Prematurely white

Peter J. Leithart, November 14, 2007

In his stimulating essay on Leviticus 13 (available from Biblical Horizons), Jim Jordan reflects on the fact that a white hair in the flesh makes a man unclean. White hair is associated with glory, and so the uncleanness results from the contradiction between glorification and flesh. The unclean "leper" is partially, not fully, glorified; his flesh is white but not wholly; he is prematurely glorified.

This is also the situation of Adam: He seeks glory before his time, the white crown of wisdom before he has grown up from fleshliness.