Leviticus 13:4

4 Soothly if the shining whiteness that is in the skin, neither (it) is lower than the tother flesh, and the hairs be of the former colour, the priest shall close him seven days (then the priest shall enclose him for seven days);

Leviticus 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:4

If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh
The Targum of Jonathan is, white as chalk in the skin of his flesh; but other Jewish writers make the whiteness of the bright spot to be the greatest of all, like that of snow; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:2):

and in sight [be] not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof
be not turned white;
though it be a bright spot, and be very white, yet these two marks not appearing, it cannot be judged a leprosy, at most it is only suspicious: wherefore

then the priest, shall shut up [him that hath] the plague seven
days;
in whom the bright spot is, and of whom there is a suspicion of the plague of leprosy, but it is not certain; and therefore, in order to take time, and get further knowledge, the person was to be shut up from all company and conversation for the space of seven days; by which time it might be supposed, as Ben Gersom observes, that the case and state of the leprosy (if it was one) would be altered; and Aben Ezra remarks, that most diseases change or alter on the seventh day.

Leviticus 13:4 In-Context

2 A man in whose skin and flesh riseth diverse colour, either (a) whelk, either as some shining thing, that is, a wound of leprosy [that is to say, a plague of leprosy], he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, either to one of any of his sons (or to one of his sons);

3 and when he seeth the leprosy, or meselry, in the skin, and the hair changed into white colour, and that the species of leprosy is lower than the other skin and the flesh, it is a wound of leprosy [it is a plague of leprosy], and he shall be separated at the doom of the priest (and the priest shall pronounce him to be unclean).

4 Soothly if the shining whiteness that is in the skin, neither (it) is lower than the tother flesh, and the hairs be of the former colour, the priest shall close him seven days (then the priest shall enclose him for seven days);

5 and the priest shall behold him in the seventh day, and soothly if the leprosy wax not further, neither passeth the former terms in the flesh, again the priest shall close him again seven other days; (and the priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if the leprosy hath not grown, or not spread, nor it hath passed the original borders in the flesh, the priest shall enclose him again for seven more days;)

6 and he shall behold him in the seventh day; if the leprosy is then dark, and waxeth not in the flesh, the priest shall cleanse him, that is, shall deem him to be clean, for it is a scab; and the man shall wash his clothes, and he shall be clean. (and he shall examine him again on the seventh day; if the leprosy is then dark, and hath not grown, or not spread, in the flesh, the priest shall pronounce him to be clean, for it is a scab; and the man shall wash his clothes, and so he shall be clean.)