Any sacrifice not offered with sincerity of heart and with an accompanying change of life was repugnant. Each part of the animal’s body was in similitude for various aspects of a person’s life;
A. The head - a person’s thoughts
B. The legs - a person’s walk
C. The inwards - a person’s feelings and affections of the heart.
D. The fat - general health and condition of the whole person.
The leg became the peach offering and was presented to the priest for his service.
The breast became a wave offering unto G-d. In addition to the breast, wheat cakes made with oil and salt but without leaven were also waved before G-d and transferred to the priest. The remaining portions were taken by the offered to his home as part of a feast.
Salt represented the lasting nature of the covenant.
Oil was a symbol of the Holy Ghost.
Frankincense suggested prayer and fervency of supplication.
The earliest sacrifices and offerings were a form of prayer and when the Temple was destroyed. Prayer replaced sacrifice as an incense going up to G-d. (Ps. 141:2).
The common elements in the ordinance of sacrifices were:
A. A sacrifice
B. An offerer killed and skinned the sacrifice.
C. The place of the offering.
D. The laying on of hands to impart.
E. A priest - pure of heart and clean of hands.
F. The salt - purifying the covenant.
H. The blood - symbolizes life, dabbed upon the horns, sprinkled on the sides of the altar and poured at the foot of the altar.
There were two types of sacrifice: burnt offerings and slain offerings. The slain offering was designed to represent the living fellowship of communion with G-d.
There are two categories of offerings:
1. The voluntary offering - burnt, peace, meat or cereal. It is symbolized the transferal of the feelings of his heart which impelled him to bring this gift to the L-rd.
2. The obligatory offering - sin and trespass. The offerer placed his hand upon the animal’s head, with a confession of his sin.
To G-d, the voluntary offerings are the more pleasing but the obligatory offering must prepare the way.
Showing posts with label Leviticus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leviticus. Show all posts
Idolatrous Worship
[Lev. 17:3] What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp
It was forbidden to slaughter or sacrifice holy offerings outside the sanctuary forecourt. According to Jewish tradition, prior to the flood man was permitted to only eat fruits and vegetables. Before the Tabernacle was erected, a Jew was permitted to sacrifice to Hashem on any private altar that he built. Later, Hashem fixed the place for the Jews to bring their offerings and direct their hearts to Him.
The Israelites, like other people in the desert, would not make much use of animal food; and when they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, an occasion of a feast, to be eaten in company. This was what was done with the peace offerings; they should be killed publicly, and after being devoted to G-d, partaken of by the officers. This law could only be observable in the wilderness while the people were encamped with an accessible distance from the Tabernacle. The reason for it is to be found in the strong addictedness of the Israelites to idolatry at the time of their departure from Egypt; and as it would have been easy for any by killing an animal to sacrifice privately to a favorite object of worship, a strict prohibition was made against their slaughtering at home.
They is supposed by some commentators to refer to the Egyptians, so that the verse will stand thus: the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they (the Egyptians) offer in the open field. This law is thought to have been directed against those whose Egyptian habits led them to imitate this idolatrous practice.
Devils - literally, goats. The prohibition evidently alludes to the worship of the hire-footed kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn, who’s recognized symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry enthusiastically practiced by the Egyptians, particularly in the name or province of Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over mountainous and desert regions, and it was while they were in the wilderness that the Israelites seem to have been powerfully influenced by a feeling to propitiate this idol. Moreover, the ceremonies observed in this idolatrous worship were extremely licentious and obscene, and the gross impurity of the rites gives great point and significance to the expression of Moses, they have gone a whoring.
Before the promulgation of the law, men worshiped whenever they pleased or pitched their tents. But after that event the rites of religion could be acceptable performed only at the appointed place of worship. This restriction with respect to place was necessary as a preventive of idolatry; for it prohibited the Israelites, when at a distance, from repairing to the altars of the heathen, which were commonly in groves or fields.
The face of G-d is often used in Scripture to denote His anger (Ps. 34:16, Rev. 6:16, Ex. 38:18.) The manner is which G-d’s face would be set against such an offender was, that if the crime were public and known, he was condemned to death; vengeance would overtake him. But the practice against which the law is here pointed was an idolatrous rite. The Zabians, or worshipers of the heavenly host, were accustomed, in sacrificing animals, to pour out the blood and eat a part of the flesh at the place where the blood was poured out (and sometimes the blood itself) believing that by between the worshipers and the deities. They, moreover, supposed that the blood was very beneficial in obtaining for them a vision of the demon curing their sleep, and a revelation of future events. The prohibition against eating blood, viewed in the light of this historic commentary and unconnected with the peculiar terms in which it is expressed, seems to have been leveled against idolatrous practices, as is still further evident from Ex. 33:25-26; 1 Cor. 10:20-21.
G-d, as the sovereign author and proprietor of nature, reserved the blood to Himself and allowed men only one use of it - in the way of sacrifices. it is the law to cover the blood of a permissible wild animal or fowl after the ritual slaughtering by placing earth both below and above it. This did not include domestic animals because their blood is sprinkled upon the altar as atonement for a sinner, making it improper to cover it.
It was customary with heathen sportsmen, when they killed any game or venison, to pour out the blood as libation to the idol of the chase. The Israelites, instead of leaving it exposed, were to cover it with dust and, by this means, were effectually debarred from all the superstitious use to which the heathen applied it.
Died of itself - ex. 22:31, Lev. 7:24, Acts 15:20. Was unclean from the moment of his discovering his fault until the evening. This law, however, was binding only on the Israelite. See Deut. 14:21.
It was forbidden to slaughter or sacrifice holy offerings outside the sanctuary forecourt. According to Jewish tradition, prior to the flood man was permitted to only eat fruits and vegetables. Before the Tabernacle was erected, a Jew was permitted to sacrifice to Hashem on any private altar that he built. Later, Hashem fixed the place for the Jews to bring their offerings and direct their hearts to Him.
The Israelites, like other people in the desert, would not make much use of animal food; and when they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, an occasion of a feast, to be eaten in company. This was what was done with the peace offerings; they should be killed publicly, and after being devoted to G-d, partaken of by the officers. This law could only be observable in the wilderness while the people were encamped with an accessible distance from the Tabernacle. The reason for it is to be found in the strong addictedness of the Israelites to idolatry at the time of their departure from Egypt; and as it would have been easy for any by killing an animal to sacrifice privately to a favorite object of worship, a strict prohibition was made against their slaughtering at home.
They is supposed by some commentators to refer to the Egyptians, so that the verse will stand thus: the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they (the Egyptians) offer in the open field. This law is thought to have been directed against those whose Egyptian habits led them to imitate this idolatrous practice.
Devils - literally, goats. The prohibition evidently alludes to the worship of the hire-footed kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn, who’s recognized symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry enthusiastically practiced by the Egyptians, particularly in the name or province of Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over mountainous and desert regions, and it was while they were in the wilderness that the Israelites seem to have been powerfully influenced by a feeling to propitiate this idol. Moreover, the ceremonies observed in this idolatrous worship were extremely licentious and obscene, and the gross impurity of the rites gives great point and significance to the expression of Moses, they have gone a whoring.
Before the promulgation of the law, men worshiped whenever they pleased or pitched their tents. But after that event the rites of religion could be acceptable performed only at the appointed place of worship. This restriction with respect to place was necessary as a preventive of idolatry; for it prohibited the Israelites, when at a distance, from repairing to the altars of the heathen, which were commonly in groves or fields.
The face of G-d is often used in Scripture to denote His anger (Ps. 34:16, Rev. 6:16, Ex. 38:18.) The manner is which G-d’s face would be set against such an offender was, that if the crime were public and known, he was condemned to death; vengeance would overtake him. But the practice against which the law is here pointed was an idolatrous rite. The Zabians, or worshipers of the heavenly host, were accustomed, in sacrificing animals, to pour out the blood and eat a part of the flesh at the place where the blood was poured out (and sometimes the blood itself) believing that by between the worshipers and the deities. They, moreover, supposed that the blood was very beneficial in obtaining for them a vision of the demon curing their sleep, and a revelation of future events. The prohibition against eating blood, viewed in the light of this historic commentary and unconnected with the peculiar terms in which it is expressed, seems to have been leveled against idolatrous practices, as is still further evident from Ex. 33:25-26; 1 Cor. 10:20-21.
G-d, as the sovereign author and proprietor of nature, reserved the blood to Himself and allowed men only one use of it - in the way of sacrifices. it is the law to cover the blood of a permissible wild animal or fowl after the ritual slaughtering by placing earth both below and above it. This did not include domestic animals because their blood is sprinkled upon the altar as atonement for a sinner, making it improper to cover it.
It was customary with heathen sportsmen, when they killed any game or venison, to pour out the blood as libation to the idol of the chase. The Israelites, instead of leaving it exposed, were to cover it with dust and, by this means, were effectually debarred from all the superstitious use to which the heathen applied it.
Died of itself - ex. 22:31, Lev. 7:24, Acts 15:20. Was unclean from the moment of his discovering his fault until the evening. This law, however, was binding only on the Israelite. See Deut. 14:21.
Day of Atonement - Yom Kipper
[Lev. 16:2] And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
1-2 the introduction. 1-34 is how the High Priest must enter into the Holy Place. Death of Aaron’s sons in chapter 10. It is thought by some that this chapter has been transposed out of its right place in the sacred record, which was immediately after the narrative of the deaths of Nabad and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-20). That appalling catastrophe must have filled Aaron with painful apprehensions lest the guilt of these two sons might be share the same fate by some irregularities of defects in the discharge of their sacred functions. And, therefore, this law was established, by the due observance of whose requirements the Aaronic order would be securely maintained and accepted in the priesthood.
The priests were forbidden to enter the Holy Place where the Menorah stood the entire year except at a time of service. In the some manner, the High Priest was forbidden to enter the Holy of Holies, even on Yom Kipper, except during times of service. The punishment for entering the Holy of Holies was death and the punishment for entering the Holy Pace was lashes. This arrangement was evidently designed to inspire a reverence for the most Holy Pace, and the precaution was necessary at a time when the presence of G-d was indicated by sensible symbols, the impression of which might have been diminished or lost by daily and familiar observation. I will appear in the cloud B and that is, the smoke of the incense that the High Priest burnt on his yearly entrance into the most Holy Place; and this was the cloud which at that time covered the Mercy seat. Even today, the most Orthodox Jew refuses to walk on the Temple Mount for fear they may step in the location of the holy chambers.
This had to do with the High Priest entering the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. As the duties of the great Day of Atonement led to the nearest and most solemn approach to G-d, the directions as to the proper course to be followed were minute and special. Note some of the things he required to do that day. He entered the Holy of Holies only one day a year, but on that day he entered four times. He offered 15 sacrifices that day, not counting the he goat (scapegoat) sent to Azazel, which did not require slaughtering, but was cast over a cliff. The High Priest offered incense, 3 on Yom Kipper, twice on the inner golden altar, and a third time on the altar between the rods on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. The High Priest changed his garments five times during the day of Yom Kippur, he wore golden garments, 3 times and linen garments twice. Before each change, he would immerse himself in a mikvah. He washed his hands and feet 10 times, once before removing his earlier garments, and once after putting on his new ones. He said confession three times, and uttered a special prayer ten times. The High Priest sprinkled 43 sprinklings during the course of Yom Kippur service.
With a young bullock and a ram - these victims he brought alive, but they were not offered in sacrifice till he had gone through the ceremonies described between 3-11. He was not to attire himself on that occasion in the splendid roves that were proper to his sacred office, but in a plain dress of linen, like the common Levites, for, as he was then to make atonement for his own sins, as well as for those of the people, he was to appear in the humble character of a suppliant. That plain dress was more in harmony with a season of humiliation (as well as lighter and more convenient for the duties which on that occasion he had singly to perform) than the gorgeous robes of the pontificate. It showed that when all appeared as sinners, the highest and lowest were then on a level, and that there is no distinction of persons of G-d. (Acts 10:34). 3-5 is the animals and the priestly dress needed for ceremonies.
5-10 the sacrifices were to be offered by the High Priest, respectively for himself and the other priests, as well as for the people. The bullock (v. 3) and the goats were for sin offerings and the rams for burnt offerings. The goats, trough used in different ways, constituted only one offering. They were both presented before the L-rd, and the disposal of them determined by lot, which Jewish writers have thus described: the priest, placing one of the goats on his right hand and the other on his left, took his station by the altar, and cast into an urn two pieces of goal exactly similar, inscribed, the one with the words, for the L-rd and the other of Azazel (the scapegoat.) After having well shaken them together, he put both his hands into the box and took up a lot in each; that in his right hand he put on the head of the goat which stood on his right, and that in his left he dropped on the other. In this manner the fate of each was decided.
11-28 the detailed description of ceremonies. The first part of the service was designed to solemnize his own mind, as well as the minds of the people, by offering the sacrifices for their sins. The sin offering being slain had the sins of the offerer judicially transferred to them by the imputation of his hands on their head (4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33); and thus the young bullock, which was to make atonement for himself and the other priests (called his house, Psalms 125:19), was killed by the hands of the High Priest. While the blood of the victim was being received into a vessel taking a censer of live coals in his right hand and a platter of sweet incense in his left, he amid the solemn attention and the anxious prayers of the assembled multitude, crossed the porch and the holy place, opened the outer veil which led into the Holy of Holies and then the inner veil. Standing before the ark, he deposited the censer of coals on the floor, emptied the plate of incense into his hand, poured it n the burning coals and the apartment was filled with fragrant smoke, intended, according to Jewish writers, to prevent any presumptuous gazer prying too curiously into the form of the Mercy Seat, which was the L-rd’s throne. The High Priest having done this, perfumed the sanctuary, returned to the door, took the blood of the slain bullock, and carrying it into the Holy of Holies, sprinkled it with his finger once upon the Mercy Seat Eastward-- that is, n the front of the Ark. Leaving the coals and the incense burning, he went out a second time, to sacrifice at the altar of burnt offering the goat that had been assigned as a sin offering for the people; and carrying its blood into the Holy of Holies, he made similar sprinklings as he had done before with the blood of the bullock. While the High Priest was thus engaged in the most Holy Place, none of the ordinary priest was allowed to remain within the precincts of the Tabernacle. The Sanctuary or Holy Place and the Altar of Burnt offering were in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood of the Israelites with the conviction that the whole Tabernacle was stained by the sins of the guilty people, that by their sins they had forfeited the privileges of the divine presence and worship, and that an atonement had to be made as the condition of G-d’s remaining with them. The sins and shortcomings of the past year having polluted the sacred edifice, the expiation required to be annually renewed. The exclusion of the priests indicated their unworthiness and the impurities of their service. The mingled blood o the two victims being sprinkled on the horns of the altar indicated that the priests and the people equally needed atonement for their sins. But the Sanctuary being thus ceremonially purified, and the people of Israel reconciled by the blood of the consecrated victim, the
L-rd continued to dwell in the midst of them, and to honor them with His gracious presence. The cloud was so he would not look on G-d’s glory, for if you did you would die.
The blood from both offerings used to cleans the Holy Place 7 times: Special offerings:
1. Young bullock (sin offering) for the priest and his house.
2. Two goats (sin offering) for the people.
3. A ram (burnt offering) for priest and his family.
4. A ram (burnt offering) for the people.
Ex. 30:10) seven times the remainder of blood was poured out at the foot of the Blazing Altar, cleansing the court.
20-22 the scape goat. Having already been presented before the L-rd (v. 10), it was now brought forward to the High Priest, who, placing his hands upon its head, and having confessed over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, transferred them by this act to the goat as their substitute. It was then delivered into the hands of a person, who was appointed to lead him away into a distant, solitary, and desert place, where in early times he was let go, to escape for his life; but in the time of Y’Shua, he was carried to a high rock twelve miles from Jerusalem, and there, being thrust over the precipice, he was killed. Commentators have differed widely in their opinions about the character and purpose of this part of the ceremonial; some considering the word Azazel, with the Septuagint and our translators, to mean, the scapegoat; others, a lofty, precipitous rock; others, a thing separated to G-d; while others think it designates Satan. This last view is grounded on the idea of both goats forming one and the same sacrifice of atonement, and it is supported by Zech. 3:1-10, which presents a striking commentary on this passage. Whether there was in this peculiar ceremony and reference to an Egyptian superstition about Typhon, the spirit of evil, inhabiting the wilderness, and the design was to ridicule it by sending a cursed animal into his gloomy dominions, it is impossible to say. The subject is involved in much obscurity. But in any view there seems to be a typical reference to Y’Shua who bore away our sins.
23-28 cleansing of the participants. Linen garments - white. On the dismissal of the dismissal of the scapegoat, the High Priest prepared for the important parts of the important parts of the service which still remained; and for the performance of these he laid aside his plain linen clothes, and having bathed himself in water, he assumed his pontifical dress. Thus gorgeously attired, he went to present the burnt offerings which were prescribed for himself and the people, consisting of the two rams which had been brought with the sin offerings, but reserved till now. The fat was ordered to be burnt upon the altar; the rest of the carcasses to be cut down and given to some priestly attendants to burn without the camp, in conformity with the general law for the sin offerings. (4:8-12, 8:14-17) scapegoat, were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe their flesh in water before they were allowed to return into the camp.
v. 27, Altar beyond camp for a High Priest’s sin and a nation’s sins were considered more heinous in the sight of G-d than those of individuals. A kind of reproach (the Messiah died out of the camp. Heb.
29-34 the people’s duty. Month - Tishri (July 10th). Afflict your souls - humble yourself.
