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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
L E V I T C U S
CHAP. XIII.
The next ceremonial uncleanness is that of the leprosy, concerning
which the law was very large and particular; we have the discovery of
it in this chapter, and the cleansing of the leper in the next.
Scarcely any one thing in all the levitical law takes up so much room
as this.
I. Rules are here given by which the priest must judge whether the man
had the leprosy or no, according as the symptom was that appeared.
1. If it was a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot,
2. If it was a bile,
3. If it was in inflammation,
4. If it was in the head or beard,
5. If it was a bright spot,
6. If it was in a bald head,
II. Direction is given how the leper must be disposed of,
III. Concerning the leprosy in garments,
&c.
| The Law Concerning Leprosy. | B. C. 1490. |
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1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a
scab, or bright spot, and it be 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 when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the
plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a
plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and
pronounce him unclean.
4 If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and
in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be
not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath
the plague seven days:
5 And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and,
behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the
plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up
seven days more:
6 And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and,
behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague
spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it
is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
7 But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he
hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen
of the priest again:
8 And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in
the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a
leprosy.
9 When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be
brought unto the priest;
10 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising
be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and
there be quick raw flesh in the rising;
11 It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the
priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up:
for he is unclean.
12 And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the
leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his
head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh;
13 Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the
leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him
clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is
clean.
14 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean.
15 And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to
be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy.
16 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white,
he shall come unto the priest;
17 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague
be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean
that hath the plague: he is clean.
I. Concerning the plague of leprosy we may observe in general,
1. That it was rather an uncleanness than a disease; or, at least, so
the law considered it, and therefore employed not the physicians but
the priests about it. Christ is said to cleanse lepers, not to cure
them. We do not read of any that died of the leprosy, but it rather
buried them alive, by rendering them unfit for conversation with any
but such as were infected like themselves. Yet there is a tradition
that Pharaoh, who sought to kill Moses, was the first that ever was
struck with this disease, and that he died of it. It is said to have
begun first in Egypt, whence it spread into Syria. It was very well
known to Moses, when he put his own hand into his bosom and took it out
leprous.
2. That it was a plague inflicted immediately by the hand of God, and
came not from natural causes, as other diseases; and therefore must be
managed according to a divine law. Miriam’s leprosy, and Gehazi’s, and
king Uzziah’s, were all the punishments of particular sins: and, if
generally it was so, no marvel there was so much care taken to
distinguish it from a common distemper, that none might be looked upon
as lying under this extraordinary token of divine displeasure but those
that really were so.
3. That it is a plague not now known in the world; what is commonly
called the leprosy is of a quite different nature. This seems to have
been reserved as a particular scourge for the sinners of those times
and places. The Jews retained the idolatrous customs they had learnt in
Egypt, and therefore God justly caused this with some others of the
diseases of Egypt to follow them. Yet we read of Naaman the Syrian, who
was a leper,
4. That there were other breakings-out in the body which did very much
resemble the leprosy, but were not it, which might make a man sore and
loathsome and yet not ceremonially unclean. Justly are our bodies
called vile bodies, which have in them the seeds of so many diseases,
by which the lives of so many are made bitter to them.
5. That the judgment of it was referred to the priests. Lepers were
looked upon as stigmatized by the justice of God, and therefore it was
left to his servants the priests, who might be presumed to know his
mark best, to pronounce who were lepers and who were not. All the Jews
say, “Any priest, though disabled by a blemish to attend the sanctuary,
might be a judge of the leprosy, provided the blemish were not in his
eye. And he might” (they say) “take a common person to assist him in
the search, but the priest only must pronounce the judgment.”
6. That it was a figure of the moral pollution of men’s minds by sin,
which is the leprosy of the soul, defiling to the conscience, and from
which Christ alone can cleanse us; for herein the power of his grace
infinitely transcends that of the legal priesthood, that the priest
could only convict the leper (for by the law is the knowledge of sin),
but Christ can cure the leper, he can take away sin. Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean, which was more than the priests
could do,
Some think that the leprosy signified, not so much sin in general as a
state of sin, by which men are separated from God (their spot not being
the spot of God’s children), and scandalous sin, for which men are to
be shut out from the communion of the faithful. It is a work of great
importance, but of great difficulty, to judge of our spiritual state:
we have all cause to suspect ourselves, being conscious to ourselves of
sores and spots, but whether clean or unclean is the question. A man
might have a scab
(v. 6)
and yet be clean: the best have their infirmities; but, as there were
certain marks by which to know that it was a leprosy, so there are
characters of such as are in the gall of bitterness, and the work of
ministers is to declare the judgment of leprosy and to assist those
that suspect themselves in the trial of their spiritual state,
remitting or retaining sin. And hence the keys of the kingdom of heaven
are said to be given to them, because they are to separate between the
precious and the vile, and to judge who are fit as clean to partake of
the holy things and who as unclean must be debarred from them.
II. Several rules are here laid down by which the judgment of the
priest must be governed.
1. If the sore was but skin-deep, it was to be hoped it was not
the leprosy,
v. 4.
But, if it was deeper than the skin, the man must be pronounced
unclean,
v. 3.
