Levitico 22:3 Commento

In this chapter we have divers laws concerning the priests and sacrifices all for the preserving of the honour of the sanctuary. I. That the priests should not eat the holy things in their uncleanness (Lev 22:1-9). II. That no stranger who did not belong to some family of the priests should eat of the holy things (Lev 22:10-13), and, if he did it unwittingly, he must make restitution, (Lev 22:14-16). III. That the sacrifices which were offered must be without blemish (Lev 22:17-25). IV. That they must be more than eight days old (Lev 22:26-28), and that the sacrifices of thanksgiving must be eaten the same day they were offered (Lev 22:29, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 22 In this chapter several laws are delivered out, forbidding the priests to eat of holy things, when in any uncleanness, or at any time what dies of itself, or is torn of beasts, Lev 22:1; also showing who belonging to the priests might or might not eat of the holy things, Lev 22:10; and others requiring that whatever offerings were brought by the children, of Israel, they should be perfect and without blemish, Lev 22:17; and also declaring what age a creature should be of when sacrificed, and the time when thank offerings were to be eaten, Lev 22:26; concluding with an exhortation to observe the commands of God, and sanctify him, and not profane his name, Lev 22:31.

Say unto them, whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations,.... Whether male or female, in all succeeding ages, as long as the ceremonial law lasted; for females as well as males of the families of the priests ate of the holy things, provided they had no uncleanness on them, but if they had, they might not: that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord: that approaches to any of the sacrifices which the children of Israel have devoted to the Lord, either to offer them, or even to touch them, and particularly to eat of them; and so Jarchi and Ben Gersom observe, that this going or drawing near is no other than eating; for touching only, a man was not guilty of cutting off: having his uncleanness upon him; through a leprosy, or running issue, or touching any unclean person or thing, as the following words explain it: that soul shall be cut off from my presence; excluded from the sanctuary, and the service of it, where the presence of God was; or be removed out of the world by death, either by the civil magistrate, or by the hand of God, by an immediate death, by the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan: I am the Lord; that will avenge the breach of such a law, able to inflict such punishment, and faithful to accomplish every word of his, whether in a way of threatening or promise.

Of the uncleanness of the priests, by which they were prevented from ministering in holy things, Lev 22:1-5. How they should be cleansed, Lev 22:6, Lev 22:7. The priest must not eat of any animal that had died of itself, or was torn by wild beasts, but must keep God's ordinances, Lev 22:8, Lev 22:9. No stranger, sojourner, nor hired servant shall eat of the holy things, Lev 22:10. A servant bought with money may eat of them, Lev 22:11. Who of the priest's family may not eat of them, Lev 22:12, Lev 22:13. Of improper persons who partake of the holy things unknowingly, Lev 22:14-16. Freewill-offerings, and sacrifices in general, must be without blemish, Lev 22:17-25. The age at which different animals were to be offered to God, Lev 22:26, Lev 22:27. No animal and its young shall be offered on the same day, Lev 22:28. How the sacrifice of thanks-giving was to be offered, Lev 22:29, Lev 22:30. All God's testimonies to be observed, and the reason, Lev 22:31-33.

THE PRIESTS IN THEIR UNCLEANNESS. (Lev 22:1-9) Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things--"To separate" means, in the language of the Mosaic ritual, "to abstain"; and therefore the import of this injunction is that the priests should abstain from eating that part of the sacrifices which, though belonging to their order, was to be partaken of only by such of them as were free from legal impurities. that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me, &c.--that is, let them not, by their want of due reverence, give occasion to profane my holy name. A careless or irreverent use of things consecrated to God tends to dishonor the name and bring disrespect on the worship of God.

Whosoever he be . . . that goeth unto the holy things--The multitude of minute restrictions to which the priests, from accidental defilement, were subjected, by keeping them constantly on their guard lest they should be unfit for the sacred service, tended to preserve in full exercise the feeling of awe and submission to the authority of God. The ideas of sin and duty were awakened in their breasts by every case to which either an interdict or an injunction was applied. But why enact an express statute for priests disqualified by the leprosy or polluting touch of a carcass [Lev 22:4], when a general law was already in force which excluded from society all persons in that condition? Because priests might be apt, from familiarity, to trifle with religion, and in committing irregularities or sins, to shelter themselves under the cloak of the sacred office. This law, therefore, was passed, specifying the chief forms of temporary defilement which excluded from the sanctuary, that priests might not deem themselves entitled to greater license than the rest of the people; and that so far from being in any degree exempted from the sanctions of the law, they were under greater obligations, by their priestly station, to observe it in its strict letter and its smallest enactments.