Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Diseases of the Bible / by Risdon Bennett. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.
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![Moses that she might be ' healed,' not merely cleansed, was at all events answered after her seven days' seclusion from the camp. No mention is made of any cleansing. But the words of Aaron demand especial attention. 'And Aaron said unto Moses [Revised Version], Oh, my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned. Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.' It is difficult to understand exactly what is meant by these last words. Do they mean, Let her not be as good as dead, like one whose flesh is diseased and corrupted at birth, and who manifestly cannot live ? If so, this is almost the only passage which can be cited in support of the theory that the Mosaic leprosy presents any analogy to the modern leprosy, or elephantiasis. Or do the words simply imply that Aaron, seeing how pronounced was the disease, felt that she never would be cured by ordinary means, and so during the rest of her life would be shut out from the congregation, and civilly dead.?^ That she was rendered ceremonially un- clean is manifest from what follows, and therefore a period of seclusion was enjoined. More on this difficult passage cannot well be said, except that in this instance the disease was inflicted as a judgment of God for sin, whilst in the case of Moses what appears to have been the same variety of disease was inflicted simply as a sign. Had Miriam presented any of the signs of elephantiasis beyond the cutaneous appearance so as to excite Aaron's despairing cry, would it not have been mentioned ? J We have abundant evidence that in the Middle Ages any one who was adjudged a leper was separated from intercourse with mankind,' ab hominum conversatione separandus.' C 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21444912_0039.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
