The So-called ‘leprosy’ Laws an Analysis of Leviticus, Chapters

THE composite character of the two chapters--Leviticus 13 and 14--comprising the laws and regulations for the diagnosis and treatment of various skin diseases, and of suspicious spots appearing in garments and houses, together with the purification rites, has long been recognized. Indeed, the mere enumeration of the variety of subjects treated of in these two chapters, which form a little code by themselves, furnishes a presumption in favour of the view that the chapters represent a gradual growth. A closer study of the two chapters not only confirms this presumption, but also shows that the growth betrays an even more complicated process than is the case in other little groups of laws and regulations, such as Lev. 1-5. We not only find that the two chapters may be subdivided into numerous smaller sections, each representing a supplement added to the basic stock of the little code, but that within these sections, glosses, comments, and illustrations are introduced which point to a treatment of the older Hebrew codes, not unlike that accorded to the later Code of