Leviticus 13 Footnotes
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13:1-46 Typically, during the OT period disease was regarded as a punishment from God for some wrongdoing. In the case of “skin disease” (tsara‘at) specifically, there was a tradition that it represented a punishment from God for acts of malice, illustrated for example by what happened to Miriam when she criticized Moses (Nm 12:1-10). The term does not refer to a single type of skin disease but is a broad descriptive term covering all kinds of disfiguring diseases of the skin or scalp. Older English versions translated it as “leprosy.”
13:45 Tearing the clothes, messing the hair, and covering the moustache are signs of mourning for the dead (Ezk 24:17,22).
13:46 “Outside the camp” was the farthest place from God to which the sinner and the impure were banished (10:4-5; Nm 5:1-4; 12:14-15; 31:19-24). It was also the place where wrongdoers were executed (Nm 15:35-36). To live outside the camp was to be cut off from the blessings of the covenant. It is understandable that a person diagnosed as unclean would go into mourning (Lv 13:45).