This day of annual expiation for all the sins, irreverence, and impurities of all classes in Israel during the previous year, was to be observed as a solemn fast, in which they were to afflict their souls@ it was reckoned a Sabbath, kept as a season of holy convocation, or, assembling for religious purposes. All persons who performed any labor were subject to the penalty of death. 31:14-15, our third of October, and this chapter, together with 23:27-32, as containing special allusion to the observances of the day, was publicly read. The rehearsal of these passages appointing the solemn ceremonial was very appropriate, and the details of the successive parts of it (above all the spectacle of the public departure of the scapegoat under the care of its leader) must have produced salutary impressions both of sin and of duty that would not be soon effaced.
Day of Atonement Yom Kippur. Only on this day did the priest enter into the Holy of Holies. He entered three times and the blood of the sin offering was sprinkled seven times before the Mercy seat.
Summery
[High Priest commence the ceremonies:]
1. Aaron was to take of his normal priestly garments, wash, and then put on the special garments which were prescribed for the sacrifices which took him into the Holy of Holies, 28:39.
2. Aaron secured the necessary sacrificial animal 3, 4
3. Aaron slaughtered the bull for his own sin offering 6, 11
4. Before entering the Holy of Holies with the blood of the bull, Aaron had to create a cloud of incense in the Holy of Holies, to veil the glory of G-d. 12-13
5. Aaron took some of the blood of the bull and sprinkled it on the Mercy seat 7xs 14
6. Lots were then cast for the 2 goats, to determine which would be slaughtered and which would be driven away. 7-8
7. The goat for slaughter, the goat of the people’s sin offering, was sacrificed, and its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and applied to the Mercy Seat, as the bull’s blood had been. 15
8. Cleansing was then made for the Holy Place 16-17
9. Outside the tent, Aaron was to make atonement for the altar of burnt offering, using, it would seem, the blood of both the bull and the goat.
10. The second goat, the one which was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically laid on its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place, from which never to return. 20-22
11. Aaron then came out of the tent of meeting, removed his linen garments, washed, and put on his normal priest garments 23-24
12. The burnt offerings of rams, one for Aaron and his family, the other for the people was offered 24
13. The earlier sacrifices of the bull and the goat were completed 25-27
14. Those who had been rendered unclean by handling the animals on which the sin Aaron or the people were laid to wash themselves and then return to camp. 26-28
The Day of Atonement is the cleansing of a place and of a people.]
Messiah and the Great Day of Atonement - Heb. 9:11-12
Once in the circuit of a year with blood, but not his own, Aaron within the veil appears before the golden throne. But the Messiah, by His own powerful blood, ascends above the skies, and in the presence of our G-d shows His own sacrifice. Not all the blood of beast, on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience peace, or wash away the stain. But Messiah, the Lamb of G-d, takes all our sins away; a sacrifice of riches blood and nobler name then they.
Believing, we rejoice to see the curse remove; we bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, and sing His dying love.]
[The day of annual Atonement is the greatest day in the Jewish year - a shadow of greater days to come. Without the shedding of blood is no remission. May I ever be seeking to have my conscience sprinkled with the precious blood of Messiah, and I shall have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, access at all time to a throne of grace, enjoy the light of G-d’s countenance now, and hereafter dwell forever in heaven His holy habitation. Then let the way appear steps unto Heaven; all that you sent me in mercy given; Angels to beckon me. Nearer, my G-d, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
1-2 the introduction. 1-34 is how the High Priest must enter into the Holy Place. Death of Aaron’s sons in chapter 10. It is thought by some that this chapter has been transposed out of its right place in the sacred record, which was immediately after the narrative of the deaths of Nabad and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-20). That appalling catastrophe must have filled Aaron with painful apprehensions lest the guilt of these two sons might be share the same fate by some irregularities of defects in the discharge of their sacred functions. And, therefore, this law was established, by the due observance of whose requirements the Aaronic order would be securely maintained and accepted in the priesthood.
The priests were forbidden to enter the Holy Place where the Menorah stood the entire year except at a time of service. In the some manner, the High Priest was forbidden to enter the Holy of Holies, even on Yom Kipper, except during times of service. The punishment for entering the Holy of Holies was death and the punishment for entering the Holy Pace was lashes. This arrangement was evidently designed to inspire a reverence for the most Holy Pace, and the precaution was necessary at a time when the presence of G-d was indicated by sensible symbols, the impression of which might have been diminished or lost by daily and familiar observation. I will appear in the cloud B and that is, the smoke of the incense that the High Priest burnt on his yearly entrance into the most Holy Place; and this was the cloud which at that time covered the Mercy seat. Even today, the most Orthodox Jew refuses to walk on the Temple Mount for fear they may step in the location of the holy chambers.
This had to do with the High Priest entering the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. As the duties of the great Day of Atonement led to the nearest and most solemn approach to G-d, the directions as to the proper course to be followed were minute and special. Note some of the things he required to do that day. He entered the Holy of Holies only one day a year, but on that day he entered four times. He offered 15 sacrifices that day, not counting the he goat (scapegoat) sent to Azazel, which did not require slaughtering, but was cast over a cliff. The High Priest offered incense, 3 on Yom Kipper, twice on the inner golden altar, and a third time on the altar between the rods on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. The High Priest changed his garments five times during the day of Yom Kippur, he wore golden garments, 3 times and linen garments twice. Before each change, he would immerse himself in a mikvah. He washed his hands and feet 10 times, once before removing his earlier garments, and once after putting on his new ones. He said confession three times, and uttered a special prayer ten times. The High Priest sprinkled 43 sprinklings during the course of Yom Kippur service.
With a young bullock and a ram - these victims he brought alive, but they were not offered in sacrifice till he had gone through the ceremonies described between 3-11. He was not to attire himself on that occasion in the splendid roves that were proper to his sacred office, but in a plain dress of linen, like the common Levites, for, as he was then to make atonement for his own sins, as well as for those of the people, he was to appear in the humble character of a suppliant. That plain dress was more in harmony with a season of humiliation (as well as lighter and more convenient for the duties which on that occasion he had singly to perform) than the gorgeous robes of the pontificate. It showed that when all appeared as sinners, the highest and lowest were then on a level, and that there is no distinction of persons of G-d. (Acts 10:34). 3-5 is the animals and the priestly dress needed for ceremonies.
5-10 the sacrifices were to be offered by the High Priest, respectively for himself and the other priests, as well as for the people. The bullock (v. 3) and the goats were for sin offerings and the rams for burnt offerings. The goats, trough used in different ways, constituted only one offering. They were both presented before the L-rd, and the disposal of them determined by lot, which Jewish writers have thus described: the priest, placing one of the goats on his right hand and the other on his left, took his station by the altar, and cast into an urn two pieces of goal exactly similar, inscribed, the one with the words, for the L-rd and the other of Azazel (the scapegoat.) After having well shaken them together, he put both his hands into the box and took up a lot in each; that in his right hand he put on the head of the goat which stood on his right, and that in his left he dropped on the other. In this manner the fate of each was decided.
11-28 the detailed description of ceremonies. The first part of the service was designed to solemnize his own mind, as well as the minds of the people, by offering the sacrifices for their sins. The sin offering being slain had the sins of the offerer judicially transferred to them by the imputation of his hands on their head (4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33); and thus the young bullock, which was to make atonement for himself and the other priests (called his house, Psalms 125:19), was killed by the hands of the High Priest. While the blood of the victim was being received into a vessel taking a censer of live coals in his right hand and a platter of sweet incense in his left, he amid the solemn attention and the anxious prayers of the assembled multitude, crossed the porch and the holy place, opened the outer veil which led into the Holy of Holies and then the inner veil. Standing before the ark, he deposited the censer of coals on the floor, emptied the plate of incense into his hand, poured it n the burning coals and the apartment was filled with fragrant smoke, intended, according to Jewish writers, to prevent any presumptuous gazer prying too curiously into the form of the Mercy Seat, which was the L-rd’s throne. The High Priest having done this, perfumed the sanctuary, returned to the door, took the blood of the slain bullock, and carrying it into the Holy of Holies, sprinkled it with his finger once upon the Mercy Seat Eastward-- that is, n the front of the Ark. Leaving the coals and the incense burning, he went out a second time, to sacrifice at the altar of burnt offering the goat that had been assigned as a sin offering for the people; and carrying its blood into the Holy of Holies, he made similar sprinklings as he had done before with the blood of the bullock. While the High Priest was thus engaged in the most Holy Place, none of the ordinary priest was allowed to remain within the precincts of the Tabernacle. The Sanctuary or Holy Place and the Altar of Burnt offering were in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood of the Israelites with the conviction that the whole Tabernacle was stained by the sins of the guilty people, that by their sins they had forfeited the privileges of the divine presence and worship, and that an atonement had to be made as the condition of G-d’s remaining with them. The sins and shortcomings of the past year having polluted the sacred edifice, the expiation required to be annually renewed. The exclusion of the priests indicated their unworthiness and the impurities of their service. The mingled blood o the two victims being sprinkled on the horns of the altar indicated that the priests and the people equally needed atonement for their sins. But the Sanctuary being thus ceremonially purified, and the people of Israel reconciled by the blood of the consecrated victim, the
L-rd continued to dwell in the midst of them, and to honor them with His gracious presence. The cloud was so he would not look on G-d’s glory, for if you did you would die.
The blood from both offerings used to cleans the Holy Place 7 times: Special offerings:
1. Young bullock (sin offering) for the priest and his house.
2. Two goats (sin offering) for the people.
3. A ram (burnt offering) for priest and his family.
4. A ram (burnt offering) for the people.
Ex. 30:10) seven times the remainder of blood was poured out at the foot of the Blazing Altar, cleansing the court.
20-22 the scape goat. Having already been presented before the L-rd (v. 10), it was now brought forward to the High Priest, who, placing his hands upon its head, and having confessed over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, transferred them by this act to the goat as their substitute. It was then delivered into the hands of a person, who was appointed to lead him away into a distant, solitary, and desert place, where in early times he was let go, to escape for his life; but in the time of Y’Shua, he was carried to a high rock twelve miles from Jerusalem, and there, being thrust over the precipice, he was killed. Commentators have differed widely in their opinions about the character and purpose of this part of the ceremonial; some considering the word Azazel, with the Septuagint and our translators, to mean, the scapegoat; others, a lofty, precipitous rock; others, a thing separated to G-d; while others think it designates Satan. This last view is grounded on the idea of both goats forming one and the same sacrifice of atonement, and it is supported by Zech. 3:1-10, which presents a striking commentary on this passage. Whether there was in this peculiar ceremony and reference to an Egyptian superstition about Typhon, the spirit of evil, inhabiting the wilderness, and the design was to ridicule it by sending a cursed animal into his gloomy dominions, it is impossible to say. The subject is involved in much obscurity. But in any view there seems to be a typical reference to Y’Shua who bore away our sins.
23-28 cleansing of the participants. Linen garments - white. On the dismissal of the dismissal of the scapegoat, the High Priest prepared for the important parts of the important parts of the service which still remained; and for the performance of these he laid aside his plain linen clothes, and having bathed himself in water, he assumed his pontifical dress. Thus gorgeously attired, he went to present the burnt offerings which were prescribed for himself and the people, consisting of the two rams which had been brought with the sin offerings, but reserved till now. The fat was ordered to be burnt upon the altar; the rest of the carcasses to be cut down and given to some priestly attendants to burn without the camp, in conformity with the general law for the sin offerings. (4:8-12, 8:14-17) scapegoat, were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe their flesh in water before they were allowed to return into the camp.
v. 27, Altar beyond camp for a High Priest’s sin and a nation’s sins were considered more heinous in the sight of G-d than those of individuals. A kind of reproach (the Messiah died out of the camp. Heb.
29-34 the people’s duty. Month - Tishri (July 10th). Afflict your souls - humble yourself.
This day of annual expiation for all the sins, irreverence, and impurities of all classes in Israel during the previous year, was to be observed as a solemn fast, in which they were to afflict their souls@ it was reckoned a Sabbath, kept as a season of holy convocation, or, assembling for religious purposes. All persons who performed any labor were subject to the penalty of death. 31:14-15, our third of October, and this chapter, together with 23:27-32, as containing special allusion to the observances of the day, was publicly read. The rehearsal of these passages appointing the solemn ceremonial was very appropriate, and the details of the successive parts of it (above all the spectacle of the public departure of the scapegoat under the care of its leader) must have produced salutary impressions both of sin and of duty that would not be soon effaced.
Day of Atonement Yom Kippur. Only on this day did the priest enter into the Holy of Holies. He entered three times and the blood of the sin offering was sprinkled seven times before the Mercy seat.
Summery
[High Priest commence the ceremonies:]
1. Aaron was to take of his normal priestly garments, wash, and then put on the special garments which were prescribed for the sacrifices which took him into the Holy of Holies, 28:39.
2. Aaron secured the necessary sacrificial animal 3, 4
3. Aaron slaughtered the bull for his own sin offering 6, 11
4. Before entering the Holy of Holies with the blood of the bull, Aaron had to create a cloud of incense in the Holy of Holies, to veil the glory of G-d. 12-13
5. Aaron took some of the blood of the bull and sprinkled it on the Mercy seat 7xs 14
6. Lots were then cast for the 2 goats, to determine which would be slaughtered and which would be driven away. 7-8
7. The goat for slaughter, the goat of the people’s sin offering, was sacrificed, and its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and applied to the Mercy Seat, as the bull’s blood had been. 15
8. Cleansing was then made for the Holy Place 16-17
9. Outside the tent, Aaron was to make atonement for the altar of burnt offering, using, it would seem, the blood of both the bull and the goat.
10. The second goat, the one which was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically laid on its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place, from which never to return. 20-22
11. Aaron then came out of the tent of meeting, removed his linen garments, washed, and put on his normal priest garments 23-24
12. The burnt offerings of rams, one for Aaron and his family, the other for the people was offered 24
13. The earlier sacrifices of the bull and the goat were completed 25-27
14. Those who had been rendered unclean by handling the animals on which the sin Aaron or the people were laid to wash themselves and then return to camp. 26-28
The Day of Atonement is the cleansing of a place and of a people.]
Messiah and the Great Day of Atonement - Heb. 9:11-12
Once in the circuit of a year with blood, but not his own, Aaron within the veil appears before the golden throne. But the Messiah, by His own powerful blood, ascends above the skies, and in the presence of our G-d shows His own sacrifice. Not all the blood of beast, on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience peace, or wash away the stain. But Messiah, the Lamb of G-d, takes all our sins away; a sacrifice of riches blood and nobler name then they.
Believing, we rejoice to see the curse remove; we bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, and sing His dying love.]
[The day of annual Atonement is the greatest day in the Jewish year - a shadow of greater days to come. Without the shedding of blood is no remission. May I ever be seeking to have my conscience sprinkled with the precious blood of Messiah, and I shall have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, access at all time to a throne of grace, enjoy the light of G-d’s countenance now, and hereafter dwell forever in heaven His holy habitation. Then let the way appear steps unto Heaven; all that you sent me in mercy given; Angels to beckon me. Nearer, my G-d, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
Discharges
[Lev. 15:2] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.
This involves the laws pertaining to a zov (if a man has discharge from his body he is unclean and can contaminate other). Being the effects of licentiousness, they properly come within the notice of the legislator, and the very stringent rules here described, both for the separation of the person diseased and for avoiding contamination from anything connected with him, were all calculated not only to prevent contagion, but to discourage the excesses of licentious indulgence. One could become unclean by touching a zov or even his clothing or mattress. A zov had to immerse himself in a mikveh and remain unclean until evening. On the 7th day he must immerse himself as well as his garments to be ritually clean.
Vessel of earth - it is thought that the pottery of the Israelites, like the earthenware jars in which the Egyptians kept their water, was unglazed and consequently porous, and that it was its porous ness which, rendering it extremely liable to imbibe small particles of impure matter, was the reason why the vessel touched by an unclean person was ordered to be broken.
13-14 like a leprous person he underwent a week’s probation, to make sure he was completely healed. Then with the sacrifice prescribed, the priest made atonement for him, that is, offered the oblations necessary for the removal of his ceremonial defilement, as well as the typical pardon of his sins.
An individual was considered unclean even if he had as few as 2 discharges. The two offerings, one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering had to be brought the 8th day after the discharges. The offerings were to be either turtledoves or pigeons. The sin offering was to atone for the sin that caused the affliction and the burnt offering was to show gratitude to Hashem for being cleanse.
19-33 the uncleanness of women, if a woman has an issue - though this, like leprosy, might be a natural affection, it was anciently considered contagious and entailed a ceremonial defilement that typified a moral impurity. This ceremonial defilement had to be removed by an appointed method of ceremonial expiation, and the neglect of it subjected any one to the guilt of defiling the Tabernacle, and to death as the penalty of profane temerity.
This involves the laws pertaining to a special bath (a ritually impure women because of her monthly period.) According to Halakhah, sexual intercourse between husband and wife is strictly forbidden during this time for at least seven days thereafter. Even other physical contact between them was avoided so much so that the wife slept in a separate bedroom. After seven clean days she immersed herself, after dark in a mikveh to attain the state of ritual purity. There involves the laws concerning to a zovah (a ritually impure woman who contaminates others.) When a zovah becomes healed of an impurity, she must bring two offerings, one for the sin offering and one for the burnt offering.
31-33. The divine wisdom was manifested in inspiring the Israelites with a profound reverence for holy things; and nothing was more suited to this purpose than to debar from the Tabernacle all who were polluted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial as well as natural, mental as well physical. The better to mark out that people as His family, His servants and priests, dwelling in the camp as in a holy place, consecrated by His presence and His Tabernacle, He required of them complete purity, and did not allow them to come before Him when defiled, even by involuntary or secret impurities, as a want of respect due to His majesty. And when we bear in mind that G-d was training a people to live in His presence in some measure as priests devoted to His service, we shall not consider these rules for the maintenance of personal purity either too stringent or too minute. (Thess. 4:4).
