The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Restrictions against the Unclean
Leviticus 22:1–16 — Restrictions against the Unclean. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1Then the LORD said to Moses,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh lê·mōr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And spoke Yahweh unto Moses, saying:
Where the English smooths the original
In this chapter the laws regulating the conduct of the priests in their holy ministrations are continued. As the last chapter concluded with the permission to disqualified priests to eat of the sacrifices, this chapter opens with conditions under which even the legally qualified priests must not partake of the offerings.
This law is of course to be regarded as one development of the great principle that all which is devoted to the service of God should be as perfect as possible of its kind.
The foregoing rules relate to the personal qualifications of priests: here follow several cautions relating to the privileges which they and their families had of eating their share of the sacrifices, from Leviticus 22:1 to Leviticus 22:17 , which cautions served to remind them of that reverence and moral purity wherewith their worship ought to be paid to God.Benson supplies the hinge from chapter 21 (bodily fitness of priests) to chapter 22 (their fitness to eat the holy things).
Let us recollect with gratitude that our great High Priest cannot be hindered by any thing from the discharge of his office. Let us also remember, that the Lord requires us to reverence his name, his truths, his ordinances, and commandments.Henry's note is repeated verbatim across the whole chapter; we quote the portion most particular to verse 1's frame.
2“Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings that the Israelites have consecrated to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name. I am the LORD.
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dab·bêr ’el- ’a·hă·rōn wə·’el- bā·nāw wə·yin·nā·zə·rū miq·qā·ḏə·šê ḇə·nê- yiś·rā·’êl ’ă·šer hêm maq·di·šîm lî wə·lō yə·ḥal·lə·lū ’eṯ- qāḏ·šî šêm ’ă·nî Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, that they hold themselves apart from the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they consecrate to Me, and that they profane not My holy name. I am Yahweh.
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Aaron and his sons were to keep away from the holy gifts of the children of Israel, which they consecrated to Jehovah, that they might not profane the holy name of Jehovah by defiling them
What is meant is that whenever they are in a condition of ceremonial impurity they must be careful not to come into contact with holy things.
A careless or irreverent use of things consecrated to God tends to dishonor the name and bring disrespect on the worship of God.
3Tell them that for the generations to come, if any of their descendants in a state of uncleanness approaches the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from My presence. I am the LORD.
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’ĕ·mōr ’ă·lê·hem lə·ḏō·rō·ṯê·ḵem kāl- ’îš ’ă·šer- mik·kāl zar·‘ă·ḵem ’el- wə·ṭum·’ā·ṯōw ‘ā·lāw yiq·raḇ haq·qo·ḏā·šîm ’ă·šer ḇə·nê- yiś·rā·’êl yaq·dî·šū Yah·weh ha·hi·w han·ne·p̄eš wə·niḵ·rə·ṯāh mil·lə·p̄ā·nay ’ă·nî Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Say unto them: Throughout your generations, any man of all your seed who draws near the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate to Yahweh, while his uncleanness is upon him — that soul shall be cut off from before My face. I am Yahweh.
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Its exceptional form here may therefore have reference to the peculiar circumstances. If the priest ventures to approach the altar presumptuously to partake in a defiled state of the holy sacrifices, God himself will banish him from His presence as He did Nadab and Abihu.
Cut off — From my ordinances by excommunication: he shall be excluded both from the administration and from the participation of them. Le Clerc takes it for cutting off by death.
The multitude of minute restrictions to which the priests, from accidental defilement, were subjected, by keeping them constantly on their guard lest they should be unfit for the sacred service, tended to preserve in full exercise the feeling of awe and submission to the authority of God.
From my presence; either from the place of my presence and from my ordinances by excommunication: he shall be excluded both from the administration and from the participation of them. Or, from the people, among whom I am present, which commonly is expressed by cutting off from his people. Or, from the land of the living.Poole lays out three live readings of karet side by side — excommunication, banishment from the people, or death — which is why the unit declines to adjudicate it.
