Leviticus 13:1-45 provides instructions for the diagnosis and management of leprosy and subsumed diseases.1
Even the most cursory of readings reveals the language of this passage to be precise, the content detailed, the tone imperative, and the manner certain.
Commentary
Obviously, medical compliance is not at issue until there is a treatment recommendation with which to comply. Further, healthcare recommendations can range in mood from the completely optional to absolute demands. Old Testament prescriptions, such as those found in Leviticus 13:1-45 would, one assumes, anchor the more draconian pole of that spectrum.
Western civilization and, in turn, western concepts of medicine are, of course, intertwined with and derivative of Judeo-Christian beliefs and philosophy. It is not difficult to trace the long-standing image of the authoritative physician to even more authoritative stance of the ancient Jewish priests and the deity who is, philosophically, the primal source of authority itself.
__________- “Leprosy,” as used in Leviticus, includes not only the disease now known as leprosy, but also tuberculosis leprosy and a number of diseases known today as herpes, ringworm, eczema, and psoriasis. G. A. F. Knight, Leviticus (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1981), p. 72.↩
