John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Leviticus 7:1



INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 7



The several things contained in this chapter are the law of the trespass offering, Le 7:1 the portion the priests had in the burnt offerings and meat offerings, Le 7:8 the law of the peace offerings, whether by way of thanksgiving, or a vow, or voluntary oblation, Le 7:11 the prohibition of fat and blood, Le 7:22 the parts the priests should have in the peace offerings, the breast and right shoulder, Le 7:28 and the chapter is concluded with a recapitulation of the various things contained in this and the preceding chapters, Le 7:37.



Ver. 1. Likewise this [is] the law of the trespass [offering],.... Or the various rites and rules to be observed at the offering of it: the persons for whom it was to be made are described in the two preceding chapters, Le 5:1 both such that sinned through ignorance, and knowingly, and here the place and parts of the offering, and how to be disposed of, are declared:



it [is] most holy; wholly devoted for sacred use, either to the Lord, or to his priests; there were some things the Jews call light holy things, and others most holy in the highest degree, of this sort was the trespass offering.





Leviticus 7:2



Ver. 2. In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass [offering,.... See Le 1:11:



and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar; on the upper part of it. There was a scarlet thread that was drawn around the altar in the middle, the blood of some of the sacrifices was sprinkled below it; and some above it, as was the blood of the trespass offering.





Leviticus 7:3



Ver. 3. And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof,.... To the Lord, that being claimed by him, as in the peace offerings of the herd, and of the flock, whether a bullock or cow, a lamb or a goat, Le 3:3, &c. and in the sin offering of the bullock, Le 1:8:



and the rump, or tail, which of sheep and rams, for the trespass offering, was very large and fat in those countries;

See Gill on "Ex 29:22" see Gill on "Le 3:9":



and the fat that covereth the inwards; called the "omentum".





Leviticus 7:4



Ver. 4. And the two kidneys, and the fat that [is] on them,.... Which are usually covered with fat:



which [is] by the flanks: or rather that which is "upon" them {y}; for this respects not the situation of the kidneys, nor the fat upon them, but the fat which is upon the flanks, as distinct from that, and where there are great collops of it, see Job 15:27:



and the caul [that is] above the liver; the lobe upon the liver, according to the Septuagint:



with the kidneys, it shall he take away; all the fat before mentioned, together with the kidneys, were to be taken away from the ram of the trespass offering, and burnt, as follows.



{y} Mylokh le rva "et qui est superiliis", Tigurine version.





Leviticus 7:5



Ver. 5. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar,.... Fat taken off of the several parts before mentioned, and the kidneys: which were to be



[for] an offering made by fire unto the Lord; and was acceptable to him, being typical of the offering of Christ, which is a sweet smelling savour, bearing the fire of divine wrath in the room and stead of his people:



it [is] the trespass [offering]; an offering for a trespass committed, to make atonement for it; and this part of it, the burning of the fat, was properly the offering to the Lord, all the rest were the priest's, as follows.





Leviticus 7:6



Ver. 6. Every male among the priests shall eat thereof,.... Of the flesh of it, after the fat was taken off and burnt, the rest belonged to the priests and their sons, and to them only, not to their wives and daughters:



it shall be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle, in some apartment in it, for that purpose, as afterwards in the temple; it was not to be carried home to their houses, for all in the family to partake of, only the priests and their sons were to eat of it:



it [is] most holy; and therefore none but such who were devoted to holy services might eat of it; only sanctified persons, true believers, who are made priests unto God, have a right to eat of the altar Christ, or, can eat his flesh in a spiritual sense, and feed upon him by faith, and receive nourishment from him, Heb 13:10.





Leviticus 7:7



Ver. 7. As the sin [offering is], so [is] the trespass [offering, there is] one law for them,.... The same as in Le 6:27:



the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it; who by offering it made atonement for the trespass of the person that brings it, as typical of the atonement by the sacrifice of Christ; he was to have all but what was burnt, for himself and his sons; though no doubt but other priests then on duty in the court ate with him.