4If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,
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miz·ze·ra‘ ’îš ’îš ’a·hă·rōn wə·hū ṣā·rū·a‘ ’ōw zāḇ yō·ḵal lō baq·qo·ḏā·šîm ‘aḏ ’ă·šer yiṭ·hār wə·han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bə·ḵāl ṭə·mê- ne·p̄eš ’ōw ’îš ’ă·šer- tê·ṣê mim·men·nū šiḵ·ḇaṯ- zā·ra‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Any man of the seed of Aaron who is leprous or has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. And whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or a man from whom an emission of seed has gone out,
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Whose seed goeth from him. —This is the same case mentioned in Leviticus 15:16 . The two passages ought therefore to be uniform in the translation.
No leper was to touch them (see Leviticus 13:2 ), or person with gonorrhaea ( Leviticus 15:2 ), until he was clean; no one who had touched a person defiled by a corpse ( Leviticus 19:28 ; Numbers 19:22 ), or whose seed had gone from him ( Leviticus 15:16 , Leviticus 15:18 )
for the wives and daughters of the priests, if in this, and other circumstances following, might not eat of the holy things until cleansed, who otherwise might
5or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be—
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’ōw- ’îš ’ă·šer yig·ga‘ bə·ḵāl še·reṣ ’ă·šer yiṭ·mā- lōw ’ōw ḇə·’ā·ḏām ’ă·šer yiṭ·mā- lōw lə·ḵōl ṭum·’ā·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
or a man who touches any swarming thing by which he is made unclean, or a person who is unclean to him — whatever his uncleanness may be —
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Or a man of whom he may take uncleanness. —Better, or a man who is unclean to him, that is, who is a leper (see Leviticus 13:45 ), or has an issue (see Leviticus 15:5 , &c.), and who imparts defilement by contact.
Creeping things - i. e. dead vermin. Compare Leviticus 11:29 .
טמאתו לכל, as in Leviticus 5:3 , a closer definition of לו יטמא אשׁר, "who is unclean to him with regard to (on account of) any uncleanness which he may have."Keil quotes the Hebrew clause directly; reproduced verbatim, including the original-language characters.
6the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.
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ne·p̄eš ’ă·šer tig·ga‘- bōw wə·ṭā·mə·’āh ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ wə·lō yō·ḵal min- haq·qo·ḏā·šîm kî ’im- rā·ḥaṣ bə·śā·rōw bam·mā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
the soul who touches any of these shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has washed his flesh in water.
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The soul - Rather, the person. Compare the use of the word "body" in the Prayer Book version of Psalm 53:1 , and in the compounds "somebody, nobody".
he also washed, not to cleanse himself, for the water was ineffectual for that purpose, but to signify that he was clean. Not a single case is recorded of a leper being restored to communion by the use of water; it served only as an outward and visible sign that such a restoration was to be made.
any son of Aaron, who had touched either an unclean person or thing, was to be unclean till the evening, and then bathe his body; after sunset, i.e., when the day was over, he became clean, and could eat of the sanctified things, for they were his food.
7When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the sacred offerings, for they are his food.
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haš·še·meš ū·ḇā wə·ṭā·hêr wə·’a·ḥar yō·ḵal min- haq·qo·ḏā·šîm kî hū laḥ·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And when the sun has gone in, he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat of the holy things, for it is his bread.
Where the English smooths the original
As the sacrifices which were the perquisites of the officiating priests were the only things he had to live upon, the priest who had contracted defilement had virtually to go without food till sundown, when he purified himself by the prescribed lustrations.
His food — His portion, the means of his subsistence. This may be added, to signify why there was no greater nor longer a penalty put upon the priests than upon the people in the same case, because his necessity craved some mitigation: though otherwise the priests, being more sacred persons, deserved a greater punishment.
these being his only substance, in compassion to him they were detained from him no longer than the evening; and this was done, to make him careful how he defiled himself, since thereby he was debarred of his ordinary meals.Gill names the pedagogy of the brief exclusion: the priest's hunger itself trains his vigilance.
