Leviticus 10:16-20

The Problem of the Uneaten Sin Offering

16 Then Moses sought all over [for] the goat of the sin offering and behold, it was burned up. So he was angry with Aaron's remaining sons Eleazar and Ithamar, saying,

17 "Why did you not eat the sin offering on the sanctuary's site, because it [is] {a most holy thing}? And he gave it to you to remove the community's guilt, to make atonement for them {before} Yahweh.

18 Look, its blood was not brought {inside the sanctuary}. Certainly you should have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded."

19 So Aaron said to Moses, "Look, today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering {before} Yahweh, and [things] such as these have happened to me, and [if] I were to eat a sin offering today, would it have been good in Yahweh's eyes?"

20 When Moses heard, it was good in his eyes.

Leviticus 10:16-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 10

This chapter begins with the sin and punishment of two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Le 10:1-5 for whose death Aaron and his sons are commanded not to mourn, nor to depart from the tabernacle, Le 10:6,7 and an order is given, prohibiting the priests from drinking wine when they went into it, Le 10:8-11 the law of eating holy things, both those that were more, and those that were less holy, is enjoined, Le 10:12-15 and the flesh of the sin offering not being eaten, but burnt, Aaron's sons are blamed for it, for which he makes an apology to the satisfaction of Moses, Le 10:16-20.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "And"
• [b]. Or "And"
• [c]. Literally "a holiness of holinesses"
• [d]. Literally "to the faces of"
• [e]. Or "to the sanctuary inside" or "to the sanctuary within"
• [f]. Or "And"
• [g]. Literally "to the faces of"
• [h]. Or "And"
• [i]. Or "and it"