We've been studying the symptoms of various skin ailments and how they were to be dealt with in ancient Israel. One of the jobs of the priests was to determine whether an ailment was contagious or not. Today we look at skin rashes and injuries that become capable of infecting others after they occur. The description of some of these skin issues may sound a bit icky to us but the Lord had to describe these things thoroughly so that an outbreak of serious disease could quickly be recognized and contained.
"When someone has a boil on their skin and it heals, and in the place where the boil was, a white swelling or reddish-white spot appears, they must present themselves to the priest. The priest is to examine it, and if it appears to be more than skin deep and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce that person unclean; it is a defiling skin disease that has broken out where the boil was." (Leviticus 13:18-20) Boils themselves are not necessarily contagious. For example, person might have a large acne bump or an ingrown hair that turns into a painful red boil before it finally heals. Some boils, however, harbor staphylococcus bacteria which can be spread to other persons. But mainly the priest is always to be looking out for signs of leprosy. Skin that is already irritated or that already has a break in it is more susceptible to harmful bacteria like that of leprosy. If a person comes to the priest with a boil that appears to have contracted a secondary infection, the person must socially distance themselves until the condition clears up, which means if they had leprosy they would never be able to rejoin society.
In some cases the priest can't tell at first glance whether or not the boil presents no danger to others, so to be certain he will have the person isolate for seven days. "But if, when the priest examines it, there is no white hair in it and it is not more than skin deep and has faded, then the priest is to isolate them for seven days. If it is spreading in the skin, the priest shall pronounce them clean; it is a defiling disease. But if the spot is unchanged and has not spread, it is only a scar from the boil, and the priest shall pronounce them clean." (Leviticus 13:21-23) If the priest thinks the boil is not likely anything serious but it's too soon to tell for sure, he'll tell the person, "Come back to me in a week and I'll check it again." If the condition worsens then most likely the disease itself is contagious or else a secondary infection has taken up residence in the broken skin and the secondary infection may be capable of spreading to others.
This next section has to do with skin burns. People in ancient Israel used fire on a daily basis. It was used for cooking meals and to provide warmth. Candles or lampstands or lanterns had to be lit to illuminate the interiors of structures at night. People handled fire so much that getting a burn on one's finger or hand was probably a very common occurrence. Accidents likely happened as well where a person might suffer a serious burn by stumbling into a cooking fire or turning a lit lantern over on themselves. A burn that doesn't blister and break the skin open would probably heal without complications but if the skin is broken an infection might occur or a disease like leprosy might take the opportunity to invade the vulnerable skin. "When someone has a burn on their skin and a reddish-white or white spot appears in the raw flesh of the burn, and if the hair in it has turned white, and it appears to be more than skin deep, it is a defiling disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling disease." (Leviticus 13:24-25) Leprosy usually began as light colored lesions on the skin. The hair in the lesions would often turn lighter as well. This is why the priest is to be concerned with white patches and with hair that used to be dark but has turned white.
"But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the spot and if it is not more than skin deep and has faded, then the priest is to isolate them for seven days. On the seventh day the priest is to examine that person, and if it is spreading in the skin, the priest shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling skin disease. If, however, the spot is unchanged and has not spread in the skin but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce them clean; it is only a scar from the burn." (Leviticus 13:26-28) The person has gone to the priest as soon as they noticed a white spot appeared in the burn. It's at such an early stage that the priest can't tell whether it's just blistering or peeling from the burn or whether something else is going on, so he tells the person to quarantine themselves for seven days and come back. If the condition has improved or at least has not worsened, it is not leprosy. A burn wound doesn't spread, so if the affected area has grown larger or if other areas of skin have become affected, this ailment is not merely the result of a burn.
A lot of the background materials I studied for this chapter seemed to completely spiritualize it by using these skin diseases as a metaphor for sin. In my opinion the main purpose for our current chapter is for the Lord to provide practical medical advice for handling potentially life-threatening contagious diseases. There was no cure for leprosy in ancient times. There were no antibiotics to treat that disease and many other serious bacterial infections. If a person's immune system couldn't fight off the infection, death eventually ensued. Diagnosing these cases early and quarantining them helped to protect the community as a whole.
But since so many Bible commentators have compared our chapter of Leviticus to sin, we'll close by talking about how important it is to recognize our wrong attitudes and wrong behaviors as soon as they begin to crop up in our lives. The sooner we acknowledge we're straying from the path, the sooner we can repent and get going in the right direction again. And sin, like communicable diseases, unfortunately has a way of spreading. If a person in the congregation is openly living in a sinful manner without feeling any guilt whatsoever and without any obvious consequences having yet befallen them, this can encourage others to give in to the same temptations. This is why the Apostle Paul, for example, suggested excommunication for such persons. But his heart's desire for that person (and the Lord's will for their life too) was not that the person be permanently excommunicated from the church but that this consequence would show them the error of their ways so they could repent and return. If the person did not repent and return, at least the contagion of their public sinful behavior was removed from the church. In that sense it had been quarantined in much the same manner as a disease outbreak was to be quarantined. Nipping bad situations in the bud allowed the church to remain as healthy as possible, in the same way that getting a handle on a disease outbreak helped the entire community to remain as healthy as possible.
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