Under the Israelite law, why were people with skin disease prevented from combing their hair?
Leviticus 13:45 45 “Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their mouth and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’
Leviticus 16:2
ESV - 2 And the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
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Asked May 22 2018
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
In my opinion, the prohibition against combing the hair was not related to any hygienic measure pertaining to the disease itself. Instead, the lack of combing, along with the tearing of the infected person's clothing mentioned in the verse cited in the question, was meant to give the infected person a distinctive disheveled appearance that would be a sufficiently visible physical sign warning other people that the individual was unclean, and that other people should thus stay away from the individual.
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