Leviticus 22:1-16

Sundry Rules for Priests

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.

3 "Say to them, '¹If any man among all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before * Me; I am the LORD.

4 '²No * man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until * he is clean. ³And if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if ⁴a man has a seminal * emission,

5 or ⁵if a man touches any teeming things by which he is made unclean, or any man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness;

6 a person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless * he has bathed his body in water.

7 'But when the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy gifts, for ⁶it is his food.

8 'He shall not eat ⁷an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, becoming unclean by it; I am the LORD.

9 'They shall therefore keep ⁸My charge, so that ⁹they will not bear sin because of it and die thereby because they profane it; I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

10 '¹⁰No layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a sojourner with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift.

11 '¹¹But if a priest buys a slave as his property with his money, that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food.

12 'If a priest's daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts.

13 'But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father's house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's food; ¹²but no * layman shall eat of it.

14 '¹³But if a man eats a holy gift unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest.

15 '¹⁴They shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they offer to the LORD,

16 and so cause them ¹⁵to bear punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.' "

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Leviticus 22:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 22

In this chapter several laws are delivered out, forbidding the priests to eat of holy things, when in any uncleanness, or at any time what dies of itself, or is torn of beasts, Le 22:1-9; also showing who belonging to the priests might or might not eat of the holy things, Le 22:10-16; and others requiring that whatever offerings were brought by the children, of Israel, they should be perfect and without blemish, Le 22:17-25; and also declaring what age a creature should be of when sacrificed, and the time when thank offerings were to be eaten, Le 22:26-30; concluding with an exhortation to observe the commands of God, and sanctify him, and not profane his name, Le 22:31-33.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. Leviticus 7:20, 21; Numbers 19:13
2. Leviticus 14:1-32
3. Lev 11:24-28, 39, 40
4. Leviticus 15:16, 17
5. Leviticus 11:23-28
6. Numbers 18:11
7. Leviticus 7:24; Leviticus 11:39, 40; Leviticus 17:15
8. Leviticus 18:30
9. Exodus 28:43; Leviticus 22:16; Numbers 18:22
10. Exodus 29:33; Leviticus 22:13; Numbers 3:10
11. Genesis 17:13; Exodus 12:44
12. Leviticus 22:10
13. Leviticus 5:15, 16
14. Numbers 18:32
15. Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 22:9

Footnotes 14

[a]. Lit "seed"
[b]. Lit "seed"
[c]. Lit "soul"
[d]. Lit "flesh"
[e]. Lit "bread"
[f]. Lit "stranger"
[g]. Lit "soul"
[h]. Lit "he may"
[i]. Lit "bread"
[j]. Lit "stranger"
[k]. Lit "heave offering"
[l]. Lit "bread"
[m]. Lit "stranger"
[n]. Or "iniquity requiring a guilt offering"