8He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.
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lō yō·ḵal nə·ḇê·lāh ū·ṭə·rê·p̄āh lə·ṭā·mə·’āh- ḇāh ’ă·nî Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
That which dies of itself or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself by it. I am Yahweh.
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The feelings of nature revolt against such food. It might have been left to the discretion of the Hebrews, who it may be supposed (like the people of all civilized nations) would have abstained from the use of it without any positive interdict. But an express precept was necessary to show them that whatever died naturally or from disease, was prohibited to them by the operation of that law which forbade them the use of any meat with its blood.
The pollution in the priests would be an aggravated one, inasmuch as they would have to forego their sacred functions. Compare Ezekiel 4:14 ; Ezekiel 44:31 . The general prohibition occurs in Leviticus 11:39 ; Leviticus 17:15 ; Exodus 22:31 .
these things were forbid a common Israelite, and much less might a priest eat of them, see Leviticus 17:15 , I am the Lord; who enjoin this, and expect to be obeyed.
9The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·šā·mə·rū ’eṯ- miš·mar·tî wə·lō- yiś·’ū ‘ā·lāw ḥêṭ ū·mê·ṯū ḇōw kî yə·ḥal·lə·lu·hū ’ă·nî Yah·weh mə·qad·də·šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
They shall keep My charge, lest they bear guilt upon it and die by it because they profane it. I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
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Lest they bear sin — Incur guilt and punishment. For it — For the neglect or violation of it.
and die by the hand of God, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom interpret it, as Nadab and Abihu did, and even in like manner, by fire
Mine ordinance; either this ordinance here treated of concerning abstaining from holy things when they are unclean; or more generally, that great ordinance whereby I have made them the guardians of holy places and things, to keep them from all defilement by themselves or others.
10No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it.
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lō- wə·ḵāl zār yō·ḵal qō·ḏeš lō- tō·wō·šaḇ kō·hên wə·śā·ḵîr yō·ḵal qō·ḏeš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
No stranger shall eat the holy thing; a sojourner of a priest or a hired servant shall not eat the holy thing.
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By “stranger” here is meant a non-Aaronite who was a stranger to the priestly family, though he was an Israelite, or even a Levite. The holy things are the peace offerings.
No stranger, i.e. of a strange family, who is not a priest, as Leviticus 22:12 : compare Matthew 12:4 . But there is an exception to this rule, Leviticus 22:11 . A sojourner; one that comes to his house and abides there for a season, and eats at his table.Poole's own cross-reference to Matthew 12:4 (David and the shewbread) anticipates this unit's Christ thread.
No stranger was to eat a sanctified thing. זר is in general the non-priest, then any person who was not fully incorporated into a priestly family, e.g., a visitor or day-labourer (cf. Exodus 12:49 ), who were neither of them members of his family.
11But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.
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kî- wə·ḵō·hên yiq·neh ne·p̄eš qin·yan kas·pōw hêm wî·lîḏ bê·ṯōw hū yō·ḵal bōw yō·ḵə·lū ḇə·laḥ·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But if a priest buys a soul, a purchase of his money, that one may eat of it; and one born in his house — they may eat of his bread.
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This shows how completely a purchased bondsman was incorporated into the household.
slaves bought for money, or born in the house, became members of his family and lived upon his bread; they were therefore allowed to eat of that which was sanctified along with him, since the slaves were, in fact, formally incorporated into the nation by circumcision ( Genesis 17:12-13 ).
the holy ordinances of the Gospel are not to be administered to strangers, persons destitute of the grace of God, nor to such as are not of the family or church of God, but to such as are bought and redeemed with the blood of Christ, the high priest, and are born again of his Spirit and grace.Gill draws the typological line we develop in the Christ section; quoted verbatim.
12If the priest’s daughter is married to a man other than a priest, she is not to eat of the sacred contributions.
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kî kō·hên ū·ḇaṯ- ṯih·yeh lə·’îš zār hî lō ṯō·ḵêl haq·qo·ḏā·šîm biṯ·rū·maṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And if a priest's daughter comes to belong to a stranger — a man outside the priesthood — she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things.
Where the English smooths the original
Yet the priest’s wife, though of another family, might eat. The reason of which difference is, because the wife passeth into the name, state, and privileges of her husband, from whom the family is denominated.
By her marriage she has become a member of a non-priestly family, and thus her rights have lapsed.
By marrying a Hebrew of non-Aaronic descent, and thus leaving her paternal home, the daughter of the priest ceased to be part of the family circle, and lost her right to partake of the holy things. Her bread came from her husband, and she could therefore no longer partake of the priest’s bread.
13But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.
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kî kō·hên ū·ḇaṯ- ’ên lāh wə·ze·ra‘ ṯih·yeh ’al·mā·nāh ū·ḡə·rū·šāh wə·šā·ḇāh ’el- ’ā·ḇî·hā bêṯ tō·ḵêl ’ā·ḇî·hā mil·le·ḥem kin·‘ū·re·hā wə·ḵāl lō- zār yō·ḵal bōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or divorced and has no seed, and she returns to her father's house as in her youth, she may eat of her father's bread; but no stranger may eat of it.
Where the English smooths the original
the daughter of a priest, if she became a widow, or was put away by her husband, and returned childless to her father's house, and became a member of his family again, just as in the days of her youth, might eat of the holy things.
All the Hebrews, even the nearest neighbors of the priest, the members of his family excepted, were considered strangers in this respect, so that they had no right to eat of things offered at the altar.
The children are debarred, as having had a non-priestly father, and the mother shares their disability.
14If anyone eats a sacred offering in error, he must add a fifth to its value and give the sacred offering to the priest.
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kî- wə·’îš yō·ḵal qō·ḏeš biš·ḡā·ḡāh wə·yā·sap̄ ḥă·mi·šî·ṯōw ‘ā·lāw wə·nā·ṯan haq·qō·ḏeš lak·kō·hên ’eṯ-
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And if a man eats a holy thing in error, then he shall add a fifth to it, and give the holy thing to the priest.
Where the English smooths the original
any one who inadvertently took a share in them by eating of the holy thing unwittingly , when he had no right to do so, had to refund the value of the meat, with one fifth, that is, twenty percent, added to it.
A common Israelite might unconsciously partake of what had been offered as tithes, first-fruits, &c., and on discovering his unintentional error, he was not only to restore as much as he had used, but be fined in a fifth part more for the priests to carry into the sanctuary.
Here the man has unwittingly eaten of consecrated food, although not belonging to those who, in accordance with the preceding regulations, were privileged in that respect.
15The priests must not profane the sacred offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD
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wə·lō yə·ḥal·lə·lū ’eṯ- qā·ḏə·šê bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl ’êṯ ’ă·šer- yā·rî·mū Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And they shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they lift up to Yahweh,
Where the English smooths the original
Technically and literally, David was guilty of this trespass in an aggravated form, when he and his followers ate the shewbread at Nob ( 1 Samuel 21:6 ), for the shewbread was not only holy, but most holy. But his act is excused by our Lord, on the plea of necessity ( Matthew 12:3, 4 )The Pulpit Commentary itself draws the line from this trespass-law to David at Nob and to Christ's defense of him in Matthew 12 — the seed of our Christ thread.
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)."