Leviticus 7:8



Ver. 8. And the priest that offereth any man's burnt offering,.... In which the flesh was wholly burnt, and nothing of it remained to requite the priest for his trouble, as in other offerings:



even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering, which he hath offered; in some cases the skin itself was burnt, and then he could have nothing, see Le 4:11 but in others the skin was reserved for the priest. There seems to be an emphasis upon the phrase "to himself", and may signify, that though in other things other priests might partake with him, yet not in this; and so Maimonides {z} observes, that the skin was not given to every priest, but to him that offered the sacrifice; and elsewhere {a} he says, the skins of light holy things are the owner's, but the skins of the most holy things are the priest's. And some have thought this law has some respect to the case of Adam, and is agreeable thereunto; who having offered sacrifice according to divine directions given him, had coats made for him and his wife of the skins of the slain beasts; and it was usual with the Heathen priests to have the skins of the sacrifices, and in which they slept in their temples and others also were desirous of the same, in order by dreams or otherwise to get knowledge of things future; See Gill on "Am 2:8".



{z} In Misn. Challah, c. 4. sect. 9. {a} In Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect. 3.





Leviticus 7:9



Ver. 9. And all the meat offering that is baked in the oven,.... Or "every meat offering" {b}, whether dressed in one way or another, and which was done in one or other of these three ways, of which this was one, baked in an oven heated for that purpose:



and all that is dressed in the frying pan; such as we call pancakes:



and in the pan; which was different from the frying pan; it seems to be what was set upon an hearth made hot, and soon baked;

See Gill on "Le 6:21" of these three different ways of dressing the meat offering, see Le 2:4.



{b} hxnm lk "omne munus", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.





Leviticus 7:10



Ver. 10. And every meat offering mingled with oil, and dry,.... Rather it should be rendered "or dry" {c}; that is, as Jarchi interprets it, that has no oil in it; the meat offering in common, let it be dressed in what way soever, was mingled with oil; but in the poor man's offering for sin, which was as a meat offering, no oil was to be put upon it, Le 5:11 but whether the offering was with or without oil, moist or dry, it



shall all the sons of Aaron have, one [as much] as another; it was to be equally divided among them; or a priest offering it at one time, was to have the same as another priest at another time; it was always alike, all that remained, except the handful that was burnt, was the priest's.



{c} hbrxw "vel aridum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Leviticus 7:11



Ver. 11. And this [is] the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which ye shall offer unto the Lord. Some other laws and rules respecting the oblation of them: in Le 3:1 an account is given of what they should be, both of the herd and flock, and of the burning of the fat of them; and here the several sorts of them are distinctly observed, what should be offered with them, and the part the priest should have of it, and when the flesh of them should be eaten.





Leviticus 7:12



Ver. 12. If he offer it for a thanksgiving,.... Which Jarchi restrains to the wonderful deliverances of seafaring persons, of travellers, and of such as have been confined in prison, or have laboured under violent diseases and disorders of body; and so Aben Ezra seems to understand it only of thanksgivings on account of being delivered out of distress; but it might be for the common mercies of life, or any particular mercy or instance of divine goodness a man was sensible of, and thought proper in this way to make an acknowledgment of it:



then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving; which, if of the herd, was either a bullock or a cow; and if of the flock, was either a lamb or a goat;



unleavened cakes mingled with oil; ten of them, according to the Jewish writers; the measure of flour, of which they were made, were, as Jarchi says, five Jerusalem seahs or pecks, which were six of those used in the wilderness, and made twenty tenths or omers, an omer being the tenth part of an ephah {d}; the oil they were mingled with, as to the quantity of it, was half a log {e}; a fourth part of it was for the cakes, hastily baked, (said in the latter part of this verse to be fried,) an eighth part for those baked, (intended in this clause,) and an eighth part for the wafers next mentioned:



and unleavened wafers anointed with oil; these were a thinner sort of cakes, made without leaven as the others, but the oil was not mixed with the flour in the making of them, but put upon them when made, and therefore said to be anointed with it; there were also ten of these:



and cakes mingled with oil of fine flour fried; these were such as were hastily and not thoroughly baked, Le 6:21 or, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom, they were mixed and boiled with hot water, as much as was sufficient; or, according to Maimonides {f}, were fried in oil; and there were ten of these, in all thirty,



{d} Vid. Misn. Menachot, c. 7. sect. 1. & Bartenora in ib. {e} Maimon. Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 9. sect. 20. {f} In Misn. Menachot, c. 9. sect. 3.





