered noncontagious and therefore ceremonially clean. Skin conditions that were deep and spreading, or raw and oozing, were considered contagious and therefore ceremonially unclean. Where there was doubt, the priests isolated the individual for up to two weeks, by which time it could be determined if the condition was truly contagious or not.

45–46 If the priest concluded that a person had an infectious (contagious) disease, that person would have to live alone ... outside the camp. The “camp” consisted of all the tents in which the Israelites lived. Not only were the diseased individuals isolated and cut off in this way, but they had to dress and wear their hair in such a way that other people could immediately identify them as unclean and thus avoid getting close to them. They even had to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever anyone approached them. All of this was to prevent other people from getting their disease or becoming ceremonially unclean by accidental contact with an unclean person.

Regulations About Mildew (13:47–59)

47–59 The same Hebrew word used for “skin disease” was also used for mildew; thus the word was a general term describing a condition with a rough, discolored appearance that affected both skin and household materials, and which was easily transmitted from person to person or from object to object.

Mildew is caused by various kinds of fun to skin disease also applied to of fungus; it is destructive and it can spread. The except that with mildew the contaminated same principles of prevention that applied article had to be burned.