out in the house after the stones have been removed, and after the house has been scraped, and after it has been plaistered; 44. The priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague has spread in the house, it is a malignant leprosy in the house; it is unclean. 45. And the house shall be broken down, its stones, and its timber, and all the mortar of the house, and they shall be carried out of the city into an unclean place. 46. And whoever goes into the house during the whole time that it is shut up, shall be unclean until the evening; 47. And whoever lies in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his Him not only their lives, but also PHILOLOGICAL REMARKS.— The place which this section occupies, is certainly irregular; leprosy of houses would most naturally have followed after leprosy of garments (XIII. 47— 58); yet the laws on these two kindred subjects are separated by the expiatory ordinances prescribed for leprosy of persons. The conclusion seems almost irresistible, that our section is a supplementary addition to the laws of leprosy, which originally comprised only those regarding persons and garments; while leprosy of houses, no doubt of rare occurrence, was at first not considered to require legislative control, but was later subjoined with a distinct heading (ver. 33), and with evident reference to the preceding injunctions, since the ceremonies of purification are manifest repetitions (see supra). The houses were probably destroyed in extreme cases only, and the loss was seldom very great, as Eastern dwellings are, as a rule, small, frail, and poor. clothes. 48. But if the priest comes and looks, and, behold, the plague has not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered, the priest shall pronounce the house clean; for the plague is healed. 49. And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and crimson thread, and hyssop; 50. And he shall kill the one of the birds over an earthen vessel over running water; 51. And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the crimson thread, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times; 52. And he shall thus cleanse the examination proved the house to be des, Vulg. valliculae, Onk. †, etc.), and it has been so explained by later interpreters; but it is of uncertain etymology; it seems hardly a compound of two roots, as of up to sink down and to be deep (Michaelis, Gesenius), or of and to be damp (Cleric., comp. Ebn Ezra), or a forma shaphelica of to be deep (Knob.); but rather a quadrilitera formed from p by the addition of the liquid, which is repeated to express the notion more emphatically (comp. Gramm. II. §. xvIII. 1, 2). The Talmud (Sanh. 71a) calls the places to which the stones of leprous .הירבתא סגירת houses were removed The period during which the new stones and mortar were watched for the appearance of suspicious spots (ver.43), was by Jewish tradition fixed at one week; the term after the expiration of which their soundness may be presumed (ver. 48) at two weeks (Siphra). Rashi, availing himself of the Talmudical principle, that the Law observes no systematic order in the arrangement of details, places the 44th after the 47th verse, thereby producing an illogical sequence. (ver. 43) is an anomalous infin. like : (2 Sam. XII. 14, see Gramm. II. § XLIV. 1. 2): that it is the infin. and not the preterite is evident from the parallel forms and is house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the crimson thread. 53. And then he shall let the living bird fly out of the city into the open field, and make an atonement for the house, that it may be clean. 54. This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, 55. And for the leprosy of a garment and of a house, 56. And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot; 57. To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. - though the latter, standing for 'sp7, (ver. orare. (ver. 57) refers back to (ver. 54) literally "this is the instruction for every plague of leprosy... to afford instruction in the time of uncleanness and in the time of cleanness", that is, when a decision is to be given with respect to cleanness or uncleanness of a person, a house, or a garment, Targ. Jon. has the Midrashic rendering, "that the priest may teach the people concerning the dark day when no leprosy is to be examined, and concerning the bright day, etc." (comp. Siphra fol. 74"; see supra p. 228). CHAPTER XV. SUMMARY. 1. On running issue in a man (277, vers. 1-15). Mucus discharged from or stopping a man's member, constitutes a disease rendering unclean not only the patient himself, but every couch, seat, or object, on which he lies or sits, and all persons he spits upon, or touches with his body or with unwashed hands. Such persons as well as all those who carry any object on which he has been sitting or lying, are unclean till the evening, when they must bathe, and wash their garments; those who merely touch any such object, are also unclean till the evening, but require no lustration; earthen vessels touched by the patient must be broken, wooden ones rinsed with water (vers. 1-12). On the seventh day after the discharge has ceased, he must wash his garments, and bathe in running water; and on the eighth, he has to present two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin-offering, and the other for a holocaust (vers. 13-15). 