The infirmities that consist with grace do not sink deep into the soul,
but the mind still serves the law of God, and the
inward man delights in it,
Rom. vii. 22, 25.
But if the matter be really worse than it shows, and the inwards be
infected, the case is dangerous.
2. If the sore be at a stay, and do not spread, it is no
leprosy,
But if it spread much abroad, and continue to do so after
several inspections, the case is bad,
If men do not grow worse, but a stop be put to the course of their sins
and their corruptions be checked, it is to be hoped they will grow
better; but if sin get ground, and they become worse every day, they
are going downhill.
3. If there was proud raw flesh in the rising, the priest needed
not to wait any longer, it was certainly a leprosy,
Nor is there any surer indication of the badness of a man’s spiritual
state than the heart’s rising in self-conceit, confidence in the flesh,
and resistance of the reproofs of the word and strivings of the Spirit.
4. If the eruption, whatever it was, covered all the skin from
head to foot, it was no leprosy
(v. 12, 13);
for it was an evidence that the vitals were sound and strong, and
nature hereby helped itself, throwing out what was burdensome and
pernicious. There is hope in the small-pox when they come out well: so
if men freely confess their sins, and hide them not, there is no danger
comparable to theirs that cover their sins. Some gather this from it,
that there is more hope of the profane than of hypocrites. The
publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of heaven before scribes
and Pharisees. In one respect, the sudden breakings-out of passion,
though bad enough, are not so dangerous as malice concealed. Others
gather this, that, if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged; if we
see and own that there is no health in us, no soundness in our
flesh, by reason of sin, we shall find grace in the eyes of the
Lord.
5. The priest must take time in making his judgment, and not give it
rashly. If the matter looked suspicious, he must shut up the patient
seven days, and then seven days more, that his judgment might be
according to truth. This teaches all, both ministers and people,
not to be hasty in their censures, nor to judge any thing before the
time. If some men’s sins go before unto judgment, the sins
of others follow after, and so men’s good works; therefore let
nothing be done suddenly,
1 Tim. v. 22, 24, 25.
6. If the person suspected was found to be clean, yet he must wash
his clothes
(v. 6),
because he had been under the suspicion, and there had been in him that
which gave ground for the suspicion. Even the prisoner that is
acquitted must go down on his knees. We have need to be washed in the
blood of Christ from our spots, though they be not leprosy-spots; for
who can say, I am pure from sin? though there are those who
through grace are innocent from the great transgression.
18 The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a
boil, and is healed,
19 And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a
bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish, and it be showed to the
priest;
20 And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight
lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the
priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy
broken out of the boil.
21 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no
white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin,
but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven
days:
22 And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest
shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.
23 But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not,
it is a burning boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
24 Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a
hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white
bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white;
25 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the
hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight
deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the
burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it
is the plague of leprosy.
26 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no
white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the
other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut
him up seven days:
27 And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if
it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall
pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.
28 And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not
in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the
burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an
inflammation of the burning.
29 If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard;
30 Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it
be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow
thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a
dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.
31 And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and,
behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that
there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him
that hath the plague of the scall seven days:
32 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague:
and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no
yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the
skin;
33 He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and
the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days
more:
34 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall:
and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be
in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce
him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
35 But if the scall spread much in the skin after his
cleansing;
36 Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall
be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair;
he is unclean.
37 But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there
is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is
clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
The priest is here instructed what judgment to make if there was any
appearance of a leprosy, either,
1. In an old ulcer, or bile, that has been healed,
&c. When old sores, that seemed to be cured, break out again, it is to
be feared there is a leprosy in them; such is the danger of those who,
having escaped the pollutions of the world, are again entangled
therein and overcome. Or,
2. In a burn by accident, for this seems to be meant,
&c. The burning of strife and contention often proves the occasion of
the rising up and breaking out of that corruption which witnesses to
men’s faces that they are unclean.
3. In a scall-head. And in this commonly the judgment turned upon a
very small matter. If the hair in the scall was black, it was a sign of
soundness; if yellow, it was an indication of a leprosy,
The other rules in these cases are the same with those mentioned
before. In reading of these several sorts of ailments, it will be good
for us,
1. To lament the calamitous state of human life, which lies exposed to
so many grievances. What troops of diseases are we beset with on every
side! and they all entered by sin.
2. To give thanks to God if he has never afflicted us with any of these
sores: if the constitution is healthful, and the body lively and easy,
we are bound to glorify God with our bodies.
38 If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh
bright spots, even white bright spots;
39 Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright
spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a
freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean.
40 And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald;
yet is he clean.
41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his
head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean.
42 And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white
reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or
his bald forehead.
43 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the
rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his
bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh;
44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall
pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.
45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be
rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his
upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall
be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the
camp shall his habitation be.
We have here,
I. Provisos that neither a freckled skin nor a bald head
should be mistaken for a leprosy,
Every deformity must not forthwith be made a ceremonial defilement.
Elisha was jeered for his bald head
but it was the children of Bethel, that knew not the judgments of their
God, who turned it to his reproach.
