Leviticus 13:21

21 But if the priest look on it, and behold, there are no white hairs therein, and it is not deeper than the skin, and is pale, the priest shall shut him up seven days;

Leviticus 13:21 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:21

But if the priest look on it
Upon a person in a like case as first described, having had a boil, and that healed, and afterwards a white swelling, or a bright spot in the place of it: and, behold, [there be] no white hairs therein;
not two hairs turned white, as Gersom interprets it: and [if] it [be] not lower than the skin;
the bright spot not lower than the skin; not having got into the flesh, only skin deep: the Targum of Jonathan is, not lower in whiteness than the skin; for the bright spot is described as white, and so the rising or swelling, ( Leviticus 13:19 ) ; but [be] somewhat dark;
or rather "contracted"; to which spreading is opposed in the next verse; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:6); then the priest shall shut him up seven days;
to wait and see whether it will spread or not: a boil and burning, the Jews say, make a man unclean in one week, and by two signs, the white hair, and the spreading; by the white hair, both at the beginning and at the end of the week after dismission, and by spreading at the end of the week after it F17.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Misn. Negaim, c. 3. sect. 4.

Leviticus 13:21 In-Context

19 and there is in the place of the boil a white rising, or a white-reddish bright spot, it shall be shewn to the priest;
20 and the priest shall look on it, and behold, it looketh deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof is turned white; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the sore of leprosy broken out in the boil.
21 But if the priest look on it, and behold, there are no white hairs therein, and it is not deeper than the skin, and is pale, the priest shall shut him up seven days;
22 and if it spread much in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the sore.
23 But if the bright spot have remained in its place, [and] have not spread, it is the scar of the boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.