Why Tzara'at Strikes the Whole Body of the One Who Rules Creation

Another interpretation: "Terrible and dreadful" (Habakkuk 1:7) — this refers to man, who rules over everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, as it is said, "You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands…" (Psalms 8:7). "His judgment and his dignity proceed from him" (Habakkuk 1:7) — for at the moment when he sins, He brings upon him sufferings from his own body. Why? Because His measures are not like the measure of flesh and blood. Flesh and blood, when he wishes to chastise his servants, brings whips and chains and chastises them and torments them; but the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. Rather, from a man's whole body He chastises him and strikes him. From where do we know this? From what we have read on the matter (Leviticus 13:2): "When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh…"