II. A particular brand set upon the leprosy if at any time it did
appear in a bald head: The plague is in his head, he is utterly
unclean,
v. 44.
If the leprosy of sin have seized the head, if the judgment be
corrupted, and wicked principles which countenance and support wicked
practices, be embraced, it is an utter uncleanness, from which
few are ever cleansed. Soundness in the faith keeps the leprosy from
the head, and saves conscience from being shipwrecked.
III. Directions what must be done with the convicted leper. When the
priest, upon mature deliberation, had solemnly pronounced him
unclean,
1. He must pronounce himself so,
He must put himself into the posture of a mourner and cry, Unclean,
unclean. The leprosy was not itself a sin, but it was a sad token
of God’s displeasure and a sore affliction to him that was under it.
It was a reproach to his name, put a full stop to his business in the
world, cut him off from conversation with his friends and relations,
condemned him to banishment till he was cleansed, shut him out from the
sanctuary, and was, in effect, the ruin of all the comfort he could
have in this world. Heman, it would seem, either was a leper or alludes
to the melancholy condition of a leper,
&c. He must therefore,
(1.) Humble himself under the mighty hand of God, not insisting upon
his cleanness when the priest had pronounced him unclean, but
justifying God and accepting the punishment of his iniquity. He
must signify this by rending his clothes, uncovering his head,
and covering his upper lip, all tokens of shame and confusion of
face, and very significant of that self-loathing and self-abasement
which should fill the hearts of penitents, the language of which is
self-judging. Thus must we take to ourselves the shame that belongs to
us, and with broken hearts call ourselves by our own name, Unclean,
unclean–heart unclean, life unclean, unclean by original
corruption, unclean by actual transgression–unclean, and therefore
worthy to be for ever excluded from communion with God, and all hope of
happiness in him. We are all as an unclean thing
(Isa. lxiv. 6)–unclean,
and therefore undone, if infinite mercy do not interpose.
(2.) He must give warning to others to take heed of coming near him.
Wherever he went, he must cry to those he saw at a distance, “I am
unclean, unclean, take heed of touching me.” Not that the leprosy
was catching, but by the touch of a leper ceremonial uncleanness was
contracted. Every one therefore was concerned to avoid it; and the
leper himself must give notice of the danger. And this was all that the
law could do, in that it was weak through the flesh; it taught the
leper to cry, Unclean, unclean, but the gospel has put another
cry into the lepers’ mouths,
where we find ten lepers crying with a loud voice, Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us. The law only shows us our disease; the gospel
shows us our help in Christ.
2. He must then be shut out of the camp, and afterwards, when they came
to Canaan, out of the city, town, or village, where he lived, and
dwell alone
(v. 46),
associating with none but those that were lepers like himself. When
king Uzziah became a leper, he was banished from his palace, and
dwelt in a separate house,
2 Chron. xxvi. 21.
And see
This typified the purity which ought to be preserved in the gospel
church, by the solemn and authoritative exclusion of scandalous
sinners, that hate to be reformed, from the communion of the faithful.
Put away from among yourselves that wicked person,
1 Cor. v. 13.
47 The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether
it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;
48 Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of
woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin;
49 And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or
in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing
of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be showed unto
the priest:
50 And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it
that hath the plague seven days:
51 And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the
plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the
woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the
plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.
52 He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof,
in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague
is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the
fire.
53 And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not
spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in
any thing of skin;
54 Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing
wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more:
55 And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is
washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his colour,
and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it
in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within
or without.
56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be
somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out
of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of
the woof:
57 And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp,
or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading
plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire.
58 And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing
of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed
from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be
clean.
59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of
woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of
skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
This is the law concerning the plague of leprosy in a garment, whether
linen or woollen. A leprosy in a garment, with discernible indications
of it, the colour changed by it, the garment fretted, the nap worn off,
and this in some one particular part of the garment, and increasing
when it was shut up, and not to be got out by washing is a thing which
to us now is altogether unaccountable. The learned confess that it was
a sign and a miracle in Israel, an extraordinary punishment inflicted
by the divine power, as a token of great displeasure against a person
or family.
1. The process was much the same with that concerning a leprous person.
The garment suspected to be tainted was not to be burnt immediately,
though, it may be, there would have been no great loss of it; for in no
case must sentence be given merely upon a surmise, but it must be
shown to the priest. If, upon search, it was found that there
was a leprous spot (the Jews say no bigger than a bean), it must
be burnt, or at least that part of the garment in which the spot
was,
If the cause of the suspicion was gone, it must be washed, and
then might be used,
2. The signification also was much the same, to intimate the great
malignity there is in sin: it not only defiles the sinner’s conscience,
but it brings a stain upon all his employments and enjoyments, all he
has and all he does. To those that are defiled and unbelieving is
nothing pure,
Tit. i. 15.
And we are taught hereby to hate even the garments spotted with the
flesh,
Jude 23.
Those that make their
clothes servants to their pride and lust may see them thereby tainted
with a leprosy, and doomed to the fire,
But the ornament of the hidden man of the heart is
incorruptible,
1 Pet. iii. 4.
The robes of righteousness never fret nor are moth-eaten.
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