Leviticus 22:7

7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because ¹they 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 and whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be—

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

7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because they are his food.

8 He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord. ’

9 They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

Cross References

• 1. 22:7 ch. 21:22; [Num. 18:11, 13]; See ch. 3:11