Introduction
The
nominal and verb forms of the root צרע occur 54 times in the Hebrew bible, and
corresponding Greek terms occur an additional 14 times in the New Covenant
books. These terms are always
translated as references to leprosy
in modern European languages. This
automatically brings up the question as to whether these references actually
are referring to clinical leprosy as it is known today. According to rabbinic opinion, צרעת has
nothing to do with the disease known today as leprosy, or Hansen’s
disease. According to this
opinion, צרעת is a condition imposed by YHWH on individuals for certain types
of covenantal unfaithfulness. As
such, it may be imposed for the remainder of the individual’s life, or it may
be spontaneously cured by God. Levitical
priests were assigned the responsibility of examining suspected individuals,
houses, and garments and assessing whether or not צרעת was present. For the entire time that an individual
is afflicted with צרעת, he (or she) remained expelled from the covenant
community. How accurately does
this rabbinic opinion reflect the usage in the Hebrew bible, and is there any
correspondence between צרעת and Hansen’s disease?
What is Clinical
Leprosy?
Hansen’s
disease is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae. This bacterium has two peculiarities:
1) It is incapable of growing outside of some animal or human host; 2) Once it
has infected a host it grows very slowly, so a person may remain asymptomatic
for months following initial infection.
As a result of these factors, the method of transmission is not always
clear. Leprosy is contagious, but
not highly so, and medical professionals estimate that up to 95% of the world
population is naturally immune to the disease.
The disease may attack any part of the skin, mucus membranes at
body openings, or the eyes. The
infection has three different manifestations.
1. Paucibacillary (PB), or
tuberculoid, Hansen’s disease is
characterized by one or a few hypopigmented or hyperpigmented skin macules that
exhibit loss of sensation (anesthesia) due to infection of the peripheral
nerves supplying the region. The body’s immune response may also result in
swelling of the peripheral nerves; these enlarged nerves may be palpated under
the skin, and may or may not be tender to the touch.
2.
Multibacillary (MB), or lepromatous, Hansen’s disease is characterized by generalized or diffuse involvement
of the skin, a thickening of the peripheral nerves under microscopic
examination, and has the potential to involve other organs, the eyes, nose,
testes, and bone. The nodular form of this condition is the most advanced form
of the disease. Ulcerated nodules contain large numbers of M. leprae acid-fast
bacilli packed in macrophages that appear as large foamy cells.
3.
Borderline, or dimorphous, Hansen’s disease is
the most common form. When compared to tuberculoid or lepromatous forms, it is
of intermediate severity. The skin lesions seem to be of the tuberculoid type,
but are more numerous, and may be found anywhere on the body. Peripheral nerves
are affected as well, with ensuing weakness and anesthesia.
Regardless of the particular manifestation, the disease can affect
the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). The bacteria
attack the nerves, which can become swollen under the skin. This can cause the
affected areas to lose the ability to sense touch and pain, which can lead to
injuries, like cuts and burns. Usually, the affected skin changes color and
either becomes:
·
lighter or darker, often dry or
flaky, with loss of feeling, or
·
reddish due to inflammation of the
skin.
If left untreated, the nerve damage can result in paralysis of
hands and feet. In very advanced cases, the person may have multiple injuries
due to lack of sensation, and eventually the body may readsorb the affected
digits over time, resulting in the apparent loss of toes and fingers.
Corneal ulcers and blindness can also occur if facial nerves are affected.
Other signs of advanced Hansen’s disease may include loss of eyebrows and
saddle-nose deformity resulting from damage to the nasal septum.
The disease was widely known and feared in antiquity as a highly
contagious and debilitating condition.
My father, who was a doctor for some 40 years, encountered exactly one
case of leprosy during his entire career.
In his day, leprosy could be arrested but not cured. Today leprosy is known to be only
mildly contagious; it can be treated and the infection cured through the
use of multiple combinations of antibiotics. The cause of the disease can be eliminated from the patient,
but the damage caused by the infection prior to treatment cannot be reversed. Despite all this, the disease remains a
significant health problem in some parts of the world. According to figures from the World
Health Organization, something less than 200,000 new cases of leprosy were
reported world wide in 2015.
Locations most severely affected were Brazil, sub-Sahara Africa, India,
and south-east Asia.
What is the Biblical
Description of צרעת?
According
to the Hebrew bible, the infection of צרעת may occur on a garment, on the
plaster of a house, or on the skin of a person. Because Mycobacterium leprae
is not capable of multiplying outside of a living host, the manifestation of צרעת
in a garment or the plaster of a house is clearly unrelated to leprosy as we
know it today. These may have been
the result of dry rot, mold, fungus, or some other phenomenon. Symptoms of צרעת in a human as
described in the bible are as follows:
·
The
skin of one afflicted with leprosy was described as white as snow (Ex 4:6, Num
12:10).
·
A
swelling, scab or bright spot on a person’s body in which the hair has turned
white and the infection has penetrated below the surface is designated as צרעת
(Lev 13:2).
·
The
skin exhibits white swelling, the hair has turned white, and there is raw flesh
in the swelling (Lev 13:12).
·
The
skin has a healed boil or sore with a white swelling or with a reddish-white
bright spot that penetrates into the skin and the hair has turned white (Lev
13:19, 20).
·
The
person had a burn, and the raw flesh develops a reddish-white or white spot
that penetrates into the skin and the hair has turned white (Lev 13:24, 25).
