21 `And when a man bringeth near a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Jehovah, to complete a vow, or for a willing-offering, of the herd or of the flock, it is perfect for a pleasing thing: no blemish is in it;
`When thou vowest a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou dost not delay to complete it; for Jehovah thy God doth certainly require it from thee, and it hath been in thee -- sin. `And when thou forbearest to vow, it is not in thee a sin. The produce of thy lips thou dost keep, and hast done `it', as thou hast vowed to Jehovah thy God; a free-will-offering, which thou hast spoken with thy mouth.
When thou vowest a vow to God, delay not to complete it, for there is no pleasure in fools; that which thou vowest -- complete. Better that thou do not vow, than that thou dost vow and dost not complete.
And God saith unto Jacob, `Rise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared unto thee in thy fleeing from the face of Esau thy brother.' And Jacob saith unto his household, and unto all who `are' with him, `Turn aside the gods of the stranger which `are' in your midst, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; and we rise, and go up to Bethel, and I make there an altar to God, who is answering me in the day of my distress, and is with me in the way that I have gone.'
`And this `is' a law of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings which `one' bringeth near to Jehovah: if for a thank-offering he bring it near, then he hath brought near with the sacrifice of thank-offering unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes anointed with oil, and of fried flour cakes mixed with oil; besides the cakes, fermented bread he doth bring near `with' his offering, besides the sacrifice of thank-offering of his peace-offerings; and he hath brought near out of it one of the whole offering -- a heave-offering to Jehovah; to the priest who is sprinkling the blood of the peace-offerings -- it is his; as to the flesh of the sacrifice of the thank-offering of his peace-offerings, in the day of his offering it is eaten; he doth not leave of it till morning. `And if the sacrifice of his offering `is' a vow or free-will offering, in the day of his bringing near his sacrifice it is eaten; and on the morrow also the remnant of it is eaten; and the remnant of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day with fire is burnt; and if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings be really eaten on the third day, it is not pleasing; for him who is bringing it near it is not reckoned; it is an abominable thing, and the person who is eating of it his iniquity doth bear. `And the flesh which cometh against any unclean thing is not eaten; with fire it is burnt; as to the flesh, every clean one doth eat of the flesh; and the person who eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings which `are' Jehovah's, and his uncleanness upon him, even that person hath been cut off from his people. `And when a person cometh against any thing unclean, of the uncleanness of man, or of the uncleanness of beasts, or of any unclean teeming creature, and hath eaten of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings which `are' Jehovah's, even that person hath been cut off from his people.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Any fat of ox and sheep and goat ye do not eat; and the fat of a carcase, and the fat of a torn thing is prepared for any work, but ye do certainly not eat it; for whoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which `one' bringeth near a fire-offering to Jehovah, even the person who eateth hath been cut off from his people. `And any blood ye do not eat in all your dwellings, of fowl, or of beast; any person who eateth any blood, even that person hath been cut off from his people.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, He who is bringing near the sacrifice of his peace-offerings to Jehovah doth bring in his offering to Jehovah from the sacrifice of his peace-offerings; his own hands do bring in the fire-offerings of Jehovah, the fat beside the breast, it he doth bring in with the breast, to wave it -- a wave-offering before Jehovah. `And the priest hath made perfume with the fat on the altar, and the breast hath been Aaron's and his sons; and the right leg ye do make a heave-offering to the priest of the sacrifices of your peace-offerings; he of the sons of Aaron who is bringing near the blood of the peace-offerings, and the fat, his is the right leg for a portion. `For the breast of the wave-offering, and the leg of the heave-offering, I have taken from the sons of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, and I give them to Aaron the priest, and to his sons, by a statute age-during, from the sons of Israel.' This `is' the anointing of Aaron, and the anointing of his sons out of the fire-offerings of Jehovah, in the day he hath brought them near to act as priest to Jehovah, which Jehovah hath commanded to give to them in the day of His anointing them, from the sons of Israel -- a statute age-during to their generations. This `is' the law for burnt-offering, for present, and for sin-offering, and for guilt-offering, and for consecrations, and for a sacrifice of the peace-offerings, which Jehovah hath commanded Moses in Mount Sinai, in the day of his commanding the sons of Israel to bring near their offerings to Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 22
Commentary on Leviticus 22 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 22
Le 22:1-9. The Priests in Their Uncleanness.
2. 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.
3. 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 [Le 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.
