Leviticus 13:4

4 But if the spot be clear and white in the skin of his flesh, yet the appearance of it be not deep below the skin, and its hair have not changed white hair, but it is dark, then the priest shall separate the spot 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 If any man should have in the skin of his flesh a bright clear spot, and there should be in the skin of his flesh a plague of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests.

3 And the priest shall view the spot in the skin of his flesh; and the hair in the spot be changed white, and the appearance of the spot be below the skin of the flesh, it is a plague of leprosy; and the priest shall look upon it, and pronounce him unclean.

4 But if the spot be clear and white in the skin of his flesh, yet the appearance of it be not deep below the skin, and its hair have not changed white hair, but it is dark, then the priest shall separate the spot seven days;

5 and the priest shall look on the spot the seventh day; and, behold, the spot remains before him, the spot has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall separate him the second time seven days.

6 And the priest shall look upon him the second time on the seventh day; and, behold, the spot be dark, the spot have not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; for it is a mark, and the man shall wash his garments and be clean.