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1–16. The state of uncleanness deprives the priest of the right to touch (and eat) the holy thing; about members of the priest’s family who can eat holy things. 18–27. The quality (integrity) of sacrificial animals and their age. 28–33. A note on sacrifices and a general demand for holiness. Lev.22:2. Tell Aaron and his sons that they should be careful with the holy things of the children of Israel and not dishonor My holy name in what they dedicate to Me. I am the Lord. Lev.22:3. Tell them: If anyone from all your descendants throughout your generations, having uncleanness on him, approaches the holy things that the children of Israel dedicate to the Lord, then that soul will be cut off from before Me. I am the Lord [your God]. Lev.22:4. He who is a leper from Aaron's seed, or has a discharge, must not eat holy things until he is cleansed; and whoever touches anything unclean from a dead person, or who has an emission of semen, Lev.22:5. or who touches any reptile, from which he becomes unclean, or a person, from whom he becomes unclean by any kind of uncleanness - Lev.22:6. he who touches this will be unclean until evening and must not eat holy things before he washes his body with water; Lev.22:7. but when the sun sets and he is cleansed, then he can eat holy things, for this is his food. Lev.22:8. He should not eat carrion and beast-eaters, so as not to become defiled by it. I am the Lord. Lev.22:9. Let them keep My commandments, so as not to bear sin and die in it when they break these things. I am the Lord [God] who sanctifies them. As an obstacle for the priests to eat from what is offered on the altar - from the great holy things and shrines - first uncleanness in general is called (Lev. 22:2-3), then certain types of uncleanness and defilement: leprosy (cf. Lev. 13.2, etc.), sexual discharge (Lev. 15:2), touching the dead (Lev. 21.1, etc.), or unclean person (Lev.11:29, 31, 43), eating carrion and beast-eating (Lev.11:39, 17:15). In all these cases, the purification prescribed by law was required, and after this the priest receives the right to eat the holy things that constitute his “bread.” Eating sacred foods in a state of uncleanness was tantamount to blasphemous desecration and denial of the shrine and the entire cult, and at the same time the holy Jehovah, who established the cult and in it entered into communion with His people; and therefore, a priest who allowed this, like a layman who, in a state of uncleanness, ate the meat of a peace offering (Lev. 7:20), was guilty of “extermination” - no doubt, the judgment of God (childlessness, early death, illness, see 1 Cor 11.30), and not execution from people for whom sins of this kind mostly remained hidden. Lev.22:10. No stranger should eat holy things; he who lodges with a priest and a hired servant must not eat holy things; Lev.22:11. if the priest buys himself a man for silver, then he may eat it; also the members of his household may eat his bread. Lev.22:12. If the daughter of a priest marries a stranger, then she should not eat the holy things offered; Lev.22:13. When the priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no children, and returns to her father's house, as she was in her youth, then she can eat her father's bread; and no one outside should eat it. Lev.22:14. Whoever eats something from the shrine by mistake must give the shrine to the priest and add a fifth of it to it. Lev.22:15. The priests themselves must not defame the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, Lev.22:16. and they must not incur the guilt of transgression when they eat their holy things, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. We are no longer talking about “their great shrines” (parts of the sacrifices of the sin of guilt, see Lev.6.25–39), which only men of the family of Aaron could eat (Lev.6.16–18), but simply about the shrines, i.e., the remnants of the peace offering, which went to the priests. Several cases are mentioned of the prohibition and permission of eating these shrines to various persons who are in a certain position towards the shrines - cases that are very characteristic of the spirit of the law and the theocracy of the Old. Covenant 1st case: a settler and hired priest, who did not accept circumcision, as an alien (Heb. zar) of the theocracy, cannot eat holy things, on the contrary, a slave bought for silver - after circumcision became a member of the family not only in everyday life, but also in religious and liturgical terms (Exodus 12.44; see Gen. 17.23) - could along with the household there are “holy things” (Lev. 22:10–11). 