21 And anyone who, after touching any unclean thing of man or an unclean beast or any unclean and disgusting thing, takes as food the flesh of the peace-offerings, which are the Lord's, will be cut off from his people.
And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Say to the children of Israel: If a man has an unclean flow from his flesh, it will make him unclean. If the flow goes on or if the part is stopped up, to keep back the flow, he is still unclean. Every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean, and everything on which he has been seated will be unclean. And anyone touching his bed is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And he who has been seated on anything on which the unclean man has been seated is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And anyone touching the flesh of the unclean man is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And if liquid from the mouth of the unclean man comes on to him who is clean, then he is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And any leather seat on a horse on which the unclean man has been seated will be unclean. And anyone touching anything which was under him will be unclean till the evening; anyone taking up any of these things is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And anyone on whom the unclean man puts his hands, without washing them in water, is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And any vessel of earth which has been touched by the unclean man will have to be broken and any vessel of wood washed. And when a man who has a flow from his body is made clean from it, he is to take seven days to make himself clean, washing his clothing and bathing his body in flowing water, and then he will be clean. And on the eighth day he is to take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the door of the Tent of meeting and give them to the priest: And they are to be offered by the priest, one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering, and the priest will take away his sin before the Lord on account of his flow. And if a man's seed goes out from him, then all his body will have to be bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening. And any clothing or skin on which the seed comes is to be washed with water and be unclean till evening. And if a man has sex relations with a woman and his seed goes out from him, the two of them will have to be bathed in water and will be unclean till evening. And if a woman has a flow of blood from her body, she will have to be kept separate for seven days, and anyone touching her will be unclean till evening. And everything on which she has been resting, while she is kept separate, will be unclean, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean. And anyone touching her bed will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And anyone touching anything on which she has been seated will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. Anyone touching anything on the bed or on the thing on which she has been seated, will be unclean till evening. And if any man has sex relations with her so that her blood comes on him, he will be unclean for seven days and every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean. And if a woman has a flow of blood for a long time, not at the time when she generally has it, or if the flow goes on longer than the normal time, she will be unclean while the flow of blood goes on, as she is at other normal times. Every bed on which she has been resting will be unclean, as at the times when she normally has a flow of blood, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean, in the same way. And anyone touching these things will be unclean, and his clothing will have to be washed and his body bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening. But when her flow of blood is stopped, after seven days she will be clean. And on the eighth day let her get two doves or two young pigeons and take them to the priest to the door of the Tent of meeting, To be offered by the priest, one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering; and the priest will take away her sin before the Lord on account of her unclean condition. In this way may the children of Israel be made free from all sorts of unclean conditions, so that death may not overtake them when they are unclean and when they make unclean my holy place which is among them. This is the law for the man who has a flow from his body, or whose seed goes from him so that he is unclean; And for her who has a flow of blood, and for any man or woman who has an unclean flow, and for him who has sex relations with a woman when she is unclean.
All other things living and moving in the water, in the sea or in the rivers, are a disgusting thing to you; They may not be used for food, and their dead bodies are disgusting to you. Anything in the water which has no special parts for swimming and no thin plates on its skin is disgusting to you. And among birds these are to be disgusting to you, and not to be used for food: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray;
If anyone becomes unclean through touching unconsciously some unclean thing, such as the dead body of an unclean beast or of unclean cattle or of any unclean animal which goes flat on the earth, he will be responsible: Or if he becomes unclean through touching unconsciously any unclean thing of man, whatever it may be, when it is made clear to him he will be responsible:
But these birds you may not take: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray; The falcon and the kite, and birds of that sort; Every raven, and all birds of that sort; And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk and birds of that sort; The little owl and the great owl and the water-hen; And the pelican and the vulture and the cormorant; The stork and the heron and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat. Every winged thing which goes flat on the earth is unclean to you and may not be used as food. But all clean birds you may take.
But even among these, there are some which may not be used for food: such as the camel, the hare, and the coney, which are unclean to you, because, though their food comes back, the horn of their feet is not parted in two. And the pig is unclean to you, because though it has a division in the horn of its foot, its food does not come back; their flesh may not be used for food or their dead bodies touched by you.
Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days: On the third day and on the seventh day he is to make himself clean with the water, and so he will be clean: but if he does not do this on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. Anyone touching the body of a dead man without making himself clean in this way, makes the House of the Lord unclean; and that man will be cut off from Israel: because the water was not put on him, he will be unclean; his unclean condition is unchanged. This is the law when death comes to a man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean for seven days. And every open vessel without a cover fixed on it will be unclean. And anyone touching one who has been put to death with the sword in the open country, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or a man's bone, or the resting-place of a dead body, will be unclean for seven days.
