Leviticus 13:33

Verse 33. The scall shall he not shave] Lest the place should be irritated and inflamed, and assume in consequence other appearances besides those of a leprous infection; in which case the priest might not be able to form an accurate judgment.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(33) He shall be shaven.—The priest, for the sake of making sure, and to be able to examine the patient more thoroughly, is to have his head and beard shaved. This operation was performed by professional barbers, who were always on the spot.

But the scall shall he not shave.—The place, however, where the scall appeared was not to be shaved, so that the priest might be able to see the colour of the hair. The manner in which the shaving was performed during the second Temple was as follows: The hair round the scall was all shaved off, except two hairs on each side, which were close to the affected spot, to enable the priest to see whether the spot is spreading or not.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. It is enjoined in the Mishna (Tal. Bab. Neg. x. § 5) that two hairs on each side of the scall should be left so that the priest might judge whether the disease had spread.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall,.... That is, according to Ben Gersom, on the thirteenth day from the first inspection of him by the priest:

and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; neither appears spread on the surface of the skin, nor to have eaten into the flesh under it; also no thin yellow hair, though it is not expressed, for that made a person unclean, though there was no spreading:

then the priest shall pronounce him clean; free from a leprosy:

and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean; there was no need to say he shall wash them in water, as Aben Ezra observes, that is supposed; and then he was looked upon as a clean person, and might go into the sanctuary, and have conversation with men, both in a civil and religious way, and not defile anything he sat upon.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He shall be shaven, for the more certain discovery of the growth or stay of the plague.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. He shall be shaven — This would afford a better opportunity to determine the question of the spread of the disease. The scall was exempted from being shaven, probably out of mercy to the patient, and as a safeguard against spreading it all over the head and of infecting others by the use of the same razor.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He shall be shaven - For the more certain discovery of the growth or stay of the plague.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

והתגלח AND HE SHALL CUT HIS HAIR around the scall,

ואת הנתק לא יגלח BUT THE SCALL ITSELF HE SHALL NOT CUT THE HAIR OF — this means that he leaves a row of two hairs quite close to it around it in order that it may become discernible if it (the scall) spreads, for if it spreads it passes the hair and will extend to the spot where the hair has been cut off (Mishnah Negaim 10:5; Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 9 7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

THEN SHALL HE BE SHAVEN, BUT ‘V’ETH HANETHEK’ (THE SCALL) SHALL HE NOT SHAVE. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture the verse warns that he should not use a razor on the place of the nethek, for even though there is no hair on it, yet if he passes the razor over it the skin will be scratched causing hair to grow in it; for such is the nature of people who have scabs on their heads, and all those who make their hair to fall off, to scratch the place on the head and also to make certain cuts in it with a knife.But in the Torath Kohanim the Sages interpreted the verse as follows: “But the ‘nethek’ shall he not shave. But what is there to shave there?” That is to say, has not the hair fallen off from it? [So what need is there for Scripture to warn him not to shave it?] “Rather, the verse means, around the nethek he is not to shave. How can we explain this? He shaves the space outside it, but leaves [a circle] of two hairs [width] next to the nethek, so that it should be possible to discern if it spreads.” It is this which Onkelos translated: “and he shall shave around the scall, and that which is within the scall he shall not shave,” for he is to leave on all its sides a row of two hairs in order to recognize [at the end of seven days] if the nethek has spread [in which case the priest will pronounce him impure]. And the meaning of the word v’eth [v’eth hanethek] is then like the expression, and David came near ‘eth’ the people, and he saluted them, which means that he came near them but he did not enter into their midst. [Here too it would mean, “and ‘in’ the nethek itself he shall not shave.”] Or it may be that the meaning of v’eth is like im (with), with the word asher (which) missing, the verse thus stating: “and that [i.e., the hair] which is ‘with’ the nethek he shall not shave.” There are many such cases in Scripture.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.