Deuteronomy 24:8

Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:5-13 It is of great consequence that love be kept up between husband and wife; that they carefully avoid every thing which might make them strange one to another. Man-stealing was a capital crime, which could not be settled, as other thefts, by restitution. The laws concerning leprosy must be carefully observed. Thus all who feel their consciences under guilt and wrath, must not cover it, or endeavour to shake off their convictions; but by repentance, and prayer, and humble confession, take the way to peace and pardon. Some orders are given about pledges for money lent. This teaches us to consult the comfort and subsistence of others, as much as our own advantage. Let the poor debtor sleep in his own raiment, and praise God for thy kindness to him. Poor debtors ought to feel more than commonly they do, the goodness of creditors who do not take all the advantage of the law against them, nor should this ever be looked upon as weakness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare Deuteronomy 21:14; and Exodus 21:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8, 9. Take heed in the plague of leprosy—(See Le 13:14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By which words he plainly intimates, that they were not only to have an eye to the Levites’ instructions, but also and especially unto the word and command of God, and that if the Levites’ sentence were manifestly contrary to the command of God, it were not to be obeyed. As now if a Levite or priest should, for fear, or favour, or gain, pronounce a person to be clean, who were really and manifestly unclean, and had the unquestionable marks of leprosy upon him, I suppose no man in his wits will question but every man that saw and knew this were bound to avoid the touching of him, and that if he did touch him he should be defiled by it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Take heed, in the plague of leprosy,.... Whether in the bodies of men, or in houses, or in garments, not to hide and conceal it; or, as Jarchi, weaken the signs of it, or cut out the bright spot; so the Targum of Jonathan:

that thou observe diligently, and do according to all the priests the Levites shall teach you: according to the laws and rules given in such cases, whether they order to shut up persons, houses, or clothes, or pronounce unclean or clean; in all things they were to do as they directed, which appeared to be agreeably to the said rules; for the judgment, management, and ordering of these things, belonged to the priests: of which see Leviticus 13:1,

as I commanded them, so shall ye observe to do: which shows the they were not to comply with their orders, and conform to them, any further than they agreed with the commands of God, and the instructions he had given them in the places referred to.

Geneva Study Bible

Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8, 9. Precautions in Leprosy. Israel shall diligently observe these as taught by the priests under divine command, remembering how God treated the leprous Miriam on the way from Egypt.—Full of deuteronomic phrases; on take heed, see Deuteronomy 4:9; observe and do, Deuteronomy 4:6; observe to do, Deuteronomy 5:1; priests = Levites, Deuteronomy 18:1; as I have commanded, Deuteronomy 8:1; remember, Deuteronomy 7:18, Deuteronomy 25:17; in the way as ye came, etc., Deuteronomy 23:4 (5), Deuteronomy 25:17, etc. The accumulation of these formulas, as in several secondary passages, along with the changes between the Sg. and Pl. forms of address (confirmed by Sam., LXX), suggests that the passage has been expanded by editors. In 8 b read all the Torah (Sam., LXX) that the priests the Levites teach you. If 8 b is original to D this Torah need not be the detailed instructions on leprosy now found in P, Leviticus 13 f., but some earlier priestly Torah from which those have developed; but if 8 b is secondary its reference will be to Leviticus 13 f. Deuteronomy 24:9 refers to Miriam’s seclusion from the camp, Numbers 12:14 f. (So even Calvin.)

Steuern. holds as original only the first clause of 8 and 9a, and revives the opinion (as old as the Vulgate, and favoured by Michaelis, Knobel, etc.) that the law is a call, not to take such precautions in a plague of leprosy as are illustrated by Miriam’s seclusion, but (by general obedience) to guard against the leprosy which fell on Miriam as the punishment for disobedience. Against this is the Heb. construction, in the plague of leprosy; so Steuern. suggests that the original reading was from the plague, etc. But all this interpretation renders the appeal to Miriam’s case much less natural.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 8, 9. - The law concerning the leprosy is in Leviticus 13, 14. By this law the priests are directed how to proceed with those afflicted with leprosy; and here the people are counseled by Moses to follow the directions of the priests in this case, however painful it might be for them to submit to the restrictions that would be thereby imposed upon them, remembering what the Lord did to Miriam the sister of Moses, how even she was separated from the camp by the express command of God until she was healed (Numbers 12:14). Michaelis, Keil, and others, following the Vulgate ("Observa diligenter ne incurras plagam leprae sed facies quaecunque docuerint to sacerdotes"), understand this passage as inculcating obedience to the priests, lest leprosy should be incurred as a punishment for disobedience. But it is improbable that a general counsel to submit to the priests should be introduced among the special counsels here given; and besides, the formula הִשָּׁמֶר בְ means, "Take heed to yourself in respect of" (cf. 2 Samuel 20:10; Jeremiah 17:21), rather than "Beware of," or "Be on your guard against." Deuteronomy 24:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Repetition of the law against man-stealing (Exodus 21:16). - Deuteronomy 24:8, Deuteronomy 24:9. The command, "Take heed by the plague of leprosy to observe diligently and to do according to all that the priests teach thee," etc., does not mean, that when they saw signs of leprosy they were to be upon their guard, to observe everything that the priests directed them, as Knobel and many others suppose. For, in the first place, the reference to the punishment of Miriam with leprosy is by no means appropriate to such a thought as this, since Miriam did not act in opposition to the priests after she had been smitten with leprosy, but brought leprosy upon herself as a punishment, by her rebellion against Moses (Numbers 12:10.). And in the second place, this view cannot be reconciled with בּנגע השּׁמר, since השּׁמר with בּ, either to be upon one's guard against (before) anything (2 Samuel 20:10), or when taken in connection with בּנפשׁ, to beware by the soul, i.e., for the sake of the worth of the soul (Jeremiah 17:21). The thought here, therefore, is, "Be on thy guard because of the plague of leprosy," i.e., that thou dost not get it, have to bear it, as the reward for thy rebellion against what the priests teach according to the commandment of the Lord. "Watch diligently, that thou do not incur the plague of leprosy" (Vulgate); or, "that thou do not sin, so as to be punished with leprosy" (J. H. Michaelis).