Take heed in the plague of leprosy. I am aware how greatly
interpreters differ from each other and how variously they twist
whatever Moses has written about Leprosy. Some are too eagerly devoted
to allegories; some think that God, as a prudent Legislator, merely
gave a commandment of a sanitary, nature, in order that a contagious
disease should not, spread among the people. This notion, however, is
very. poor, and almost unmeaning; and is briefly. refuted by Moses
himself, both where he recounts the history of Miriam's leprosy, and
also where he assigns the cause why lepers should be put out of the
camp, viz that they might not defile the camp in which God dwelt,
whilst he ranks them with those that have an issue, and that they are
defiled by the dead. Wherefore, I have thought it well, previous to
attempting the full elucidation of the matter, to adduce two passages,
by way of preface, from whence the design of God may more fully appear.
When, in this passage from Deuteronomy, He commands the people to "take
heed" and "observe diligently" the plague of leprosy, there can be no
question but that He thus ratifies what He had before set forth at
greater length in Leviticus. And, first of all, He refers the judgment
of the matter to the priests, that what they pronounce should be firm
and unalterable; and secondly, He would have the priests, lest they
should pronounce rashly, and according to their own wishes, to follow