"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the LORD. 3 Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD. 4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him; 5 Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; 6 The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water. 7 And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it is his food. 8 That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am the LORD. 9 They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the LORD do sanctify them. 10 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing. 11 But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat. 12 If the priest’s daughter also be married unto a stranger, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things. 13 But if the priest’s daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned unto her father’s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof. 14 And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give it unto the priest with the holy thing. 15 And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer unto the LORD; 16 Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy things: for I the LORD do sanctify them." — Leviticus 22:1-16 KJV.
This chapter instructs the priests to treat the people’s offerings with the reverence becoming the holy things, (1-16,) and it defines perfect sacrificial animals, (17-28,) closing with a reiteration of some former precepts relating to sacrifices, (29-33.) As Israel was being schooled in holiness, on account of its calling to be a holy nation, it was especially incumbent on the priests to prove themselves the sanctified servants of the Lord, first for the sake of the holy Jehovah, and secondly for the sake of a faultless example unto the people.
REVERENCE FOR HOLY THINGS, 1-16.
2. Separate themselves — They were to abstain from treating the holy things, or offerings of the people, as things unconsecrated and common. By appropriating what was sacred to Jehovah, without the warrant of an express command, like that requiring them to eat the most holy things, (Leviticus 2:3, note,) they would profane his holy name, or degrade his majesty, and tarnish his purity in the eyes of the people.
3. That soul shall be cut off — The wilful approach to the altar to discharge the functions of the priest’s office, while conscious of ceremonial impurity, evinced such irreverence and disobedience as to call down either the severe punishment of death, by some sudden stroke, or exclusion from the sacred office, as some understand, from my presence. The latter opinion is strengthened by 2 Chronicles 26:21, while the former is strongly confirmed by verse 9.
4. A leper — Leprosy was a ceremonial defilement which excluded even the laymen from the camp; much more would it disqualify a priest for the tabernacle. See chaps. 13 and 14, notes. A running issue — This was probably limited to the gonorrhea. See Leviticus 15:2, note. Unclean by the dead — See Leviticus 21:1, note. Seed goeth from him — See Leviticus 15:16, note.
5. Any creeping thing — See Leviticus 11:29-47, notes.
7. When the sun is down — The divine mercy is seen in the narrow period during which the priest is disqualified from eating the holy and the most holy things. Since these were his prescribed food, a long uncleanness would be a long fasting.
8. Dieth of itself — This is prohibited on ceremonial grounds, because the blood is in the veins, and on sanitary grounds, because the blood corrupts and poisons the flesh.
9. Lest they bear sin — That is, the punishment of sin. See Leviticus 10:17; Numbers 9:13, notes, in the Levitical law, the boundary between ceremonial and moral impurity is very narrow. Acts 21:25.
10. No stranger — The non-Levite Hebrew is included in this term. See Numbers 1:51, note. A sojourner of the priest — This excludes the foreigner temporarily residing with the priest and his hired servant of another nation.
11. If the priest buy any soul — That is, person. A mild form of servitude was allowed as a mitigation of the usages of war in those times. Otherwise the Hebrews would have slain all their captives taken in war. They shall eat of his meat — Since these constitute a permanent part of his family, they are permitted to eat the sacred things, but not the most holy. This partially relieves the difficulty of Colenso respecting the capacity of the priests to eat all the sacrifices assigned to them. See chap. vi, concluding notes.
12. Married unto a stranger — As above, the stranger is a non-Levite. The daughter of the priest, in this case, passes from a priestly into a common family, where she remains if she has children, even though a widow or divorced. If the family is broken up, and she is left childless, it becomes the duty of her father to support her as if she had remained a virgin. Since the daughter of a priest was not an heiress of landed estates, her marriage with a non-Levite is not prohibited by Numbers 36:8, which applies only to heiresses.
14-16. Unwittingly — See Leviticus 4:2, note. The fifth part — To inspire caution in dealing with holy things, the innocent offender was liable to a fine, the amount of which was to be estimated by the priest, who was to value the thing eaten and then add a fifth. Not profane — The priests are required not to allow improper persons to eat the holy things, and thus cause the people to bear the iniquity of trespass. It may be that the priests are intended instead of the people, for the Hebrew is ambiguous. See Leviticus 10:17; Numbers 9:13, notes.
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