How is leprosy like snow?

Question

צָרַעַת, traditionally translated as leprosy, (perhaps skin disease is more accurate) is compared to snow in three locations:

Exodus 4:6 (ESV) 6 Again, the Lord said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

Numbers 12:10 (ESV) 10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

2 Kings 5:27 (ESV) 27 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever." So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.

Some versions, such as the NIV, translate “white as snow” although the Hebrew lacks the word “white”.

Regarding this comparison, the IVP Bible Background Commentary Old Testament on 2 Kings 5:27 states:

Comparison to "snow" most likely concerns the flakiness rather than the color.

How is leprosy like snow? Its color, its flakiness, or both? And what is the evidence for making such a claim that it only refers to its flakiness?

Answer 1

I don't see any reason to conclude that the comparison between leprosy and snow refers to the flakiness of the latter. Instead, we find in two other Bible passages a clue that makes tip the balance in favour of the colour hypothesis.

In fact, speaking about the immediate starting of leprosy on the forehead of Uzziah, 2Chr 26:19 says (bold is mine): "Then Uzziah was wroth; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense." (JPS)

The verbal form here translated 'broke forth' in Hebrew is זרחה, and derived from the MT root זרח, 'to be radiant, to rise' ("as the sun, light, glory, leprosy [...]", Benjamin Davidson's Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon). See, for yourself the usage of this verb in Job 9:7, relating it to the sunlight.

In conclusion, in all probability, the matching between 'leprosy' and 'snow' is related to the sparkling whiteness of both, not to a factor due to a presumed flakiness.