This involves the laws pertaining to a zov (if a man has discharge from his body he is unclean and can contaminate other). Being the effects of licentiousness, they properly come within the notice of the legislator, and the very stringent rules here described, both for the separation of the person diseased and for avoiding contamination from anything connected with him, were all calculated not only to prevent contagion, but to discourage the excesses of licentious indulgence. One could become unclean by touching a zov or even his clothing or mattress. A zov had to immerse himself in a mikveh and remain unclean until evening. On the 7th day he must immerse himself as well as his garments to be ritually clean.
Vessel of earth - it is thought that the pottery of the Israelites, like the earthenware jars in which the Egyptians kept their water, was unglazed and consequently porous, and that it was its porous ness which, rendering it extremely liable to imbibe small particles of impure matter, was the reason why the vessel touched by an unclean person was ordered to be broken.
13-14 like a leprous person he underwent a week’s probation, to make sure he was completely healed. Then with the sacrifice prescribed, the priest made atonement for him, that is, offered the oblations necessary for the removal of his ceremonial defilement, as well as the typical pardon of his sins.
An individual was considered unclean even if he had as few as 2 discharges. The two offerings, one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering had to be brought the 8th day after the discharges. The offerings were to be either turtledoves or pigeons. The sin offering was to atone for the sin that caused the affliction and the burnt offering was to show gratitude to Hashem for being cleanse.
19-33 the uncleanness of women, if a woman has an issue - though this, like leprosy, might be a natural affection, it was anciently considered contagious and entailed a ceremonial defilement that typified a moral impurity. This ceremonial defilement had to be removed by an appointed method of ceremonial expiation, and the neglect of it subjected any one to the guilt of defiling the Tabernacle, and to death as the penalty of profane temerity.
This involves the laws pertaining to a special bath (a ritually impure women because of her monthly period.) According to Halakhah, sexual intercourse between husband and wife is strictly forbidden during this time for at least seven days thereafter. Even other physical contact between them was avoided so much so that the wife slept in a separate bedroom. After seven clean days she immersed herself, after dark in a mikveh to attain the state of ritual purity. There involves the laws concerning to a zovah (a ritually impure woman who contaminates others.) When a zovah becomes healed of an impurity, she must bring two offerings, one for the sin offering and one for the burnt offering.
31-33. The divine wisdom was manifested in inspiring the Israelites with a profound reverence for holy things; and nothing was more suited to this purpose than to debar from the Tabernacle all who were polluted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial as well as natural, mental as well physical. The better to mark out that people as His family, His servants and priests, dwelling in the camp as in a holy place, consecrated by His presence and His Tabernacle, He required of them complete purity, and did not allow them to come before Him when defiled, even by involuntary or secret impurities, as a want of respect due to His majesty. And when we bear in mind that G-d was training a people to live in His presence in some measure as priests devoted to His service, we shall not consider these rules for the maintenance of personal purity either too stringent or too minute. (Thess. 4:4).
Law of the Leper
[Lev. 14: 2] This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
2-3 though quite convalescent, a leper was not allowed to return to society immediately and at his own will. The malignant character of his disease rendered the greatest precautions necessary to his re-admission among the people. One of the priest most skilled in the diagnostics of disease, being deputed to attend such outcast, the restored leper appeared before this official, and when after examination a certificate of health was given, the ceremonies here describe were forthwith observed outside the camp.
It was a command that once a priest declared the symptoms of leprosy or skin disease on an individual that they had to go through the purification process. The process included 7 stages:
1. The person had to buy a new bowl of 2 birds of identical appearance.
2. The priest would fill the bowl with natural spring water and kill the bird over it mixing the blood with the water,
3. The dead bird was then burned.
4. The Kohen or priest then took a piece of cedar wood, a hyssop twig and a string of wool died crimson red and tied all three together with another string of wool that was died crimson red.
5. The priest took these and the live bird and dipped both simultaneously into the bowl.
6. Then he used this to sprinkled the mixture of water and blood seven times on the back of the person’s hand seven times.
7. The second bird was then set free and the person took a complete haircut, (his entire body was shaved), and he immersed himself in a mikveh.
The malignant character of his disease rendered the greatest precautions necessary to his re-admission among the people. One of the priest most skilled in the diagnostics of disease, being deputed to attend such outcast, the restored leper appeared before this official, and when after examination a certificate of health was given, the ceremonies here described were forthwith observed outside the camp.
5-9 to immerse the body of another bird, it was mingled with spring water to increase the quantity necessary for the appointed sprinklings, which were to be repeated 7 times denoting a complete purification. (Ps. 51:2; Mat. 8:4; Lk. 5:14). The living bird being then set free, in token of the leper’s release from 2quarantine, the priest pronounced him clean; and this official declaration was made with all solemnity, in order that the mind of the leper might be duly impressed with a sense of the divine goodness, and that others might be satisfied they might safely hold intercourse with him. Several other purification had to be gone through during a series of 7 days, and the whole process had to be repeated on the 7th, were he was allowed to re-enter the camp. The circumstance of a priest being employed seems to imply that the symbolical ceremonies used in the process of cleansing leprosy would be explain. How far they were then understood we couldn’t tell. But they trace some instructive analogies between the leprosy and the disease of sin, and between the rites observed in the process of cleansing leprosy and the provisions of the Gospel. The chief of these analogies is that as it was only when a leper exhibited a certain change of state that orders were given by the priest for a sacrifice, so a sinner must be in the exercise of faith and penitence were he can enjoy the benefits of the gospel remedy. The slain bird and the bird let loose are supposed to typify, the one, the death, and the other the resurrection of Y’Shua; while the sprinklings on him that had been leprous typified the requirements which led a believer to cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect his holiness in the fear of the L-rd.
After performing the seven steps listed in the last command, the person would count seven days and the priest would shave him a second time in the same manner as the first. Then the person would immerse himself as well as his clothes in a mikveh. By these immersions he was purified from contaminating others, but still wasn’t able to eat of holy offerings until he brought his atonement offering. These last six commands applied only to the Temple periods when the priests were familiar with these laws.
It was a command for anyone who wanted to be cleansed of any ritual impurity, or to enter the Temple, or to eat holy food to be immersed in a mikveh. The water of the mikveh had to be at least 40 se’ah (approximately 152 gallons) and had to be either rainwater or natural spring. Manually collected water or pipe drawn was forbidden. Many pious Jews, even today, immerse themselves daily in a kosher mikveh in order to remain in a state of purity at all times.
The final stage of purification process, when a person was cleansed of the disease, is to sacrifice 3 offerings. When the two male lambs were brought, one was a guilt offering, and the other was a burnt offering. The one ewe (female) lamb was for the sin offering. A meal offering accompanied each offering made up of a tenth of an epha of fine flour mixed with oil.
10-20 the purification of the leper was not completed till at the end of seven days, after the ceremonial of the birds (14:4-7) and during which, through permitted to come into the camp, he had to tarry abroad out of his tent (14:8), from which he came daily to appear at the door of the Tabernacle with the offerings required. The priest that made him clean presented him before the L-rd. And hence it has always been reckoned among the pious people the first duty of a patient newly restored from a long and dangerous sickness to reappear to the church to offer his thanksgivings, where his body and soul, in order to be an acceptable offering was to consist of 2 lambs, the one was to be a sin offering, and ephah of the fine flour (two pints equals one-tenth), of oil (2:1). One of the lambs was for a trespass offering, which was necessary from the inherent sin of his nature or form his defilement of the camp by his leprosy previous to his expulsion; and it is remarkable that the manner to the extremities of the restored leper, as that of the ram in the consecration of the priest (8:23). The parts sprinkled with this blood were then anointed with oil - a ceremony which is supposed to have borne this spiritual import; that while the blood was a token of forgiveness, the oil was an emblem of healing - as the blood of Y’Shua justifies, the influence of the Spirit sanctifies. Of the other tow lambs the one was to be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering, which has also the character of a thank offering for G-d’s mercy in his restoration,. And this was considered excluded him from the enjoyment of religious ordinances, just as the atonement of Y’Shua restores all who are cleansed through faith in His sacrifice to the privileges of the children of G-d.
21-32 a kind of considerate provision for an extension of the privilege to lepers of the poorer class. The blood of their smaller offering was to be applied in the same process of purification and they were as publicly and completely cleansed as those who brought a costlier offering (Acts 10:34). 34-48. This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites Canaan. The words, AI put the leprosy, has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent G-d as doing that which He only permits in His providence to be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first suspicion of disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the disease so named produces on the human body; while others have pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house, particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a legislator. Moses enjoined the priest to follow the same course and during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of this disease as in human leprosy. If found leprous, the infected parts were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew.
Even the stones of the house could be infected with the disease. This phenomenon was not held in any other nation except the Jewish people. Tradition seemed to indicate also that if a sin was committed and not repented of, the disease would spread from the house to the clothing and then to the owner’s body. 48-57. The precautions here descried show that there is great dander in warm countries from the house leprosy, which was likely to be increased by the smallness and rude architecture of the houses in the early ages of the Israelites history. As a house could not contract any impurity in the sight of G-d, the atonement which the priest was to take for it must either have a reference to the sins of its occupants or to the ceremonial process appointed for its purification, the very same as that observed for a leprous person. This solemn declaration that it was clean, as well as the offering made on the occasion, was admirable calculated to make known the fact, to remove apprehension from the public mind, as well as relieve the owner from the aching suspicion of dwelling in an infected house.
2-3 though quite convalescent, a leper was not allowed to return to society immediately and at his own will. The malignant character of his disease rendered the greatest precautions necessary to his re-admission among the people. One of the priest most skilled in the diagnostics of disease, being deputed to attend such outcast, the restored leper appeared before this official, and when after examination a certificate of health was given, the ceremonies here describe were forthwith observed outside the camp.
It was a command that once a priest declared the symptoms of leprosy or skin disease on an individual that they had to go through the purification process. The process included 7 stages:
1. The person had to buy a new bowl of 2 birds of identical appearance.
2. The priest would fill the bowl with natural spring water and kill the bird over it mixing the blood with the water,
3. The dead bird was then burned.
4. The Kohen or priest then took a piece of cedar wood, a hyssop twig and a string of wool died crimson red and tied all three together with another string of wool that was died crimson red.
5. The priest took these and the live bird and dipped both simultaneously into the bowl.
6. Then he used this to sprinkled the mixture of water and blood seven times on the back of the person’s hand seven times.
7. The second bird was then set free and the person took a complete haircut, (his entire body was shaved), and he immersed himself in a mikveh.
The malignant character of his disease rendered the greatest precautions necessary to his re-admission among the people. One of the priest most skilled in the diagnostics of disease, being deputed to attend such outcast, the restored leper appeared before this official, and when after examination a certificate of health was given, the ceremonies here described were forthwith observed outside the camp.
5-9 to immerse the body of another bird, it was mingled with spring water to increase the quantity necessary for the appointed sprinklings, which were to be repeated 7 times denoting a complete purification. (Ps. 51:2; Mat. 8:4; Lk. 5:14). The living bird being then set free, in token of the leper’s release from 2quarantine, the priest pronounced him clean; and this official declaration was made with all solemnity, in order that the mind of the leper might be duly impressed with a sense of the divine goodness, and that others might be satisfied they might safely hold intercourse with him. Several other purification had to be gone through during a series of 7 days, and the whole process had to be repeated on the 7th, were he was allowed to re-enter the camp. The circumstance of a priest being employed seems to imply that the symbolical ceremonies used in the process of cleansing leprosy would be explain. How far they were then understood we couldn’t tell. But they trace some instructive analogies between the leprosy and the disease of sin, and between the rites observed in the process of cleansing leprosy and the provisions of the Gospel. The chief of these analogies is that as it was only when a leper exhibited a certain change of state that orders were given by the priest for a sacrifice, so a sinner must be in the exercise of faith and penitence were he can enjoy the benefits of the gospel remedy. The slain bird and the bird let loose are supposed to typify, the one, the death, and the other the resurrection of Y’Shua; while the sprinklings on him that had been leprous typified the requirements which led a believer to cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect his holiness in the fear of the L-rd.
After performing the seven steps listed in the last command, the person would count seven days and the priest would shave him a second time in the same manner as the first. Then the person would immerse himself as well as his clothes in a mikveh. By these immersions he was purified from contaminating others, but still wasn’t able to eat of holy offerings until he brought his atonement offering. These last six commands applied only to the Temple periods when the priests were familiar with these laws.
It was a command for anyone who wanted to be cleansed of any ritual impurity, or to enter the Temple, or to eat holy food to be immersed in a mikveh. The water of the mikveh had to be at least 40 se’ah (approximately 152 gallons) and had to be either rainwater or natural spring. Manually collected water or pipe drawn was forbidden. Many pious Jews, even today, immerse themselves daily in a kosher mikveh in order to remain in a state of purity at all times.
The final stage of purification process, when a person was cleansed of the disease, is to sacrifice 3 offerings. When the two male lambs were brought, one was a guilt offering, and the other was a burnt offering. The one ewe (female) lamb was for the sin offering. A meal offering accompanied each offering made up of a tenth of an epha of fine flour mixed with oil.
10-20 the purification of the leper was not completed till at the end of seven days, after the ceremonial of the birds (14:4-7) and during which, through permitted to come into the camp, he had to tarry abroad out of his tent (14:8), from which he came daily to appear at the door of the Tabernacle with the offerings required. The priest that made him clean presented him before the L-rd. And hence it has always been reckoned among the pious people the first duty of a patient newly restored from a long and dangerous sickness to reappear to the church to offer his thanksgivings, where his body and soul, in order to be an acceptable offering was to consist of 2 lambs, the one was to be a sin offering, and ephah of the fine flour (two pints equals one-tenth), of oil (2:1). One of the lambs was for a trespass offering, which was necessary from the inherent sin of his nature or form his defilement of the camp by his leprosy previous to his expulsion; and it is remarkable that the manner to the extremities of the restored leper, as that of the ram in the consecration of the priest (8:23). The parts sprinkled with this blood were then anointed with oil - a ceremony which is supposed to have borne this spiritual import; that while the blood was a token of forgiveness, the oil was an emblem of healing - as the blood of Y’Shua justifies, the influence of the Spirit sanctifies. Of the other tow lambs the one was to be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering, which has also the character of a thank offering for G-d’s mercy in his restoration,. And this was considered excluded him from the enjoyment of religious ordinances, just as the atonement of Y’Shua restores all who are cleansed through faith in His sacrifice to the privileges of the children of G-d.
21-32 a kind of considerate provision for an extension of the privilege to lepers of the poorer class. The blood of their smaller offering was to be applied in the same process of purification and they were as publicly and completely cleansed as those who brought a costlier offering (Acts 10:34). 34-48. This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites Canaan. The words, AI put the leprosy, has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent G-d as doing that which He only permits in His providence to be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first suspicion of disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the disease so named produces on the human body; while others have pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house, particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a legislator. Moses enjoined the priest to follow the same course and during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of this disease as in human leprosy. If found leprous, the infected parts were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew.
Even the stones of the house could be infected with the disease. This phenomenon was not held in any other nation except the Jewish people. Tradition seemed to indicate also that if a sin was committed and not repented of, the disease would spread from the house to the clothing and then to the owner’s body. 48-57. The precautions here descried show that there is great dander in warm countries from the house leprosy, which was likely to be increased by the smallness and rude architecture of the houses in the early ages of the Israelites history. As a house could not contract any impurity in the sight of G-d, the atonement which the priest was to take for it must either have a reference to the sins of its occupants or to the ceremonial process appointed for its purification, the very same as that observed for a leprous person. This solemn declaration that it was clean, as well as the offering made on the occasion, was admirable calculated to make known the fact, to remove apprehension from the public mind, as well as relieve the owner from the aching suspicion of dwelling in an infected house.
Leprosy
[Lev. 13:2] When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or a bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:
When an individual noticed a skin disease he was obligated to go to the Kohen, who would determine if he was ritually impure or pure. If impure, he had to conform to the Torah Laws for the person afflicted with the disease and called a metzora. The priest (Kohen) would look for three signs:
1. The presence of two white hairs on the affected area,
2. The patch of tzaraas,
3. And raw flesh, noticing what degree it has spread.
If all these signs were not present, the priest would wait 7 days and reexamine the person. If the third examination did not reveal any symptoms, the Kohen would pronounce him ritually clean and discharge him. The status of a metzora was so severe that in the wilderness this individual was expelled from the three camps (Shechinah, Levites, and Israelites). Whereas a lesser disease was permitted to remain in the Israelite camp. One of the sins attributed to producing this disease as well as leprosy is slander or murmuring as demonstrated in the incident of Moses’ ‘sister Miriam.
When a man shall have in the skin - the fact of the following rules for distinguishing the plague of leprosy being incorporated with the Hebrew code of laws, proves the existence of the odious disease among that people. But a short time, little more than a year (if so long a period had elapsed since the exodus) when symptoms of leprosy seem extensively to have appeared among them; and as they could not be very liable to such a coetaneous disorder amid their active journeying and in the dry open air of Arabia, the seeds of the disorder must have been laid in Egypt, where it has always been endemic. There is every reason to believe that this was the case; that the leprosy was not a family complaint, hereditary among the Hebrews, but that they got it from intercourse with the Egyptians and from the unfavorable circumstances of their condition in the house of bondage. The great excitement and irritability of the skin in the hot and sandy regions of the East produce a far greater predisposition to leprosy of all kinds than in cooler temperatures; and cracks or blotches, inflammations or even contusions of the skin, very often lead to these in Arabia and Palestine, to some extent, but particularly in Egypt. Besides, the subjected and distressed state of the Hebrews in the latter country, and the nature of their employment, must have rendered them very liable to this as well as to various other blemishes and disaffections of the skin; in the production of which there are no causes more active or powerful than a depressed state of body and mind, hard labor under a burning sun, the body constantly covered with the excoriating dust of brick fields, and an impoverished diet - to all of which the Israelites were exposed while under the Egyptian bondage. It appears that, in consequence of these hardships, there was, even after they has left Egypt, a general predisposition among the Hebrews of the contagious forms of leprosy - so that it often occurred as a consequence of various other affections of the skin. And hence all coetaneous blemishes or blains - especially such as had a tendency to terminate in leprosy - were watched with a jealous eye from the firs. A swelling, a pimple, or bright spot on the skin, created a strong ground of suspicion of a mans being attacked by the deaden disease.
