Leviticus 13 Summary: A Short Breakdown in 5 Minutes

Leviticus 13 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Leviticus picks up where Exodus left off. The children of Israel are on their way through the wilderness to the Canaan land.

• According to Leviticus 8, the Tabernacle had already been erected, which would place the year at approximately 1490 B.C. (one year after the Israelites left Egypt).

DEFINITIONS:

• Leprosy – Also known as Hansen’s Disease. Leprosy is a slow growing bacterial disease that attacks a person’s nerves and causes them to swell under the skin.

• Leukoderma – Leukoderma is a general term used to refer to localized patches of depigmented skin. The depigmentation can be the result of several factors and underlying conditions.

TABERNACLE DIAGRAM

OUTLINE:

• DIAGNOSING LEPROSY (13:1-59):

  • If a person had a suspicious swelling, eruption, or spot on their skin, they were to be brought to the priests for inspection.

  • If the hair in the diseased area was white and the disease appeared deeper than skin level, the priest was to diagnose it as leprosy and the sick person would be considered unclean.

  • If the symptoms didn’t exactly match, the priest was to quarantine the individual for 14 days and inspect the disease on the 7th and 14th day.

  • If the suspicious area appeared to heal, the priest would pronounce the individual clean and let them return to the community.  

  • A person could also be diagnosed with leprosy if they had white swelling in the skin with white hair and raw flesh.

  • Anyone with “raw flesh” was to present themselves to the priests because raw flesh could be caused by leprosy.

  • If a person had a boil that healed and, in its place, a white swelling or a reddish-white spot appeared, that person was required to show themselves to the priest.

  • A person with inflamed/burned skin that later produced red or white spots was to be examined by a priest.  

  • Anyone with itchy diseased skin on their head or beard was to consult a priest. If the area was marked by an infection underneath the skin and yellow or thin hair, that person was to be diagnosed with leprosy.

  • God also gave instructions for distinguishing between baldness, leukoderma, and leprosy.  

  • A person who was diagnosed with leprosy was to live alone outside the camp of Israel.

  • They were to wear torn clothes and let their hair hang loose.

  • Whenever they encountered another person, they were to cry out, “Unclean, unclean.”

  • Whenever a case of suspected leprosy was found in a garment or an animal skin, the item was to be brought to a priest.

  • If the priest found it to contain leprosy, he was to burn it.

APPLICATION:

• One thing to keep in mind as you read these laws is that “uncleanliness” didn’t always equate to sinfulness.

• This was a mistake that I used to make in my interpretation of the Old Testament laws.

• Yes, there were times when a person became “unclean” by doing something God forbid, but there were other times when a person became unclean as a result of something out of their control or even by participating in something good.

• For example, in the last chapter we talked about how a woman was unclean for several days following her pregnancy. Having children wasn’t a sin and God certainly didn’t want His people to stop bearing children.

• In this chapter, we see that a person could become unclean on account of a disease.

• Being clean vs unclean wasn’t always a matter of right vs. wrong or good vs. bad.