Leviticus 13:33

He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more:

Leviticus 13:33 belongs to Israel's laws of uncleanness and cleansing in Leviticus 12-15 concerning leprosy. The person with a scall was to be shaven, but the scall itself was not to be shaved. The priest was then to shut up him that had the scall seven days more under observation. This was a visible removal of physical uncleanness before the sanctuary's cleansing with blood, distinct from the sanctuary's deeper cleansing from moral defilement.

The regulation is part of sanitary instructions concerning leprosy and contagious diseases. It reflects the need for proper precautions against an unsanitary condition. The chapter gives valuable guidance about such diseases. As part of the laws of sanitation promulgated through Moses, it still stands at the head of sanitary law. The enduring superiority of those laws is conclusive evidence of the divine inspiration that guided Moses.

Leprosy in its utmost loathsomeness is a fitting type, figure, and picture of sin as a terrible moral disease and mortal sin. Its uncleanness prefigures sin's dreadful character and need for cleansing. Like leprosy, sin is a plague no human means can cure, infectious, destructive, and rooted within. It pollutes the source of life as well as shaming the outward person.

The disease described in the chapter still prevails in the Holy Land in the same types as in scriptural days. Its continuance bears witness to scriptural truth. Cleansing from sin comes only through Christ's blood for those who repent and believe. Christ's healing of leprosy demonstrates his power to heal. The cleansing work given to ancient Israel in these laws of cleanliness is compared with health reform as preparation for God's Spirit to dwell in believers and for them to receive the latter rain.

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