Leviticus13:13

Translation

and the priest should inspect and if the scourge has covered all the flesh, [he shall pronounce him] clean; [if] all the sore has turned white, he is clean.

Paraphrase

the priest shall inspect the person and if the skin condition has taken over all the body, the priest shall pronounce him clean; since the entire body now has the skin condition like one big sore and that sore has all turned white, he is clean.

Footnotes

1

Many have supposed that it has to do with being contagious or not, and that once the disease reaches this fullest level of expression, the person is no longer contagious. But I don’t think this condition was contagious in the first place, and, according to Messianic Jew Rich Oka, the perspective of the ancient Jews also held that it was not contagious.

Why was being completely covered pronounced clean?

Why would a body partially covered in a skin condition be considered unclean while a body completely covered in that same condition be considered clean?

Here are the spiritual principles that are relevant to people of all times. They are based on what we have already established – that this condition was caused by God for special punishment, and it was not contagious. Also, if God caused this condition in the first place, He knew when a person’s heart was turning toward Him. We can surmise that He would only cause the entire body to become the same condition when He knew it was appropriate due to the condition of the person’s heart.

On the one hand, partial compromise with evil is dangerous, therefore it was labeled with words intended to communicate “be careful!” “Watch out!” The partial condition is dangerous to the person and to onlookers because both may assume that everything is OK

However, when someone has given themselves completely over to sin and is careening along the downward spiral of sin like a truck with no breaks, the situation is obvious to everyone, and he is actually closer to repentance that many people would suppose. In the case of the obviously evil person, many may assume that this person will never turn to God because he is a hopeless case. However, in reality, many people are closest to repentance when they have chased all the promises of evil and have finally hit the bottom of that filthy barrel.

So don’t assume an obvious sinner is far from repentance. He may be much closer than you think. Don’t treat him as someone with no hope, rather treat him as one who has the best chance of seeing things clearly. I am not saying he is holy, nor is he an example that we should follow. What I am saying is that he is eligible to be made holy because he is not mixed; he has fully committed himself to something and when he finds it to be unsatisfactory, there will be only one place for him to turn – God.