There is some difficulty felt in determining to whom "they" refers. The subject of the preceding context being occupied about the priests, it is supposed by some that this relates to them also
16by allowing the people to eat the sacred offerings and thus to bear the punishment for guilt. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”
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bə·’ā·ḵə·lām ’eṯ- qā·ḏə·šê·hem wə·hiś·śî·’ū ’ō·w·ṯām ‘ă·wōn ’aš·māh kî ’ă·nî Yah·weh mə·qad·də·šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and so cause them to bear the iniquity of guilt by their eating their holy things. For I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
Where the English smooths the original
not only are the priests themselves prohibited to treat with profanity the sacred gifts, but they are to realise that it is incumbent upon them to guard these sacrifices so carefully as not to cause the Israelites to contract sin
the subject to יחלּלוּ (profane) and השּׂאוּ (bear) is indefinite, and the passage to be rendered thus: "They are not to profane the sanctified gifts of the children of Israel, what they heave for the Lord (namely, by letting laymen eat of them), and are to cause them (the laymen) who do this unawares to bear a trespass-sinKeil's rendering, including the Hebrew lemmata, is reproduced verbatim.
They , i.e. the priests shall not (the negative particle being understood out of the foregoing clause, as Psalm 1:5 9:18 suffer them , i.e. the people, to bear the iniquity of trespass, i.e. the punishment of their sin, which they might expect from God, and for the prevention whereof the priest was to see restitution madePoole defends the traditional reading Keil rejects — supplying a 'not' from v.15 — so the two voices frame the grammatical crux of vv.15–16 from opposite sides.
For if they did not offer sacrifice for their error, the people by their example might commit the same offence.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens, as every oracle of the Holiness Code opens, with way·ḏab·bêr Yahweh — "and Yahweh spoke" (v.1) — and the verb stands first in the Hebrew, the act of divine speech preceding even the speaker. The command is narrow: spoken to Aaron and his sons alone (v.2), not the people. Its verb is yin·nā·zə·rū (H5144, nâzar), the Nazirite word for separation; Keil and Delitzsch gloss it "to keep away, separate one's self from anything." The same root that elsewhere consecrates a man to God here tells the priest to hold back from the holy when he is unfit. The stake is named at once: "that they profane not (yə·ḥal·lə·lū, H2490) My holy name" — for, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown warn, "A careless or irreverent use of things consecrated to God tends to dishonor the name and bring disrespect on the worship of God." Verse 3 sets the penalty in a phrase the Pentateuch uses nowhere else for excision — mil·lə·p̄ā·nay, "from before My face" — which led Ellicott to read a direct divine banishment: "God himself will banish him from His presence as He did Nadab and Abihu."
Verses 4–6 enumerate what disqualifies: the ṣā·rū·a‘ (the one "struck" with tsaraʻath), the zāḇ (the man with a flux), corpse-impurity (literally "unclean-of-a-nephesh"), the emission of seed (shᵉkâbâh, H7902, a word of only nine occurrences), the swarming creature (sherets), and the closing catch-all "whatever his uncleanness may be." Ellicott rightly insists the seed-clause "is the same case mentioned in Leviticus 15:16," and the rare vocabulary makes the cross-reference exact. Then the remedy: "unclean until the evening" and "he washes his flesh in water" (v.6). JFB reads the washing as sign, not cause — "not to cleanse himself, for the water was ineffectual for that purpose, but to signify that he was clean." At sundown, wə·ṭā·hêr — "he is clean" — and may eat, "for it is his bread" (laḥ·mōw, v.7); Benson notes the brevity of the exclusion was mercy, since "his necessity craved some mitigation." Verse 8 forbids the carcass (nᵉbêlâh) and the torn beast (ṭᵉrêphâh) — the rarest pair in the unit (nine and forty-one verses), the verbal hinge to Exodus 22:31, Leviticus 7:24, and Ezekiel 44:31.
