Leviticus 22:3

_SAY UNTO THEM, WHOSOEVER HE BE OF ALL YOUR SEED AMONG YOUR GENERATIONS, THAT GOETH UNTO THE HOLY THINGS, WHICH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HALLOW UNTO THE LORD, HAVING HIS UNCLEANNESS UPON HIM, THAT SOUL SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM MY PRESENCE: I AM THE LORD._ 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, when a general law was already in force which excluded from society...

CUT OFF FROM MY PRESENCE - i. e. excluded from the sanctuary. See Leviticus 20:17....

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

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...

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....

SOUL. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13. Here rendered "soul", but in Leviticus 21:11 inaccurately rendered "body". See note on Leviticus 19:28. CUT OFF FROM MY PRESENCE. Occurs only here in the Pentateuch; elsewhere, "cut off from his people". See note on Leviticus 7:20. Accounted for here by the seriousness of the offence....

_your seed_ For this expression, and -seed of Aaron," in Leviticus 22:4, see introd. note on chs. 21, 22. _your generations_ See latter part of the same note. 4 7 may be compared with Leviticus 21:11-15....

_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._...

PRIESTLY SEPARATION FROM CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESS 22:1-10 TEXT 22:1-10 1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, which hallow unto me, and that they profane not my holy name: I am Jehovah. 3 Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed throughout your generations, that approacheth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto Jehovah, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from before me: I am Jehovah. 4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath an issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him; 5 or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness...