DIAGNOSIS

By means of the Mosaic law Jehovah provided Israel with information enabling the priest to diagnose leprosy and to distinguish between it and other less serious skin afflictions. From what is recorded at Leviticus 13:1-46, it can be seen that leprosy might begin with an eruption, a scab, a blotch, a boil, or a scar in one’s flesh from fire. Sometimes the symptoms were very clear. The hair in the affected area had turned white and the malady was seen to be deeper than the skin. For example, a white eruption in the skin might turn the hair white and raw flesh might appear in the eruption. This meant that one had leprosy and was to be declared unclean. However, in other cases the malady was not deeper than the skin and a period of quarantine was imposed, with subsequent inspection by the priest, who made a final determination in the case.

It was acknowledged that leprosy could reach a stage in which it was not contagious. When it overspread the entire body, all of it having turned white, and living flesh was not in evidence, it was a sign that the diseased action was over and that only the marks of its ravages remained. The priest would then declare the victim clean, the disease posing no further danger to anyone.—Lev. 13:12-17.

If the leper’s malady left him and he was cured, there were arrangements whereby he could ceremonially purify himself, and these included the offering of sacrifice in his behalf by the priest. (Lev. 14:1-32) But the priest declared the uncured leper unclean, whereupon his garments were torn, his head was to become ungroomed, he was to cover the moustache or upper lip and was to call out “Unclean, unclean!” He had to dwell in isolation outside the camp (Lev. 13:43-46), a measure that was taken so that the leper would not contaminate those in the midst of whom Jehovah was tenting. (Num. 5:1-4) It seems that in Biblical times lepers associated with one another or lived in groups, making it possible for them to aid one another.—2 Ki. 7:3-5; Luke 17:12.

In garments and houses

Leprosy could also affect woolen or linen garments, or an article of skin. The plague might disappear with washing, and there were arrangements for quarantining the article. But where this yellowish-green or reddish plague persisted, malignant leprosy was present and the article was to be burned. (Lev. 13:47-59) If yellowish-green or reddish depressions appeared in the wall of a house, the priest imposed a quarantine. It might be necessary to tear out affected stones and have the house scraped off inside, the stones and scraped-off mortar being disposed of in an unclean place outside the city. If the plague returned, the house was declared unclean and was pulled down, and the materials were disposed of in an unclean place. But for the house pronounced clean there was an arrangement for purification. (Lev. 14:33-57) It has been suggested that the leprosy affecting garments or houses was a type of mildew or mold; however, about this there is uncertainty.

AS A SIGN

One of the signs Jehovah empowered Moses to perform to prove to the Israelites that God sent him involved leprosy. As instructed, Moses stuck his hand in the upper fold of his garment and, upon withdrawing it, “his hand was stricken with leprosy like snow!” It was restored “like the rest of his flesh” by returning it into the upper fold of his garment and withdrawing it once again. (Ex. 4:6, 7) Miriam was stricken with “leprosy as white as snow” as a divine act because she spoke against Moses. He begged God to heal her, which was done, but she was quarantined outside the camp for seven days.—Num. 12:1, 2, 9-15.

IN ELISHA’S TIME

Naaman the Syrian was “a valiant, mighty man, though a leper.” (2 Ki. 5:1) His pride nearly lost him the opportunity of being cured, but he eventually did as instructed by Elisha, plunging into the Jordan seven times, and “his flesh came back like the flesh of a little boy and he became clean.” (2 Ki. 5:14) He thereupon became a worshiper of Jehovah. However, Elisha’s attendant Gehazi greedily acquired a gift from Naaman in the prophet’s name, thus misrepresenting his master and, in effect, making the undeserved kindness of God a means of material gain. For his misdeed Gehazi was now stricken with leprosy by God and became “a leper white as snow.”—2 Ki. 5:20-27.

That there were various lepers in Israel in Elisha’s day is shown by the presence of four Israelite lepers outside Samaria’s gates while Elisha was inside the city. (2 Ki. 7:3) But there was a general lack of faith on the part of the Israelites in this man of the true God, just as the Jews in Jesus’ home territory would not accept him. Hence, Christ said: “Also, there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, but Naaman the man of Syria.”—Luke 4:27.

HEALED BY JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES

During his Galilean ministry, Jesus healed a leper described by Luke as “a man full of leprosy.” Jesus ordered him to tell nobody and said: “But go off and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering in connection with your cleansing just as Moses directed, for a witness to them.”—Luke 5:12-16; Matt. 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45.

