Leviticus 13:21

21 `And if the priest see it, and lo, there is no white hair in it, and it is not lower than the skin, and is become weak, then hath the priest 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Leviticus 13:21 In-Context

19 and there hath been in the place of the ulcer a white rising, or a bright white spot, very red, then it hath been seen by the priest,

20 and the priest hath seen, and lo, its appearance [is] lower than the skin, and its hair hath turned white, and the priest hath pronounced him unclean; it [is] a plague of leprosy -- in an ulcer it hath broken out.

21 `And if the priest see it, and lo, there is no white hair in it, and it is not lower than the skin, and is become weak, then hath the priest shut him up seven days;

22 and if it spread greatly in the skin, then hath the priest pronounced him unclean, it [is] a plague;

23 and if in its place the bright spot stay -- it hath not spread -- it [is] an inflammation of the ulcer; and the priest hath pronounced him clean.