Leviticus 13:30

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) Behold, if it be in sight deeper.—Better, Behold, if its appearance is deeper. The first symptom of its existence is the same as usual—the depression of the affected spot.

And there be in it a yellow thin hair.—Whilst the symptom of leprosy in other parts of the body consisted of the hair turning white on the affected spot, in the case of this distemper breaking out on the head or chin it was indicated by the naturally black hair changing its colour into a golden appearance, and becoming short. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the colour of the hair became like that of the new plumage of young pigeons after they have lost their first feathers, or, in other words, like the appearance of thin gold. By the “thin hair” those authorities who came in contact with the disorder understand small or short hair. Hence they laid down the following rule: The condition of the hair constituting one of the signs of leprosy is its becoming short; but if it be long, though it is as yellow as gold, it is no sign of uncleanness. Two yellow and short hairs, whether close to one another or far from each other, whether in the centre of the affected spot or on the edge thereof,—no matter whether the affection on the spot precedes the yellow hair, or the yellow hair precedes the affection on the spot,—are symptoms of uncleanness.

It is a dry scall, even a leprosy.—The ancient canons laid down by those authorities in the time of Christ who had the official treatment of this distemper define the word (nethek), which is translated “dry scall” by an affection on the head or chin, which causes the hair on those affected parts to fall off by the roots, so that the place of the hair is quite bare.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 13:30. A yellow thin hair — The leprosy in the body turned the hair white, in the head or beard it turned it yellow. And if a man’s hair was yellow before, this might easily be distinguished from the rest, either by the thinness or smallness of it, or by its peculiar kind of yellow, for there are divers kinds of the same colour, manifestly differing from one another.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:18-44 The priest is told what judgment to make, if there were any appearance of a leprosy in old sores; and such is the danger of those who having escaped the pollutions of the world are again entangled therein. Or, in a burn by accident, ver. 24. The burning of strife and contention often occasions the rising and breaking out of that corruption, which proves that men are unclean. Human life lies exposed to many grievances. With what troops of diseases are we beset on every side; and thy all entered by sin! If the constitution be healthy, and the body lively and easy, we are bound to glorify God with our bodies. Particular note was taken of the leprosy, if in the head. If the leprosy of sin has seized the head; if the judgment be corrupted, and wicked principles, which support wicked practices, are embraced, it is utter uncleanness, from which few are cleansed. Soundness in the faith keeps leprosy from the head.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Scall - As this is the name for another disease not allied to the leprosy, it would have been better to retain the original word נתק netheq. It is a true elephantiasis, and is recognized by modern writers under the name of the Fox mange.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9-37. if the rising be white—This BRIGHT WHITE leprosy is the most malignant and inveterate of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and it was marked by the following distinctive signs: A glossy white and spreading scale, upon an elevated base, the elevation depressed in the middle, but without a change of color; the black hair on the patches participating in the whiteness, and the scaly patches themselves perpetually enlarging their boundary. Several of these characteristics, taken separately, belong to other blemishes of the skin as well; so that none of them was to be taken alone, and it was only when the whole of them concurred that the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physician, was to pronounce the disease a malignant leprosy. If it spread over the entire frame without producing any ulceration, it lost its contagious power by degrees; or, in other words, it ran through its course and exhausted itself. In that case, there being no longer any fear of further evil, either to the individual himself or to the community, the patient was declared clean by the priest, while the dry scales were yet upon him, and restored to society. If, on the contrary, the patches ulcerated and quick or fungous flesh sprang up in them, the purulent matter of which, if brought into contact with the skin of other persons, would be taken into the constitution by means of absorbent vessels, the priest was at once to pronounce it an inveterate leprosy. A temporary confinement was them declared to be totally unnecessary, and he was regarded as unclean for life [Dr. Good]. Other skin affections, which had a tendency to terminate in leprosy, though they were not decided symptoms when alone, were: "a boil" (Le 13:18-23); "a hot burning,"—that is, a fiery inflammation or carbuncle (Le 13:24-28); and "a dry scall" (Le 13:29-37), when the leprosy was distinguished by being deeper than the skin and the hair became thin and yellow.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The leprosy in the body turned the hair white, in the head or beard it turned it yellow. And if a man’s hair was yellow before, this might easily be distinguished from the rest, either by the thinness or smallness of it, which is here noted, or by its peculiar kind of yellow, for there are divers kinds or degrees of the same colour manifestly differing one from another, as in green colours, &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the priest shall see the plague,.... The person on whom it is shall come or be brought unto him; and he shall look upon it and examine it:

and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; which is always one sign of leprosy:

and there be in it a yellow thin hair; like the appearance of thin gold, as the Targum of Jonathan; for, as Ben Gersom says, its colour is the colour of gold; and it is called thin in this place, because short and soft, and not when it is long and small; and so it is said, scabs make unclean in two weeks, and by two signs, by thin yellow hair, and by spreading, by yellow hair, small, soft, and short (t): now this is to be understood, not of hair that is naturally of a yellow or gold colour, as is the hair of the head and beard of some persons, but of hair changed into this colour through the force of the disease; and so Jarchi interprets it, black hair turned yellow; in other parts of the body, hair turned white was a sign of leprosy, but here that which was turned yellow or golden coloured: Aben Ezra observes, that the colour expressed by this word is, in the Ishmaelitish or Arabic language, the next to the white colour:

then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; declare him a leper, and unfit for company, and order him to do and have done for him the things after expressed, as required in such a case:

it is a dry scall; or "wound", as the Septuagint version; "nethek", which is the word here used, Jarchi says, is the name of a plague that is in the place of hair, or where that grows; it has its name from plucking up; for there the hair is plucked away, as Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom note:

even a leprosy upon the head or beard; as the head is the seat of knowledge, and the beard a sign of manhood, and of a man's being arrived to years of discretion; when wisdom and prudence are expected in him; this sort of leprosy may be an emblem of errors in judgment, of false doctrines and heresies imbibed by persons, which eat as doth a canker, and are in themselves damnable, and bring ruin and destruction on teachers and hearers, unless recovered from them by the grace of God.

(t) Negaim, c. 10. sect. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

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 {i} hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.

(i) Which was not wont to be there, or else smaller than in any other part of the body.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. yellow thin hair] The Heb. word for ‘yellow’ is used only here and in Leviticus 13:32; Leviticus 13:36.

a scall] a dry scall A.V.; the Heb. word néthek is used only in this section, and denotes ‘what one is inclined to scratch or tear away’ (Oxf. Lex.).

Leviticus 13:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Leprosy upon the head or chin. - If the priest saw a mole upon the head or chin of a man or woman, the appearance of which was deeper than the skin, and on which the hair was yellow (צהב golden, reddish, fox-colour) and thin, he was to regard it as נתק. Leprosy on the head or chin is called נתק, probably from נתק to pluck or tear, from its plucking out the hair, or causing it to fall off; like κνήφη, the itch, from κνάω, to itch or scratch, and scabies, from scabere. But if he did not observe these two symptoms, if there was no depression of the skin, and the hair was black and not yellow, he was to shut up the person affected for seven days. In בּו אין שׁחר (Leviticus 13:31) there is certainly an error of the text: either שׁחר must be retained and אין dropped, or שׁהר must be altered into צהב, according to Leviticus 13:37. The latter is probably the better of the two.