Leviticus 14:9

(9) But it shall be . . . —Better, And it shall be. The second stage of purification, which restored the convalescent to the communion of the sanctuary, began on the seventh day, when, as a first act, he had again to shave off the hair of the whole of his body.

Also he shall wash his flesh.—Better, and he shall bathe himself, or his body. The expression “flesh” simply means self, or body, as the Authorised Version rightly translates it in Ecc_2:3; Isa_10:8; Eze_10:12. Besides Num_19:7, the full phrase, “to wash the flesh in water,” occurs eight times, and always in Leviticus (Lev_14:9; Lev_15:13; Lev_15:16; Lev_16:4; Lev_16:24; Lev_16:26; Lev_16:28; Lev_22:6), and is rendered in three different ways in the Authorised Version: by (1) “wash his flesh in water” (Lev_14:9; Lev_15:16; Lev_16:4); by (2) “wash his flesh with water” (Lev_16:24); by (3) “bathe his flesh in water” (Lev_15:13; Lev_16:24; Lev_16:26; Lev_16:28; Num_19:7). When a peculiar ritual phrase designedly deviates in a single section in the original from another phrase which is used to express the same idea (comp, Lev_14:8; Lev_15:5-8; Lev_15:10; Lev_15:12; Lev_15:16; Lev_15:18; Lev_15:21-22; Lev_15:27; Lev_17:15), it is essential that it should be translated by the identical phrase in English. During the second Temple, restored lepers bathed in a chamber at the north-western corner of the Court of the Women, called the “chamber of the lepers.”

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

Lev 14:9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.

Ver. 9. Even all his hair he shall shave off.] To show that repentance and mortification is not the work of a day, as he said in another case, {Ezr 10:13} but of a man’s whole life. There must be a daily shaving and paring of lusts and superfluities; which are to the soul as excrements are to the body. Yea, the more a sinner is exercised in mortification, the more he searcheth out his corruptions. Now he shaveth off the hair not of his head only, but of his beard and eyebrows.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The best of all types of the healing of the Spirit, was the healing of the leper. In his formal cleansing, consecration, and atonement by sacrifice (see the notes at Lev 14:9-20), the ministers of the sanctuary bore public witness that he was restored to the blessing of communion with his brethren and with Yahweh. Hence, when the Son of God proved His divine mission by healing the lepers Mat 11:5, He did not excuse them from going to the priest to “offer for the cleansing those things which Moses commanded” Mar 1:44; Luk 5:14 “for a testimony to the people” Mat 8:4.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lev 14:9. He shall shave all his hair — Which began to grow again, and now, for more caution, is again shaved off. He shall be clean — Legally declared so to be, so as to be readmitted both to his family and the public worship.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. On the seventh day, after repeating the cleansing processes of the first, he was fit to take part in the service of the sanctuary.

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.

But it shall be on the seventh day,.... After he was first brought to the priest, and cleansed by the two birds, taken and used for him as directed, and he had been shaved and washed:

that he shall shave all his hair; a second time, whatsoever was grown in those seven days:

all off his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows; even all his hair he shall shave off; not only the hair of the parts mentioned, but all other, the hair of his feet also, as Aben Ezra notes, who observes, that some say, the hair of his arms, and thighs, and breast; and so according to the Misnah (m), this was a second shaving, for it is said,"in the seventh day he shaves a second time, according to the first shaving:"

he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean; this was also repeated on the seventh, both the washing of his clothes, and the dipping of him in water; after which he was accounted clean, and was neither defiled nor defiling, and might go into his own tent or house, and into the tabernacle, and offer his offerings, and partake of the privileges of it, at least some of them, even the same day; according to the tradition he may eat of the tithes, and after sunset he may eat of the heave offerings, and when he has brought his atonement he may eat of the holy things (n).

(m) Ut supra, (Misn. Negaim, c. 11.) sect. 3. (n) Ibid.

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

He shall shave all his hair, which began to grow again since it was first shaved, and now for more caution is shaved again.

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

9. He shall wash… and be clean — Although he has been pronounced clean there remains the completion of the process begun seven days before. God’s works are as perfect as the human conditions and limitations will allow. The soul is as perfectly cleansed when born again as the faith of that soul will admit. Subsequent discovery of inward impurity, and stronger apprehension of the power of the blood of Christ, constitute the perfect conditions of the completed work of sanctification. Yet nothing is more common than the superficial remark that perfect cleansing takes place in regeneration. All the good works of the cleansed leper, after God in the person of the priest took him in hand, are steps of progress toward the final and complete purification.

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

Vers. 9-32. The ceremonies in the second stage of cleansing, which restored the late outcast to his home and to his covenant-right, were the following;

1. At the end of seven days he repeated the process of washing, shaving, and bathing.

2. On the eighth day he brought a lamb for a trespass offering, a leg of oil, a meat offering, a sin offering, and a burnt offering.

3. The priest that officiated at the cleansing presented him and his offerings at the door of the tabernacle.

4. He offered the trespass offering and the log of oil for him.

5. He slew the trespass offering and put some of the blood of it on different parts of the man"s body.

6. He poured some of the oil into his left hand, and having sprinkled some of it seven times before the Lord, he placed some of it on those parts of the man"s body on which the blood had been placed, and poured the rest upon his head.

7. He offered the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the meat offering.

But it shall be on the seventh day. The pause for seven days, followed by placing the blood on the tip of the right ear, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the great toe of the right foot, and the subsequent anointing with off, irresistibly call to mind the ceremonies of the consecration of priests, (Lev_8:35, Lev_8:23, Lev_8:24, Lev_8:12, Lev_8:30) and no doubt they are intended to do so. The whole nation was in a sense a priestly nation, and the restoration of the lapsed member to his rights was therefore a quasi-consecration.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All his hair - Which began to grow again, and now for more caution is shaved again.

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

את כל שערו [HE SHALL CUT OFF] ALL HIS HAIR etc. — We have a generalisation (“all his hair”), a particularisation (“his head and his beard and his eyebrows”), and again a generalisation (“and all his hair”). According to the rule of interpretation (מדה ו' י״ג מדות) the purpose of this is to include in the generalisation only such things as are similar to those contained in the particularisation; here it intends to include every spot of the body where there is a collection of hair, it (the hair) being visible (these being the characteristics of the head, beard and eyebrows) (Sotah 16a).

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.

AND IT SHALL BE ON THE SEVENTH DAY, THAT HE SHALL SHAVE ALL HIS HAIR, HIS HEAD AND HIS BEARD AND HIS EYEBROWS, EVEN ALL HIS HAIR HE SHALL SHAVE OFF. “This is a general principle [he shall shave all his head] followed by an enumeration of particulars [already comprehended in the general proposition, i.e., his head etc.] and [this again is followed by] a generalization [all his hair he shall shave off]. This is to include every spot of the body where there is a visible collection of hair” [just like the head, beard and eyebrows]. This is Rashi’s language.But in the Torath Kohanim it is stated: 2:2-3. Ramban’s meaning is to point out that Rashi here follows Rabbi Yishmael’s method of exposition, while the accepted rule is that of Rabbi Akiba, who had a different method of exegesis which allowed in such cases for a wider inclusion of particulars not specified, as indicated in the following text of the Torath Kohanim. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 80. “And he shall shave off all his hair. I might think this includes the hidden parts of the body; Scripture therefore states, his eyebrows. Just as the eyebrows are visible, so also [the expression] all his hair refers only to visible parts of the body, thus excluding hair which is in the hidden parts of the body. If so I might think, just as the eyebrows are in a place where there is a visible collection of hair, so we are to include [only] those places where there is a visible collection of hair. Whence do I know to include [in the commandment of shaving his hair] an invisible collection of hair [such as under the armpits, and between the legs], or a visible scattering of hair [such as on the stomach or ribs] or an invisible scattering of hair [such as the hair in the folds of the body]? Scripture therefore says, even all his hair he shall shave off.” However, the Rabbi [Rashi] followed the interpretation of Rabbi Yishmael, who included only the hair between the legs, and excluded the hair under the armpits and on the whole body [since they are not “visible collections of hair].” But here the accepted law is that he shaves his body as smooth as a gourd, either because this is one [of the three instances] where the practice goes beyond the Biblical text, or because the accepted law is like the opinion of Rabbi Akiba, who [as a consequence of his wider method of exegesis] included the hair of the whole body [in the requirement of being shaved], and excluded only the hair within the nose [or ears]. So also have we been taught in a Mishnah [like Rabbi Akiba]: “He passed the razor over the whole of his body,” and it is further explained in the second chapter of Tractate Sotah.

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.

All of his hair. The hair of the legs, and some say even of his arms, thighs, and chest.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.