Leviticus 7:13



Ver. 13. Besides the cakes,.... The unleavened cakes, and the unleavened wafers, and the fried cakes; or with these, as Aben Ezra and Abendana interpret it:



he shall offer for his offering leavened bread, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings; not that this was offered upon the altar, for all leaven was forbidden there, Le 2:11 but it was given to the priest, that he might have change of bread, and such as was agreeable to him, to eat with the flesh of the peace offerings he had a share of, and to the owners also; and the whole of this consisted of ten cakes likewise, as will appear by what Maimonides {g} says; he (the offerer) takes twenty tenths of fine flour, and makes ten leavened, and ten unleavened; the ten leavened he makes into ten cakes, and the ten unleavened he makes of them eighty cakes alike, ten cakes of every sort, ten cakes baked in an oven, ten cakes wafers, and ten cakes slightly baked.



{g} Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 9. sect. 17, 18, 21.





Leviticus 7:14



Ver. 14. And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation [for] an heave offering unto the Lord,.... That is, one out of the unleavened cakes, and out of the unleavened wafers, and out of the cakes fried, and out of the cakes leavened; lo, says Aben Ezra, four at least, and the truth is, adds he, there were ten; and so Maimonides {h} says, the priest took out of all the four cakes, one out of every sort, as it is said, "and of it he shall offer one", &c.



and it shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings; that is, that part of the cakes and bread, which is offered as an heave offering to the Lord, was the portion of the priests; and so Maimonides {i} says,



"the bread waved (rather heaved) with the thank offering was eaten by the priests, and the rest of the bread by the owners.''



{h} Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 9. sect. 17, 18, 21. {i} Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 9. sect. 12.





Leviticus 7:15



Ver. 15. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving,.... Having given directions about the cakes and bread that went along with the peace offerings, offered in thankfulness for mercies received; instructions are next given about eating the flesh of them; and the order is, that that



shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; partly by him that brought them, and his family, and partly by the poor he was to invite to eat thereof; and also by the priests and Levites, who were to have their share of it; see De 12:11



he shall not leave any of it until the morning; which was ordered to encourage liberality to the priests, Levites, and others, since all must be eaten up before morning: according to the Jewish canons, they might eat it no longer than midnight; by that time it was to be all consumed; and it is said {k}, the wise men made an hedge to the law to keep men from sin.



{k} Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 3.





Leviticus 7:16



Ver. 16. But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow,.... Be on account of a vow made, as, that if he was favoured with such and such benefits, or delivered out of such and such troubles and distresses, then he would offer such a sacrifice:



or a voluntary offering; without any condition or obligation; what from the mere motion of his mind he freely offered, not being directed to it by any command of God, or under any necessity from a vow of his own, and without any view to; any future good to be enjoyed: Aben Ezra describes both the one and the other thus; a "vow" which he uttered with his lips in his distresses, a "voluntary offering", which his spirit made him willing to bring, a sacrifice to God neither for a vow nor for thanksgiving:



it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice; that is, it shall be begun to be eaten then, and if all is eaten up it is very well, but they were not obliged in either of these cases, as in the preceding, to eat up all, and leave none to the morning, for it follows:



and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten; some of it, if thought fit, and could not be conveniently eaten, might be kept till the day after the sacrifice, but no longer.





Leviticus 7:17



Ver. 17. But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day,.... What remained of it uneaten on the second day, and was kept till the third:



shall be burnt with fire; that it might neither corrupt, nor be put to superstitious uses, nor be of any profit in any respect; that so niggardliness and distrust of the care of Providence might be discouraged: perhaps some respect may be had in the type to the resurrection of Christ on the third day, having seen no corruption.





Leviticus 7:18



Ver. 18. And if any of the flesh of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day,.... Any part of it, even the least:



it shall not be accepted; as a sacrifice well pleasing to God; he will take no delight in it, or express any satisfaction therein; but, on the contrary, reject it with abhorrence:



neither shall it be imputed to him that offereth it; the Targum of Jonathan adds, for merit or righteousness; it shall not be accounted a righteous action, or the offerer receive any benefit by it:



it shall be an abomination; to God, the flesh being kept so long, through a sordid and niggardly disposition:



and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity; it shall not be forgiven him; he shall bear the punishment of it.





