Leviticus 21:22

21:1-24 Laws concerning the priests. - As these priests were types of Christ, so all ministers must be followers of him, that their example may teach others to imitate the Saviour. Without blemish, and separate from sinners, He executed his priestly office on earth. What manner of persons then should his ministers be! But all are, if Christians, spiritual priests; the minister especially is called to set a good example, that the people may follow it. Our bodily infirmities, blessed be God, cannot now shut us out from his service, from these privileges, or from his heavenly glory. Many a healthful, beautiful soul is lodged in a feeble, deformed body. And those who may not be suited for the work of the ministry, may serve God with comfort in other duties in his church.

He shall eat the bread of his God,.... That part of the sacrifices which was appropriated by the Lord to the priests, for the maintenance of them and their families; for though their natural infirmities disqualified them for service, yet they did not become hereby impure, either in a moral nor ceremonial sense, and might eat of the sacrifices, which impure persons might not; and so the tradition is, blemished persons, whether their blemishes are fixed or transient, may divide and eat, but not offer (g); these being priests, and having no inheritance, nor any way of getting their livelihood, provision is made for them that they might not perish through their defects in nature, which were not voluntary and brought upon them by themselves, but by the providence of God; and such were allowed to eat both of the most holy and of the holy; there were things the priests eat of, which were most holy, as what remained of the meat offerings, and of the sin offerings, and of the trespass offerings, which only the males of the priest's family might eat of, and that only in the holy place; and there were others less holy, the lighter holy things, as the Jews call them, as the wave breast, and heave shoulder, and the tithes and firstfruits, which were eaten of by all in their families, their daughters as well as their sons, and in their own houses; now of each of these might the blemished priests eat; see Numbers 18:9, &c. (g) Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect. 1.

22 . both of the most holy, and of the holy ] This distinction is not recognised elsewhere. In Leviticus 22:1-16 , where there is ample opportunity for the distinction, the offerings are spoken of in general terms as holy things. It is therefore probably the insertion of a later reviser. Leviticus 21:22

Which a priest having any uncleanness upon him might not do; whereby God would show the great difference between natural infirmities sent upon a man by God, and moral defilements which a man brought upon himself. What was holy, and what most holy, was declared before. See Leviticus 2:3 6:17 7:1 14:13 22:10 .

16-24. Whosoever he be … hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God—As visible things exert a strong influence on the minds of men, any physical infirmity or malformation of body in the ministers of religion, which disturbs the associations or excites ridicule, tends to detract from the weight and authority of the sacred office. Priests laboring under any personal defect were not allowed to officiate in the public service; they might be employed in some inferior duties about the sanctuary but could not perform any sacred office. In all these regulations for preserving the unsullied purity of the sacred character and office, there was a typical reference to the priesthood of Christ (Heb 7:26).

(22) He shall eat the bread of his God. —But though unfit for serving at the altar, and reduced to do the menial work connected with the sanctuary, he was not only allowed to partake of the less holy sacrificial gifts, such as the peace shoulder, the tithes, and the first-fruits, but also to eat what remained of the meat-offerings, the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings, which were most holy. (See Leviticus 2:3 .)

Persons afflicted in the manner described might eat the bread of their God, however, the sacrificial gifts, the most holy and the holy, i.e., the wave-offerings, the first-fruits, the firstlings, tithes and things laid under a ban ( Numbers 18:11-19 and Numbers 18:26-29 ), - that is to say, they might eat them like the rest of the priests; but they were not allowed to perform any priestly duty, that they might not desecrate the sanctuary of the Lord ( Leviticus 21:23 , cf. Leviticus 21:12 ).

[Bible] 21:11. Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his father, or his mother, shall he be defiled. 21:12. Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord: because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I am the Lord. 21:13. He shall take a virgin unto his wife. 21:14. But a widow or one that is divorced, or defied, or a harlot, he shall not take: but a maid of his own people. 21:15. He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common people of this nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him. 21:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 21:17. Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families, hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God. 21:18. Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind; if he be lame; if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose; 21:19. If his foot, or if his hand be broken; 21:20. If he be crookbacked; or blear eyed; or have a pearl in his eye, or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture. 21:21. Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish: he shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his God. 21:22. He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves that are offered in the sanctuary. 21:23. Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the altar: because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary. I am the Lord who sanctify them. 21:24. Moses, therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all Israel, all the things that had been commanded him. Leviticus Chapter 22 Who may eat the holy things: and what things may be offered. 22:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: 22:2. Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they beware of those things that are consecrated of the children of Israel: and defile not the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. I am the Lord.

[Reformed Biblical] s and graces, which are sufficient to vindicate a man from the contemptibleness of his bodily presence. The particular defects here mentioned I shall not enlarge upon, because some of the Hebrew words are diversely interpreted, and because the use of these things being abolished, the knowledge of them is not very necessary. ## The bread; either the shew-bread, one eminent part being named for the whole; or, the food , i.e. all the oblations. See Poole " Lev_21:6 " . Leviticus 21:18 ## He shall not approach unto God, or to serve him in his sanctuary. ## A flat n ose: most restrain this word to the nose and to some great deformity relating to it, either the want of it wholly or in part, or the shortness, flatness, or crookedness of it. But according to others, it signifies more generally a person that wants some member or members, because the next word, to which it is opposed, signifies one that hath more members than he should. Leviticus 21:19 Leviticus 21:20 Leviticus 21:21 ## No man that hath a blemish; any notorious blemish whereby he is disfigured, though not here mentioned. Leviticus 21:22 Which a priest having any uncleanness upon him might not do; whereby God would show the great difference between natural infirmities sent upon a man by God, a nd moral defilem