Leviticus 22:2

_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._ 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 ... - i:e., 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 dishonour the name and bring disrespect on the worship of God....

Verse Leviticus 22:2. _SPEAK UNTO AARON AND TO HIS SONS, THAT THEY_ _SEPARATE THEMSELVES_] The same subject is continued in this chapter as in the preceding, with this addition, that besides the perfection of the priests, it was indispensably necessary that the sacrifices also should be _perfect_. In the service of God, according to the law, neither an imperfect _offering_ nor an imperfect _offerer_ could be admitted. What need then of a _mediator_ between a _holy_ God and _sinful_ men! And can we expect that any of our services, however _sincere_ and _well-intentioned_, can be accepted, unless offered on that living Altar that sanctifies the gift?...

“Speak ... that they so abstain from touching the holy things (i. e. the sacrificial food of all kinds) of the children of Israel which they consecrate unto me, that they profane not my holy name.” This law related to the daily life and the ordinary food of the priests....

EXPOSITION This chapter, which is a continuation of Leviticus 21:1, (1) commands that the ceremonially defiled priest shall not officiate or partake of the sacrificial offerings; (2) declares who may and who may not partake of the priests' portions of the sacrifices; (3) orders that every sacrificial victim be unblemished. LEVITICUS 22:1 In the previous chapter, the priests have been commanded to avoid occasions of ceremonial defilement, but there are times in which they must be unclean. At these times they are here instructed that they must abstain from their priestly functions, and not even eat of the priests' portions until they have been cleansed. The command to Aaron and to

SPEAK UNTO AARON AND TO HIS SONS,.... The priests; the children of Israel or the common people are not mentioned, as having no concern in the following laws about eating holy things: THAT THEY SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THE HOLY THINGS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; both from offering their lawful sacrifices, which was the business of their office when pure, and chiefly from eating that part of them which was their due, and was allowed them; neither of these they were to do, particularly the latter, when they were in any uncleanness, as the following words show: AND THAT, THEY PROFANE NOT MY HOLY NAME [IN THOSE THINGS] WHICH THEY HALLOW UNTO ME; which the children of Israel set apart and devoted to his service; which they would do, by eating their part of them when unclean, and thereby show little reverence to that holy name to which they were devoted; or which the priests themselves sanctif...

CHAPTER 22 _ 1. Care to be exercised in holy things (Leviticus 22:1)_ 2. Care in the enforcement of the law of offerings (Leviticus 22:17) Uncleanness such as mentioned in the first part of the chapter prohibited the partaking of holy things. Strangers who did not belong to the priestly house and even the married daughter of the priest, not living in the priestly household, were not permitted to eat of the offering of the holy things. Holy things have to be used in a reverent and holy way. The same principle holds good in the New Testament. We may well think here of the Lord's table. Read 1 Corinthians 11:23. Coming to the Lord's table to remember Him requires self-judg

FURTHER RESTRICTIONS as to the priests-' use of holy things, _i.e._ objects sacrificed or vowed. Temporary uncleanness, touching a corpse (Numbers 5:2 *) or an unclean object, as distinct from bodily defects, prevents priests from eating these things, while it lasts. This rule applies to leprosy, which is also (Leviticus 14) temporary. Animals which have died naturally or been killed by other animals are not to be eaten at all by the priests (_cf._ on Leviticus 17:15, also Leviticus 7:24). The rule is found also in Ezekiel 44:31....

FROM. When subject to the following disabilities. HOLY. See note on Exodus 3:15. CHILDREN. Hebrew sons. HALLOW. See note on Leviticus 12:4....

_separate_ not of course in the full sense of the word. What is meant is that whenever they are in a condition of ceremonial impurity they must be careful not to come into contact with holy things....

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....