Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Sat 29 May 99 (12:46:15), isheres AT mail.sdsu.edu wrote:
> Could you please list the references you used describing some of the
> more medical/scientific "signs" relating to leprosy.

 Dear Ita,

 Here in the UK it is the "late Spring Bank Holiday Weekend" and everything
 seems to have closed down until Tuesday. But I did manage to contact
 someone from "The Leprosy Mission", an international interdenominational
 Christian agency founded in 1874, the year after Hansen first clinically
 described the disease named after him.

 I was informed that there is a booklet by Stanley Browne, /Leprosy in the
 Bible/, 3rd ed., 1979, SBN 851119301, Christian Medical Fellowship
 Publications, 157 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8UU. I hope to be able to get
 hold of this booklet sometime next week. The only reference book I have is
 G Macpherson (Ed.), /Black's Medical Dictionary/, 38th Ed., A&C Black,
 London, 1995, ISBN 0-7136-4019-7, s.v. Leprosy (page 284).

 The Bauer Arndt & Gingrich Greek lexicon defines LEPRA: "/leprosy/.
 In pre-Bibl Gk L.='psoriasis'. In Bibl. usage (Lev 13 and 14) it meant
 primarily /true leprosy/ caused by Hansen's bacillus, but it also
 included other inflammatory skin diseases, such as psoriasis, lupus,
 ringworm, and favus...." (1955 ed., Page 473).

 TLM have a website http://www.leprosymission.org/ which will display
 their home page and Menu. Click on the appropriate button for the area
 you are interested in. The "What is Leprosy?" article describes Hansen's
 Disease, implying, but not stating, that this is Biblical Leprosy. I sent
 an email to <friends AT tlmint.org> asking 'If Biblical Leprosy TsaRa`aTh /
 LEPRA is not Hansen's Disease, then what do you think it actually was?'.
 The bacillus responsible for Hansen's Disease is named Mycobacillus
 *Leprae*, after all!

>   Also, are you aware of a detailed study dealing with Biblical leprosy?
> I am now trying to research the topic specifically in its relation to the
> sectarians in the DSS.

 My wife's brother did his MD thesis on Hansen's Disease over 35 years
 ago; he says he is out of touch now, having specialised in Helicobacter
 Pylori for many years. He referred me to some work by Moller Christensen
 (a Dane or a Swede, he thinks) who has dug up skeletons in various parts
 of the world from various eras, and has found skulls with damage typical
 of that caused by Mycobacillus Leprae *in 1st century Palestine* remains.
 So, he thinks, the Leprosy of Jesus' time was in all probability Hansen's
 Disease. This does not affirm that the Leviticus 13 symptoms of TsaRa`aTh
 are also of Hansen's Disease. The "leprosy in a house" (Lev 14) seems to
 be describing in layman's terms some sort of fungal growth (Merulius
 Lachrymans?). There are many "moulds", some of which could be toxic to
 humans.

 My brother-in-law says TsaRa`aTh should be translated "scaly skin-disease"
 in his opinion; but he could not suggest a one-word equivalent. He added
 that Black had it the wrong way round; Lepromatous leprosy was the more
 benign variety, and tuberculoid leprosy the more devastating.

 He is not aware of any medical research project on Leprosy at present.

 HTH
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm