The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 236

HOMILETICS. Vel'8. 1-44.-Leprosy III regarded as the type of sin in a more especial way than other foul and ugly things. Affections of the body often serve as means of representincr to ourselves the affections of the mind. This is witnessed to by ordinary langua(7e~ The words, "see," "perceive,"" feel," originally expressive of bodily acts, have co;;;e to signify mental acts, and so in other cases, "healthy," "diseased," "upright," "debased," are words which we apply to men in their moral even more than in their physical capacity (cf. Isa. i. 5, 6, "'l'he whole bead is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment"). Points of similarity between leprosy as it affects the body and sin as it affects the soul are- L ITS MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN. Whether by hereditary transmission or for other untraceable causes, it makes its appearance in the flesh of those whom it attacks without any special personal act of theirs to have brought it on. IL lTs SLIGHT BEGINNING. It appears to be as nothing-as a mere spot in the skin, such as often comes and goes without injury. ill. ITS PAINLESSNESS IN ITS FIRST STAGES. It does not interfere with the common pleasures or occupations of life. There is a spot which a keen eye may observe, but it causes no trouble, and men go on anticipating no evil from it. IV. THE SLOWNESS OF ITS GROWTH, •• Sometimes months, sometimes years, even to the extent of twenty or thirty years, intervene between ihe first appearance of the spots and their development" (Gardiner). "Very frequently, even for years, before the actual outbreak of the disease itself, white yellowish spots are seen lying deep in the skin" (Trusen, 'Krankheiten der Al ten Hehr.'). In other cases it develops more rapidly, according to the part of the body in which it has fixed itself, and the general health of the patient. V. !Ts INSIDIOUBNEBB. After it has long continued without producing mischief, the person affected recovers hope, and thinks that no harm will come of it, but the evil remains, and waits its time for exhibiting itself, hiding itself meantime and lingering in the system. VI. !TB RESISTLEBB PROGRESS IF NOT ERADICATED IMMEDIATELY THAT IT APPEARS, "It is asserted that it yields to medical treatment in its earliest stages, when the spots first appear, and a number of distinct cases of cure are recorde<l. After the leprosy has once acquired a certain degree of development, there is no known means of cure. Everything hitherto attempted has been found to rather aggravate than mitigate the disorder. It is certain that, after it bas once become developed to any considerable extent, it is incurable by any remedies at present known, although spontaneous cures do sometimes occur" (Gardiner). ,.,VIL 1TB FINAL JIIDEOUSNEBS. First it affects the hair around the spot, and changes its colour and its character till at last it falls off. " The spots afterwards pierce through the cellular tissues and reach the muscles and bone. H11rd gelatinous i;wellings are formed in the cellula1· tissue ; the skin gets hard, rough, and seamy, lymph exudes from it, and forms large scabs, which fall off from time to time, and under these there are often offensive running sores. 'l'he nails then swell, curl up, and fall off, entropium is formed, with blee<ling gums, the nose stopped up, and a con-  OH. Xlll, 1-4.6.] 'l'HE IlOOK OF LEVITICUS. 199