Leviticus 10:10

10 to distinguish between sacred and profane, and between clean and unclean,

Leviticus 10:10 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 10:10

And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy,
&c.] That being sober they might be able to distinguish between the one and the other; which a drunken man, having his mind and senses disturbed, is not capable of; as between holy and unholy persons, and between holy and unholy things; particularly, as Aben Ezra interprets it, between a sacred place and one that is common, and between a holy day and a common week day; the knowledge and memory of which may be lost through intemperance; and so that may be done in a place and on a day which ought not to be done, or that omitted on a day and in a place which ought to be done:

and between unclean and clean;
between unclean men and women, beasts and fowls, and clean ones; and between unclean things in a ceremonial sense, and those that are clean, which a man in liquor may be no judge of: hence, as the above writer observes, after this section follow laws concerning fowls clean and unclean, the purification of a woman after childbirth, the leprosy in men, garments and houses, and concerning profluvious and menstruous persons; all which the priests were to be judges of, and therefore ought to be sober.

Leviticus 10:10 In-Context

8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying,

9 Ye shall not drink wine nor strong drink, thou and thy sons with thee, whensoever ye enter into the tabernacle of witness, or when ye approach the altar, so shall ye not die; a perpetual statute for your generations,

10 to distinguish between sacred and profane, and between clean and unclean,

11 and to teach the children of Israel all the statutes, which the Lord spoke to them by Moses.

12 And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who survived, Take the sacrifice that is left of the burnt-offerings of the Lord, and ye shall eat unleavened bread by the altar: it is most holy.