Levítico 13

Levítico 13

Constable - Tearing the clothes, messing the hair, and covering the upper lip were all signs of mourning (cf. 10:6; 21:10; Gen. 37:34; Num. 14:6; 2 Sam. 1:11; 2 Kings 11:14; 19:1; 22:11, 19; Ezra 9:5; Ezek. 24:17, 22; Mic. 3:7) A person with leprosy, apart from the telltale malignant raw flesh and white hair, was to be otherwise identified by tom clothes, covered head and cry of "unclean" when in the streets and was to live isolated from the community (Lev 13:46). Wenham - “The holiest area, where one was closest to God, was the tabernacle. It was here that the holy men, the priests, worked. The tabernacle was surrounded by the camp where Israel the holy people of God lived. This in turn was encircled by the area outside the camp. which was populated by non-Jews, sinners, and the unclean. To live outside the camp was to be cut off from the blessings of the covenant. It is little wonder that when a man was diagnosed as unclean he had to go into mourning. He experienced a living death; his life as a member of God’s people experiencing God’s blessing came to an end. Gen. 3 presents a similar picture. . . . As Adam and Eve experienced a living death when they were expelled from Eden, so every man who was diagnosed as unclean suffered a similar fate.” Sailhammer - as human skin was the focus of guilt and shame in the beginning, so now diseases of the skin provide an occasion to demonstrate the need for human cleansing. In other words, just as the effects of the first sin were immediately displayed in human skin (‘And their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked,’ Ge 3:7), so the writer uses the graphic horror of skin diseases found in these texts to depict the human state of uncleanness before a holy God. “According to the regulations in Leviticus, if one were found to be unclean, ‘As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp’ (Lev 13:46). In the same way, the Genesis narratives show that when Adam (and Eve) sinned, ‘the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. And he drove Adam out’ (Ge 3:23–24). Like the unclean person in Leviticus, they had to live ‘outside the camp.’” Wenham - “Holiness in Leviticus is symbolized by wholeness. Animals must be perfect to be used in sacrifice. Priests must be without physical deformity. Mixtures are an abomination. Men must behave in a way that expresses wholeness and integrity in their actions. When a man shows visible signs of lack of wholeness in a persistent patchy skin condition, he has to be excluded from the covenant community. Temporary deviations from the norm do not attract such treatment, but if the symptoms last for more than two weeks, he must go to live outside the true Israel. . . . Anyone might fall victim to these complaints and face the prospect of being cut off from his family and friends for the rest of his days. Yet it was considered so important to preserve the purity of the tabernacle and the holiness of the nation that individuals and families might be forced to suffer a good deal. Individual discomfort was not allowed to jeopardize the spiritual welfare of the nation, for God’s abiding presence with his people depended on uncleanness being excluded from their midst (cf. Isa. 6:3–5).” Leviticus 13:46 "He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. the days. Pr 30:12. alone. Isaiah 59:2. Jn 8:16, 29. without. Lev 16:27. Nu 5:2. 12:12, 14, 15. 2Kings 5:1. 7:3. 15:5. 2 Ch 26:21. La 1:1, 8. 4:15. Isaiah 52:11. Ezek 24:17, 22. Lk 17:12. 1Co 5:5, 9-13. 2 Th 3:6, 14. 1 Ti 6:5. Heb 12:15, 16. Rev 21:27. 22:15 Leviticus Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries See notes by Andrew Bonar above Outside the camp - several of the following notes discuss this topic (this exact phrase 28x in 27v in NAS) - Ex 29:14; 33:7; Lev 4:12, 21-note; Lev 6:11-note.; Lev 8:17-note.; Lev 9:11; Lev 13:46-note.; Lev 16:27-note (good note by Richard Phillips).; Lev 17:3-note.; Lev 24:14, 23-note.; Nu 5:3-4; 12:14-15; 15:35-36; 19:3, 9; 31:13, 19; Dt 23:10, 12; Josh 6:23; Heb 13:11-note Heb 13:13-note. and "outside the gate" in Heb 13:12-note. George Bush on Lev 13:46 - He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. Heb. בדד ישב bâdad yëshëb, he shall sit alone. Gr. κεχωρισμενος καθησεται, he shall sit separated. This was a salutary precaution for the sake of the sound, and the temporary seclusion might easily be turned to a useful account to the leper himself; for there was every thing in his condition calculated to admonish him of his moral defilement, and prompt him to seek for an effectual cleansing of that inner malady which was so strikingly set forth by the loathsome leprosy that covered his body. The law here enacted seems to have been strictly observed. So early as the second year of the Exodus, lepers were obliged to reside without the camp, Numb. 5:1–4; and so strictly was this law enforced, that the sister of Moses himself becoming leprous, was expelled from it, Numb. 12:14–16. When the Israelites came into their own land, and lived in cities, the spirit of the law thus far operated, that lepers were obliged to reside in a separate place, which was called בית חפשית beth ’hophshith, the house of uncleanness; and from this seclusion, not even kings, when they became leprous, were exempted, 2 Kings 15:5. (Leviticus 13 Commentary) Constable - Not everywhere outside the camp was unclean; there were clean places outside the camp (e.g., Lev 4:12). However the unclean person was to live in an unclean area outside the camp. The idea was that he or she could not come close to God who resided in the tabernacle at the center of the camp.