Leviticus 13:29 says, If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard; This is the first time a woman is mentioned as having leprosy and it concerns having it in the hair. Of course, we would assume that the beard applied only to the men. Verse thirty adds, 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. A scall is an eruption of scaly skin on the scalp. Once again, the color of the hair and the depth of the sore were to be used to determine if it was leprosy, and if it was, the man or woman was to be pronounced unclean. Verse thirty-one continues, 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: If it couldn't be determined that it was or was not leprosy for sure, then the priest was to shut the person up for seven days, just as with sores in other parts of the body. We today could say that sin is sin, no matter where it is found in the body, but we don't have to wait seven days to know if it is or not, and when we are guilty of sin, even if it is only in our thoughts, we are spiritually unclean. Verse thirty-two states, 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; Then verse thirty-three adds, 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: After fourteen days, if it still was not determined that it was leprosy, then the hair was to be shaved, except for the infected area, and the man was to be quarantined for another seven days. This does not say the man or woman, but since both were mentioned at the beginning, I would suppose it applied to both. Verse thirty-four continues, 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. When the week passed, the priest was to look at the place again, and if it had not spread or deepened, the person was to be proclaimed clean and wash their clothes. He or she would have still gone through the three weeks of isolation, just as someone who did have leprosy would have, but the people took the spread of leprosy seriously, just as we should take the spread of disease, and especially the spread of sin, seriously today. Verse thirty-five adds, But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; Verse thirty-six continues, 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. If the infection had spread, the priest did not even need to look at the color of the hair, because the person was still unclean. Verse thirty-seven concludes, 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. If the infection had not spread, and the hair had not changed color, then the person was to be pronounced clean. In either case, the person would have gone through a lot of isolation and possibly humiliation by this time, but it was done for the good of the people of Israel as a whole. Verse thirty-eight says, If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; Verse thirty-nine adds, 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. Again both men and women are mentioned, and it is once again stated that there could be infections that were not leprosy, and if the priest determined that it was not leprosy, then the person would be pronounced clean. We today cannot condemn people for doing something that we consider a sin without first asking God if it really is a sin in His eyes. Even then, we should not condemn the person, but only their actions. Verse forty continues, And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. I assume this means a man whose hair had just fallen out and was naturally bald. Verse forty-one states, 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. If only the part of a man's hair toward his face had fallen off, the man was to be considered clean. Verse forty-two adds, 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. If there was a white reddish sore on the bald area, then leprosy had sprung up. Verse forty-three continues, 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; Then verse forty-four concludes. He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. The priest was to pronounce the man unclean if the infection was determined to be leprosy. Jesus Christ, our High Priest, will continually examine our lives and determine if we are spiritually unclean, and if so, I believe He will let us know.
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