הצרעת ביהדות- פרק א הצרעת בתנ״ך

When a person has on the skin of the body a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of the body, it shall be reported to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. The priest shall examine the affection on the skin of the body: if hair in the affected patch has turned white and the affection appears to be deeper than the skin of the body, it is a leprous affection; when the priest sees it, he shall pronounce the person impure. But if it is a white discoloration on the skin of the body which does not appear to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall isolate the affected person for seven days.

As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales. And Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, account not to us the sin which we committed in our folly.

So Moses cried out to יהוה, saying, “O God, pray heal her!” But יהוה said to Moses, “If her father spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of camp for seven days, and then let her be readmitted.”

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was important to his lord and high in his favor, for through him the LORD had granted victory to Aram. But the man, though a great warrior, was a leper. Once, when the Arameans were out raiding, they carried off a young girl from the land of Israel, and she became an attendant to Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “I wish Master could come before the prophet in Samaria; he would cure him of his leprosy.” [Naaman] went and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go to the king of Israel, and I will send along a letter.”
He set out, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read: “Now, when this letter reaches you, know that I have sent my courtier Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and cried, “Am I God, to deal death or give life, that this fellow writes to me to cure a man of leprosy? Just see for yourselves that he is seeking a pretext against me!” When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and halted at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angered and walked away. “I thought,” he said, “he would surely come out to me, and would stand and invoke the LORD his God by name, and would wave his hand toward the spot, and cure the affected part. Are not the Amanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? I could bathe in them and be clean!” And he stalked off in a rage. But his servants came forward and spoke to him. “Sir,” they said, “if the prophet told you to do something difficult, would you not do it? How much more when he has only said to you, ‘Bathe and be clean.’” So he went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had bidden; and his flesh became like a little boy’s, and he was clean. Returning with his entire retinue to the man of God, he stood before him and exclaimed, “Now I know that there is no God in the whole world except in Israel! So please accept a gift from your servant.” But he replied, “As the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept anything.” He pressed him to accept, but he refused. And Naaman said, “Then at least let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will never again offer up burnt offering or sacrifice to any god, except the LORD. But may the LORD pardon your servant for this: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow low in worship there, and he is leaning on my arm so that I must bow low in the temple of Rimmon—when I bow low in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD pardon your servant in this.” And he said to him, “Go in peace.”
When he had gone some distance from him, Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha the man of God, thought: “My master has let that Aramean Naaman off without accepting what he brought!^-c As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he alighted from his chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?” “All is well,” he replied. “My master has sent me to say: Two youths, disciples of the prophets, have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.” Naaman said, “Please take two talents.” He urged him, and he wrapped the two talents of silver in two bags and gave them, along with two changes of clothes, to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of him. When [Gehazi] arrived at the citadel, he took [the things] from them and deposited them in the house. Then he dismissed the men and they went their way. He entered and stood before his master; and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He replied, “Your servant has not gone anywhere.” Then [Elisha] said to him, “Did not my spirit go along when a man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to take money in order to buy clothing and olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves? Surely, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” And as [Gehazi] left his presence, he was snow-white with leprosy.

He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing to the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. However, the shrines were not removed; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings at the shrines. The LORD struck the king with a plague, and he was a leper until the day of his death; he lived in isolated quarters,^-a while Jotham, the king’s son, was in charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and proclaimed him king to succeed his father Amaziah. It was he who rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after King [Amaziah] slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing to the LORD just as his father Amaziah had done. He applied himself to the worship of God during the time of Zechariah, instructor in the visions of God; during the time he worshiped the LORD, God made him prosper. He went forth to fight the Philistines, and breached the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; he built towns in [the region of] Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread to the approaches of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong. Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem on the Corner Gate and the Valley Gate and on the Angle, and fortified them. He built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle, and farmers in the foothills and on the plain, and vine dressers in the mountains and on the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. Uzziah had an army of warriors, a battle-ready force who were mustered by Jeiel the scribe and Maasseiah the adjutant under Hananiah, one of the king’s officers. The clan chiefs, valiants, totaled 2,600; under them was the trained army of 307,500, who made war with might and power to aid the king against the enemy. Uzziah provided them—the whole army—with shields and spears, and helmets and mail, and bows and slingstones. He made clever devices in Jerusalem, set on the towers and the corners, for shooting arrows and large stones. His fame spread far, for he was helped wonderfully, and he became strong. When he was strong, he grew so arrogant he acted corruptly: he trespassed against his God by entering the Temple of the LORD to offer incense on the incense altar. The priest Azariah, with eighty other brave priests of the LORD, followed him in and, confronting King Uzziah, said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the LORD, but for the Aaronite priests, who have been consecrated, to offer incense. Get out of the Sanctuary, for you have trespassed; there will be no glory in it for you from the LORD God.” Uzziah, holding the censer and ready to burn incense, got angry; but as he got angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in front of the priests in the House of the LORD beside the incense altar. When the chief priest Azariah and all the other priests looked at him, his forehead was leprous, so they rushed him out of there; he too made haste to get out, for the LORD had struck him with a plague. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in isolated quarters^-b as a leper, for he was cut off from the House of the LORD—while Jotham his son was in charge of the king’s house and governed the people of the land.

Sometime later, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and marched upon Samaria and besieged it. There was a great famine in Samaria, and the siege continued until a donkey’s head sold for eighty [shekels] of silver and a quarter of a kab of doves’ dung^-d for five shekels. Once, when the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him: “Help me, Your Majesty!”

There were four men, lepers, outside the gate. They said to one another, “Why should we sit here waiting for death? 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.” 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. For the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses—the din of a huge army. They said to one another, “The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Mizraim to attack us!” And they fled headlong in the twilight, abandoning their tents and horses and asses—the [entire] camp just as it was—as they fled for their lives.

Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent! If we wait until the light of morning, we shall incur guilt. Come, let us go and inform the king’s palace.” They went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We have been to the Aramean camp. There is not a soul there, nor any human sound; but the horses are tethered and the asses are tethered and the tents are undisturbed.” The gatekeepers called out, and the news was passed on into the king’s palace. The king rose in the night and said to his courtiers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so they have gone out of camp and hidden in the fields, thinking: When they come out of the town, we will take them alive and get into the town.”