Bibelkommentare

Leviticus 22:2. That they separate themselves— Or, That they abstain. These cautions respecting abstinence from the holy things,—from that food which was allotted to the families of the priests, are to be understood as of the same import with those mentioned in the former chapter; alike calculated to preserve a reverence for sacred matters, and to inculcate moral purity.

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Leviticus 22:3.— Houbigant renders this verse better, when he is unclean. The meaning of the phrase, he shall be cut off from my presence, is given us in the 9th verse; he shall die.

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Leviticus 22:4. What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper— These defilements, spoken of at large in the 15th chapter, were to seclude the priests from all public offices, in the same manner as they secluded common Israelites from the general intercourse of life. The words, whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, are rendered by Houbigant, whoever shall touch any uncleanness of a funeral: they might more literally be rendered, whoso toucheth any unclean thing of the dead; and they seem to express, that not only the touching of a dead body; but the having any concern at all with such, was sufficient to render the priest legally unclean; see the note on chap. Leviticus 21:1.

Note; (1.) It is no light matter to profane with unhallowed touch the sacred table of the Lord. (2.) The higher the station, the deeper the fall. A priest who perishes, sinks into the lowest pit. (3.) It becomes us with jealousy, knowing what a God we have to do with, to take heed to our ways in this naughty world, and never to omit daily application to the fountain which is opened for sin and for uncleanness.

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Leviticus 22:10. Holy thing— Compare chap. Leviticus 21:22.

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Leviticus 22:11. If the priest buy any soul— See chap. Leviticus 25:39; Leviticus 25:44-45. The word stranger, in the next verse, signifies as in the 10th verse, one who is not of the priest's family.

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Leviticus 22:14. He shall put the fifth part thereof unto it— The meaning is, that the person, thus ignorantly offending, should, to the full worth of the thing, add a fifth part, and so restore to the priest what he had inadvertently applied to his own use.

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Leviticus 22:15. Shall not profane the holy things— That this verse refers to the priests, and not to the people, is evident from the context, and from the following verse. Provision is made in the former verse, that the holy things appropriated to their maintenance should be exactly rendered to the priests: here it is observed, in reference to the cautions given in the former part of the chapter, that the priests themselves should not profane the holy things, by an improper and defiling use of them; and thus lade themselves with the iniquity of trespass in their eating; i.e. render themselves obnoxious to divine justice by transgressing these ordinances.

Note; There is but one Mediator, who is appointed to bear our sins, and we must be careful to join no other with him. His blood and merits alone, not any works of ours, or of others, have any efficacy in obtaining remission of the iniquity of our trespass.

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Leviticus 22:19. Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish— Laws are next given to provide for the perfection of the sacrifices, as well as of the sacrificers. Upon this head, we refer to the last note of the foregoing chapter, The strangers in Israel, Lev 22:18 signify the proselytes of the gate, such as had embraced the Mosaic law. At your own will might be rendered more consistently with the former verse, for your acceptance, or to be accepted; as it is rendered in the 21st verse, and by several of the ancient versions. The same attention to the perfection of victims was found among the heathens: they thought that unworthy to be offered to their gods, which was not excellent and complete in its kind. "No lame animal is to be sacrificed," says the Greek scholiast on Aristophanes; "and, in general, nothing must be offered to the gods, but what is sound and perfect:" τελειον και υγιες .

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