Leviticus 13

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7 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these

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• Josephus37–c. 100JewishAntiquities of the Jews · on Leviticus 13:45–46And for the lepers, he suffered them not to come into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they were in effect dead persons; but if any one had obtained by prayer to God, the recovery from that distemper, and had gained a healthful complexion again, such a one returned thanks to God, with several sorts of sacrifices; concerning which we will speak hereafter.

  And for the lepers, he suffered them not to come into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they were in effect dead persons; but if any one had obtained by prayer to God, the recovery from that distemper, and had gained a healthful complexion again, such a one returned thanks to God, with several sorts of sacrifices; concerning which we will speak hereafter.

  Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Antiquities 3.11.3; translated by William Whiston (1737); the text of Project Gutenberg. The edition

  A Jewish priest from Jerusalem who fought Rome in the war of 66–70 and afterwards wrote the history of his people for Greek readers.

• John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Leviticus 13:2–6But, as to the various kinds of leprosy, I confess that I am not a physician, so as to discuss them accurately, and I purposely abstain from close inquiry about them, because I am persuaded that the disease here treated of affected the Israelites in an extraordinary manner, which we are now unacquainted with; for what do we now know of a leprous house? … That God should have appointed the priests to be judges, and those, too, only of the highest order, is a proof that His spiritual service was rather regarded than mere bodily health. If any shall inquire whether leprosy is not a contagious disease, and whether it be not therefore expedient that all who were affected by it should be removed from intercourse with others, I admit, indeed, that such is the case, but I deny that this was the main object in view. … The command of God that, whilst the disease was obscure and questionable, the infected person should be shut up for seven days, recommends moderation to us, lest any, who is still curable, should be condemned before his time.

  But, as to the various kinds of leprosy, I confess that I am not a physician, so as to discuss them accurately, and I purposely abstain from close inquiry about them, because I am persuaded that the disease here treated of affected the Israelites in an extraordinary manner, which we are now unacquainted with; for what do we now know of a leprous house? … That God should have appointed the priests to be judges, and those, too, only of the highest order, is a proof that His spiritual service was rather regarded than mere bodily health. If any shall inquire whether leprosy is not a contagious disease, and whether it be not therefore expedient that all who were affected by it should be removed from intercourse with others, I admit, indeed, that such is the case, but I deny that this was the main object in view. … The command of God that, whilst the disease was obscure and questionable, the infected person should be shut up for seven days, recommends moderation to us, lest any, who is still curable, should be condemned before his time.

  John Calvin, Commentaries, on 13:2–28; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.

• Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Leviticus 13:2–3That 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. … That it is a plague not now known in the world; what is commonly called the leprosy is of a quite different nature. … 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; … Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, which was more than the priests could do, Mat 8:2.

  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. … That it is a plague not now known in the world; what is commonly called the leprosy is of a quite different nature. … 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; … Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, which was more than the priests could do, Mat 8:2.

  Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 13:1–17; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.

• John Gill1697–1771BaptistAn Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on Leviticus 13:47–59Whether this sort of leprosy proceeded from natural causes, or was extraordinary and miraculous, and came immediately from the hand of God, and was peculiar to the Jews, and unknown to other nations, is a matter of question; the latter is generally asserted by the Hebrew writers, as Maimonides … but others are of opinion, and Abarbinel among the Jews, that it might be by the contact or touch of a leprous person. … Some indeed have endeavoured to account for it by observing, that wool ill scoured, stuffs kept too long, and some particular tapestries, are subject to worms and moths which eat them, and from hence think it credible, that the leprosy in clothes, and in skins here mentioned, was caused by this sort of vermin; … but this seems not to agree with this leprosy of Moses, which lay not in the garment being eaten, but in the colour and spread of it

  Whether this sort of leprosy proceeded from natural causes, or was extraordinary and miraculous, and came immediately from the hand of God, and was peculiar to the Jews, and unknown to other nations, is a matter of question; the latter is generally asserted by the Hebrew writers, as Maimonides … but others are of opinion, and Abarbinel among the Jews, that it might be by the contact or touch of a leprous person. … Some indeed have endeavoured to account for it by observing, that wool ill scoured, stuffs kept too long, and some particular tapestries, are subject to worms and moths which eat them, and from hence think it credible, that the leprosy in clothes, and in skins here mentioned, was caused by this sort of vermin; … but this seems not to agree with this leprosy of Moses, which lay not in the garment being eaten, but in the colour and spread of it

  John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 13:47; 1746–1763; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  An English Baptist pastor in London and a scholar of Hebrew and the rabbis, who wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible.

• John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the Old Testament · on Leviticus 13:45Unclean, unclean - As begging the pity and prayers of others, and confessing his own infirmity, and cautioning those who came near him, to keep at a distance from him.

  Unclean, unclean - As begging the pity and prayers of others, and confessing his own infirmity, and cautioning those who came near him, to keep at a distance from him.

  John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, on 13:45; Bristol, 1765. The edition

  The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.

• Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Leviticus 13:45–46The leprous person is required to be as one that mourned for the dead, or for some great and public calamity. He was to have his clothes rent in token of extreme sorrow; his head was to be made bare, the ordinary bonnet or turban being omitted; and he was to have a covering upon his upper lip, his jaws being tied up With a linen cloth, after the same manner in which the Jews bind up the dead, … a custom which, from Eze 24:17, we learn had prevailed very anciently among the Jews in Palestine. He was also to cry, Unclean, unclean, in order to prevent any person from coming near him, lest the contagion might be thus communicated and diffused through society; and hence the Targumist render it, Be not ye made unclean! Be not ye made unclean! A caution to others not to come near him.

  The leprous person is required to be as one that mourned for the dead, or for some great and public calamity. He was to have his clothes rent in token of extreme sorrow; his head was to be made bare, the ordinary bonnet or turban being omitted; and he was to have a covering upon his upper lip, his jaws being tied up With a linen cloth, after the same manner in which the Jews bind up the dead, … a custom which, from Eze 24:17, we learn had prevailed very anciently among the Jews in Palestine. He was also to cry, Unclean, unclean, in order to prevent any person from coming near him, lest the contagion might be thus communicated and diffused through society; and hence the Targumist render it, Be not ye made unclean! Be not ye made unclean! A caution to others not to come near him.

  Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 13:45–46; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.

• Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Leviticus 13:47–59Leprosy in linen and woollen fabrics or clothes, and in leather, consisted in all probability in nothing but so-called mildew, which commonly arises from damp and want of air, and consists, in the case of linen, of round, partially coloured spots, which spread, and gradually eat up the fabric, until it falls to pieces like mould. In leather the mildew consists most strictly of "holes eaten in," and is of a "greenish, reddish, or whitish colour, according to the species of the delicate cryptogami by which it has been formed."

  Leprosy in linen and woollen fabrics or clothes, and in leather, consisted in all probability in nothing but so-called mildew, which commonly arises from damp and want of air, and consists, in the case of linen, of round, partially coloured spots, which spread, and gradually eat up the fabric, until it falls to pieces like mould. In leather the mildew consists most strictly of "holes eaten in," and is of a "greenish, reddish, or whitish colour, according to the species of the delicate cryptogami by which it has been formed."

  Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 13:57; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.