·
A
scaly infection on the head that is deeper than the skin surface and has thin
yellowish hair (Lev 13:30).
·
A
person becomes bald or partially bald with a reddish-white infection that
penetrates the skin (Lev 13:43).
Apart
from these diagnostic references to צרעת the Hebrew bible contains four
passages in which YHWH or a prophet is directly involved in inflicting an
individual with the infection of צרעת:
·
In
Ex 4:6, 7 YHWH first infected Moses’ hand with צרעת instantaneously, and the
just as suddenly restored it to health.
This was the second of three signs that God used to persuade Moses that
he was the God of his fathers and that this God had absolute power over
conditions on earth.
·
In
Num 12 Aaron and Miriam confronted Moses, so YHWH called out the three of them
and rebuked Aaron and Miriam. When
the presence of YHWH departed Miriam was afflicted with צרעת. Moses then prayed for her, so YHWH
promised to restore her to health after a week of exile from the camp.
·
In 2
Chron 26:16-21, Uziah became proud and usurped the role of the priests by
offering incense before YHWH in the temple. For this affront, Uziah was stricken with leprosy
immediately, and he remained a leper for the rest of his life.
·
The
narrative in 2 Kings 5 is different from the previous three. In this passage, Naaman was a Syrian
military commander who was infected with צרעת. He went to Israel with a significant treasure because he had
heard that a prophet there might be able to cure him. He ultimately appeared before the home of Elisha, who sent
word that he should bathe seven times in the Jordan River. After he finally complied, he was cured
as promised. Immediately he
returned and offered the entire treasure to Elisha, but Elisha refused to
accept anything. After Naaman
departed to return home, Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, decided to gain some part of
the reward. He then ran after Naaman,
and by means of a lie he gained a small part of the treasure. After he returned to his master, he
again lied about his activities.
Elisha was aware of the lie, so he pronounced judgment: The leprosy that
had departed from Naaman would cleave to him and his descendants forever.
These
four passages constitute the basis for the rabbinic interpretation concerning צרעת. There are several other passages where
individuals with צרעת are mentioned, but there is no description concerning the
cause of infection, and there is no reference for the restoration of any of
them to health.
Linguistic Evidence
The
Hebrew bible contains a noun form – צרעת – and a denominative verb from
the root צרע. BDB lists just two
cognate references for this root: an Arabic root meaning throw down, prostrate,
and a Sabean root meaning humble oneself. I have found no example of this root
being attested in later Aramaic dialects, and I have found only one reference to leprosy other than those in
translations of the Hebrew bible.
The translations I have examined in detail are the Aramaic targums, the
LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta.
·
Targums. In every
instance the targums use various forms of סגיר as the translation for both the
nominal and verbal forms of צרע.
The Aramaic term is derived from the root סגר, meaning that the
individual afflicted with this condition was shut up or confined. That is, the term is a description of
how a person with this condition was to be treated and not a translation of the
Hebrew term itself.
·
LXX. The Septuagint
used various forms of the noun λεπρα as
the translation for צרעת and forms of the verb λεπραω as the translation for the verbal root. Latin uses the terms lepra and leprosus. This usage
provides an explanation for the terminology found in modern translations, but
the Greek term was far broader than the modern concept of leprosy.
o Λεπρα – a condition causing rough or scaly skin,
which could be leprosy
o Λεπρος
– scaly
o Λεπραω – have leprosy; become
scaly, rough
o Λεπριαω – develop a nail fungal condition
o Λεπρομαι – become leprous
o Λεπρυνομαι – be rough, scaly (of snakes)
·
Peshitta.
The Syriac translation of the Hebrew bible uses various forms of the
root גרב for every occurrence of צרעת and צרע. The nominal form of this root is attested three times in the
Hebrew bible with the meaning of itch
or scab. The form girba is
attested in Mandanaic with the meaning of leprosy. The range of meanings for this root in
the Syriac dialect are as follows:
o G-rev – Verb form; become leprous
o G-reb
– Noun form; a leper
o Garve – Noun; leprosy
o Garbene
– Noun; a leper
·
Modern Hebrew – Garav – eczema; Garevet – eczema (Med);
tzar’at – leprosy
Conclusions
If
the root etymology for צרע offered by BDB is accurate, then the base meaning of
צרעת indicates that the individual so afflicted is bowed down, humbled, thrown
down. Such a meaning describes the
inevitable result of the condition for any individual so afflicted in the
ancient world. According to symptoms listed in modern
medical references, anybody afflicted with Hansen’s disease according to the modern medical definition would ultimately
have been designated as one infected with צרעת on the basis of the Levitical standards. However, there are a variety of other
skin conditions – like psoriasis, shingles, and other inflammatory skin
conditions – that might also have been so designated. All such individuals would have been expelled from the community,
and by living in close contact with one another true Hansen’s disease could
have propagated among them.
Now,
the assertion that צרעת is a covenant-based judgment for certain types of
transgression cannot be dismissed.
YHWH’s claim in various parts of scripture is that he gives health and prosperity
for covenant faithfulness, and he withholds these and even causes death and exile for faithlessness. If the medical estimate that 95% of the
world population is spontaneously immune to leprosy, then approximately 30
million out of 6 billion people are susceptible. According to the records from 2015, less that 0.6% of those
susceptible were recorded as new cases during that year.
Surely God is capable of changing that percentage up or down locally or
worldwide. No such form of
judgment has been predicted by the ancient prophets, so I am inclined to doubt
that such a form of judgment will occur.
