And in the place of the boil there be a white
rising
In the place where the boil was, a white swelling appears:
or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish;
white and red mixed, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so Aben Ezra
interprets the word "reddish", of the bright spot being mixed of
two colours, or part of it so; and such a mixed colour of white
and red, Gersom observes, is usual in a swelling, and adds, we
are taught how to judge of these appearances, according to a
tradition from Moses, which is this: take a cup full of milk, and
put in it two drops of blood, and the colour of it will be as the
colour of the bright spot, white and reddish; and if you put into
it four drops, its colour will be as the colour of the rising (or
swelling) reddish; and if you put into it eight drops, its colour
will be as the colour of the scab of the bright spot, more
reddish; and if you put into it sixteen drops, its colour will be
as the colour of the scab of the swelling, very red: hence it
appears, says he, that the bright spot is whitest with its
redness, and after that the swelling, and next the scab of the
bright spot, and then the scab of the swelling; but Bochart
F16 is of opinion that the word is
wrongly rendered "reddish", which, he thinks, contradicts the
account of the bright spot being white, and especially as the
word for "reddish" has its radicals doubled, which always
increase the signification; and therefore if the word bears the
sense of redness, it should be rendered "exceeding red", which
would be quite contrary to the spot being white at all; wherefore
from the use of the word in the Arabic language, which signifies
white, bright, and glittering; (See Gill on
Lamentations 4:7); he chooses to read the words, "or a
bright spot, white and exceeding glittering": but this word we
render reddish and white, being read disjunctively, ( Leviticus
13:24 ) ; seems to contradict this observation of his:
and it be shewed to the priest;
to look upon and pass his judgment on it.
F16 Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 6. col. 689.