Leviticus 13:30, commentary and pictures

The test is for suspected disease of the scalp or beard: when the affected spot looks deeper than the skin and a thin yellow hair is in it, the priest is to pronounce the person unclean, for it is dry scall, a leprosy upon the head or beard. It belongs to the laws in Leviticus 12-15 regulating uncleanness and leprosy, where bodily uncleanness had to be visibly removed before the deeper cleansing by blood that reconciled the sanctuary. Those laws governed the priestly service of the Levitical sanctuary, whose yearly services typified Christ's once-for-all ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

They are Moses' sanitary instructions for examining disease of the head or beard and declaring uncleanness. As sanitary law they still stand at the head, above modern sanitary achievement, and their enduring excellence proves that divine inspiration guided Moses. The leprosy in view is a horrible and loathsome disease, incurable and infectious, that consumes its victim, has its chief seat within, pollutes the source of life, and brings outward shame.

That bodily leprosy is a fitting type and figure of sin, a terrible moral disease and mortal sin embracing every kind of evil thing. Like leprosy, sin infects every person descended from Adam and works inwardly through the heart's motives, purposes, and desires as well as appearing in wrongful acts. Like leprosy, sin never gets well of itself, and human means cannot cure this plague.

Like leprosy also, sin is contagious: the sinner contaminates the very atmosphere, introduces pollution where all before was comparative purity, and his society leads others to sin, so there is more reason to fear the influence of the sinner than to fear the infection of the leper. Cleansing from this plague comes through Christ, who undertakes the cases of those who repent and believe, so the healing of leprosy shows Jesus Christ and his power to heal. Its cleansing points to putting off the old self and to the need for humility before God, and its laws about bodily cleansing stand as examples of the cleansing required of God's people and as a precedent for health reform that prepares the body as a dwelling place for God's Spirit. Leprosy was prevalent in Moses' day and is as prevalent in the Holy Land now, showing the diseases there are of the same types as in scriptural days and so bearing witness to scriptural truth.