Lev. 13: Does This Look Infected?

So what I am gathering from chapter 13 is that the priests were also given medical duties in addition to their normal priestly duties. This chapter deals primarily in skin irregularities, and serves as a primer for how the priest is to treat these skin anomalies.

If someone has a suspicious looking mark or whatever, they are to be brought before the priest for examination.

I have summarized it as follows:

Swelling or Rash

• white hair in the sore, more than skin deep - Infectious!
• white spot, skin deep only - Isolation for seven days
• If after seven days the spot remains - Isolation for seven more days
• If the spot is faded - The person must wash their clothes and be declared clean
• If the rash has spread, the priest will declare the person ceremonially unclean with an infectious disease - leading to further isolation
  

Breakouts All Over

• head to toe in white - clean
  
• if raw flesh appears - unclean
• if raw flesh turns white - clean again!

Boils - If a reddish-white or white spot appears, that's cause for a priestly visit

• white hair, more than skin deep - unclean
• no white hair, skin deep only - Isolation for seven days
• spreading - unclean, isolated - clean

Burns - If a reddish-white or white spot appears, that's cause for a priestly visit

• white hair, more than skin deep - unclean
• no white hair, skin deep only - Isolation for seven days
• spreading - unclean, isolated - clean

Sores on the Head or Chin - That's cause for a priestly visit

• thin yellow hair, more than skin deep - unclean...infectious disease
  
• no black hair, skin deep only - Isolation for seven days
• spreading - unclean, isolated - clean

Other stuff, like a dull white spot on the skin is probably just a rash, and that's cool. Baldness is no reason to panic...you're clean.

And there was a ritual for people to do if they were unclean. They have to wear torn clothes, have unkempt or uncovered hair, cover the lower part of his face, and go around yelling, "Unclean! Unclean!" This person is to be left alone, and live outside the camp. Makes sense, I guess, you want to isolate that type of stuff. If people were required to wear head coverings, and there was someone not wearing a head covering...you could tell at a distance that something was wrong. Covering the mouth makes sense. You wouldn't spread infection that way. The infected person had to heal on their own. The infected person had to watch out for the people who weren't, to protect them.

Then there's some stuff about mildew. Mildew is referred to as a contaminant. If the contaminant spreads in a garment, it is to be destroyed. If it doesn't spread, the mildewy part is to be torn out of the garment or article. Mildew can only be completely destroyed by fire. Any articles of clothing with mildew are of course considered unclean. If washing takes care of it, then the clothing is considered clean once again. But it could not be worn as usual.