The Offerings That Are Holy
January 26, 2023
Commentary
The Lord told Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to honor His holy name by treating the offerings with proper respect (vv. 1–2). If a priest was ceremonially unclean, he could not eat the sacred offerings until he was clean again (v. 3). This applied to various conditions, including certain skin diseases, bodily discharges, contact with a dead body, or touching anything unclean (vv. 4–5). Anyone who became unclean had to bathe and remain unclean until evening. After sunset, once clean, he could eat the sacred food because it was his provision (vv. 6–7). The priests were also forbidden to eat animals found dead or killed by wild animals (v. 8). They had to obey God’s instructions carefully, because disobedience could bring serious consequences. The Lord reminded them that He was the One who made them holy (v. 9).
Only members of a priestly household could eat the sacred offerings. However, slaves belonging to the priest, including those born in his household, could eat it. If a priest’s daughter married someone outside the priestly family, she could no longer eat the sacred offerings. But if she became a widow or was divorced, returned to her father’s home, and had no children to support, she could eat the food again (vv. 10-13). Anyone who accidentally ate the sacred food without permission had to repay its value and add one-fifth more. The priests were warned not to treat the holy offerings brought by the Israelites as ordinary food or allow the people to become guilty by misusing them (vv. 14–16). These instructions reminded the priests that the offerings belonged to God and had to be treated with reverence. By these laws, the Lord taught His people to respect what He had declared holy.
Application
Am I approaching Him with a sincere heart and a desire to obey His Word? Do I take my worship and service to Him seriously? Today, how can I show greater reverence for God in my daily choices? Am I treating the things God has entrusted to me with gratitude, respect, and care, remembering that my life belongs to Him?
Leviticus 22:1–16 (NET)
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites, which they consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings, which the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, while he is impure, that person must be cut off from before me. I am the Lord. 4 No man from the descendants of Aaron who is diseased or has a discharge may eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. The one who touches anything made unclean by contact with a dead person, or with a man who has a seminal emission, 5 or with a man who touches a swarming thing by which he becomes unclean, or who touches a person by which he becomes unclean, whatever that person’s impurity — 6 the person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening and must not eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he will be clean, and afterward he may eat from the holy offerings, because they are his food. 8 He must not eat an animal that has died of natural causes or an animal torn by beasts and thus become unclean by it. I am the Lord. 9 They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it and therefore die because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
10 “‘No lay person may eat anything holy. Neither a priest’s lodger nor a hired laborer may eat anything holy, 11 but if a priest buys a person with his own money, that person may eat the holy offerings, and those born in the priest’s own house may eat his food. 12 If a priest’s daughter marries a lay person, she may not eat the holy contribution offerings, 13 but if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and she has no children so that she returns to live in her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat from her father’s food, but no lay person may eat it.
14 “‘If a man eats a holy offering by mistake, he must add one-fifth to it and give the holy offering to the priest. 15 They must not profane the holy offerings which the Israelites contribute to the Lord, 16 and so cause them to incur a penalty for guilt when they eat their holy offerings, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”
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