Leviticus 22:28

_WHEN A BULLOCK, OR A SHEEP, OR A GOAT, IS BROUGHT FORTH, THEN IT SHALL BE SEVEN DAYS UNDER THE DAM; AND FROM THE EIGHTH DAY AND THENCEFORTH IT SHALL BE ACCEPTED FOR AN OFFERING MADE BY FIRE UNTO THE LORD._ It shall be seven days under the dam. Animals were not considered perfect nor good for food until the eighth day. Since sacrifices are called the bread or food of God (Leviticus 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 the following verse, inculcated a lesson of humanity or tenderness to the dam, as well as secured the sacrifices from all appearance of unfeeling cruelty....

28._And whether it be a cow or ewe. _Though cruelty was indeed condemned in this precept, still I make no doubt but that Moses speaks primarily of the sacrifices. I confess the word שחט, _shachat, _which he uses, is a general one; but since throughout the chapter he is professedly treating of the sacrifices, and in connection with these words adds the conclusion respecting the hallowing of His holy name, Leviticus 22:32, the context requires that we should consider it to be an inculcation of purity in God’s service. If any prefer to extend it further, I will not contest the point; and thus this sentence will be a supplement to the Sixth Commandment. I have, however, followed what appears most probable, and the reader of sound judgment will, I hope, agree with me. Meanwhile, I confess that all barbarity and cruelty was thus prohibited in the sac

Verse Leviticus 22:28. _YE SHALL NOT KILL IT AND HER YOUNG IN ONE DAY_] This precept was certainly intended to inculcate _mercy_ and _tenderness_ of heart; and so the Jews understood it. When it is necessary to take away the lives of innocent animals for the support of our own, we should do it in such a way as not to blunt our moral feelings; and deplore the necessity, while we feel an express gratitude to God for permission, to do it....

A law intended to remind the Israelites of the sacredness of the relation between the parent and its offspring. Compare Exodus 23:19 note....

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

AND [WHETHER IT BE] COW OR EWE,.... Or "an ox or sheep" f, for this law, as Aben Ezra says, respects both male and female, and neither the one nor the other with their young might be slain; though Jarchi says, the custom is concerning the female, for it is forbidden to slay the dam and its son, or daughter; but it is not the custom concerning males, wherefore it is lawful to slay the father and the son: YE SHALL NOT KILL IT AND HER YOUNG BOTH IN ONE DAY; or, "it and its son" g, the young, whether of a cow or ewe, and whether it be male or female; though Gersom observes, that this law takes place only in the dam and its female young, and not in the father and the son; for it is not manifest, in many animals, who is their father, wherefore he is not guilty of stripes, if the father and his son are slain in one day, even though it is known it is its father: the reason of the law seems to b...

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

CONCLUDING RULES FOR SACRIFICE, not specially directed to Aaron, as they concern all persons intending to sacrifice. A calf or lamb or kid offered (as firstborn) is to be kept till the eighth day (_cf._ the rule of circumcision, Leviticus 22:12). The law is an ancient one; _cf._ Exodus 22:29 f. (Book of the Covenant), where it is joined with the law of the offering of the first-born which underlies the practice of circumcision. For the prohibition of the sacrifice of cow and calf on the same day, _cf._ Exodus 23:19; perhaps in certain forbidden rites the calf was treated as the kid evidently was. Or the motive may have been similar to that of...

COW. Hebrew. _shor,_ rendered "cow" only here and Numbers 18:17....

_Three further directions of a special character with regard to sacrifices_...