Be brought unto - like the Egyptian priest, the Levites united the character of physician with that of the sacred office; and on the appearance of any suspicious eruptions on the skin, the person having these was brought before the priest - not, however, to receive medical treatment, though it is not improbable that some purifying remedies might be prescribed, but to be examined with a view to those sanitary precautions which it belonged to legislation to adopt.
The leprosy, as covering the person with white, scaly scurf, has always been accounted an offensive blemish rather than a serious malady in the East, unless when it assumed its less common and malignant forms. When a Hebrew priest, after a careful inspection, discovered under the coetaneous blemish the distinctive signs of contagious leprosy, the person was immediately pronounced unclean, and is supposed to have been sent out of the camp to a lazaretto provided for that purpose. If the symptoms appeared to be doubtful, he ordered the person to kept in domestic confinement for seven days, when he was subjected to a second examination; and if during the previous week the eruption had subsided or appeared to be harmless, he was instantly discharged. But if the eruption continued unabated and still doubtful, he was put under surveillance another week; at the end of which the character of the disorder never failed to manifest itself, and he was either doomed to perpetual elusion from society or allowed to go at large. A person who had thus been detained on suspicion, when at length set at liberty, was obliged to Awash his clothes,@ as having been tainted by ceremonial pollution; and the purification through his clothes,@ as having been tainted by ceremonial pollution; and the purification through which he was required to go was, in the spirit of the Mosaic dispensation, symbolical of that inward purity it was instituted to promote.
7-9 scab spread - those doubtful cases, when they assumed a malignant character, appeared in one of two forms, apparently according to the particular constitution of the skin or of the habit generally. The one was somewhat dark (13:6) - that is, the obscure or dusky leprosy, in which the natural color of the hair (which in Egypt and Palestine is black) is not changed, as is repeatedly said in the sacred code, nor is there any depression in the dusky spot, while the patches, instead of keeping stationary to their first size, are perpetually enlarging their boundary. The patient laboring under this form was pronounced unclean by the Hebrew priest or physician, and hereby sentenced to a separation from his family and friends - a decisive proof of its being contagious.
9-37 the bright white leprosy is the most malignant and inveterate of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and it was mark by the following distinctive signs; a glossy white and spreading scale, upon an elevated base, the elevation depressed in the middle, but without a change of color; the black hair on the patches participating in the whiteness, and the scaly patches themselves perpetually enlarging their boundary. Several of these characteristics, taken separately, belong to other blemishes of the skin as well; so that none of them was to be taken alone, and it was only when the whole of them concurred that the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physician, was to pronounce the disease a malignant leprosy. If it spread over the entire frame without producing any ulceration, it lost its contagious power by degrees; or, in other words, it ran through its course and exhausted itself. In that case, there being no longer any fear of further evil, either to the individual himself or to the community, the patient was declared clean by the priest, while the dry scales were yet upon him, and restored to society. If, on the contrary, the patches ulcerated and quick or fungous flesh sprang up in them, the purulent matter of which, if brought into contact within the skin of other persons, would be taken into the inveterate leprosy. A temporary confinement was then declared to be totally unnecessary, and he was regarded as unclean for life. Other skin affections, which had a tendency to terminate in leprosy, though they were not decided symptoms when alone, were a boil (18-23); a hot burning, that is, a fiery inflammation or carbuncle (24-28); and a dry scull (29-37), when the leprosy was distinguished by being deeper than the skin and the hair become thin and yellow.
The spiritual lesson along with this command as taught by the Jews related to one attempting to remove the symbol and deny to the priest that he had such a disease.
Bald - forehead bald - the falling off of the hair, when the baldness commences in the back part of the head, is another symptom which creates a suspicion of leprosy. But it was not of itself a decisive sign unless taken in connection with other tokens, such as a sore of a reddish white color (13:43). The Hebrews as well as other Orientals were accustomed to distinguish between the forehead baldness, which might be natural, and that baldness which might be the consequence of disease.
Any person who had been declared metzora by a priest had to rend his clothes as a mourner did. He also must let his hair grow for as long as he is afflicted without cutting it. His head and face had to be covered down to his upper lip and his clothes had to remain unlaundered. Upon meeting another individual he or she had to cry out unclean! Warning the other person to keep away. To ancient Judaism the punishment for the individual who had leprosy or this disease to be separated from the company of others seem appropriate, since leprosy was a disease thought traditionally to be brought on by gossip or murmuring, which itself separated people through strife.
The person who was declared affected with the leprosy forthwith exhibited all the tokens of suffering from a heavy calamity. Rending garments and uncovering the head were common signs of mourning. As to the putting a covering upon the upper lip, that means either wearing a moustache, as the Hebrews used to shave the upper lip, or simply keeping a hand over it. All these external marks of grief were intended to proclaim, in addition to his own exclamation unclean! that the person was a leper, whose company every one must shun.
If such a disease was found in an individual and declared to be unclean by a priest, the garments were to be burn. 47-59 it is well known that infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, measles, the plague, are latently imbibed and carried by the clothes. But the language of this passage clearly indicates a disease to which clothes themselves were subject, and which was followed by effects on them analogous to those which malignant leprosy produces on the human body - for similar regulations were made for the rigid inspection of suspected garments by a priest as for the examination of a leprous person. It has long been conjectured and recently ascertained by the use of a lens, that the leprous condition of swine is produced by myriads of minute insects engendered in their skin; and regarding all leprosy as of the same nature, it is thought that this affords a sufficient reason for the injunction in the Mosaic law to destroy the clothes in which the disease, after careful observation, seemed to manifest itself. Clothes are sometimes seen contaminated by this disease in the West Indies and the southern part of America, and it may be presumed that, as the Hebrews were living in the desert where they had not the convenience of frequent changes and washing the clothes, the wool and the skin mats on which they lay, would be apt to breed infectious vermin, which, being settled in the stuff, would imperceptibly gnaw it and leave stains similar to those described by Moses. It is well known that the wool of sheep dying of disease, if it had not been shorn from the animal while living, and also skins, if not thoroughly prepared by scouring, are liable to the effects described in this passage. The stains are described as of a greenish or reddish color, according, perhaps, to the color or nature of the ingredients used in preparing them; for acids convert blue vegetable colors into red and alkalis change then into green (brown). It appears, then, that the leprosy, though sometimes inflicted as a miraculous judgment (Num. 12:10 and 2 Kg. 5:27) was a natural disease, which is known in Eastern countries still; while the rules prescribed by the Hebrew legislator for distinguishing the true character and varieties of the disease and which are for superior to the method of treatment now followed in those regions, show the divine wisdom by which he was guided. Doubtless the origin of the disease is owing to some latent causes in nature; and perhaps a more extended acquaintance with the archaeology of Egypt and the natural history of the adjacent countries, may confirm the opinion that leprosy resulted from noxious insects or a putrid fermentation. But whatever the cause of the disease, the laws enacted by divine authority regarding it, while they pointed in the first instance to sanitary ends, were at the same time intended, by simulating to carefulness against ceremonial defilement, to foster a spirit of religious fear and inward purity.
When an individual noticed a skin disease he was obligated to go to the Kohen, who would determine if he was ritually impure or pure. If impure, he had to conform to the Torah Laws for the person afflicted with the disease and called a metzora. The priest (Kohen) would look for three signs:
1. The presence of two white hairs on the affected area,
2. The patch of tzaraas,
3. And raw flesh, noticing what degree it has spread.
If all these signs were not present, the priest would wait 7 days and reexamine the person. If the third examination did not reveal any symptoms, the Kohen would pronounce him ritually clean and discharge him. The status of a metzora was so severe that in the wilderness this individual was expelled from the three camps (Shechinah, Levites, and Israelites). Whereas a lesser disease was permitted to remain in the Israelite camp. One of the sins attributed to producing this disease as well as leprosy is slander or murmuring as demonstrated in the incident of Moses’ ‘sister Miriam.
When a man shall have in the skin - the fact of the following rules for distinguishing the plague of leprosy being incorporated with the Hebrew code of laws, proves the existence of the odious disease among that people. But a short time, little more than a year (if so long a period had elapsed since the exodus) when symptoms of leprosy seem extensively to have appeared among them; and as they could not be very liable to such a coetaneous disorder amid their active journeying and in the dry open air of Arabia, the seeds of the disorder must have been laid in Egypt, where it has always been endemic. There is every reason to believe that this was the case; that the leprosy was not a family complaint, hereditary among the Hebrews, but that they got it from intercourse with the Egyptians and from the unfavorable circumstances of their condition in the house of bondage. The great excitement and irritability of the skin in the hot and sandy regions of the East produce a far greater predisposition to leprosy of all kinds than in cooler temperatures; and cracks or blotches, inflammations or even contusions of the skin, very often lead to these in Arabia and Palestine, to some extent, but particularly in Egypt. Besides, the subjected and distressed state of the Hebrews in the latter country, and the nature of their employment, must have rendered them very liable to this as well as to various other blemishes and disaffections of the skin; in the production of which there are no causes more active or powerful than a depressed state of body and mind, hard labor under a burning sun, the body constantly covered with the excoriating dust of brick fields, and an impoverished diet - to all of which the Israelites were exposed while under the Egyptian bondage. It appears that, in consequence of these hardships, there was, even after they has left Egypt, a general predisposition among the Hebrews of the contagious forms of leprosy - so that it often occurred as a consequence of various other affections of the skin. And hence all coetaneous blemishes or blains - especially such as had a tendency to terminate in leprosy - were watched with a jealous eye from the firs. A swelling, a pimple, or bright spot on the skin, created a strong ground of suspicion of a mans being attacked by the deaden disease.
Be brought unto - like the Egyptian priest, the Levites united the character of physician with that of the sacred office; and on the appearance of any suspicious eruptions on the skin, the person having these was brought before the priest - not, however, to receive medical treatment, though it is not improbable that some purifying remedies might be prescribed, but to be examined with a view to those sanitary precautions which it belonged to legislation to adopt.
The leprosy, as covering the person with white, scaly scurf, has always been accounted an offensive blemish rather than a serious malady in the East, unless when it assumed its less common and malignant forms. When a Hebrew priest, after a careful inspection, discovered under the coetaneous blemish the distinctive signs of contagious leprosy, the person was immediately pronounced unclean, and is supposed to have been sent out of the camp to a lazaretto provided for that purpose. If the symptoms appeared to be doubtful, he ordered the person to kept in domestic confinement for seven days, when he was subjected to a second examination; and if during the previous week the eruption had subsided or appeared to be harmless, he was instantly discharged. But if the eruption continued unabated and still doubtful, he was put under surveillance another week; at the end of which the character of the disorder never failed to manifest itself, and he was either doomed to perpetual elusion from society or allowed to go at large. A person who had thus been detained on suspicion, when at length set at liberty, was obliged to Awash his clothes,@ as having been tainted by ceremonial pollution; and the purification through his clothes,@ as having been tainted by ceremonial pollution; and the purification through which he was required to go was, in the spirit of the Mosaic dispensation, symbolical of that inward purity it was instituted to promote.
7-9 scab spread - those doubtful cases, when they assumed a malignant character, appeared in one of two forms, apparently according to the particular constitution of the skin or of the habit generally. The one was somewhat dark (13:6) - that is, the obscure or dusky leprosy, in which the natural color of the hair (which in Egypt and Palestine is black) is not changed, as is repeatedly said in the sacred code, nor is there any depression in the dusky spot, while the patches, instead of keeping stationary to their first size, are perpetually enlarging their boundary. The patient laboring under this form was pronounced unclean by the Hebrew priest or physician, and hereby sentenced to a separation from his family and friends - a decisive proof of its being contagious.
9-37 the bright white leprosy is the most malignant and inveterate of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and it was mark by the following distinctive signs; a glossy white and spreading scale, upon an elevated base, the elevation depressed in the middle, but without a change of color; the black hair on the patches participating in the whiteness, and the scaly patches themselves perpetually enlarging their boundary. Several of these characteristics, taken separately, belong to other blemishes of the skin as well; so that none of them was to be taken alone, and it was only when the whole of them concurred that the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physician, was to pronounce the disease a malignant leprosy. If it spread over the entire frame without producing any ulceration, it lost its contagious power by degrees; or, in other words, it ran through its course and exhausted itself. In that case, there being no longer any fear of further evil, either to the individual himself or to the community, the patient was declared clean by the priest, while the dry scales were yet upon him, and restored to society. If, on the contrary, the patches ulcerated and quick or fungous flesh sprang up in them, the purulent matter of which, if brought into contact within the skin of other persons, would be taken into the inveterate leprosy. A temporary confinement was then declared to be totally unnecessary, and he was regarded as unclean for life. Other skin affections, which had a tendency to terminate in leprosy, though they were not decided symptoms when alone, were a boil (18-23); a hot burning, that is, a fiery inflammation or carbuncle (24-28); and a dry scull (29-37), when the leprosy was distinguished by being deeper than the skin and the hair become thin and yellow.
The spiritual lesson along with this command as taught by the Jews related to one attempting to remove the symbol and deny to the priest that he had such a disease.
Bald - forehead bald - the falling off of the hair, when the baldness commences in the back part of the head, is another symptom which creates a suspicion of leprosy. But it was not of itself a decisive sign unless taken in connection with other tokens, such as a sore of a reddish white color (13:43). The Hebrews as well as other Orientals were accustomed to distinguish between the forehead baldness, which might be natural, and that baldness which might be the consequence of disease.
Any person who had been declared metzora by a priest had to rend his clothes as a mourner did. He also must let his hair grow for as long as he is afflicted without cutting it. His head and face had to be covered down to his upper lip and his clothes had to remain unlaundered. Upon meeting another individual he or she had to cry out unclean! Warning the other person to keep away. To ancient Judaism the punishment for the individual who had leprosy or this disease to be separated from the company of others seem appropriate, since leprosy was a disease thought traditionally to be brought on by gossip or murmuring, which itself separated people through strife.
The person who was declared affected with the leprosy forthwith exhibited all the tokens of suffering from a heavy calamity. Rending garments and uncovering the head were common signs of mourning. As to the putting a covering upon the upper lip, that means either wearing a moustache, as the Hebrews used to shave the upper lip, or simply keeping a hand over it. All these external marks of grief were intended to proclaim, in addition to his own exclamation unclean! that the person was a leper, whose company every one must shun.
If such a disease was found in an individual and declared to be unclean by a priest, the garments were to be burn. 47-59 it is well known that infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, measles, the plague, are latently imbibed and carried by the clothes. But the language of this passage clearly indicates a disease to which clothes themselves were subject, and which was followed by effects on them analogous to those which malignant leprosy produces on the human body - for similar regulations were made for the rigid inspection of suspected garments by a priest as for the examination of a leprous person. It has long been conjectured and recently ascertained by the use of a lens, that the leprous condition of swine is produced by myriads of minute insects engendered in their skin; and regarding all leprosy as of the same nature, it is thought that this affords a sufficient reason for the injunction in the Mosaic law to destroy the clothes in which the disease, after careful observation, seemed to manifest itself. Clothes are sometimes seen contaminated by this disease in the West Indies and the southern part of America, and it may be presumed that, as the Hebrews were living in the desert where they had not the convenience of frequent changes and washing the clothes, the wool and the skin mats on which they lay, would be apt to breed infectious vermin, which, being settled in the stuff, would imperceptibly gnaw it and leave stains similar to those described by Moses. It is well known that the wool of sheep dying of disease, if it had not been shorn from the animal while living, and also skins, if not thoroughly prepared by scouring, are liable to the effects described in this passage. The stains are described as of a greenish or reddish color, according, perhaps, to the color or nature of the ingredients used in preparing them; for acids convert blue vegetable colors into red and alkalis change then into green (brown). It appears, then, that the leprosy, though sometimes inflicted as a miraculous judgment (Num. 12:10 and 2 Kg. 5:27) was a natural disease, which is known in Eastern countries still; while the rules prescribed by the Hebrew legislator for distinguishing the true character and varieties of the disease and which are for superior to the method of treatment now followed in those regions, show the divine wisdom by which he was guided. Doubtless the origin of the disease is owing to some latent causes in nature; and perhaps a more extended acquaintance with the archaeology of Egypt and the natural history of the adjacent countries, may confirm the opinion that leprosy resulted from noxious insects or a putrid fermentation. But whatever the cause of the disease, the laws enacted by divine authority regarding it, while they pointed in the first instance to sanitary ends, were at the same time intended, by simulating to carefulness against ceremonial defilement, to foster a spirit of religious fear and inward purity.
Mikveh
[Lev. 12:2] Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
Law continues in v. 5. With a male child the mother was unclean for 7 days and on the 8th day he was circumcised. Gen. 17:12 and Romans 4:11-13; with a female child the mother was unclean for 14 days. Lev. 12:5 B stigma on the sexB1 Tim. 2:14-15 for sin, which was removed by the Messiah; everyone who came near the mother during that time contracted a similar defilement. After these periods, visitors might approach her though she was excluded from the public ordinances of religion. 12:4.
The impure person was only permitted to eat of sacred offerings after he immerses himself in a mikveh and waits until the sun sits. Plus these actions he has to bring an offering upon the completion of his purification period.
When this time elapses, she cleanses herself by immersing in a mikveh. During the Temple period it was forbidden for a woman to enter the Temple, eat certain foods.