2. Nocturnal accidents of a man render him -- unclean till the evening, when he must bathe, while all stained gar- -- 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2. Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If any man has a running issue out of his flesh, his issue is unclean. 3. And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped on account of his issue, it is his uncleanness. 4. Every bed, whereon a person lies that has the issue, shall be unclean; and every object, whereon he sits, shall be unclean. 5. And whosoever touches his bed, shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 6. And he that sits on 1-15. The ritual effects of the disorder here treated of are indeed copiously described, but we are almost completely left in doubt as regards its symptoms. We have, in fact, only this to guide us, that the malady is a running issue () from "the flesh" of a man, that is, from his genitals; that this issue occasionally stops up the member; and that both in the one case and in the other uncleanness is caused. However, even these few criteria, in conjunction with some incidental allusions,enable us at least to contract the circle of probabilities. The disorder cannot be hemorrhoids, whether open or blind (Beyer, a. o.), as these do not flow from the genitals, and a loss of blood is never mentioned. It cannot be an involuntary discharge of semen from weakness (or gonorrhoea benigna), whether arising from self-abuse or from excessive sexual intercourse (Mishn. Zavim II. 2 and Maim. in loc.; Nazir IX. 4; Maim. De Indig. Piac. cc. II, III. pp. 189-196 ed. De Veil, a. o.); for the semen thus secreted does not stop up the genitals, as it is quite fluid, while when it ceases to flow, the complaint is cured, and the uncleanness ought to be at an end; be any object whereon a person sat that has the issue, shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be unclean until the evening. 7. And he that touches the flesh of a person that has the issue, shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 8. And if a person that has the issue spits upon one that is clean, the latter shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 9. And any saddle, on which a person that has the issue rides, shall be unclean. 10. And whosoever touches any thing sides, the moral stain which such an evil involves, would in some manner have been intimated by the author either in the statement of the evil or in the purificatory rites. It cannot be syphilis (gonorrhoea virulenta, Michaelis, a. o.); for this disease seems to have been unknown before the fifteenth Christian century; and it is described neither by Greek, nor Roman, nor Arabic physicians. Had it been prevalent in Palestine, its striking features and fearful effects, peculiarly malignant in the hot Eastern climate, would doubtless have been dwelt upon by a legislator so accurate even in subordinate details. It is not necessarily a contagious disorder; the most careful precautions are indeed prescribed in reference to even the slightest and most indirect contact with the discharged matter (see the Summary); but similar precautions are ordained in connection with other discharges which are unquestionably harmless, as the menstrual fluid (vers. 19-27); their object was not to prevent physical injury, but that levitical uncleanness which was to be shunned by all citizens of the theocratic commonwealth. It is probably no seminal disorder in the stricter sense; for though a "discharge" (244) is repeatedly mentioned, the term seed or semen (?) never occurs (comp. vers. 16-18); and elsewhere a person suffering from running issue (2) is clearly distinguished from .XXII,שכבת זרע) one who emits semen 4). What then remains? To judge from its varied effects, the discharge must be more copious than is usual in a spontaneous loss of semen, and must be able to stop up the member without ceasing to be internally secreted; and yet it is harmless, and may be touched with impunity. It can, therefore, only be an inordinate secretion of mucus (blenorrhoea urethrae), caused by some catarrhal condition or relaxation of the mucous membrane, and usually originating from intercourse with uncleanly, menstruous, or unhealthy women. Considering all this, and taking into account the physical degeneracy to which the evil points, we cannot be surprised that it was treated with some severity, which was perhaps the more justified as the sufferers themselves are apt to slight and neglect it, and, if carelessly treated or prematurely stopped, it may grow into a much more serious evil. Hence persons afflicted with a "running issue" were included among those who had to remain without the camp (Num. V. 1-4); they were debarred from partaking of the paschal meal, and, at later periods, from appearing on Mount Moriah, and even within |