Leviticus 13:4

4 If the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh and looks to be not deeper than the skin and the hair thereof is not turned white; then the priest shall shut up the one that has the plague seven days;

Leviticus 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:4

If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh
The Targum of Jonathan is, white as chalk in the skin of his flesh; but other Jewish writers make the whiteness of the bright spot to be the greatest of all, like that of snow; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:2):

and in sight [be] not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof
be not turned white;
though it be a bright spot, and be very white, yet these two marks not appearing, it cannot be judged a leprosy, at most it is only suspicious: wherefore

then the priest, shall shut up [him that hath] the plague seven
days;
in whom the bright spot is, and of whom there is a suspicion of the plague of leprosy, but it is not certain; and therefore, in order to take time, and get further knowledge, the person was to be shut up from all company and conversation for the space of seven days; by which time it might be supposed, as Ben Gersom observes, that the case and state of the leprosy (if it was one) would be altered; and Aben Ezra remarks, that most diseases change or alter on the seventh day.

Leviticus 13:4 In-Context

2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it is in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron, the priest, or unto one of his sons, the priests,

3 and the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh, and if the hair in the plague is turned white and the plague looks deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy; and the priest shall recognize him and pronounce him unclean.

4 If the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh and looks to be not deeper than the skin and the hair thereof is not turned white; then the priest shall shut up the one that has the plague seven days;

5 and the priest shall look on him the seventh day and see if the plague in his sight is stayed and the plague is not spread in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up seven days the second time.

6 After this the priest shall look on him again the seventh day and see if the plague has darkened and that the plague is not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is but a scab, and he shall wash his clothes and be clean.