Leviticus 13 · a question people ask
What was the "leprosy" of Leviticus 13?
The Hebrew word is tsara'at. Brown-Driver-Briggs and Strong's both define it as "leprosy", and the WEB follows them for the skin. The chapter itself describes it only by what the priest can see: "a swelling in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot" (13:2), hair that "has turned white" and a plague "deeper than the body’s skin" (13:3), "raw flesh" (13:10), and whether it spreads (13:7-8). It uses the same word for a mark in wool, linen or leather (13:47-49), where the WEB also says "destructive mildew" (13:51), and in the next chapter for a house (14:34). The text doesn't describe what causes it or name it as any disease known by another name, so this chapter keeps to what the text describes.
The verses
““When a man shall have a swelling in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his body the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. The priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body. If the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the plague of leprosy; so the priest shall examine him and pronounce him unclean.”
“But if the scab spreads on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall show himself to the priest again. The priest shall examine him; and behold, if the scab has spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.”
“and the priest shall examine him. Behold, if there is a white swelling in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling,”
““When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land of your possession,”