2nd case: a priest’s daughter – married – has the right to eat “holy things” only when she is married to the priest; being married to a stranger (Heb. isch zar, Vulg.: cuilibet ex populo nupta) - a layman, she lost this right, and only widowhood or divorce from him and returning to the house of her father-priest, as if in the position of a maiden (kineurejah, Vulg.: sicut puella) returned it to her. 3rd case: the one bringing the peace offering could mistakenly use parts belonging to the priests for his meal; then, according to the general rule regarding unintentional violations of the rights of the sanctuary, he (cf. Lev.5.14) returned what was incorrectly taken, with the addition of 1/5. A new exhortation to the priests to reverence for what is holy (cf. Lev. 22:2-3, 9). Lev.22:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Lev.22:18. Make known to Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel and say to them: If anyone from the house of Israel, or from the strangers [settled] among the Israelites, either by any vow or by diligence, offers his sacrifice, which is offered to the Lord as a burnt offering, The verses form a transition to a speech about the complete integrity of sacrificial animals, a speech addressed equally to both the clergy and the donors, that is, to all Israelites. This requirement for the integrity of the sacrificial material corresponds to the decree that priests should not have physical defects (Lev.21.17–23): both the priest and the victim had to express the idea of ​​purity and purification even in appearance. By blessed Theodoret (question 30), “God commands that animals with intact members be sacrificed, admonishing those who offer them, so that they may have the active powers of the soul healthy.” The rule about the integrity of the sacrifice also applied to foreigners, who, according to the Old Testament law, were allowed into the outer courtyard of the church and had the right to offer sacrifices to the God of Israel (Lev.22:18, 25; cf. Lev.16.29). Lev.22:19. then, in order to thereby gain favor from God, the sacrifice must be without blemish, male, from cattle, from sheep and from goats; Lev.22:20. Do not offer any animal that has a blemish on it [to the Lord], for it will not gain you favor. The favor of God, which the donor sought, could not rest on a donor who was not sufficiently reverent and attentive to the quality of the sacrifice. Lev.22:21. And if someone brings a peace offering to the Lord, fulfilling a vow, or out of zeal, [or on your holidays,] from cattle or from small animals, then the sacrifice must be without blemish in order to be pleasing to God: there should be no blemish on it; Lev.22:22. an animal that is blind, or damaged, or deformed, or sick, or scabbed, or scabby, you shall not offer such to the Lord, and do not offer them as a sacrifice on the altar of the Lord; Lev.22:23. You can offer a calf and a lamb with members disproportionately long or short as a sacrifice of zeal; and if by vow, then it will not please God; Lev.22:24. an animal whose yatra is crushed, broken, torn or cut out, do not offer it to the Lord and do not do this in your land; A list of the shortcomings that make an animal unfit for sacrifice. One of the 3 types of peace sacrifice - the sacrifice of zeal (nedabah) was for some reason revered lower than other types: an animal that was not quite normally formed was allowed to be sacrificed as a sacrifice of zeal. According to the rabbis, it prohibits all castration (of people and animals). Lev.22:26. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Lev.22:27. when a calf, or a lamb, or a kid is born, then it must remain with its mother for seven days, and from the eighth day onwards it will be acceptable to sacrifice to the Lord; Lev.22:28. but you shall not slaughter a cow or a sheep on the same day as its offspring. Lev.22:29. If you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, then offer it in such a way that it will gain you favor; Lev.22:30. You should eat it the same day; do not leave it until the morning. I am the Lord. These verses contain 3 rules regarding offerings to the sanctuary and sacrifices. Firstly, regarding the offering to God of the firstborn animals (cf. Ex 22.28–29). They must stay with their mother for 7 days before reaching maturity and then immediately be delivered to the sanctuary. By blessed Theodoret, “God knew the wickedness and gluttony of some; I knew that if they saw what was born full and in good shape, they would keep it and bring another. Therefore, he commanded that it be brought soon after birth” (question 31). The specified age was the minimum in general for animals sacrificed. Secondly, there is a humane command not to slaughter a cow or sheep along with their offspring on the same day - a rule similar to the prohibition of Deut. 22.6-7, to take their mother from the nest at the same time as the chicks (cf. also Exodus 23.19: do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk; the last place, however, is understood differently). Thirdly, the repetition (cf. Lev. 7:15, 19:6) of the law about eating the meat of the thanksgiving sacrifice on the very day of the sacrifice. Lev.22:31. And keep My commandments and do them. I am the Lord. Lev.22:32. Do not dishonor My holy name, that I may be holy among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, Lev.22:33. who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. A general final exhortation (cf. Lev. 8:30, 19:37) to the strict observance of the laws on sacrifices, since any violation of these laws, any arbitrariness in the performance of sacrifices, is a denial of the idea and principle of sacrifice - to serve as a means of sanctifying Israel from Jehovah, the God of revelation, historically revealed to the people of Israel in their exodus from Egypt. You might be interested in: