Leviticus 14:40

Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 14:40. That they may take away the stones — Some have thought the leprosy in the house was typical of the idolatry which did strangely cleave to the Jewish Church, and though some of the reforming kings took away the infected stones, yet still it broke out again, till, by the captivity in Babylon, God took down the house and carried it to an unclean land; and that proved an effectual cure of their inclination to idols, and idolatrous worship. An unclean place — Where they used to cast dirt and filthy things.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:33-53 The leprosy in a house is unaccountable to us, as well as the leprosy in a garment; but now sin, where that reigns in a house, is a plague there, as it is in a heart. Masters of families should be aware, and afraid of the first appearance of sin in their families, and put it away, whatever it is. If the leprosy is got into the house, the infected part must be taken out. If it remain in the house, the whole must be pulled down. The owner had better be without a dwelling, than live in one that was infected. The leprosy of sin ruins families and churches. Thus sin is so interwoven with the human body, that it must be taken down by death.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hollow strakes ... - Rather, depressed spots of dark green or dark red, appearing beneath (the surface of) the wall.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

34-48. leprosy in a house—This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in His providence to be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first suspicion of disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the disease so named produces on the human body; while others have pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house, particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a legislator. Moses enjoined the priests to follow the same course and during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of this disease as in human leprosy. If found leprous, the infected parts were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Where they used to cast dirt and filthy things.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is,.... In there appeared any cavities, or the above colours, and these spreading: in order to put a stop thereunto, these stones were to be drawn or pulled out, as the word signifies, in such manner as not to endanger the fall of the house, and two stones at least were to be taken out; for, as Gersom says, a house was not shut up unless the plague appeared on two stones:

and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city; where dead carcasses were laid, and dung, and filth of every sort; and being laid in such a place, it would be known that they were unclean, as Aben Ezra observes, and so would not be made use of for any purpose.

Geneva Study Bible

Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Leviticus 14:40

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

If the leprous spot appeared in "greenish or reddish depressions, which looked deeper than the wall," the priest was to shut up the house for seven days. If after that time he found that the mole had spread on the walls, he was to break out the stones upon which it appeared, and remove them to an unclean place outside the town, and to scrape the house all round inside, and throw the dust that was scraped off into an unclean place outside the town. He was then to put other stones in their place, and plaster the house with fresh mortar.