G. E. Post.
LEPROSY (nyn¥ or ΠῚ 3) zdra’ath, nega’ zdrdath ; LXX and NT λέπρα). τὰ genus of diseases with which, in a special degree, the element of unclean- ness was associated. The removal of other maladies is spoken of in NT as healing, but the removal of leprosy is called cleansing (Mt 85. 10° 11°, Mk 1%,
Lk 4515 1717). The only case in which the verb ἰᾶσθαι is used in this connexion is in Lk 17" in the case of the Samaritan, whose relation to the cere- monial law would perhaps not be recognized by a Jew : in all other passages it is καθαρίζειν. Leprosy also involved exclusion from the community as did no other disease ; and the leper was looked upon, not only as defiled himself, but as a source of defilement to his neighbours.
There is an initial difficulty in the identification of these diseases, as the Greek word λέπρα is used by the early physicians as the name of a skin disease, now called psoriasis, characterized by an eruption of rough, scaly patches. Hippocrates, Polybius, and Paulus Aigineta treat it in general as a curable disease of not very serious import. This skin disease is neither contagious nor dangerous to life, nor, in most cases, productive of much incon- venience or suffering to the individual ; and, ex- cept for the sense of disgust engendered by the disfigurement which it causes in the rare case of its affecting the face, it is not injurious to the community. And yet the LXX translators and St. Luke must have known of this use of the word which they employ as the equivalent of zd@ra‘ath. On the other hand, the disease now called leprosy must have been known in Bible times, and could scarcely escape notice. Besides, other diseases of the skin did not produce ceremonial uncleanness, and this group of scaly eruptions which the Greeks called depra was not necessarily associated with dirt or vice, and could searcely be singled out from allied diseases as divine visitations; also the scaliness which, from the first, is distinctive of these, is not mentioned as a specific character.
The true leprosy has been known in India since the days of Atreya, about B.c. 1400; and it is said to be referred to in Japanese records about 500 years later. In the Egyptian papyrus Ebers, written in the reign of Amen-hotep I., about B.C. 1550, there are over a score of prescriptions for an apparently intractable disease called ukhedu, which attacked the head, the limbs, the face, and thie body generally; which was attended with the development of bean-like nodules (hunhun), open sores, or skin spots, which were liable to ulcerate, and had to be covered with plasters. The singular form of this word was probably khed, and in Coptic the derivative chot is used for a swelling, and, with the status constructus of the verb er orefixed (erchot), it is used for a sore or an ulcer. There is little doubt that this disease was leprosy. In the Coptie version of Leviticus another cognate word is used, geAt, to denote leprosy.
The first classical reference to the disease is in the Prorrhetica of Hippocrates (ii.), where, after referring to lepra, he mentions the Phenician disease as a far more serious malady. There is also a reference to leprosy, although not by name, in a fragment of Hesiod quoted by Eustathius in his Comment. in Odyss. v. p. 1746. Galen men- tions it under the name elephantiasis, and says that it is common in Alexandria, on account of the coarse food of the people. To this also Lucretius (vi. 1114) refers—
‘Est elephas morbus qui Propeer flumina Nili
Gignitur A2gypto in media neque preterea usquam." Some have supposed that the λειχὴν λευκός of Aischylus (Choephoroi, 281) is leprosy, but it is more probably the scaly psoriasis, as is the same word in Humenides, 754. Themison is said by Celius Aurelianus, iv. 1, to have described it about 8.c. 100, but his description is lost. The scanti- ness of the references in classical literature before the beginning of the Christian era support the statement of Pliny (xxvi.), that it was brought into Europe from Syria by the army of Pompey (B.c. 61). Others of the Greek and Latin physicians
LEPROSY
of later date describe it under the name elephanti- asis (Celsus iii. 25, and Soranus, according to Mar- cellus, xix.). Paulus A%gineta compares it to cancer of the whole body. Aretzus also gives a praphis description of its loathsome later stages. ‘or an account of the characteristics of the advanced stages see Thomson, Land and Book, ii. 530.
The first biblical reference is in the account of the signs given by God to Moses whereby he was to preys to Pharaoh his divine commission (Ex 4° J) ;
αὖ ἴῃ Ex7!°8(P), where his interview with Pharaoh is reported, there is no mention of this sign being shown. The reason of this omission is not difficult to understand. This incident may be the founda- tion of Manetho’s story quoted by Josephus (ὁ, Ap. i. 31), that Moses was a leper, and was expelled from Heliopolis on this account. Manetho also said that the Jews were driven out of Egypt be- cause they were afflicted with this disease (i. i. 26).
The second historical mention of it is very significant. In Nu 12” the smiting of Miriam with leprosy is recorded. Here we have a graphic reference to the effects of the disease in Aaron’s pave for his sister, when he says, ‘ Let her not,