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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:1-8
The statutes on maternity. We may seek— I. THE EXPLANATION or THIS STATUTE. And we shall find the explanation 1. The sorrow of maternity (John 16:21) points clearly to the primeval curse, and therefore to the primeval s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:2-4
She shall be unclean seven days. The mother is to be unclean seven days, and after that to be in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days (Leviticus 12:4). The difference between these two states maybe seen by l…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:2-7
Woman under the Law and under the gospel. Every childbirth re-echoes in the ears of woman the sentence passed upon her ancestress Eve. That such a season of rejoicing should be attended with such throes of agony speaks…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:5
If she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks;… and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. The reason why the duration of the mother's uncleanness is twice as long at a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:6
Generation, conception, and birth, not having anything sinful necessarily connected with them, the sin offering in this case is rather an intimation of original sin than an atonement for actual sin; the "sorrow" attache…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:8
Some fifteen hundred years after this law of purification after childbirth had been given to and by Moses, a man child was born in a country which did not at the time of the legislation of Moses belong to the Israelites…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 12:8
If she be not able to bring a lamb. A concession is made to poverty, which in later times appears to have been largely acted on. It was, as we know, taken advantage of by the mother of our Lord (Luke 2:24). HOMILETICS
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:1-59
Leprosy. That leprosy is a type of sin is evident from David's allusion in confessing his own horrible offenses (see Psalms 51:7)? This also appears from the words of Jesus to the only leper, out of the ten cleansed by…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:1-46
EXPOSITION UNCLEANNESS DERIVED FROM LEPROSY OR CONTACT WITH LEPERS AND LEPROUS THINGS (Leviticus 13:1-59, Leviticus 14:1-57). A third cause of uncleanness is found in a third class of offensive or repulsive objects. The…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:1-59
The priest's adjudication. We have considered the plague of leprosy as an emblem of sin; the adjudication upon it will suggest thoughts concerning the treatment of sin. In this business the principal actor was the pries…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:1-59
The diagnosis of sin as illustrated in the leprosy. cf. 2 Kings 5:1-27 : Psalms 88:1-18; Matthew 8:1-4; Luke 5:12-15. The preceding chapter brings forward sin as an inheritance through ordinary generation. No thorough s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:2
The word translated plague of leprosy literally means stroke. It seems to be used in the sense of spot. Then shall he be brought unto Aaron the priest. That the regulations respecting leprosy were not sanitary arrangeme…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:3
When the hair in the plague is turned white. This is the first symptom, and the most noticeable as the commencement of the disease. The hair around the spot loses its colour and becomes thin and weak, the separate hairs…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:3
Conviction of sin. "And the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean." In the Hebrew commonwealth: 1. There were those who were reasonably suspected of leprosy, i.e; of "uncleanness." 2. It was a matter of th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:3
It is a plague of leprosy. The chosen type of sin—its individual aspect. The conjecture that leprosy was contracted by the children of Israel in the hot and dusty brick-fields of Egypt is probable enough. The definition…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:4-8
In case the symptoms are not decisive, then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days. The words thus translated would perhaps be better rendered, then the priest shall bind up the part affected for s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:5
The chosen type of sin-its social aspect. We have seen (vide previous Homily) how true a picture is leprosy of sin in its individual aspect; we now regard the subject in its more social aspect. What this terrible diseas…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:9-11
The method of procedure in the case of a doubtful leprosy having been laid down in the previous verses, the rule for dealing with an unmistakable case is here given. When the characteristic white spot and white hair are…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:12-17
If a leprosy break out abroad … and cover all the skin. There was a form of disease similar to true leprosy, and bearing the name of leprosy, and by some thought to be the final phase of true leprosy, which was yet not…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:18-23
The method of discriminating between a leprous spot and the reappearing scar of an old ulcer. A reappearing ulcer is to be regarded as leprous it' it have the characteristic marks of leprosy; that is, if it be below the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:24-28
The method of discriminating between a leprous spot and the scar of a burn. If there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning. This rendering indicates that the authors of the Authorized Version thought…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:29-37
The method of discriminating between a leprous spot on the head or beard and an ulcer in the same place. The symptoms of leprosy are the same as before, except that the hairs in this case are of a reddish-yellow colour…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:40-44
Leprosy appearing on the bald head. Though leprosy makes the hair drop off around the leprous spot, baldness is in itself no sign of leprosy, whether at the back or front of the head (Leviticus 13:40, Leviticus 13:41);…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 13:40-44
Affections of the mind. We learn lessons concerning— I. THE BLEMISH OF MENTAL PECULIARITY. (Leviticus 13:40.) Evidently baldness was an unusual and an unsightly thing among the Israelites. Otherwise it would not have ex…