When Christ sent out the twelve apostles, he told them, among other things, “make lepers clean.” (Matt. 10:8) Later, while he was going through Samaria and Galilee, Jesus cured ten lepers in a certain village. Only one of them, a Samaritan, “turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,” and fell upon his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what had been done in his behalf. (Luke 17:11-19) It may also be noted that Christ was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper (whom Jesus may have cured) when Mary anointed Jesus with costly perfumed oil not long before his death.—Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8; see DISEASES AND TREATMENT.

LESHEM

(Leʹshem) [a precious stone].

Alternate name for the city of Laish, later called Dan.—Josh. 19:47; Judg. 18:7, 27, 29; see DAN No. 3.

LESHEM STONE

(leshʹem).

An unidentified precious stone that was placed first in the third row of gems on the high priest’s “breastpiece of judgment.”—Ex. 28:19; 39:12.

Various stones, such as amber, hyacinth, opal and tourmaline, have been suggested as being identical with “leshem stone,” but none of these identifications can be substantiated. The New World Translation therefore leaves the Hebrew word untranslated as leshem stone.

LETTERS

The writing and sending of letters, either of an official, a business or a personal nature, was a widely used means of communication in ancient times. (2 Sam. 11:14; 2 Ki. 5:5-7; 10:1, 2; 2 Chron. 30:1; Ezra 4:7; Isa. 37:14; Jer. 29:1; Acts 9:1, 2; 28:21; 2 Thess. 2:2; Heb. 13:22) Confidential letters were usually sealed. (1 Ki. 21:8) To send a letter unsealed is said to have been viewed as disrespectful, which may have been Sanballat’s reason for sending an open letter to Nehemiah.—Neh. 6:5.

In addition to papyrus, materials employed for letter writing in ancient times included ostraca (small pieces of broken pottery or earthenware) and clay tablets. (See ARCHAEOLOGY, pages 110, 111.) Thousands of clay tablets have been found in Babylonia and other regions. Washed and cleaned, smooth clay was made into a tablet and, while still wet, it was imprinted by means of a stylus forming wedge-shaped (cuneiform) characters. These tablets were often enclosed in clay envelopes. In the case of contracts, the text was sometimes repeated on the envelope. The envelopes were sealed and then baked in a kiln or dried in the sun to make them hard and durable.

Letter writing was often done by professional scribes. As in the Persian court, such scribes were usually on hand to take down official government correspondence. (Esther 8:9; Ezra 4:8) Scribes were also to be found in the marketplaces near city gates, where they could be engaged by the populace to write letters and to record business transactions.

Letters were sometimes delivered by messengers (2 Ki. 19:14), runners (2 Chron. 30:6), or couriers. (Esther 3:13; 8:14) Postal service itself seems to have been restricted to official correspondence down to Roman times. So average persons had to rely on traveling acquaintances or merchants to deliver their letters.

Anciently, letters of recommendation were also used. However, the apostle Paul did not need such letters to or from the Christians at Corinth to prove that he was a minister. He had aided them to become Christians and therefore could say: “You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts and known and being read by all mankind.”—2 Cor. 3:1-3.

In the first century C.E., letters from Paul, James, Peter, John, Jude and the governing body in Jerusalem contributed to the growth and the preservation of the unity and cleanness of the Christian congregation.—Acts 15:22-31; 16:4, 5; 2 Cor. 7:8, 9; 10:8-11.

LETUSHIM

(Le·tuʹshim) [perhaps, hammered, sharpened, or, oppressed].

A name appearing among the descendants of Abraham through Dedan, one of his sons by Keturah. (Gen. 25:3) This name has the plural Hebrew ending im, as do the names Asshurim and Leummim appearing in the same text. Because of this, many scholars believe that a tribe or people is meant. In view of their relationship to Dedan, this tribe likely located in the Arabian Peninsula, but precise identification is impossible.—See MIZRAIM.

LEUMMIM

(Le·umʹmim) [peoples, nations, or, perhaps, hordes].

A name appearing at Genesis 25:1-3 along with Asshurim and Letushim, all being descendants of Abraham and Keturah through their son Dedan. The use of the plural Hebrew ending (im) in the name Leummim may indicate that it represents a tribe or people. Specific identification of this Dedanite tribe is not possible. It has been suggested, however, that they inhabited some part of Arabia, likely in the vicinity generally assigned to Dedan.—See MIZRAIM.

