Four Sources Re: Inside/Outside
Source 1:
(א) וַיְדַבֵּר יהוה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר׃
(ב) זֹאת תִּהְיֶה תּוֹרַת הַמְּצֹרָע בְּיוֹם טׇהֳרָתוֹ וְהוּבָא אֶל־הַכֹּהֵן׃
(ג) וְיָצָא הַכֹּהֵן אֶל־מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן וְהִנֵּה נִרְפָּא נֶגַע־הַצָּרַעַת מִן־הַצָּרוּעַ׃
(1) YHVH spoke to Moses saying
(2) This shall be the ritual for a metzora at the time of being purified. When it has been reported to the priest,
(3) the priest shall go outside the camp. If the priest sees that the metzora has been healed of the scaly affection...
[When it's NOT Shabbat HaGadol, the haftarah for Metzora is II Kings 7:3-20. Like most stories in Kings, it is violent and doesn't have a happy ending.]
Source 2 --
(ג) וְאַרְבָּעָה אֲנָשִׁים הָיוּ מְצֹרָעִים פֶּתַח הַשָּׁעַר וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ מָה אֲנַחְנוּ יֹשְׁבִים פֹּה עַד־מָתְנוּ׃
(ד) אִם־אָמַרְנוּ נָבוֹא הָעִיר וְהָרָעָב בָּעִיר וָמַתְנוּ שָׁם וְאִם־יָשַׁבְנוּ פֹה וָמָתְנוּ וְעַתָּה לְכוּ וְנִפְּלָה אֶל־מַחֲנֵה אֲרָם אִם־יְחַיֻּנוּ נִחְיֶה וְאִם־יְמִיתֻנוּ וָמָתְנוּ׃ וַיָּקֻמוּ בַנֶּשֶׁף לָבוֹא אֶל־מַחֲנֵה אֲרָם וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד־קְצֵה מַחֲנֵה אֲרָם וְהִנֵּה אֵין־שָׁם אִישׁ׃
(ה) יָּקֻמוּ בַנֶּשֶׁף לָבוֹא אֶל־מַחֲנֵה אֲרָם וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד־קְצֵה מַחֲנֵה אֲרָם וְהִנֵּה אֵין־שָׁם אִישׁ׃
(3) There were four men, metzorim, outside the gate. They said to one another, “Why should we sit here waiting for death?
(4) If we decide to go into the town, what with the famine in the town, we shall die there; and if we just sit here, still we die. Come, let us desert to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we shall live; and if they put us to death, we shall but die.”
(5) They set out at twilight for the Aramean camp; but when they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, there was no one there.
[Haftarah for Shabbat HaGadol is Malachi 3:4-24. The final verses are most often cited and sermonized, sometimes included in the Passover haggadah:]
Source 3 --
Malachi 3:23-24
(3:23) Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great and terrible day of GOD -- yom YHVH ha-gadol v'hanora.
(3:24) He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.
[More on this, and related text, at Next Year -- What Day?]
Source 4: Rabbi Shefa Gold Teaches
"Metzora describes certain conditions that necessitate separating ourselves from the community and describes the process of returning. For the sake of our own wholeness, we sometimes need to “leave the camp” and search the inner places within ourselves. The Song of Songs guides us on the journey to that hidden fountain, that sealed spring. There we can re-establish the truth of our essential purity and then bring back to our community all the finest perfumes of our inner bounty." -- R' Gold. More at Love at the Center project on Metzora