Leviticus 7:19



Ver. 19. And the flesh that toucheth any unclean [thing] shall not be eaten,.... That is, the flesh of the peace offerings; should it be touched by any unclean person, man or woman; that was so in a ceremonial sense, being profluvious or menstruous, or having touched anything unclean, or touched by any unclean creature, as a dog or the like, as it might be while carried from the tabernacle to any of their tents or houses:



it shall be burnt with fire; that no profit might be had of it; and this was to make them careful in carrying it from place to place:



and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof; that are clean in a ceremonial sense; as all that are clean in an evangelic sense, through the blood and righteousness of Christ, may, by faith, eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jarchi observes, that whereas it is said, De 12:27 "thou shall eat the flesh"; some might object and say, that none might eat of the peace offerings but the owners of them, therefore it is said here, "all that be clean shall eat"; not the owners only, nor the priests and Levites only, but whoever the offerer should invite to eat thereof, provided he was but clean.





Leviticus 7:20



Ver. 20. But the soul that eateth [of] the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offerings, that [pertain] unto the Lord,.... That are offered up to him, and so are holy, and therefore not to be eaten by unholy persons, or by any



having his uncleanness upon him; a profluvious person that has an issue running out of him, a gonorrhoea; see Le 15:2



even that soul shall be cut off from his people; be disfranchised as an Israelite, be debarred the privileges of the sanctuary, or be cut off by death before the usual time and term of man's life; so those that eat and drink unworthily in the supper of our Lord, where his flesh is eaten and his blood drank, eat and drink damnation to themselves, 1Co 11:29.





Leviticus 7:21



Ver. 21. Moreover, the soul that shall touch any unclean [thing],.... Person or thing, the dead body of a man, or the bone of a dead body, or a grave in which it was laid:



as the uncleanness of man; the issue that runs from a profluvious person:



or [any] unclean beast; that was so by the law ceremonial; see

Le 11:4:



or any abominable unclean thing; which the Targum of Jonathan interprets of every unclean reptile: see Le 11:20



and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which [pertain] unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut off from his people; See Gill on "Le 7:20".





Leviticus 7:22



Ver. 22. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Continued speaking to him:



saying; as follows.





Leviticus 7:23



Ver. 23. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... Putting them in mind, by repeating to them the laws concerning fat and blood, Le 3:17



ye shall eat no manner of fat; of any creature fit for food, whose flesh otherwise may be eaten, and particularly



of ox, or of sheep, or of goats: creatures used in sacrifice; though this is not to be restrained to such of them, and the fat of them that were sacrificed, whose fat was claimed by the Lord as his, and was burnt on his altar; but this is to be understood of the fat of these creatures when killed for their common use, for the food of them and their families; the fat even of these was not to be eaten; that which was not separated from the flesh, but mixed with it, might be eaten, but not that which was separated {l}.



{l} Bechai in Lev. 3. 17.





Leviticus 7:24



Ver. 24. And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself,.... Of any disease, and is not regularly killed:



and the fat of that which is torn with beasts; with wild beasts:



may be used in any other use; as in medicine, for plasters, or for making candles, or for greasing of anything to make it smooth and pliable, or the like:



but ye shall in no wise eat of it; such carcasses themselves were not to be eaten of, and one would think their fat in course must be unlawful; but however, to prevent the doing of it, this particular law was given, and those that broke this were doubly guilty, as the Jews observe {m}; once in eating things that died of themselves, or were torn with beasts, and again by eating the fat of them.



{m} Maimon. Hilchot Maacolot Asurot, c. 7. sect. 2.





Leviticus 7:25



Ver. 25. For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord,.... As oxen, sheep, rams, goats; meaning not only the fat of those that are offered, but the fat of all those of the like kind:



even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people;

See Gill on "Le 7:20" Maimonides {n} observes, that the punishment of cutting off is enjoined for the eating of fat, because men used to count it delicious, for which reason also God would honour his sacrifices with it: and he further observes {o}, that the fat of the intestines too much saturates, hinders concoction, generates gross and frigid blood, hence it is much better it should be burnt than eaten; and that blood and what dies of itself are of difficult digestion, and of bad nourishment, wherefore the latter is forbidden in the Le 7:24, and the former in Le 7:26: of the punishment for eating fat, the same writer {p} observes, he that eats fat the quantity of an olive, presumptuously, is guilty of cutting off; if ignorantly, he must bring the fixed sin offering: and elsewhere {q} he says, he that eats fat is beaten for it; and he eats it a second time, and is beaten for it; but if he eats it a third time they do not beat him, but put him into a prison, which is a strait place according to his height, where he cannot stand upright, nor can he lie down in it; and they give him bread and water of affliction till his bowels are distressed, and he become sick, and then they feed him with barley till his belly bursts.



