Leprosy of a house?

[Seth Doty]

"Leviticus 14:33-48 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house. And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered; Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed."


Any ideas of what this "house leprosy" might have been? The colors, greenish, reddish sound like mold, but the "hollow streaks" "which in sight are lower than the wall" does not. Sounds odd what ever it was.

Edited November 22, 2011 by Seth-Doty

[Salyan]

What were the houses made of then? Was it a substance that mold might eat away quickly at?

The bathroom roof in my apartment (an extremely poorly-ventilated room) started to develop yellow spots some years ago. I washed it with bleach, and they came off, but left ever-so-slight round indentations behind them. I thought that must be some kind of mold, and it did appear 'in sight lower than the wall.'

[Seth Doty]

What were the houses made of then? Was it a substance that mold might eat away quickly at?

From the description in the passage it would seem that the common construction method included stones and timber that was plastered over on the interior.

" And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house. And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered; Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place."

[Wilchbla]

I heard somewhere once that leprosy was a term that was applied to a whole bunch of different diseases.

This is from etymonline.com.

leprosy
1530s; see leper. First used in Coverdale Bible, where it renders Hebrew cara'ath, which apparently was a comprehensive term for skin diseases. Because of pejorative associations, the use of the word in medical context has been banned by the World Health Organization and replaced by Hansen's disease, named for Norwegian physician Armauer Hansen (1841-1912) who in 1871 discovered the bacillus that causes it.

So whatever this disease was it wasn't the leprosy we know of today. Apparently it was some kind of fungal infection. It may have gone the way of many other diseases throughout history like the Black Plague disease which scientists are not sure if it really was the bubonic plague.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Wilchbla

[JerryNumbers]

I've heard it stated by some that leprosy back in the Bible days was a different disease than the leprosy we know of.

[Seth Doty]

I heard somewhere once that leprosy was a term that was applied to a whole bunch of different diseases.

No doubt. It can be seen from the laws of leprosy in the OT that there was the type of leprosy that afflicted man, and then there was also some different things that could effect garments or houses that was also called leprosy. Obviously what ever was effecting the garments or the houses was not what we would call leprosy today because that disease is not going to effect a garment or a house.

[Calvary]

Ray Stedman has some great comments on Chapter 13 and 14. It's too lengthy to cut and paste here, but it demostrates some great typology.

I'll put a little up.

The procedure is the same, you see, for leprosy in a house. Obviously again we are dealing with mildews and molds and fungi, the kinds of things which can appear on the walls of a house. I have been in the tropics and have seen plaster walls just covered with green mold and mildew! In this passage these are regarded as possibly contagious, and they have to be investigated, patiently and carefully....

What is it that corresponds to the house in our experience? You remember that in the New Testament the church is called "the house of God" (1Ti_3:15, 1Pe_4:17 KJV). Now, it is not the church building; that is not where God lives. It is God's people who are the house of God. So what is in view here is an association, a group, an assembly, a gathering of Christians together. And it, too, can have a leprous infection in it. When this proves to be the case it needs to be dealt with. It must be treated, even drastically at times.
Notice Verses 39-42:...

The priest is to get rid of the stones that are affected....

Title: Sick Garments and Diseased Houses
By: Ray C. Stedman
Scripture: Leviticus 13,14
Date: January 2, 1972
Series: Basic Human Needs
Message No: 14
Catalog No: 514

Barnes says the straked areas are indentations. Living in Mexico, I can attest to the "contaminated walls" due to mold, fungi as the rainy season hits in. This is in the mortar. American houses in Seattle for example have "mold spore" problems and are cleaned with bleach. We just cleaned my daughters room the other day and painted, the streaked mold that had begun to grow is "under the wall" or permeated.

God bless,
Calvary

[JerryNumbers]

When in the Air Force, @ Anderson AFB, Guam, our lockers had heat elements inside of the to keep our clothes & stuff from mildewing.

I was told that without them they would mildew quite quick, & have mold growing on them.

No doubt, anyone that goes to such a region for even a shot amount of time will find that the humidly level is always quite high. It was amazing how fast a rain could come, them is seconds the sun would be out & shining. If you put a rain coat on, you will still get wet, but not from the rain! You were usually better off without the rain coat, & would soon be dry from the sun.

[Anon]

I always assumed it was some sort of disease that could also be passed on to people...thus the strict rules with taking care of it in a house or a garment. I guess you'd have to see if it was the same words used in the Hebrew.... if it was "leprosy" at all times I can only assume it was some sort of infection that could hurt people AND things....???? Something that by contaminating your garment or house, it could also contaminate a person....?

[John81]

The mold that infects some houses today can get into the air and cause illness to the people in the house. For certain kinds of mold it requires extensive and often expensive renovation and decontamination to be rid of it.