Leviticus 13:4

4 `And if the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and its hair hath not turned white, then hath the priest shut up [him who hath] 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 hath in the skin of his flesh a rising, or scab, or bright spot, and it hath become in the skin of his flesh a leprous plague, then he hath been brought in unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests;

3 and the priest hath seen the plague in the skin of the flesh, and the hair in the plague hath turned white, and the appearance of the plague [is] deeper than the skin of his flesh -- it [is] a plague of leprosy, and the priest hath seen him, and hath pronounced him unclean.

4 `And if the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and its hair hath not turned white, then hath the priest shut up [him who hath] the plague seven days.

5 `And the priest hath seen him on the seventh day, and lo, the plague hath stood in his eyes, the plague hath not spread in the skin, and the priest hath shut him up a second seven days.

6 `And the priest hath seen him on the second seventh day, and lo, the plague is become weak, and the plague hath not spread in the skin -- and the priest hath pronounced him clean, it [is] a scab, and he hath washed his garments, and hath been clean.