4-6. wash his flesh with water—Any Israelite who had contracted a defilement of such a nature as debarred him from the enjoyment of his wonted privileges, and had been legally cleansed from the disqualifying impurity, was bound to indicate his state of recovery by the immersion of his whole person in water. Although all ceremonial impurity formed a ground of exclusion, there were degrees of impurity which entailed a longer or shorter period of excommunication, and for the removal of which different rites required to be observed according to the trivial or the malignant nature of the case. A person who came inadvertently into contact with an unclean animal was rendered unclean for a specified period; and then, at the expiry of that term, he washed, in token of his recovered purity. But a leper was unclean so long as he remained subject to that disease, and on his convalescence, he also washed, not to cleanse himself, for the water was ineffectual for that purpose, but to signify that he was clean. Not a single case is recorded of a leper being restored to communion by the use of water; it served only as an outward and visible sign that such a restoration was to be made. The Book of Leviticus abounds with examples which show that in all the ceremonial washings, as uncleanness meant loss of privileges, so baptism with water indicated a restoration to those privileges. There was no exemption; for as the unclean Israelite was exiled from the congregation, so the unclean priest was disqualified from executing his sacred functions in the sanctuary; and in the case of both, the same observance was required—a formal intimation of their being readmitted to forfeited privileges was intimated by the appointed rite of baptism. If any one neglected or refused to perform the washing, he disobeyed a positive precept, and he remained in his uncleanness; he forbore to avail himself of this privilege, and was therefore said to be "cut off" from the presence of the Lord.
8. dieth of itself—The feelings of nature revolt against such food. It might have been left to the discretion of the Hebrews, who it may be supposed (like the people of all civilized nations) would have abstained from the use of it without any positive interdict. But an express precept was necessary to show them that whatever died naturally or from disease, was prohibited to them by the operation of that law which forbade them the use of any meat with its blood.
Le 22:10-16. Who of the Priests' House May Eat of Them.
10-13. There shall no stranger eat the holy thing—The portion of the sacrifices assigned for the support of the officiating priests was restricted to the exclusive use of his own family. A temporary guest or a hired servant was not at liberty to eat of them; but an exception was made in favor of a bought or homeborn slave, because such was a stated member of his household. On the same principle, his own daughter, who married a husband not a priest, could not eat of them. However, if a widow and childless, she was reinstated in the privileges of her father's house as before her marriage. But if she had become a mother, as her children had no right to the privileges of the priesthood, she was under a necessity of finding support for them elsewhere than under her father's roof.
13. there shall no stranger eat thereof—The interdict recorded (Le 22:10) is repeated to show its stringency. All the Hebrews, even the nearest neighbors of the priest, the members of his family excepted, were considered strangers in this respect, so that they had no right to eat of things offered at the altar.
14. if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly—A common Israelite might unconsciously partake of what had been offered as tithes, first-fruits, &c., and on discovering his unintentional error, he was not only to restore as much as he had used, but be fined in a fifth part more for the priests to carry into the sanctuary.
15, 16. they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel—There is some difficulty felt in determining to whom "they" refers. The subject of the preceding context being occupied about the priests, it is supposed by some that this relates to them also; and the meaning then is that the whole people would incur guilt through the fault of the priests, if they should defile the sacred offerings, which they would have done had they presented them while under any defilement [Calvin]. According to others, "the children of Israel" is the nominative in the sentence; which thus signifies, the children of Israel shall not profane or defile their offerings, by touching them or reserving any part of them, lest they incur the guilt of eating what is divinely appointed to the priests alone [Calmet].
Le 22:17-33. The Sacrifices Must Be without Blemish.
19. Ye shall offer at your own will—rather, to your being accepted.
a male without blemish—This law (Le 1:3) is founded on a sense of natural propriety, which required the greatest care to be taken in the selection of animals for sacrifice. The reason for this extreme caution is found in the fact that sacrifices are either an expression of praise to God for His goodness, or else they are the designed means of conciliating or retaining His favor. No victim that was not perfect in its kind could be deemed a fitting instrument for such purposes if we assume that the significance of sacrifices is derived entirely from their relation to Jehovah. Sacrifices may be likened to gifts made to a king by his subjects, and hence the reasonableness of God's strong remonstrance with the worldly-minded Jews (Mal 1:8). If the tabernacle, and subsequently the temple, were considered the palace of the great King, then the sacrifices would answer to presents as offered to a monarch on various occasions by his subjects; and in this light they would be the appropriate expressions of their feelings towards their sovereign. When a subject wished to do honor to his sovereign, to acknowledge allegiance, to appease his anger, to supplicate forgiveness, or to intercede for another, he brought a present; and all the ideas involved in sacrifices correspond to these sentiments—those of gratitude, of worship, of prayer, of confession and atonement [Bib. Sac.].
23. that mayest thou offer, &c.—The passage should be rendered thus: "if thou offer it either for a freewill offering, or for a vow, it shall not be accepted." This sacrifice being required to be "without blemish" [Le 22:19], symbolically implied that the people of God were to dedicate themselves wholly with sincere purposes of heart, and its being required to be "perfect to be accepted" [Le 22:21], led them typically to Him without whom no sacrifice could be offered acceptable to God.
27, 28. it shall be seven days under the dam—Animals were not considered perfect nor good for food till the eighth day. As sacrifices are called the bread or food of God (Le 22:25), to offer them immediately after birth, when they were unfit to be eaten, would have indicated a contempt of religion; and besides, this prohibition, as well as that contained in Le 22:28, inculcated a lesson of humanity or tenderness to the dam, as well as secured the sacrifices from all appearance of unfeeling cruelty.