6-8 though the occasion was of a festive character, yet the sacrifices appointed were not a peace offering, but a burnt offering and sin offering, in order to impress the mind of the parent with recollection of the original sin, and that the child inherited a fallen and sinful nature. The offerings were to be presented the day after the period of her separation had ended - 40 for a boy and 80 for a girl.
The childbearing women was obligated to bring 2 offerings of a burnt offering (lamb) as well as a sin offering of a pigeon or turtledove. The purpose of the burnt offering was for the woman to show her gratitude to Hashem, who delivered her safely from the dangers of childbirth. Tradition and commentary (Midrash) on this verse also point out that the burnt offering was also offered in case the woman in childbirth some evil words went up during the pain. The purpose of the sin offering was because during her condition she was unable to partake of any sacrificial food and the Torah states that atonement had to be made for her. Although the burnt offering is mentioned here first, the sin offering is always sacrificed first.
Two turtles - offering made by Miriam, the mother of Y’Shua, and it offers an incontestable proof and humble condition of the family. Lk. 2:22-24.
Law continues in v. 5. With a male child the mother was unclean for 7 days and on the 8th day he was circumcised. Gen. 17:12 and Romans 4:11-13; with a female child the mother was unclean for 14 days. Lev. 12:5 B stigma on the sexB1 Tim. 2:14-15 for sin, which was removed by the Messiah; everyone who came near the mother during that time contracted a similar defilement. After these periods, visitors might approach her though she was excluded from the public ordinances of religion. 12:4.
The impure person was only permitted to eat of sacred offerings after he immerses himself in a mikveh and waits until the sun sits. Plus these actions he has to bring an offering upon the completion of his purification period.
When this time elapses, she cleanses herself by immersing in a mikveh. During the Temple period it was forbidden for a woman to enter the Temple, eat certain foods.
6-8 though the occasion was of a festive character, yet the sacrifices appointed were not a peace offering, but a burnt offering and sin offering, in order to impress the mind of the parent with recollection of the original sin, and that the child inherited a fallen and sinful nature. The offerings were to be presented the day after the period of her separation had ended - 40 for a boy and 80 for a girl.
The childbearing women was obligated to bring 2 offerings of a burnt offering (lamb) as well as a sin offering of a pigeon or turtledove. The purpose of the burnt offering was for the woman to show her gratitude to Hashem, who delivered her safely from the dangers of childbirth. Tradition and commentary (Midrash) on this verse also point out that the burnt offering was also offered in case the woman in childbirth some evil words went up during the pain. The purpose of the sin offering was because during her condition she was unable to partake of any sacrificial food and the Torah states that atonement had to be made for her. Although the burnt offering is mentioned here first, the sin offering is always sacrificed first.
Two turtles - offering made by Miriam, the mother of Y’Shua, and it offers an incontestable proof and humble condition of the family. Lk. 2:22-24.
Dietetic Reasons
[Lev. 11:2] Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.
These laws, being addressed to both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers in Israel. A dietetic reason for the flesh of many of the animals here ranked as unclean, is everywhere, but especially in warm climates, less wholesome and adapted for food than those which were allowed to be eaten. These laws, therefore, being subservient to sanitary as well as religious ends, were addressed both to Moses and Aaron.
The laws for eating relating to the clean and unclean food prescribed for the Jewish people included two requirements; 1. Its hoofs had to be split, and 2. It had to chew its cud (meaning it ejects food from its stomach and returns it to its mouth in order to chew and grind it fine. Basically, only those 10 species listed in the Torah (Deut. 14:4, 5) are permitted to be eaten. Thee include; the ox (bull and cow), the sheep (ram and lamb), the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
Ruminating animals by the peculiar structure of their stomachs digest their food more fully than others. It is found that in the act of chewing the cud, a large portion of the poisonous properties of noxious plants eaten by them, passed off by the salivary glands. This power of secreting the poisonous effects of vegetables, it said to be particularly remarkable in cows and goats, whose mouths are often sore, and sometimes bleed, in consequence. Their flesh is therefore in a better state for food, as it contains more of the nutritious juices, is more easily digested in the human stomach, and is consequently more easily assibilated. Animals that do not chew the cud, convert their food less perfectly; their flesh is therefore unwholesome, from the gross animal juices with which they abound, and is ape to produce, scorbutic and scrofulous disorders. But animals that may be eaten are those which part the hood as well as chew the cud, and this is another means of freeing the flesh of the animal from noxious substances. In the case of animals with parted hoofs, when feeding in unfavorable situations a prodigious amount of fetid matter is discharged, and passes off between the toes; while animal with undivided hoofs, feeding on the same ground, beco9me severely affected in the legs, from the poisonous plants among the pasture all experience attests this, and accordingly the use of ruminating animals (that most countries though it was observed most carefully but the people who were favored with the promulgation of G-d’s Law.
It is forbidden to eat of any animal that does not possess both signs described in previous law. It is also forbidden to deal in business with any nonkosher food for profit. Traditionally, it is believed that it is forbidden to even raise a pig in a Jewish home. The penalty for this was lashes. The reason given for the Torah prohibiting certain foods is because they defile the purity of the soul by contaminating the individual spiritually. This is much like a test emphasizing the health of the soul rather than to promote physical health. There are four animals that only have one of the two sign given for kosher eating. These (camel, rabbit, hare, and pig) are listed so as not to be mistakenly eaten, since they partly qualify with one of the two kosher signs. The Talmud mentions a curse on the man who raises a pig.
The camel it does to a certain extent divide the hoof, for the foot consists of two large parts, but the division is not complete; the toes rest upon an elastic pad on which the animal goes; as a beast of burden its flesh is tough. An additional reason for its prohibition might be to keep the Israelites apart from the descendants of Ishmael.
The coney - not the rabbi, for it is not found in Palestine or Arabia, but the hyrax, a little animal of the size and general shape of the rabbit, but differing from it in several essential features. It has no tail, singular, long hairs bristling like thorns among the fur on its back; its feet are bare, its nails flat and round, except those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are sharp and project like an awl. It does not burrow in the ground but frequents the clefts of rocks.
The hare - two species of hare must have been pointed at; the Sinai hare, the hare of the desert, small and generally brown; the other, the hare of Palestine and Syria, about the size and appearance of that known in our own country. Neither the hare nor the coney are really ruminating. They only appear to be so from working the jaw on the grasses they live on. They are not cloven footed; and besides, it is said that from the expel these, they eat poisonous plants, and if used as food while in that state, they are most deleterious.
The swine – It is a filthy, foul feeding animal, and it lacks one of the natural provisions for purifying the system, it chews not the cud, in hot climates indulgence in swine’s flesh is particularly liable to produce leprosy, scurvy, and various cutaneous eruptions. It was therefore strictly avoided by the Israelites. It prohibition was further necessary to prevent their adopting many of the grossest idolatries practiced by neighboring nations.
Fish - The fins and scales are the means by which the excrescences of fish are carried off, the same as in animals by perspiration. Eating fish without fins and scales cause, in hot climates, the most malignant disorders, in many cases they prove a mortal poison. It is forbidden to eat any of the non-kosher type of fish.
No fins or scales - under this classification frogs, eels, shellfish of all descriptions, were included as unclean; many of the latter (shellfish) enjoy a reputation they do not deserve, and have when plentifully partaken of, produced effects which have let to a suspicion of their containing something of a poisonous nature.
13-19 among the fowls - all birds of prey are particularly ranked in the class unclean; all those which feed on flesh and carrion. No less than twenty species of birds, all probably then know, are mentioned under this category, and the inference follows that all which are not mentioned were allowed; that is fowl which subsist on vegetable substances. From our imperfect knowledge of the natural history of Palestine, Arabia, and the contiguous countries at that time, it is not easy to determine exactly what some of the prohibited birds were; although they must have been all well known among the people to whom these laws were given.
This refers to the non-kosher species of fowl, which the Torah does not give the distinguishing marks: The Torah does list some 24 non-kosher birds because they are in fewer number than the kosher ones. All birds not listed in the Torah are permissible to eat. All predatory birds that grasp their prey with their talons and kill it are not kosher.
Vulture - the word so rendered in our version means more probably the kite or glede and describes a varying but majestic flight, exactly that of the kite, which now darts forward with the rapidity of an arrow, now rest motionless on its expanded wings in the air. It feeds on small birds, insects, and fish.
Raven - including the crow, the pie.
Owl - it is generally supposed the ostrich is denoted by the original word.
Night hawk - a very small bird, with which, from its nocturnal habits, many superstitious ideas were associated.
Cuckoo - evidently some other bird is meant by the original term, from its being ranged among rapacious birds. Some think it is a sea mew, sea fowl?
Hawk - the Hebrew word includes every variety of the falcon family - as the goshawk, the jerhawk, the sparrow hawk etc. Several species of hawks are found in Western Asia and Egypt, where they find inexhaustible prey in the immense numbers of pigeons and turtledoves that abound in those quarters. The hawk was help pre-eminently scared among the Egyptians; and this, besides its rapacious disposition and gross habits, might have been a strong reason for its prohibition an a article of food to the Israelites/
Little owl - or horned owl, as some render it. The common barn owl, which is well known in the East. It is the only bird of its kind here referred to, although the word is thrice mentioned in our version.
Cormorant - supposed to be the gull.
The great owl - according to some the Ibis of Egyptians. It was well know to the Israelites, and so rendered by the Septuagint (Deut. 14:16 Isa. 34:1).]
Swan - found in great numbers in all the countries of the Levant. It frequents marshy places - the vicinity of rivers and lakes. It was held sacred by the Egyptians, and kept tame within the precincts of heathen temples. It was probably on this account chiefly that its use as food was prohibited. Some confiders it the goose.
Pelican - remarkable for the bag or pouch under its lower jaw which serves not only as a net to catch, but also as a receptacle of food. It is solitary in its habits and, like other large aquatic birds, often flies to a great distance from its favorite haunts.
Gier eagle - being here associated with waterfowl, it has been questioned whether any species of eagle is referred to. Some think, as the original name racham denotes tenderness affection, the halcyon or kingfisher is intended. Others think that it is the bird now called the rachami, a kind of Egyptian vulture, abundant in the streets of Cairo and popularly called Pharaoh’s fowl. It is white in color, in size like a raven, and feeds on carrion; it is one of the foulest and filthiest birds in the world.
Stork - a bird of benevolent temper and held in the highest estimation in all Eastern countries; it was declared unclean, probably, from its feeding on serpents and other venomous reptiles, as well as rearing its young on the same food.
Heron - the word so translated only occurs in the prohibited list of food and has been variously rendered - the crane, the plover, the woodcock, the parrot. In this great diversity of opinion nothing certain can be affirmed regarding it. Judging from the group with which it is classified, it must be an aquatic bird that is meant. It may as well be the heron as any other bird, the more especially as herons abound in Egypt and in the Hauran of Palestine.
Lapwing - or boopoe; found in warm regions, a very pretty but filthy species of bird. It was considered unclean, probably from its feeding on insects, worms, and snails.
Bat - the great or Ternate bat, known in the East, noted for its voracity and filthiness/
That creep - by fowls here are to be understood all creatures with wings and going upon all fours, not a restriction to animals which have exactly four feet, because many creeping things have more than that number. The prohibition is regarded generally as extending to insects, reptiles, and worms.
[21-22 nothing short of a scientific description could convey more accurately the nature of locust after its kind. They were allowed as lawful food to the Israelites, and they are eaten by the Arabs, who fry them in olive oil. When sprinkled with salt, dried, smoked, and fried, they are said to taste not unlike red herrings.
All locust and grasshoppers must be examined to see if they have the kosher signs given in the Torah. The general idea today is to eat only those that have an uninterrupted tradition that is kosher.
Every beast ...not clovenfooted - the prohibited animals under this description include not only the beast which have a single hoof, as horses and asses, but those also which divided the foot into paws, as Lions, tigers ect.
Weasel - rather, the mole.
Mouse - from its diminutive size it is placed among the reptiles instead of the quadrupeds.
Tortoise - a lizard, resembling very nearly in shape, and in the hard pointed scales of the tail, the shake tail.
During the Temple period it was forbidden to come into contact and thereby become contaminated with the carcass of the 8 creeping animals (reptile or rodents) listed in the Torah. The 8 creeping things listed in this group known as primary sources of uncleanness were: the weasel, the mouse, the toad, the hedgehog, the chameleon, the lizard, the snail and the mole. The primary source of uncleanness is that which contaminates people, vessels and foodstuffs and liquids. A person who touches one of the 8 species was forbidden to enter the Temple or eat holy food. He became completely clean only after immersing himself in a mikveh and waiting until evening. The same law applied to any vessel or clothing that came into contact with one of the 8.
[Ferret - the Hebrew word is thought by some to signify the newt or chameleon, by others the frog. Chameleon - called by the Arabs the warral, a green lizard.
Snail - a lizard which lives in the sand, and is called by the Arabs chulca, of an azure color.
Mole - another species of lizard is meant, probably the chameleon.
31-35 these regulations were extremely useful and salutary, especially as enforcing attention to cleanliness. This is a matter of essential importance in the East, where venomous reptiles often creep into houses and are found lurking in boxes, vessels, or holes in the wall; and the carcass of one of them, or dead mouse, mole, lizard, or other unclean animal, might be inadvertently touched by the hand, or fall on clothes, skin bottles, or any article of common domestic use. By connecting, therefore, the touch of such creatures with ceremonial defilement, which required immediately to be removed, an effectual means was taken to prevent the bad effects of venom and all unclean or noxious matter.
During the Temple period it was a command to observe the laws regarding the ritual of uncleanness of solid and liquid food. Contaminated food can not be purified through immersion in a mikveh, as is the case with vessels and clothing. Certain conditions had to be met before any food became contaminated. One such specification was that the food had to come into contact with one of seven liquids; wine, honey, oil, milk dew, blood or water. From this command we get the law that one must wash his hands before eating any food that came into contact with these seven liquids. This is seen in the washing of hands on the Seder night before eating the karpas (celery or radishes), which is dipped in salt water.
If an individual touched the carcass of a dead animal it was considered a primary cause or source of contamination and he had to be immersed in a mikvah both his body as well as his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
It was forbidden for G-d’s chosen people with their special identification laws to eat any creeping animal (reptiles and rodents) found on dry land or in water. The penalty for violation was lashes.
This is a similar law regarding all crawling things. This also applied to worms. This was not to be taken lightly, because in transgressing it one was actually in violation of five different prohibitions.
This applied to any creatures that swarmed in the water except the kosher fish. The penalty for transgression of this was lashes.
This had to do with eating any swarming creatures that qare generated from decay.
Make a difference between animals used and not used for food. It is probable that the laws contained in this chapter were not entirely new, but only gave the sanction of divine enactment to ancient usages. Some of the prohibited animals have on physiological grounds, been everywhere rejected by the general sense or experience of mankind; while others may have been declared unclean from their unwholesomeness in warm countries of from some reasons, which are not imperfectly known, connected with contemporary idolatry.
These laws, being addressed to both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers in Israel. A dietetic reason for the flesh of many of the animals here ranked as unclean, is everywhere, but especially in warm climates, less wholesome and adapted for food than those which were allowed to be eaten. These laws, therefore, being subservient to sanitary as well as religious ends, were addressed both to Moses and Aaron.
The laws for eating relating to the clean and unclean food prescribed for the Jewish people included two requirements; 1. Its hoofs had to be split, and 2. It had to chew its cud (meaning it ejects food from its stomach and returns it to its mouth in order to chew and grind it fine. Basically, only those 10 species listed in the Torah (Deut. 14:4, 5) are permitted to be eaten. Thee include; the ox (bull and cow), the sheep (ram and lamb), the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
Ruminating animals by the peculiar structure of their stomachs digest their food more fully than others. It is found that in the act of chewing the cud, a large portion of the poisonous properties of noxious plants eaten by them, passed off by the salivary glands. This power of secreting the poisonous effects of vegetables, it said to be particularly remarkable in cows and goats, whose mouths are often sore, and sometimes bleed, in consequence. Their flesh is therefore in a better state for food, as it contains more of the nutritious juices, is more easily digested in the human stomach, and is consequently more easily assibilated. Animals that do not chew the cud, convert their food less perfectly; their flesh is therefore unwholesome, from the gross animal juices with which they abound, and is ape to produce, scorbutic and scrofulous disorders. But animals that may be eaten are those which part the hood as well as chew the cud, and this is another means of freeing the flesh of the animal from noxious substances. In the case of animals with parted hoofs, when feeding in unfavorable situations a prodigious amount of fetid matter is discharged, and passes off between the toes; while animal with undivided hoofs, feeding on the same ground, beco9me severely affected in the legs, from the poisonous plants among the pasture all experience attests this, and accordingly the use of ruminating animals (that most countries though it was observed most carefully but the people who were favored with the promulgation of G-d’s Law.
It is forbidden to eat of any animal that does not possess both signs described in previous law. It is also forbidden to deal in business with any nonkosher food for profit. Traditionally, it is believed that it is forbidden to even raise a pig in a Jewish home. The penalty for this was lashes. The reason given for the Torah prohibiting certain foods is because they defile the purity of the soul by contaminating the individual spiritually. This is much like a test emphasizing the health of the soul rather than to promote physical health. There are four animals that only have one of the two sign given for kosher eating. These (camel, rabbit, hare, and pig) are listed so as not to be mistakenly eaten, since they partly qualify with one of the two kosher signs. The Talmud mentions a curse on the man who raises a pig.
The camel it does to a certain extent divide the hoof, for the foot consists of two large parts, but the division is not complete; the toes rest upon an elastic pad on which the animal goes; as a beast of burden its flesh is tough. An additional reason for its prohibition might be to keep the Israelites apart from the descendants of Ishmael.
The coney - not the rabbi, for it is not found in Palestine or Arabia, but the hyrax, a little animal of the size and general shape of the rabbit, but differing from it in several essential features. It has no tail, singular, long hairs bristling like thorns among the fur on its back; its feet are bare, its nails flat and round, except those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are sharp and project like an awl. It does not burrow in the ground but frequents the clefts of rocks.
The hare - two species of hare must have been pointed at; the Sinai hare, the hare of the desert, small and generally brown; the other, the hare of Palestine and Syria, about the size and appearance of that known in our own country. Neither the hare nor the coney are really ruminating. They only appear to be so from working the jaw on the grasses they live on. They are not cloven footed; and besides, it is said that from the expel these, they eat poisonous plants, and if used as food while in that state, they are most deleterious.
The swine – It is a filthy, foul feeding animal, and it lacks one of the natural provisions for purifying the system, it chews not the cud, in hot climates indulgence in swine’s flesh is particularly liable to produce leprosy, scurvy, and various cutaneous eruptions. It was therefore strictly avoided by the Israelites. It prohibition was further necessary to prevent their adopting many of the grossest idolatries practiced by neighboring nations.
Fish - The fins and scales are the means by which the excrescences of fish are carried off, the same as in animals by perspiration. Eating fish without fins and scales cause, in hot climates, the most malignant disorders, in many cases they prove a mortal poison. It is forbidden to eat any of the non-kosher type of fish.
No fins or scales - under this classification frogs, eels, shellfish of all descriptions, were included as unclean; many of the latter (shellfish) enjoy a reputation they do not deserve, and have when plentifully partaken of, produced effects which have let to a suspicion of their containing something of a poisonous nature.
13-19 among the fowls - all birds of prey are particularly ranked in the class unclean; all those which feed on flesh and carrion. No less than twenty species of birds, all probably then know, are mentioned under this category, and the inference follows that all which are not mentioned were allowed; that is fowl which subsist on vegetable substances. From our imperfect knowledge of the natural history of Palestine, Arabia, and the contiguous countries at that time, it is not easy to determine exactly what some of the prohibited birds were; although they must have been all well known among the people to whom these laws were given.
This refers to the non-kosher species of fowl, which the Torah does not give the distinguishing marks: The Torah does list some 24 non-kosher birds because they are in fewer number than the kosher ones. All birds not listed in the Torah are permissible to eat. All predatory birds that grasp their prey with their talons and kill it are not kosher.
Vulture - the word so rendered in our version means more probably the kite or glede and describes a varying but majestic flight, exactly that of the kite, which now darts forward with the rapidity of an arrow, now rest motionless on its expanded wings in the air. It feeds on small birds, insects, and fish.
Raven - including the crow, the pie.
Owl - it is generally supposed the ostrich is denoted by the original word.
Night hawk - a very small bird, with which, from its nocturnal habits, many superstitious ideas were associated.
Cuckoo - evidently some other bird is meant by the original term, from its being ranged among rapacious birds. Some think it is a sea mew, sea fowl?
Hawk - the Hebrew word includes every variety of the falcon family - as the goshawk, the jerhawk, the sparrow hawk etc. Several species of hawks are found in Western Asia and Egypt, where they find inexhaustible prey in the immense numbers of pigeons and turtledoves that abound in those quarters. The hawk was help pre-eminently scared among the Egyptians; and this, besides its rapacious disposition and gross habits, might have been a strong reason for its prohibition an a article of food to the Israelites/
Little owl - or horned owl, as some render it. The common barn owl, which is well known in the East. It is the only bird of its kind here referred to, although the word is thrice mentioned in our version.
Cormorant - supposed to be the gull.
The great owl - according to some the Ibis of Egyptians. It was well know to the Israelites, and so rendered by the Septuagint (Deut. 14:16 Isa. 34:1).]
Swan - found in great numbers in all the countries of the Levant. It frequents marshy places - the vicinity of rivers and lakes. It was held sacred by the Egyptians, and kept tame within the precincts of heathen temples. It was probably on this account chiefly that its use as food was prohibited. Some confiders it the goose.
Pelican - remarkable for the bag or pouch under its lower jaw which serves not only as a net to catch, but also as a receptacle of food. It is solitary in its habits and, like other large aquatic birds, often flies to a great distance from its favorite haunts.
Gier eagle - being here associated with waterfowl, it has been questioned whether any species of eagle is referred to. Some think, as the original name racham denotes tenderness affection, the halcyon or kingfisher is intended. Others think that it is the bird now called the rachami, a kind of Egyptian vulture, abundant in the streets of Cairo and popularly called Pharaoh’s fowl. It is white in color, in size like a raven, and feeds on carrion; it is one of the foulest and filthiest birds in the world.
Stork - a bird of benevolent temper and held in the highest estimation in all Eastern countries; it was declared unclean, probably, from its feeding on serpents and other venomous reptiles, as well as rearing its young on the same food.
Heron - the word so translated only occurs in the prohibited list of food and has been variously rendered - the crane, the plover, the woodcock, the parrot. In this great diversity of opinion nothing certain can be affirmed regarding it. Judging from the group with which it is classified, it must be an aquatic bird that is meant. It may as well be the heron as any other bird, the more especially as herons abound in Egypt and in the Hauran of Palestine.
Lapwing - or boopoe; found in warm regions, a very pretty but filthy species of bird. It was considered unclean, probably from its feeding on insects, worms, and snails.
Bat - the great or Ternate bat, known in the East, noted for its voracity and filthiness/
That creep - by fowls here are to be understood all creatures with wings and going upon all fours, not a restriction to animals which have exactly four feet, because many creeping things have more than that number. The prohibition is regarded generally as extending to insects, reptiles, and worms.
[21-22 nothing short of a scientific description could convey more accurately the nature of locust after its kind. They were allowed as lawful food to the Israelites, and they are eaten by the Arabs, who fry them in olive oil. When sprinkled with salt, dried, smoked, and fried, they are said to taste not unlike red herrings.
All locust and grasshoppers must be examined to see if they have the kosher signs given in the Torah. The general idea today is to eat only those that have an uninterrupted tradition that is kosher.
Every beast ...not clovenfooted - the prohibited animals under this description include not only the beast which have a single hoof, as horses and asses, but those also which divided the foot into paws, as Lions, tigers ect.
Weasel - rather, the mole.
Mouse - from its diminutive size it is placed among the reptiles instead of the quadrupeds.
Tortoise - a lizard, resembling very nearly in shape, and in the hard pointed scales of the tail, the shake tail.
During the Temple period it was forbidden to come into contact and thereby become contaminated with the carcass of the 8 creeping animals (reptile or rodents) listed in the Torah. The 8 creeping things listed in this group known as primary sources of uncleanness were: the weasel, the mouse, the toad, the hedgehog, the chameleon, the lizard, the snail and the mole. The primary source of uncleanness is that which contaminates people, vessels and foodstuffs and liquids. A person who touches one of the 8 species was forbidden to enter the Temple or eat holy food. He became completely clean only after immersing himself in a mikveh and waiting until evening. The same law applied to any vessel or clothing that came into contact with one of the 8.
[Ferret - the Hebrew word is thought by some to signify the newt or chameleon, by others the frog. Chameleon - called by the Arabs the warral, a green lizard.
Snail - a lizard which lives in the sand, and is called by the Arabs chulca, of an azure color.
Mole - another species of lizard is meant, probably the chameleon.
31-35 these regulations were extremely useful and salutary, especially as enforcing attention to cleanliness. This is a matter of essential importance in the East, where venomous reptiles often creep into houses and are found lurking in boxes, vessels, or holes in the wall; and the carcass of one of them, or dead mouse, mole, lizard, or other unclean animal, might be inadvertently touched by the hand, or fall on clothes, skin bottles, or any article of common domestic use. By connecting, therefore, the touch of such creatures with ceremonial defilement, which required immediately to be removed, an effectual means was taken to prevent the bad effects of venom and all unclean or noxious matter.
During the Temple period it was a command to observe the laws regarding the ritual of uncleanness of solid and liquid food. Contaminated food can not be purified through immersion in a mikveh, as is the case with vessels and clothing. Certain conditions had to be met before any food became contaminated. One such specification was that the food had to come into contact with one of seven liquids; wine, honey, oil, milk dew, blood or water. From this command we get the law that one must wash his hands before eating any food that came into contact with these seven liquids. This is seen in the washing of hands on the Seder night before eating the karpas (celery or radishes), which is dipped in salt water.
If an individual touched the carcass of a dead animal it was considered a primary cause or source of contamination and he had to be immersed in a mikvah both his body as well as his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
It was forbidden for G-d’s chosen people with their special identification laws to eat any creeping animal (reptiles and rodents) found on dry land or in water. The penalty for violation was lashes.
This is a similar law regarding all crawling things. This also applied to worms. This was not to be taken lightly, because in transgressing it one was actually in violation of five different prohibitions.
This applied to any creatures that swarmed in the water except the kosher fish. The penalty for transgression of this was lashes.
This had to do with eating any swarming creatures that qare generated from decay.
Make a difference between animals used and not used for food. It is probable that the laws contained in this chapter were not entirely new, but only gave the sanction of divine enactment to ancient usages. Some of the prohibited animals have on physiological grounds, been everywhere rejected by the general sense or experience of mankind; while others may have been declared unclean from their unwholesomeness in warm countries of from some reasons, which are not imperfectly known, connected with contemporary idolatry.
Strange Fire
[Lev. 10:1] And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
1-2 this was a solemn period of the consecrating and dedicating the altar. The very same Shekinah that had consumed the sacrifice now flashes out again to destroy these two priests as they minister incorrectly. The sons were not unauthorized to perform the incense service- the highest priest was to do this alone, but in their presuming to intrude into the Holy of Holies, a unwarranted intrusion. They were acting in the things of G-d without seeking the mind of G-d. They substituted a kind of incense different from that which G-d had commanded. It was not a sin of ignorance but one of presumption. 30:9. Instead of taking the fire which was put into their censers from the brazen altar, they content with common fire and thus perpetrated an act which, considering the descent of the miraculous fire they had so recently witnessed and the solemn obligation under which they were laid to make use of that which was specially appropriated to the service of the altars. They betrayed carelessness, irreverence, a want of faith. They willing don it. Sin is dealt with very severely because it disported G-d’s revelation of Himself. In all thee priestly sacrifices and ritual G-d is explaining something about Himself, by being disobedient you teach wrong concepts about the being of G-d. Priests are supposed to be operating as the instruments, the functionaries, of G-d. And if you performed improperly you mislead the people about Him.
Rather, killed them, for it appears that neither their bodies nor their robes were consumed. The expression, from the L-rd, indicates that this fire issued from the most Holy Place.
They come nigh Me, they had received repeated and solemn warnings as to the cautious and reverent manner of their approach into the divine presence. Evidently Aaron had began to protest and Moses stopped him. The incense to be offered- frankincense that never yields its fragrance until it is burned and represents our prayers and commitment arising out of obedient and thankful hearts. Now offering some other perfume, which is a picture of our happiness and thankfulness so a different kind would teach that G-d exist only to make us feel good, that he is these only to produce a modicum of human happiness. The implication of that notion is that whatever makes us temporarily happy is from G-d, we are not here for G-d to make us happy but to make Him happy and please at doing His commands. Life is given to us as a gift, what we do with it our gift back to Him. This judgment is exemplary, G-d is teaching a lesson by action, trying to stop this kind of thing from happening again and giving fair warning to anyone presumptions enough to sin deliberately. There is no implication of eternal condemnation for Nadab and Abihu.
4-7 the interment of the priestly vestments along with Nadab and Abihu, was a sign of their being polluted by the sin of their irreligious wearers. Relative summoned to go in and pick up these charred bodies and carry them out for buried. Their natural reaction would have been to take the rest of the day off to mourn and weep for them. But Moses said, no, don’t do that, if you do you will die. G-d wants you to stick right with your priest hood despite the feeling of your own heart, out of the anguish of heart would come new power, new efficiency, a new sense of purpose for the priesthood. So he would not let them off, instead he led Moses to say, let the rest of Israel bewail them, but you stay right on the job, and don’t quit. Heb. 12:5.
Eleazar and Ithamar were Aaron’s son. Num. 25:6-8.
Uncover not your heads, they who were ordered to carry out the two bodies, being engaged in their sacred duties, were forbidden to remove their turbans, in conformity with the usual customs of mourning; and the prohibition neither rend your garments. was, in all probability, confined also to their official costume. For at other time the priests wore the ordinary dress of their countrymen and, in common with their families, might indulge their feelings by the usual signs or expressions of grief.
Do not let your heads be overgrown - the priests were forbidden to enter the Bet Hamikdosh (Holy Place) with overgrown hair, so as not to resemble mourners. A priest who does not have his hair cut for over 30 days is considered as having overgrown hair. A normal priest who had other duties other than entering the Temple was forbidden at all times to grow long hair. One of the main reasons for this law was to show that display grief and mourning, through the uncut hair, was not appropriated in the House of the L-rd is to be the site of by combined with awe and do not rend your clothes - the priest were forbidden to enter the Temple, beyond the alter, with torn garments. The reason for this is that those mourners evidenced their sorrow with torn clothing.
No matter what the urgency, the priests were forbidden to interrupt their services or leave the service. Although there are a few exceptions for the normal priests, there were no exceptions for the high priest. The principle behind this law is that it demonstrates that there is no occupation in the world that ranks higher than the service to Hashem. If a priest was to eave the service and devote himself to another matter, it was considered degrading to the AL-rd and was a demonstration that the service of Hashem was of secondary importance.
Two privileges of ministry for the priest:
1. Discriminate between right and wrong, good and evil, clean or unclean.
2. Teach the truth, demolish all the lies and fantasies with which society is saturated, and to expose the way life really is. Teaching all the stature which G-d had spoken through Moses.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink for it was forbidden for the priest to enter the Temple or render a ruling while intoxicated. Intoxication produces three changes in an individual which were not permitted by the priest in the Temple and the rave in rendering a ruling of the Law, drowsiness, overconfidence, and reduction of mental clarity.
12-13 this was a timely and considerate rehearsal of the laws that regulated the conduct of the priest. Amid the distractions of their family bereavement. Aaron and his surviving sons might have forgotten or overlooked some of their duties. The sources of the priests’ strength. Eating beside the altar, right beside the place where the animals were put to death, as a reminder of that fundamental principle of humanity; he who loses his life shall save it.
14-15 what this is saying if that when you get discourage and feel as if you are not accomplishing anything, and you are beaten down and it doesn't seem as if anybody is taking any notice, you are to remind yourself of the love G-d has for you, to remember that He cares about you and accepts you and is with you, and His love never changes. You are precious and dear to Him. That is feeding upon the breast. And if you feel demands upon you are too great, and you don’t have the power to respond as you ought, then you are to remind yourself that G-d’s strength is yours and He will supply you with what ever power you need. That is feeding upon the thigh.
Eaten anywhere you need to. This is the source of strength lie.
The breast was to be eaten by the priest, not burnt. Befallen me (he is referring to the death of his two sons. 16-20 this sin offering is where the blood was sprinkled on the horns of the brazen altar and the flesh of the animal was to be eaten by the priest as a picture of their understanding of the nature of their evil and as a token of their acceptance of the forgiveness of G-d. So Moses said you should have eaten this meat! and he is afraid lest the judgment of G-d consume the rest of these priest. Moses understood that Aaron had gone deeper than the letter of the law, to the deep intent of the law receiving G-d’s mercy.
Aaron felt that the eating of the sin offering of the people would have been inappropriate, thus it was burned up. Moses was satisfied that they had not done something forbidden, but had only declined from exercising their priestly privileges. Moses provisional priestly roll has come to an end, and Aaron is now the high priest.
1-2 this was a solemn period of the consecrating and dedicating the altar. The very same Shekinah that had consumed the sacrifice now flashes out again to destroy these two priests as they minister incorrectly. The sons were not unauthorized to perform the incense service- the highest priest was to do this alone, but in their presuming to intrude into the Holy of Holies, a unwarranted intrusion. They were acting in the things of G-d without seeking the mind of G-d. They substituted a kind of incense different from that which G-d had commanded. It was not a sin of ignorance but one of presumption. 30:9. Instead of taking the fire which was put into their censers from the brazen altar, they content with common fire and thus perpetrated an act which, considering the descent of the miraculous fire they had so recently witnessed and the solemn obligation under which they were laid to make use of that which was specially appropriated to the service of the altars. They betrayed carelessness, irreverence, a want of faith. They willing don it. Sin is dealt with very severely because it disported G-d’s revelation of Himself. In all thee priestly sacrifices and ritual G-d is explaining something about Himself, by being disobedient you teach wrong concepts about the being of G-d. Priests are supposed to be operating as the instruments, the functionaries, of G-d. And if you performed improperly you mislead the people about Him.
Rather, killed them, for it appears that neither their bodies nor their robes were consumed. The expression, from the L-rd, indicates that this fire issued from the most Holy Place.
They come nigh Me, they had received repeated and solemn warnings as to the cautious and reverent manner of their approach into the divine presence. Evidently Aaron had began to protest and Moses stopped him. The incense to be offered- frankincense that never yields its fragrance until it is burned and represents our prayers and commitment arising out of obedient and thankful hearts. Now offering some other perfume, which is a picture of our happiness and thankfulness so a different kind would teach that G-d exist only to make us feel good, that he is these only to produce a modicum of human happiness. The implication of that notion is that whatever makes us temporarily happy is from G-d, we are not here for G-d to make us happy but to make Him happy and please at doing His commands. Life is given to us as a gift, what we do with it our gift back to Him. This judgment is exemplary, G-d is teaching a lesson by action, trying to stop this kind of thing from happening again and giving fair warning to anyone presumptions enough to sin deliberately. There is no implication of eternal condemnation for Nadab and Abihu.
4-7 the interment of the priestly vestments along with Nadab and Abihu, was a sign of their being polluted by the sin of their irreligious wearers. Relative summoned to go in and pick up these charred bodies and carry them out for buried. Their natural reaction would have been to take the rest of the day off to mourn and weep for them. But Moses said, no, don’t do that, if you do you will die. G-d wants you to stick right with your priest hood despite the feeling of your own heart, out of the anguish of heart would come new power, new efficiency, a new sense of purpose for the priesthood. So he would not let them off, instead he led Moses to say, let the rest of Israel bewail them, but you stay right on the job, and don’t quit. Heb. 12:5.
Eleazar and Ithamar were Aaron’s son. Num. 25:6-8.
Uncover not your heads, they who were ordered to carry out the two bodies, being engaged in their sacred duties, were forbidden to remove their turbans, in conformity with the usual customs of mourning; and the prohibition neither rend your garments. was, in all probability, confined also to their official costume. For at other time the priests wore the ordinary dress of their countrymen and, in common with their families, might indulge their feelings by the usual signs or expressions of grief.
Do not let your heads be overgrown - the priests were forbidden to enter the Bet Hamikdosh (Holy Place) with overgrown hair, so as not to resemble mourners. A priest who does not have his hair cut for over 30 days is considered as having overgrown hair. A normal priest who had other duties other than entering the Temple was forbidden at all times to grow long hair. One of the main reasons for this law was to show that display grief and mourning, through the uncut hair, was not appropriated in the House of the L-rd is to be the site of by combined with awe and do not rend your clothes - the priest were forbidden to enter the Temple, beyond the alter, with torn garments. The reason for this is that those mourners evidenced their sorrow with torn clothing.
No matter what the urgency, the priests were forbidden to interrupt their services or leave the service. Although there are a few exceptions for the normal priests, there were no exceptions for the high priest. The principle behind this law is that it demonstrates that there is no occupation in the world that ranks higher than the service to Hashem. If a priest was to eave the service and devote himself to another matter, it was considered degrading to the AL-rd and was a demonstration that the service of Hashem was of secondary importance.
Two privileges of ministry for the priest:
1. Discriminate between right and wrong, good and evil, clean or unclean.
2. Teach the truth, demolish all the lies and fantasies with which society is saturated, and to expose the way life really is. Teaching all the stature which G-d had spoken through Moses.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink for it was forbidden for the priest to enter the Temple or render a ruling while intoxicated. Intoxication produces three changes in an individual which were not permitted by the priest in the Temple and the rave in rendering a ruling of the Law, drowsiness, overconfidence, and reduction of mental clarity.
12-13 this was a timely and considerate rehearsal of the laws that regulated the conduct of the priest. Amid the distractions of their family bereavement. Aaron and his surviving sons might have forgotten or overlooked some of their duties. The sources of the priests’ strength. Eating beside the altar, right beside the place where the animals were put to death, as a reminder of that fundamental principle of humanity; he who loses his life shall save it.
14-15 what this is saying if that when you get discourage and feel as if you are not accomplishing anything, and you are beaten down and it doesn't seem as if anybody is taking any notice, you are to remind yourself of the love G-d has for you, to remember that He cares about you and accepts you and is with you, and His love never changes. You are precious and dear to Him. That is feeding upon the breast. And if you feel demands upon you are too great, and you don’t have the power to respond as you ought, then you are to remind yourself that G-d’s strength is yours and He will supply you with what ever power you need. That is feeding upon the thigh.
Eaten anywhere you need to. This is the source of strength lie.
The breast was to be eaten by the priest, not burnt. Befallen me (he is referring to the death of his two sons. 16-20 this sin offering is where the blood was sprinkled on the horns of the brazen altar and the flesh of the animal was to be eaten by the priest as a picture of their understanding of the nature of their evil and as a token of their acceptance of the forgiveness of G-d. So Moses said you should have eaten this meat! and he is afraid lest the judgment of G-d consume the rest of these priest. Moses understood that Aaron had gone deeper than the letter of the law, to the deep intent of the law receiving G-d’s mercy.
Aaron felt that the eating of the sin offering of the people would have been inappropriate, thus it was burned up. Moses was satisfied that they had not done something forbidden, but had only declined from exercising their priestly privileges. Moses provisional priestly roll has come to an end, and Aaron is now the high priest.
First official Acts
[Lev. 9:1] And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;
Number 8 means new beginnings; a resurrection life. The ministry of being a priest is on the basis of resurrection power of the living L-rd within us. So not leaving for 7 days he was saying, look, don’t try to operate as a priest on any basis other then resurrection power. It will never work. You will produce only death if you try to do it any other way!
The first of their official acts was to sacrifice of another sin offering to atone for the defects of the inauguration services; but that sacrifice did not consist of a bullock - but a calf (Reference to Aaron’s sin in the golden calf?)
The pronouncing of a benediction on the people assembled in the court was a necessary part of the high priest’s duty.
Come down from the offering for the altar was elevated above the level of the floor, and the ascent was by a gentle slope.
Moses, according to the divine instructions he had received, accompanied Aaron and his sons to initiate them into their sacred duties. Their previous occupations had detained them at the altar, and they now entered in company into the sacred edifice to bear the blood of the offerings within the sanctuary.
The glory of the L-rd appeared unto all the people was perhaps in a resplendent glow above the Tabernacle as a fresh token of the divine acceptance of that newly established seat of His worship.
What a dramatic scene, when everything is completed exactly as G-d had commanded. A supernatural fire proceeds which consumed in a flash all the rest of the offering upon the altar, was a sign, not only of the acceptance of the offerings and of the establishment of Aaron’s authority, but of G-d’s actual residence in that chosen dwelling-place. The shout was a shout of victory, an expression of their sense of awe and wonder at the fact that the G-d of glory is in their midst!
Number 8 means new beginnings; a resurrection life. The ministry of being a priest is on the basis of resurrection power of the living L-rd within us. So not leaving for 7 days he was saying, look, don’t try to operate as a priest on any basis other then resurrection power. It will never work. You will produce only death if you try to do it any other way!
The first of their official acts was to sacrifice of another sin offering to atone for the defects of the inauguration services; but that sacrifice did not consist of a bullock - but a calf (Reference to Aaron’s sin in the golden calf?)
The pronouncing of a benediction on the people assembled in the court was a necessary part of the high priest’s duty.
Come down from the offering for the altar was elevated above the level of the floor, and the ascent was by a gentle slope.
Moses, according to the divine instructions he had received, accompanied Aaron and his sons to initiate them into their sacred duties. Their previous occupations had detained them at the altar, and they now entered in company into the sacred edifice to bear the blood of the offerings within the sanctuary.
The glory of the L-rd appeared unto all the people was perhaps in a resplendent glow above the Tabernacle as a fresh token of the divine acceptance of that newly established seat of His worship.
What a dramatic scene, when everything is completed exactly as G-d had commanded. A supernatural fire proceeds which consumed in a flash all the rest of the offering upon the altar, was a sign, not only of the acceptance of the offerings and of the establishment of Aaron’s authority, but of G-d’s actual residence in that chosen dwelling-place. The shout was a shout of victory, an expression of their sense of awe and wonder at the fact that the G-d of glory is in their midst!
Priestly Institution
[Lev. 8:2] Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread;
3-5 impressing a profound conviction of the divine origin and authority of the priestly institution, the ceremonies of inauguration. At consecration they were subjected to entire ablution, though on ordinary occasions they were required, before entering on their duties, only to wash their hands and feet. This symbolical ablution was designed to teach them the necessity of inward purity, and the imperative obligation on those who bore the vessels and conducted the services of the sanctuary to be holy.
7-9 the splendor of the official vestments, together with the gorgeous tiara of the high priest, was intended, doubtless, in the first instance, to produce in the minds of the people a high respect for the ministers of religion, and in the next, from the predominant use of linen, to inculcate upon Aaron and his sons the duty of maintaining unspotted righteousness in their characters and lives.
10-12 took the anointing oil - which was designed to intimate that persons who acted as leaders in the solemn services of worship should have the unction of the Holy One both in His gifts and graces.
Priestly Coat symbolizes of the righteousness of G-d. We are humans and will make mistakes but He covers us in His righteousness.
Girded is a picture of the servants character, girding yourself to meet another need right where he is.
Bonnets is the cap is a picture of the mind bound by the authority of the Word of G-d. Keeping our minds guarded and only thinking on the things of the L-rd.
14-17 brought the bullock - a timely expression of their sense of unworthiness - a public and solemn confession of their personal sins and transference of their guilt to the typical victim,
18-21 brought the ram - as a token of their entire dedication to the service of G-d, symbolic of the life wholly available to His service.
V. 23. Ear was to hear and obey, with the recognition of His instructions.
Thumb that we serve as blood stained people, recognizing that we have no righteousness in ourselves, wilily being under His thumb.
Toe in walking through life with a reminder that the cleansing of G-d’s grace is needed every day.
25-29 fat - richness,
Thigh - strength,
Breast - G-d’s affection for us, bringing peace in our inner life.
27-30 other ram - after the sin and burnt offerings had been presented on their behalf, this was their peace offering, by which they declared the pleasure which they felt in entering upon the service of G-d and being brought into close communion with Him as thee minister of His Sanctuary, together with their confident reliance on His grace to help them in all their sacred duties.
After all these preliminaries, they had still to undergo a week’s probation in the court of the Tabernacle before they obtained permission to enter into the interior of the sacred building. During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives. V. 35
3-5 impressing a profound conviction of the divine origin and authority of the priestly institution, the ceremonies of inauguration. At consecration they were subjected to entire ablution, though on ordinary occasions they were required, before entering on their duties, only to wash their hands and feet. This symbolical ablution was designed to teach them the necessity of inward purity, and the imperative obligation on those who bore the vessels and conducted the services of the sanctuary to be holy.
7-9 the splendor of the official vestments, together with the gorgeous tiara of the high priest, was intended, doubtless, in the first instance, to produce in the minds of the people a high respect for the ministers of religion, and in the next, from the predominant use of linen, to inculcate upon Aaron and his sons the duty of maintaining unspotted righteousness in their characters and lives.
10-12 took the anointing oil - which was designed to intimate that persons who acted as leaders in the solemn services of worship should have the unction of the Holy One both in His gifts and graces.
Priestly Coat symbolizes of the righteousness of G-d. We are humans and will make mistakes but He covers us in His righteousness.
Girded is a picture of the servants character, girding yourself to meet another need right where he is.
Bonnets is the cap is a picture of the mind bound by the authority of the Word of G-d. Keeping our minds guarded and only thinking on the things of the L-rd.
14-17 brought the bullock - a timely expression of their sense of unworthiness - a public and solemn confession of their personal sins and transference of their guilt to the typical victim,
18-21 brought the ram - as a token of their entire dedication to the service of G-d, symbolic of the life wholly available to His service.
V. 23. Ear was to hear and obey, with the recognition of His instructions.
Thumb that we serve as blood stained people, recognizing that we have no righteousness in ourselves, wilily being under His thumb.
Toe in walking through life with a reminder that the cleansing of G-d’s grace is needed every day.
25-29 fat - richness,
Thigh - strength,
Breast - G-d’s affection for us, bringing peace in our inner life.
27-30 other ram - after the sin and burnt offerings had been presented on their behalf, this was their peace offering, by which they declared the pleasure which they felt in entering upon the service of G-d and being brought into close communion with Him as thee minister of His Sanctuary, together with their confident reliance on His grace to help them in all their sacred duties.
After all these preliminaries, they had still to undergo a week’s probation in the court of the Tabernacle before they obtained permission to enter into the interior of the sacred building. During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives. V. 35
Trespass Offering
[Lev. 7:1] Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy.
1-27 The law of trespass offering, part was to be consumed on the altar, while the other part was a perquisite of the priest - some fell excessively to the affiliation minister, and was the fee for his services; others were the common share of all the priestly order, who live upon them as their provision, and whose meeting at a common table to promote brotherly harmony and friendship.]
Only two sprinklings of blood were made, one on the northeastern and one on the southwestern. corners of the outer altar. For the guilt offering the animal had to be a ram or male sheep.
11-14 this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings - besides the usual accompaniments of other sacrifices, leaven was offered with the peace offerings, as a thanksgiving, such bread being common at feast.
There are four kinds of peace offerings: Three done by the individual and one done by the community of faith. The peace offering done by the community was considered a most holy offering, while the peach offering for the individual was of a lesser degree of holiness.
The three individual peace offerings were:
1. The thanksgiving offering brought when a person had survived a serious danger or illness.
2. The ram of the Nazareth completes the period of self-denial he had accepted upon himself (he would eat it on the time completes the period of self - denial he had accepted upon himself (he would eat it on the time limit of the same day and the following night until midnight).
3. The shelamim peace offering is brought to fulfill a general vow or pledge. This last one was to be eaten the same day of the slaughtering, the following night plus the following day.
The individual peace offerings could be slaughtered anywhere in the courtyard of the Temple and the owner could eat the peace offering anywhere in Jerusalem. Although the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering were all called Holy or Holies, the peace offering did not carry this high status. Because the L-rd prefers that the people did not sin, rather than sin and have to bring sacrifices, the most desirable sacrifice before the L-rd is the peace offering, which is brought on a voluntary basis out of joy.)
The ritual of the peace offerings emphasized man’s fellowship with G-d and your joy in the presence of your Maker. After bringing your peace offering to the L-rd, you could eat some of the flesh and share it with your family and friends. Thus it was distinguished from the other animal sacrifices. The burnt offering was wholly burned up to the Father. The sin offering was partly offered to the Father and partly eaten by the priest. Only the peace offering was shared by all: the L-rd, the priests, and the people each had their set portion.
The time of the peace offering was a time of joy, the joy of real obedience to the Father. Before honor is humility; before the joy of holiness there must be sacrifice for sin. The peace offering was offered after the burnt offering and the sin offering. After sanctification and sorrow for sin comes the time for fellowship with the Father, how important it is to move on from repentance to holy joy!
Is your worship full of holy joy? Does your family and friends share joyfully in your peace offerings to the Father?
15-17 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. Because the meat would spoil in a short period of time, it would be a dishonor to the offering if the people became disgusted with the ruined meat, if for any reason the meat spoiled it was to be burned immediately. For this reason the people were required to obey the time schedule of eating the sacrifices. The sacrifice will not be acceptable to G-d nor profitable to him that offered it, it was disqualified as a proper sacrifice. It is similar to the word abomination. This shows that even in the Old Testament that they lived by the Spirit of the Law as well as the letter.
It was forbidden to eat the flesh of a sacred offering that has been touched by an unclean person or contaminated in some fashion. Cut off that is, excelled from the privileges of an Israelite under a sentence of excommunication.
The law concerning the eating of fat on all animals was the same as the law concerning eating its meat. If an animal was clean and could be eaten, so could its fat. If it was unclean, the fat could not be eaten. If this fat was eaten unintentionally it was required that the individual bring a sin offering.
According to the Torah the blood of fish, locust, and crawling things is not included in this prohibition. If this was done unintentional the individual was required to bring a sin offering. Two ancient methods of extracting the blood from an animal’s body was by salt and by fire. It other words, before being cooked they would be roasted over a fire. There is no prohibition against human blood that is still in ones body being swallowed such as in the case of bleeding gums.
28-34 its distribution and the priests portion, in order to show that the sacrifice was voluntary, the offerer was required to bring it with his own hands to the priest. The beast having been waved to and fro in a solemn manner as devoted to G-d, 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 that regulated the privileges and duties of the priest. 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 L-rd - that is, from the day they approached the L-rd in the duties of their ministry.
1-27 The law of trespass offering, part was to be consumed on the altar, while the other part was a perquisite of the priest - some fell excessively to the affiliation minister, and was the fee for his services; others were the common share of all the priestly order, who live upon them as their provision, and whose meeting at a common table to promote brotherly harmony and friendship.]
Only two sprinklings of blood were made, one on the northeastern and one on the southwestern. corners of the outer altar. For the guilt offering the animal had to be a ram or male sheep.
11-14 this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings - besides the usual accompaniments of other sacrifices, leaven was offered with the peace offerings, as a thanksgiving, such bread being common at feast.
There are four kinds of peace offerings: Three done by the individual and one done by the community of faith. The peace offering done by the community was considered a most holy offering, while the peach offering for the individual was of a lesser degree of holiness.
The three individual peace offerings were:
1. The thanksgiving offering brought when a person had survived a serious danger or illness.
2. The ram of the Nazareth completes the period of self-denial he had accepted upon himself (he would eat it on the time completes the period of self - denial he had accepted upon himself (he would eat it on the time limit of the same day and the following night until midnight).
3. The shelamim peace offering is brought to fulfill a general vow or pledge. This last one was to be eaten the same day of the slaughtering, the following night plus the following day.
The individual peace offerings could be slaughtered anywhere in the courtyard of the Temple and the owner could eat the peace offering anywhere in Jerusalem. Although the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering were all called Holy or Holies, the peace offering did not carry this high status. Because the L-rd prefers that the people did not sin, rather than sin and have to bring sacrifices, the most desirable sacrifice before the L-rd is the peace offering, which is brought on a voluntary basis out of joy.)
The ritual of the peace offerings emphasized man’s fellowship with G-d and your joy in the presence of your Maker. After bringing your peace offering to the L-rd, you could eat some of the flesh and share it with your family and friends. Thus it was distinguished from the other animal sacrifices. The burnt offering was wholly burned up to the Father. The sin offering was partly offered to the Father and partly eaten by the priest. Only the peace offering was shared by all: the L-rd, the priests, and the people each had their set portion.
The time of the peace offering was a time of joy, the joy of real obedience to the Father. Before honor is humility; before the joy of holiness there must be sacrifice for sin. The peace offering was offered after the burnt offering and the sin offering. After sanctification and sorrow for sin comes the time for fellowship with the Father, how important it is to move on from repentance to holy joy!
Is your worship full of holy joy? Does your family and friends share joyfully in your peace offerings to the Father?
15-17 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. Because the meat would spoil in a short period of time, it would be a dishonor to the offering if the people became disgusted with the ruined meat, if for any reason the meat spoiled it was to be burned immediately. For this reason the people were required to obey the time schedule of eating the sacrifices. The sacrifice will not be acceptable to G-d nor profitable to him that offered it, it was disqualified as a proper sacrifice. It is similar to the word abomination. This shows that even in the Old Testament that they lived by the Spirit of the Law as well as the letter.
It was forbidden to eat the flesh of a sacred offering that has been touched by an unclean person or contaminated in some fashion. Cut off that is, excelled from the privileges of an Israelite under a sentence of excommunication.
The law concerning the eating of fat on all animals was the same as the law concerning eating its meat. If an animal was clean and could be eaten, so could its fat. If it was unclean, the fat could not be eaten. If this fat was eaten unintentionally it was required that the individual bring a sin offering.
According to the Torah the blood of fish, locust, and crawling things is not included in this prohibition. If this was done unintentional the individual was required to bring a sin offering. Two ancient methods of extracting the blood from an animal’s body was by salt and by fire. It other words, before being cooked they would be roasted over a fire. There is no prohibition against human blood that is still in ones body being swallowed such as in the case of bleeding gums.
28-34 its distribution and the priests portion, in order to show that the sacrifice was voluntary, the offerer was required to bring it with his own hands to the priest. The beast having been waved to and fro in a solemn manner as devoted to G-d, 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 that regulated the privileges and duties of the priest. 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 L-rd - that is, from the day they approached the L-rd in the duties of their ministry.
Guilt Offering
[Lev. 6:2] If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
A guilt offering is required for extortion or robbery. 2-7 this part of the law concern things stolen, fraudulently gotten, or wrongfully kept. The offender was enjoined to make restating of the articles to the rightful owner, alone with a fifth part out of his own possessions. But it was not enough thus to repair the injury done to a neighbor and to society; he was required to bring a trespass offering, as a token of sorrow and penitence for having hurt the cause of religion and of G-d. That trespass offering was a ram without blemish, which was to be made on the altar of burnt offerings, and the flesh belonged to associated with a sacred duty, the form in which the fine was inflicted served the important purpose of rousing attention to the claims and reviving a sense of responsibility to G-d. Moses received instructions to be delivered to the priests respecting their official duties, and the first burnt offerings a sacrifice, which went up in smoke. The daily service consisted of two lambs, one offered in the morning at sunrise, the other in the evening, when the day began to decline. Both of them were consumed at the altar by means of a slow fire, before which the pieces of the sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering was a daily expression of national repentance and faith. The fire that consumed these sacrifices had been kindled from heaven at he consecration of Tabernacle.
Even if he wants to pay for and keep it, he must return it to the owner. Also if the stolen object was damaged in the process, the thief had to repay the monetary value. Failure to return a stolen object became an additional sin of theft. If the victim died, the thief had to return the stolen object to the nearest relative.
There were five sins to which it was, mandatory for everyone to bring a guilt offering (along with repentance) for atonement.
These included:
1. If the individual owed money,
2. If the individual misused sacred objects,
3. For violating a betrothed, (even non-Jewish), maidservant.
4. If a Nazarite become ritually contaminated, by contacting a corpse,
5. One who recovered from a leapers disease had to bring a guilt offering on the eighth day after being pronounced cured.
The law of the burnt offering, 9-24 and to keep it from being consecration of the Tabernacle (9:24), and to keep it from being extinguished and the sacrifices from being burned with common fire, strict injunctions are here given respecting not only the removal of the ashes, but the approaching near to the fireplace in garments that were not officially holy.
The first of the daily services performed in the Temple was the removal of the ashes from the burnt offering of the previous day. This was done at dawn. Each morning a lot was cast among the priests to determine which would perform this service. The priest who was chosen would immerse himself in a mikveh and put on special garments. He would then proceed to was both his hands and feet. Holding a silver firepan and climb to the top of the altar and push the coals to one side and then gather the ashes from the center of the altar. After filling the firepan, he would descend the altar facing northward and empty the ashes on the ground about 9 inches from the ramp. Then all the priests would ascend the altar and clear it of the remaining ashes. When the ashes were too many they were taken to a special place outside Jerusalem and barred so as not to be disturbed by wind or animals. The lesson seen in this text is that no service to the L-rd is to be considered degrading, no matter had demeaning it may appear.
It was required for a permanent fire to be kept burning on the altar everyday. Actually there were three piles of wood on the altar. A large pile of wood was stacked on the southeast corner of the altar where all the sacrifices were burnt. A smaller flame was ignited on the southwestern corned called the second arrangement. From the fire live coals we taken into the Temple Holy Place to smoke the incense offering on top of the inner golden altar. The third and smallest fire was located on the northern side and was solely for the purpose of fulfilling this biblical command to not let the peduncle fire go out day nor night. If the Menorah became extinguished, it may not be relit from any fire except that of the outer altar.
It was forbidden to extinguish any fire on the altar. Even prior to the building of the Temple, the fire burning on the Tabernacle altar was uninterrupted for over 100 years.
The law of the meat offering, though this was a prevision for the priests and their families, it was to be regarded as most holy, and the way in which it was prepared was: on any meet offerings being presented, the priest carried them to the altar, and taking a handful from each of them as an oblation, he salted and burnt it on the altar; the residue became the property of the priest, and was the food of those whose duty it was to attend on the service. They themselves as well as the vessels from which they ate were typically holy, and they were not at liberty to partake of the meat offering while they labored under any ceremonial defilement.
It was commanded for the priest (Kohamm) to eat the remainder of meal offerings. The priests were to offer up an amount that could be held by their three middle fingers and the remainder was to be eaten by the priest who where on duty that week. This amount had to be eaten within the confines of the Temple. Even the priests who suffered some blemish and were forbidden to eat other sacrifices were permitted to eat the meal offering. The only meal offering which a priest could not partake was to stir the heart of the one who prepared and brought it, he was to abstain from eating what he had prepared lest he take for granted the offering like another meal. His offering had to be burn.
It was forbidden to season or cook the meal offering which the priest were to eat like other food (with leaven). It was required daily for the priests to offer a meal offering, which was like a pancake offering. It was baked in a shallow pan in which they baked 12 loaves. Half of these were offered in the morning and half in the afternoon. Before being offered the loaves were broken into little pieces. The High Priest who represented the messenger between heaven and earth, had his own daily meal offering, just as the congregation has its daily burnt offering.]
[this is the offering of Aaron, and of his sons - the daily meat offering of the high priest; for though his sons are mentioned along with him, it was probably only those of his descendants who succeeded him in that high office that are meant. It was to be offered, one half of it in the morning and the other half in the evening-being daily laid by the ministering priest on the altar of burnt offering, where, being dedicated to G-d, it was wholly consumed. This was designed to keep him on the other attendant priests in constant remembrance, that though they were typically expiating the sins of the people, their own persons and services could meet with acceptance only through faith, which required to be daily nourished and strengthened from above.
25-28 this is the law of the sin offering - it was slain, and the fat and inwards, after being washed and salted, were burnt up on the altar. But the rest of the carcass belonged to the officiating priest. He and his family might feast upon it - only, however, within the precincts of the Tabernacle; and none else were allowed to partake of it but the members of a priestly family - and not even they, if under any ceremonial defilement. The flesh on all occasions was boiled or sodden, with the exception of the paschal lamb, which was roasted (12:8-9)’ and if an earthen vessel had been used, it being porous and likely to imbibe some of the liquid particles, it was to be broken; if an metallic pan had been used it would be scoured and washed with the greatest care, not because the vessels had been defiled, but the reverse - because the flesh of the sin offering having been boiled in them, those vessels were not too sacred for ordinary use. The design of all these minute ceremonies was to impress the minds, both of priests and people, with a sense of the evil nature of sin and the care they should take to prevent the least taint of its impurities clinging to them.
The priest had to offer a sin offering for himself. This sin offering was to cover any sins that had been committed unintentionally. If a poor person could not afford an animal he could bring a pigeon instead. If a poor person could not afford an animal he could bring a pigeon instead. The sin offering was slaughtered on the north side of the outer altar and the rest of the carcass was divided among the priests. This offering had to be eaten the same day or that night up until midnight. The burning of the animal’s innards and kidneys atoned for evil thoughts, while the sprinkling of the blood on the altar represented evil deed.
It was forbidden to eat of the flesh of the inner sin offering. This consisted of one whose blood was to be sprinkled on the inner Golden Alter. This offering was required to be totally burnt. The blood of those not sprinkled within (Temple - Holy Place and Holy of Holies) were permitted to be eaten. The penalty for not obeying this law was lashes.
Heb. 13:10-14 “We have an altar from which those who serve the Tabernacle have no right to eat. The bodies of those beast, whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Y’Shua also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.” –with soul-animating stains.
The sin offering with fit this description are the bulls sacrificed for the sins of the priests and the sins of the people, and the bull for the goat killed on the Day of Atonement. Lev. 16:27, the red heifer whose ashes produced the water of purification was burned outside the camp. Num. 19:1-9, but its blood was not brought into the Tabernacle. Evidently the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer in Hebrews refers to these particular sacrifices.
These sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Tabernacle, were offered for the priest or for the whole people of G-d: either way the ministering priest belonged to the guilty party. He was not allowed to eat the offering which atoned for his own sin. He could eat of every sin offering which atoned for the sins of others, even if the offerer was a ruler of Israel. But his own sin was too great for him; he could not eat the flesh that atoned for it. Y’Shua HaMashiach, however was sinless. He needed no offering for Himself. Thus His body and blood, though they were brought into the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of the people, are eaten by His attendants, (1 Pet. 2:5), who are the ministers of a better covenant.
A guilt offering is required for extortion or robbery. 2-7 this part of the law concern things stolen, fraudulently gotten, or wrongfully kept. The offender was enjoined to make restating of the articles to the rightful owner, alone with a fifth part out of his own possessions. But it was not enough thus to repair the injury done to a neighbor and to society; he was required to bring a trespass offering, as a token of sorrow and penitence for having hurt the cause of religion and of G-d. That trespass offering was a ram without blemish, which was to be made on the altar of burnt offerings, and the flesh belonged to associated with a sacred duty, the form in which the fine was inflicted served the important purpose of rousing attention to the claims and reviving a sense of responsibility to G-d. Moses received instructions to be delivered to the priests respecting their official duties, and the first burnt offerings a sacrifice, which went up in smoke. The daily service consisted of two lambs, one offered in the morning at sunrise, the other in the evening, when the day began to decline. Both of them were consumed at the altar by means of a slow fire, before which the pieces of the sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering was a daily expression of national repentance and faith. The fire that consumed these sacrifices had been kindled from heaven at he consecration of Tabernacle.
Even if he wants to pay for and keep it, he must return it to the owner. Also if the stolen object was damaged in the process, the thief had to repay the monetary value. Failure to return a stolen object became an additional sin of theft. If the victim died, the thief had to return the stolen object to the nearest relative.
There were five sins to which it was, mandatory for everyone to bring a guilt offering (along with repentance) for atonement.
These included:
1. If the individual owed money,
2. If the individual misused sacred objects,
3. For violating a betrothed, (even non-Jewish), maidservant.
4. If a Nazarite become ritually contaminated, by contacting a corpse,
5. One who recovered from a leapers disease had to bring a guilt offering on the eighth day after being pronounced cured.
The law of the burnt offering, 9-24 and to keep it from being consecration of the Tabernacle (9:24), and to keep it from being extinguished and the sacrifices from being burned with common fire, strict injunctions are here given respecting not only the removal of the ashes, but the approaching near to the fireplace in garments that were not officially holy.
The first of the daily services performed in the Temple was the removal of the ashes from the burnt offering of the previous day. This was done at dawn. Each morning a lot was cast among the priests to determine which would perform this service. The priest who was chosen would immerse himself in a mikveh and put on special garments. He would then proceed to was both his hands and feet. Holding a silver firepan and climb to the top of the altar and push the coals to one side and then gather the ashes from the center of the altar. After filling the firepan, he would descend the altar facing northward and empty the ashes on the ground about 9 inches from the ramp. Then all the priests would ascend the altar and clear it of the remaining ashes. When the ashes were too many they were taken to a special place outside Jerusalem and barred so as not to be disturbed by wind or animals. The lesson seen in this text is that no service to the L-rd is to be considered degrading, no matter had demeaning it may appear.
It was required for a permanent fire to be kept burning on the altar everyday. Actually there were three piles of wood on the altar. A large pile of wood was stacked on the southeast corner of the altar where all the sacrifices were burnt. A smaller flame was ignited on the southwestern corned called the second arrangement. From the fire live coals we taken into the Temple Holy Place to smoke the incense offering on top of the inner golden altar. The third and smallest fire was located on the northern side and was solely for the purpose of fulfilling this biblical command to not let the peduncle fire go out day nor night. If the Menorah became extinguished, it may not be relit from any fire except that of the outer altar.
It was forbidden to extinguish any fire on the altar. Even prior to the building of the Temple, the fire burning on the Tabernacle altar was uninterrupted for over 100 years.
The law of the meat offering, though this was a prevision for the priests and their families, it was to be regarded as most holy, and the way in which it was prepared was: on any meet offerings being presented, the priest carried them to the altar, and taking a handful from each of them as an oblation, he salted and burnt it on the altar; the residue became the property of the priest, and was the food of those whose duty it was to attend on the service. They themselves as well as the vessels from which they ate were typically holy, and they were not at liberty to partake of the meat offering while they labored under any ceremonial defilement.
It was commanded for the priest (Kohamm) to eat the remainder of meal offerings. The priests were to offer up an amount that could be held by their three middle fingers and the remainder was to be eaten by the priest who where on duty that week. This amount had to be eaten within the confines of the Temple. Even the priests who suffered some blemish and were forbidden to eat other sacrifices were permitted to eat the meal offering. The only meal offering which a priest could not partake was to stir the heart of the one who prepared and brought it, he was to abstain from eating what he had prepared lest he take for granted the offering like another meal. His offering had to be burn.
It was forbidden to season or cook the meal offering which the priest were to eat like other food (with leaven). It was required daily for the priests to offer a meal offering, which was like a pancake offering. It was baked in a shallow pan in which they baked 12 loaves. Half of these were offered in the morning and half in the afternoon. Before being offered the loaves were broken into little pieces. The High Priest who represented the messenger between heaven and earth, had his own daily meal offering, just as the congregation has its daily burnt offering.]
[this is the offering of Aaron, and of his sons - the daily meat offering of the high priest; for though his sons are mentioned along with him, it was probably only those of his descendants who succeeded him in that high office that are meant. It was to be offered, one half of it in the morning and the other half in the evening-being daily laid by the ministering priest on the altar of burnt offering, where, being dedicated to G-d, it was wholly consumed. This was designed to keep him on the other attendant priests in constant remembrance, that though they were typically expiating the sins of the people, their own persons and services could meet with acceptance only through faith, which required to be daily nourished and strengthened from above.
25-28 this is the law of the sin offering - it was slain, and the fat and inwards, after being washed and salted, were burnt up on the altar. But the rest of the carcass belonged to the officiating priest. He and his family might feast upon it - only, however, within the precincts of the Tabernacle; and none else were allowed to partake of it but the members of a priestly family - and not even they, if under any ceremonial defilement. The flesh on all occasions was boiled or sodden, with the exception of the paschal lamb, which was roasted (12:8-9)’ and if an earthen vessel had been used, it being porous and likely to imbibe some of the liquid particles, it was to be broken; if an metallic pan had been used it would be scoured and washed with the greatest care, not because the vessels had been defiled, but the reverse - because the flesh of the sin offering having been boiled in them, those vessels were not too sacred for ordinary use. The design of all these minute ceremonies was to impress the minds, both of priests and people, with a sense of the evil nature of sin and the care they should take to prevent the least taint of its impurities clinging to them.
The priest had to offer a sin offering for himself. This sin offering was to cover any sins that had been committed unintentionally. If a poor person could not afford an animal he could bring a pigeon instead. If a poor person could not afford an animal he could bring a pigeon instead. The sin offering was slaughtered on the north side of the outer altar and the rest of the carcass was divided among the priests. This offering had to be eaten the same day or that night up until midnight. The burning of the animal’s innards and kidneys atoned for evil thoughts, while the sprinkling of the blood on the altar represented evil deed.
It was forbidden to eat of the flesh of the inner sin offering. This consisted of one whose blood was to be sprinkled on the inner Golden Alter. This offering was required to be totally burnt. The blood of those not sprinkled within (Temple - Holy Place and Holy of Holies) were permitted to be eaten. The penalty for not obeying this law was lashes.
Heb. 13:10-14 “We have an altar from which those who serve the Tabernacle have no right to eat. The bodies of those beast, whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Y’Shua also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.” –with soul-animating stains.
The sin offering with fit this description are the bulls sacrificed for the sins of the priests and the sins of the people, and the bull for the goat killed on the Day of Atonement. Lev. 16:27, the red heifer whose ashes produced the water of purification was burned outside the camp. Num. 19:1-9, but its blood was not brought into the Tabernacle. Evidently the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer in Hebrews refers to these particular sacrifices.
These sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Tabernacle, were offered for the priest or for the whole people of G-d: either way the ministering priest belonged to the guilty party. He was not allowed to eat the offering which atoned for his own sin. He could eat of every sin offering which atoned for the sins of others, even if the offerer was a ruler of Israel. But his own sin was too great for him; he could not eat the flesh that atoned for it. Y’Shua HaMashiach, however was sinless. He needed no offering for Himself. Thus His body and blood, though they were brought into the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of the people, are eaten by His attendants, (1 Pet. 2:5), who are the ministers of a better covenant.
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