By these you will be made unclean; anyone touching their dead bodies will be unclean till evening: Whoever takes away the dead body of one of them is to have his clothing washed, and will be unclean till evening. Every beast, in the horn of whose foot there is not a complete division, and whose food does not come back, is unclean to you: anyone touching one of these will be unclean. Any four-footed beast which goes on the ball of its foot, is unclean to you: anyone touching the dead body of one of these will be unclean till evening. Anyone who takes away the dead body of one of these is to have his clothing washed and be unclean till evening. And these are unclean to you among things which go low down on the earth; the weasel and the mouse and the great lizard, and animals of that sort; And the ferret and the land crocodile and the lizard and the sand-lizard and the chameleon. All these are unclean to you: anyone touching them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. The dead body of any of these, falling on anything, will make that thing unclean; if it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or bag, whatever it is, if it is used for any purpose, it will have to be put into water, and will be unclean till evening; after that it will be clean. And if one of them gets into any vessel of earth, whatever is in the vessel will be unclean and the vessel will have to be broken. Any food in it, and anything on which water from it comes, will be unclean: any drink taken from such a vessel will be unclean. Any part of the dead body of one of these, falling on anything, will make it unclean; if it is an oven or a cooking-pot it will have to be broken: they are unclean and will be unclean to you. But at the same time a fountain or a place where water is stored for use will be clean; but anyone touching their dead bodies will be unclean. If any part of the dead body of one of these gets on to any seed for planting, it is clean; But if water is put on the seed, and any part of the dead body gets on to it, it will be unclean to you. And if any beast which may be used for food comes to a natural death, anyone touching its dead body will be unclean till evening. And he who makes use of any part of its body for food is to have his clothing washed and be unclean till evening; and anyone taking away its body is to have his clothing washed and be unclean till evening. Everything which goes flat on its body on the earth is disgusting, and is not to be used for food. Whatever goes on its stomach or on four feet or has a great number of feet, even all those going flat on the earth, may not be used for food, for they are disgusting.
Whoever makes any like it, or puts it on one who is not a priest, will be cut off from his people. And the Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, with the best frankincense, in equal weights; And make from them a perfume, such as is made by the art of the perfume-maker, mixed with salt, and clean and holy. And put some of it, crushed very small, in front of the ark in the Tent of meeting, where I will come face to face with you; it is to be most holy. You are not to make any perfume like it for yourselves: it is to be kept holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it, for its sweet smell, will be cut off from his people.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 7
Commentary on Leviticus 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
Le 7:1-27. The Law of the Trespass Offering.
1. Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering—This chapter is a continuation of the laws that were to regulate the duty of the priests respecting the trespass offerings. The same regulations obtained in this case as in the burnt offerings—part was to be consumed on the altar, while the other part was a perquisite of the priests—some fell exclusively to the officiating minister, and was the fee for his services; others were the common share of all the priestly order, who lived upon them as their provision, and whose meetings at a common table would tend to promote brotherly harmony and friendship.
8. the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered—All the flesh and the fat of the burnt offerings being consumed, nothing remained to the priest but the skin. It has been thought that this was a patriarchal usage, incorporated with the Mosaic law, and that the right of the sacrificer to the skin of the victim was transmitted from the example of Adam (see on Ge 3:21).
11-14. this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings—Besides the usual accompaniments of other sacrifices, leavened bread was offered with the peace offerings, as a thanksgiving, such bread being common at feasts.
15-17. the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings … shall be eaten the same day that it is offered—The flesh of the sacrifices was eaten on the day of the offering or on the day following. But if any part of it remained till the third day, it was, instead of being made use of, to be burned with fire. In the East, butcher-meat is generally eaten the day it is killed, and it is rarely kept a second day, so that as a prohibition was issued against any of the flesh in the peace offerings being used on the third day, it has been thought, not without reason, that this injunction must have been given to prevent a superstitious notion arising that there was some virtue or holiness belonging to it.
18. if any of the flesh of the sacrifice … be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither … imputed—The sacrifice will not be acceptable to God nor profitable to him that offers it.
20. cut off from his people—that is, excluded from the privileges of an Israelite—lie under a sentence of excommunication.
21. abominable unclean thing—Some copies of the Bible read, "any reptile."
22-27. Ye shall eat no manner of fat—(See on Le 3:17).
Le 7:28-38. The Priests' Portion.
29-34. He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the Lord—In order to show that the sacrifice was voluntary, the offerer was required to bring it with his own hands to the priest. The breast having been waved to and fro in a solemn manner as devoted to God, was given to the priests; it was assigned to the use of their order generally, but the right shoulder was the perquisite of the officiating priest.
35-38. This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron—These verses contain a general summing up of the laws which regulate the privileges and duties of the priests. The word "anointing" is often used as synonymous with "office" or "dignity." So that the "portion of the anointing of Aaron" probably means the provision made for the maintenance of the high priest and the numerous body of functionaries which composed the sacerdotal order.
in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord, &c.—that is, from the day they approached the Lord in the duties of their ministry.