Leviticus 22:7

7 After sunset he will be clean; and afterwards, he may eat the holy things; because they are his food.

Leviticus 22:7 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 22:7

And when the sun is down he shall be clean
Having washed himself in water, otherwise not, though the sun may be set: and shall afterwards eat of the holy things;
the families of the priests lived upon: because it [is] his food:
his common food, his ordinary diet, that by which he subsists, having nothing else to live upon; this being the ordination of God, that he which ministered about holy things should live on them; and these being his only substance, in compassion to him they were detained from him no longer than the evening; and this was done, to make him careful how he defiled himself, since thereby he was debarred of his ordinary meals.

Leviticus 22:7 In-Context

5 or who has touched a reptile or insect that can make him unclean, or a man who is unclean for any reason and who can transmit to him his uncleanness -

6 the person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening and is not to eat the holy things unless he bathes his body in water.

7 After sunset he will be clean; and afterwards, he may eat the holy things; because they are his food.

8 But he is not to eat anything that dies naturally or is torn to death by wild animals and thereby make himself unclean; I am ADONAI.

9 The cohanim must observe this charge of mine; otherwise, if they profane it, they will bear the consequences of their sin for doing so and die in it; I am ADONAI, who makes them holy.