And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of
the
flesh
Whether it be a swelling, scab, or a bright spot that appears,
and judge of it by the following rules, and none but a priest
might do this:
and [when] the hair in the plague is turned
white;
it arising in a place where hair grows, and which hair is not
naturally white, but of another colour, but changed through the
force of the plague; and there were to be two hairs at least,
which were at first black, but turned white; so Jarchi and Ben
Gersom: and these hairs, according to the Misnah F5, must
be white at bottom; if the root (or bottom) is black, and the
head (or top) white, he is clean; if the root white, and the head
black, he is defiled; for hairs turning white is a sign of a
disorder, of weakness, of a decay of nature, as may be observed
in ancient persons:
and the plague in sight [be] deeper than the skin of his
flesh;
appears plainly to view to be more than skin deep, to have
corroded and eat into the flesh below the skin:
it [is] a plague of leprosy;
when these two signs were observed, hair turned white, and the
plague was more than skin deep, then it was a plain case that it
was the leprosy of which (See Gill on Matthew
8:2) (See Gill on Matthew
8:3) (See Gill on Luke
5:12). This was an emblem of sin, and the corruption of
nature, which is an uncleanness, and with which every man is
defiled, and which renders him infectious, nauseous, and
abominable; and of which he is only to be cured and cleansed by
Christ, the great High Priest, through his blood, which cleanses
from all sin. The above signs and marks of leprosy may be
observed in this; the white hair denoting a decay of strength,
see ( Hosea 7:9
) may be seen in sinners, as in the leper, who are without moral
and spiritual strength to keep the law of God, to do anything
that is spiritually good, to regenerate, renew, convert, and
sanctify themselves, or to bring themselves out of the state of
pollution, bondage, and misery, in which they are; and, like the
leprosy, sin lies deep in man; it is in his flesh, in which
dwells no good thing, and in which there is no soundness; it does
not lie merely in outward actions, but it is in the heart, which
is desperately wicked; for the inward part of man is very wicked:
and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him
unclean;
and so should be obliged to rend his clothes, make bare his head,
put a covering on his upper lip, and cry, unclean, unclean; dwell
alone without the camp, and at a proper time bring the offering
for his cleansing, and submit to the several rites and ceremonies
prescribed, ( Leviticus
13:45 Leviticus
13:46 ) (
14:1-57 ) .
F5 Negaim, c. 4. sect. 4.