And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer unto the Lord. By causing or suffering strangers to eat of them; so Jarchi, referring the words to the priests, who should be careful that strangers ate not of sacred things; or by the strangers themselves eating them, whereby they were profaned and used as common things. read more
The eating of the holy things. We have seen, in the preceding chapter, that blemishes which precluded a priest from ministering at the altar did not hinder him from eating of the holy things. The ordinary Israelite, therefore, would not, by similar blemishes, be debarred from the privileges of his religion. There are, however, other things which would disqualify. These are now brought under our notice, together with the provisions by which they might be removed. Consider— I. ... read more
Holiness of priests and sacrifices. While much that appertained only to a temporary dispensation, still great principles included in the formal regulations, as— I. RELIGION SANCTIFIES , preserves, and perfects the whole humanity of man. 1 . It preserves the true order—God first, the creature subject to the Creator. 2 . It utilizes the central power of human nature, the moral and spiritual The mind is the man, and the mind is not mere intellect, but moral consciousness and... read more
Priestly disqualifications. cf. Matthew 25:31-46 . We saw that inherited infirmity, such as is mentioned in Matthew 25:18-21 of last chapter, while it excludes from office, does not exclude from sustenance. We now come across a disqualification sufficient to exclude from both office and support, and this is contracted defilement. Any priest venturing before God with uncleanness upon him will be cut off from his presence. We are taught hereby— I. THAT IT IS CONTRACTED , ... read more
The guilt of profanation. That which had been offered in sacrifice was "holy unto the Lord;" these were "holy things" ( Leviticus 22:10 ); "I the Lord do sanctify them" ( Leviticus 22:16 ). They might only be partaken of by the priests and their families. Hence we have here a precise limitation of membership of the family; it included the returned daughter and the permanent servant, but did not include the hireling or the visitor, etc. We may note, in passing, I. THAT GOD ... read more
These verses present some difficulties of construction. The rendering of the Authorized Version is as follows: And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer unto the Lord; or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy things: for I the Lord do sanctify them. If this rendering is accepted, it would mean that the priests are not to profane the holy things by any irregularity on their part as to the eating of them, nor to... read more
These verses are rather difficult. Their meaning appears to be: “The holy things of the children of Israel which are heaved before Yahweh” (see Leviticus 7:30) “shall not be profaned; and they shall incur a sin of trespass who eat of their holy things (so as to profane them).” read more
Leviticus 22:15. They The people; shall not profane them, by eating them: or the priests shall not profane them, that is, suffer the people to profane them, without censure and punishment. read more
Rules concerning priests (21:1-22:16)Priests carried a heavy responsibility in acting on the people’s behalf in offering their sacrifices, and therefore they had to guard against ceremonial uncleanness. They were to have nothing to do with the burial of the dead, except in the case of close relatives, and were not to make public show of their sorrow by disfiguring themselves. They and their families were to be blameless in all things moral (21:1-9).Rules for the high priest were even stricter... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 22:10-16
The holy things were to be eaten by the priests and their families. Now, I. Here is a law that no stranger should eat of them, that is, no person whatsoever but the priests only, and those that pertained to them, Lev. 22:10. The priests are charged with this care, not to profane the holy things by permitting the strangers to eat of them (Lev. 22:15) or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass (Lev. 22:16); that is, suffer them to bring guilt upon themselves, by meddling with that which... read more