Albert Barnes Commentary Leviticus 13:45

"And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean." — Leviticus 13:45 (ASV)

The leper was to carry with him the usual signs of mourning for the dead. Compare Leviticus 10:6 and the marginal note.

The leper was a living parable in the world, representing sin whose wages were death. This was no less true even though his suffering might not have been due in any way to his own personal fault; he carried with him both the deadly fruit and the symbol of the sin of his lineage (Exodus 20:5).

As his body slowly perished—first the skin, then the flesh, then the bone, falling to pieces while physical life still survived—he was a terrible picture of the gradual corruption of the spirit worked by sin.

His head bare — Rather, “his head neglected.” See the note on Leviticus 10:6.

Unclean, unclean — Compare the marginal note.