LEVELING INSTRUMENT

A device used in making surfaces level or at right angles to a plumb line. The “leveling instrument” (Heb., mish·qeʹleth or mish·qoʹleth) was employed by carpenters, stonemasons and other craftsmen of ancient times to achieve horizontal accuracy when building walls and various structures, while the plummet was used to assure vertical accuracy. Egyptian masons seem to have employed a level shaped like the letter “A” with a short plumb line suspended from the apex. It indicated that the surface on which it was placed was level evidently when the hanging line coincided with a center mark on the crossbar. The Scriptures furnish no description of leveling instruments, however, and they refer to this device only in figurative ways.

A leveling instrument may be used to construct a building properly or to test its fitness for preservation. Jehovah foretold that he would apply to wayward Jerusalem “the measuring line applied to Samaria and also the leveling instrument applied to the house of Ahab.” God had measured and found Samaria and the house of King Ahab to be morally bad or crooked, resulting in their destruction. Likewise, God would judge Jerusalem and its rulers, exposing their wickedness and bringing about the destruction of that city. These events actually occurred in 607 B.C.E. (2 Ki. 21:10-13; 10:11) Through Isaiah the various wicked braggarts and rulers of the people in Jerusalem were apprized of their coming calamity and of Jehovah’s declaration: “I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the leveling instrument.” The standards of true justice and genuine righteousness would reveal who were really God’s servants and who were not, resulting either in preservation or destruction.—Isa. 28:14-19.

LEVI

(Leʹvi) [adherence; joined].

1. Jacob’s third son by his wife Leah, born in Paddan-aram. (Gen. 35:23, 26) At his birth Leah said: “Now this time my husband will join himself to me, because I have borne him three sons.” The boy was therefore called Levi, the meaning of this name evidently being linked with Leah’s hope for a new bond of affection between her and Jacob. (Gen. 29:34) Levi became the father of Gershon (Gershom), Kohath and Merari, founders of the three principal divisions of the Levites.—Gen. 46:11; 1 Chron. 6:1, 16.

Levi, along with his brother Simeon, took drastic action against the defilers of their sister Dinah. (Gen. 34:25, 26, 31) This expression of violent anger was cursed by Jacob, who foretold that Levi’s descendants would be scattered in Israel, a prophecy that was fulfilled when the Levites were indeed scattered throughout forty-eight Levite cities in the territories of Israel’s various tribes in the land of Canaan. (Gen. 49:7; Josh. 21:41) Levi accompanied Jacob into Egypt and died there at 137 years of age.—Ex. 1:1, 2; 6:16; see LEVITES.

2. An ancestor of Jesus Christ who is referred to as “the son of Symeon” in the genealogy of Jesus recorded by Luke. He is listed in the line between David and Zerubbabel.—Luke 3:27-31.

3. The “son of Melchi,” who is the second person preceding Heli (Mary’s father) in Luke’s genealogy of Jesus.—Luke 3:23, 24.

4. A tax collector (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27, 29) who became an apostle of Jesus Christ and was otherwise known as Matthew.—Matt. 9:9; 10:2-4; see MATTHEW.

LEVIATHAN

[Heb., liw·ya·thanʹ].

This Hebrew word occurs six times in the Bible. It is believed to come from a root word meaning “twist,” “coil” or “wind”; hence the name indicates something that is “wreathed” or “gathered into folds.” The word is transliterated in most Bible translations.

Since, with the exception of Job 3:8, the references mention water in connection with it, Leviathan appears to signify some form of aquatic creature, of great proportions and strength, although not necessarily of one specific kind. Psalm 104:25, 26 describes it as cavorting in the sea where ships travel, and for this reason many suggest that the term here applies to some type of whale. Though whales are rare in the Mediterranean, they are not unknown there and parts of two whale skeletons can be found in one museum at Beirut in Lebanon. An American Translation here says “crocodile” instead of Leviathan. Additionally, the word “sea [yam]” by itself is not determinative inasmuch as in Hebrew it can refer to a large inland body of water, such as the Sea of Galilee or Sea of Chinnereth (Num. 34:11; Josh. 12:3), or even to the river Nile (Isa. 19:5; Nah. 3:8) or the Euphrates.—Jer. 51:36.

The description of “Leviathan” at Job 41:1-34 aptly fits the crocodile, and the “sea” of verse 31 may refer to a river such as the Nile or another body of fresh water. It should be noted, however, that some crocodiles, as the Indian Estuarine crocodiles, are found along the seacoast and at times go out into the sea some distance from land.—See CROCODILE.

Psalm 74 describes God’s record of salvation for his people, and verses 13 and 14 refer symbolically to his deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Here the term