Verse 9 names the priestly vocation with a cognate accusative — wə·šā·mə·rū ’eṯ-miš·mar·tî, "they shall keep My keeping" — and warns that to profane the charge is to bear sin (nâsâʼ ḥêṭ, H5375 + H2399) and die. Then the boundary question: who may eat? Not the zār, the outsider (v.10), nor the lodger or hired man — but the bought servant and the home-born are reckoned in (v.11), for, as Barnes observes, "a purchased bondsman was incorporated into the household." Gill presses this to its Gospel edge: the holy things belong "to such as are bought and redeemed with the blood of Christ, the high priest, and are born again of his Spirit." The married-out daughter loses her place (v.12); the widowed or childless one, returning (shûwb) "as in her youth," regains it (v.13) — a rare provision of homecoming inside a law of fences. Verse 14 covers the inadvertent eater (biš·ḡā·ḡāh) with restitution-plus-a-fifth. Verses 15–16 close on a famously knotty Hebrew clause; Keil argues the subject is deliberately indefinite and the priests must not "cause them to bear a trespass-sin." The unit ends where it must — "I am Yahweh who sanctifies them" (mə·qad·də·šām) — the positive ground beneath every prohibition.
Read under Sola Scriptura and tested against the rest of the canon, Leviticus 22 is not arbitrary fastidiousness but a sustained argument that the holy must not be made common, and that the boundary runs through belonging rather than merit. Note what the chapter does not say: it never bars a priest for being a sinner, only for being unclean — a state that ends each evening with washing and the turning of the sun. Holiness here is not earned by performance; it is conferred ("I am Yahweh who sanctifies them," vv.9, 16) and merely guarded by the priest. The most theologically loaded provision is v.11: the bought and the home-born eat the holy bread that the lifelong neighbor (the hired man, v.10) may not — admission turns entirely on incorporation into the household, by purchase-price or by birth. That is precisely the New Testament's grammar of belonging: redeemed by a price (1 Corinthians 6:20) and born again (John 3). My fallible reading is that the chapter's deepest note is mercy disciplined by reverence — the exclusions are real and the penalties severe, yet every one of them is bounded: by sundown, by restitution, by the open door of v.11 and the homecoming of v.13. The God who fences His table is the same God who keeps making His people fit to sit at it. This reading should be tested: a reader could press the karet penalties and the daughter's lost rights toward harshness rather than mercy, and the grammatical crux of vv.15–16 keeps even the chapter's last word humble.
The hired man labors at the priest's side for years and never tastes the holy bread; the slave bought this morning eats it tonight — for the table belongs to the household, and the household is entered by price or by birth, never by service.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Verse 8 repeats for priests a prohibition already binding on every Israelite: not to eat the nᵉbêlâh (that which dies of itself) or the ṭᵉrêphâh (that which is torn). The link is carried by two rare nouns — ṭᵉrêphâh in only 9 verses, nᵉbêlâh in 41 — recurring at Leviticus 7:24 (the fat of such animals) and Exodus 22:31 ("you shall be holy men to Me; you shall not eat flesh torn by beasts"). Barnes notes the priest's offense is the graver, "inasmuch as they would have to forego their sacred functions." The shared holiness motif — the people called "holy men" in Exodus, the priests fenced here — makes the verbal tie also a structural one.
Leviticus 7:24 · Exodus 22:31
basis: Verifier-confirmed rare shared lexemes H2966 ṭᵉrêphâh (9 vv) and H5038 nᵉbêlâh (41 vv), with H398 ʼâkal; the low frequency of ṭᵉrêphâh makes this a verbal echo, not mere thematic overlap.
Verse 8's ban on the nᵉbêlâh and the ṭᵉrêphâh does not originate with the priests; it is the bare repetition, in priestly key, of the law already laid on every soul in Israel at Leviticus 17:15 — "every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts ... shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even." Both Barnes ("The general prohibition occurs in ... Leviticus 17:15") and the Cambridge Bible ("Cp. Leviticus 17:15") send the reader here. The same rare pair binds the two, and the priest's transgression is the heavier precisely because the floor beneath him is the law for all Israel; he sins as a layman and forfeits his ministry.
Leviticus 17:15
basis: Verifier-confirmed rare shared lexemes H2966 ṭᵉrêphâh (9 vv) and H5038 nᵉbêlâh (41 vv) with H2930 ṭâmêʼ and H398 ʼâkal; both Barnes and the Cambridge Bible name Lev 17:15 as the general prohibition Lev 22:8 echoes.
Verse 4's clause on the man "from whom seed has gone out" reuses the very rare shᵉkâbâh zeraʻ ("a lying-down of seed," H7902, only 9 verses). Ellicott states the connection plainly: "This is the same case mentioned in Leviticus 15:16. The two passages ought therefore to be uniform in the translation." The chapter does not invent a new priestly purity standard; it folds the priest under the general law of Leviticus 15, with the added stake that his impurity bars him from the altar and his bread.
Leviticus 15:16 · Leviticus 15:18 · Numbers 5:13
basis: Verifier-confirmed rare shared lexeme H7902 shᵉkâbâh (9 vv) with H2233 zeraʻ; Ellicott explicitly identifies Lev 22:4 and Lev 15:16 as 'the same case.'
The exclusion of the tôwshâb (sojourner/lodger) and the sâkîyr (hired man) from the priestly food (v.10) reuses the exact pair that governs the Passover lamb in Exodus 12:45 — "a sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat of it." Both nouns are rare (13 and 17 verses) and travel together as a fixed legal formula. The principle is identical across both holy meals: participation requires incorporation into the household, not mere proximity or paid service. Keil connects v.10 directly to Exodus 12:49.
Exodus 12:45 · Leviticus 25:6
basis: Verifier-confirmed rare shared lexemes H8453 tôwshâb (13 vv) and H7916 sâkîyr (17 vv); the same two-word formula governs both the priestly food and the Passover (Exodus 12:45).
The command to "separate" (nâzar, H5144, only 10 verses) and the warning of being "cut off" echo Leviticus 15:31, where the LORD bids Israel "separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile My tabernacle." The shared rare verb nâzar and the shared nouns of impurity (ṭumʼâh, ṭâmêʼ) tie the two; both texts frame defilement of the holy as a matter of life and death, guarding the sanctuary where God dwells.
Leviticus 15:31
basis: Verifier-confirmed rare shared lexeme H5144 nâzar (10 vv) plus H2932 ṭumʼâh and H2930 ṭâmêʼ; the rarity of nâzar lifts this above generic thematic overlap.
Ezekiel's vision of the eschatological temple legislates the identical carcass-and-torn-beast prohibition for its priests: "The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn" (Ezekiel 44:31), using the same rare pair nᵉbêlâh and ṭᵉrêphâh. Barnes cross-references both Ezekiel 4:14 and 44:31 at this verse. The thread shows the Levitical priestly standard carried forward into Israel's hope for a purified worship — continuity of holiness across the canon's prophetic horizon.
Ezekiel 44:31 · Ezekiel 4:14
basis: Verifier-confirmed rare shared lexemes H2966 ṭᵉrêphâh (9 vv) and H5038 nᵉbêlâh (41 vv); Ezekiel 44:31 reproduces Lev 22:8's prohibition near-verbatim, and Barnes cites the link directly.
Verse 6 requires the defiled priest to wash his flesh in water before he may eat the holy things, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the rite as figure rather than mechanism: the priest washed "not to cleanse himself, for the water was ineffectual for that purpose, but to signify that he was clean ... it served only as an outward and visible sign that such a restoration was to be made." The New Testament takes up exactly this sign-grammar of washing for access to the holy: believers "draw near" only "having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22), the water signing a cleansing the blood actually effects (Ephesians 5:26). This is a cross-Testament link between Hebrew and Greek texts, so it cannot rest on a shared Strong's number and is tiered structural, not verbal: the connection is the shared pattern — bodily washing as the visible token of a cleansing one must already possess to approach God — which JFB themselves draw out from the Levitical text.
Hebrews 10:22 · Ephesians 5:26
basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew↔Greek): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, so this is tiered structural, not verbal. The shared pattern is washing-the-body as outward sign of a cleansing for sanctuary access; JFB explicitly read Lev 22:6's washing as sign, and Hebrews 10:22 frames drawing near by bodies 'washed with pure water.'
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The whole chapter assumes a priesthood that can be disqualified — by leprosy, by a corpse, by the passing of an evening — and so must perpetually guard itself against defilement before it can serve or eat. Matthew Henry reads the contrast christologically across the chapter: "our great High Priest cannot be hindered by any thing from the discharge of his office." Where Aaron's sons are barred by a touch and restored only by water and sundown, Hebrews presents a High Priest "holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26) — the permanent reality the Levitical fences could only signify. The same nâsâʼ ("to bear") that threatens the careless priest with bearing his own sin (vv.9, 16) is fulfilled in the One who bore the sins of many (Isaiah 53:12). This reading is widely held across the Reformation and Puritan commentators represented in this unit.
Hebrews 7:26 · Hebrews 13:10 · Isaiah 53:12
Verse 11 admits to the holy table exactly two classes the laity lacks — the servant bought with money and the one born in the house — while the lifelong hired neighbor (v.10) is shut out. John Gill draws the typology explicitly: the holy things belong "to such as are bought and redeemed with the blood of Christ, the high priest, and are born again of his Spirit and grace." The New Testament names belonging by these same two doors — purchase ("you were bought with a price," 1 Corinthians 6:20; "redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ," 1 Peter 1:18-19) and new birth (John 1:13; 3:5). The figure is bounded: the Lord's table, like the priest's, is for the household, entered not by service rendered but by redemption received. Gill's particular application is a Reformed reading rather than an ancient consensus, so we mark it as a more specific development.
1 Corinthians 6:20 · 1 Peter 1:18 · John 3:5
The trespass-law of vv.14–16 — the layman who eats the holy thing must restore it with a fifth, and the priest must not let him bear that guilt — is the very statute David technically violated when he and his men ate the consecrated Bread of the Presence at Nob. The Pulpit Commentary makes the link unprompted: "David was guilty of this trespass in an aggravated form... But his act is excused by our Lord, on the plea of necessity (Matthew 12:3, 4)." When Jesus cites that incident to defend His disciples, He claims authority over the holy things themselves — "something greater than the temple is here... the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:6, 8). The One who fenced the holy bread in Leviticus stands, incarnate, as its Lord. This is a cross-Testament typological reading; because it rests on Christ's own use of the shewbread narrative, it is at least widely held among the commentators here.
Matthew 12:4 · 1 Samuel 21:6 · Matthew 12:8
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is entirely Hebrew, so every cross-Testament thread (to Hebrews, the Gospels, the Epistles) cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers and is therefore tiered structural or typological, never verbal — the Greek of the New Testament shares no lexeme-IDs with the Hebrew of Leviticus. The six intra-Hebrew threads above were re-run through the project Verifier (verifier.py pair) and their rare-lexeme bases confirmed; where the Verifier reported only common verbs for a loosely-paired reference (e.g. Lev 22:4 ↔ Ezekiel 44:31), we retiered to the verse that actually carries the rare word (Lev 22:8). The seventh thread (Lev 22:6 → Hebrews 10:22) is the unit's one cross-Testament link and is tiered structural, not verbal, for the same lexeme-ID reason; it rests on JFB's own sign-reading of the priestly washing, not on a word-match. Two honest cautions specific to this unit: (1) the penalty karet in v.3 ("cut off from before My face") is genuinely contested among the quoted authorities — Benson cites Le Clerc for death, others for excommunication — and we have not resolved it; (2) the grammar of vv.15–16 is a known crux: Keil calls the traditional supplying of a subject and a negative "arbitrary and quite indefensible," while the Authorized and Pulpit traditions retain it. We have presented both without adjudicating. The Christ threads are clearly marked as machine-layer synthesis: the first and third are widely-held across the represented Puritan and Reformed commentators; the second (Gill's bought-and-born-again typology) is flagged as a more specific Reformed development, not an ancient consensus. No NT quotation of this unit's text exists, so no provenance-flag of the Joshua 1:5 type was required.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)