{n} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 41. {o} Ibid. c. 48. {p} Hilchot Maacolot Asurot, c. 7. sect. 1. {q} Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 18. sect. 4.





Leviticus 7:26



Ver. 26. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood,.... Of any of the above creatures, or any other, even of any clean creature, and much less of an unclean one:



[whether it be] of fowl or of beast; of all sorts and kinds. Jarchi thinks, the words being thus expressed, the blood of fishes and locusts is excepted, and so lawful to eat:



in any of your dwellings; this shows that this law is not to be restrained to creatures slain in sacrifice in the tabernacle, and to the blood of them, but to be understood of all such as were slain in their own houses for food, and the blood of them.





Leviticus 7:27



Ver. 27. Whatsoever soul [it be] that eateth any manner of blood,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, of any living creature, that is, of any while it is alive; for the Jews always interpret the law in Ge 9:4 of the member of a living creature torn off from it, and its flesh with the blood eaten directly:



even that soul shall be cut off from his people; Maimonides {r} observes, that to some sorts of food cutting off is threatened, particularly to blood, because of the eager desire of men to eat it in those times, and because it precipitated them to a certain species of idolatry; he means that of the Zabians, of which See Gill on "Eze 33:25" of the true reason of the prohibition of eating blood under the law, see Le 17:10, &c.



{r} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 41.





Leviticus 7:28



Ver. 28. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time the above laws were delivered; for what follows relates to the sacrifice of the peace offerings:



saying; as follows.





Leviticus 7:29



Ver. 29. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... Giving them the further instructions concerning their peace offerings:



he that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the Lord; whether it he for thanksgiving, or as a vow, or a voluntary oblation, and whether it be of the herd or of the flock, an ox or a cow, a lamb or a goat:



shall bring his oblation unto the Lord of the sacrifice of his peace offerings; that is, the unleavened cakes, wafers, and fried cakes, and unleavened bread, which are called the whole oblation, Le 7:10.





Leviticus 7:30



Ver. 30. His own hands shall bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire,.... That is, such parts of the peace offerings as were to be burnt with fire, as the fat on several parts described in Le 3:3 the owners of the offerings were to bring them in the manner as will be presently observed:



the fat with the breast, it shall he bring; the fat to be burnt, and the breast for the priest and his sons, as in the following verse Le 7:31:



that the breast may be waved [for] a wave offering before the Lord; how this waving was performed, See Gill on "Ex 29:24" particularly with respect to these peace offerings it was thus; if a thank offering, the priest takes of the bread brought with it one (cake) out of ten, and lays it with the breast, the shoulder, and the inwards, and waves all upon the hands of the owners; on which he puts the fat, then the breast and the shoulder above (i.e. upon the fat), then the two kidneys, and the caul, and the liver above them; and if there was any bread, he put it over them, and waved all, putting his hand under the hands of the owner {s}.



{s} Maimon. Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 9. sect. 6, 7. so Ben Gersom in loc.





Leviticus 7:31



Ver. 31. And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar,.... Of burnt offering, even the fat upon the inwards, the two kidneys, the flanks, the caul, and liver:



but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons; which being waved before the Lord for a wave offering, was the Lord's, and so was given to his priests to eat of, for the service done by them, it being but reasonable that they that serve at the altar should live of it; and thus, with other things, a maintenance was provided for the priests and their families, as ought also to be for Gospel ministers under the present dispensation.





Leviticus 7:32



Ver. 32. And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest [for] an heave offering,.... Whether of an ox or a cow, a lamb or a goat:



of the sacrifices of your peace offerings; which were of either of these creatures; the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,



"the right arm from the shoulder to the elbow.''



The breast being the seat of wisdom, and the shoulder of strength, some think denote Christ as the wisdom and power of God unto his people, his priests, who have all their knowledge and strength from him, and who bears them on his heart and on his shoulder.





Leviticus 7:33



Ver. 33. He among the sons of Aaron that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat,.... Who sprinkled the blood of them upon the altar round about, and burnt the fat upon it, which were rites enjoined to be observed, Le 3:2:



shall have the right shoulder for [his] part; his particular part and share, because of his service: Aben Ezra remarks, that the right shoulder was given to him that sprinkled the blood, and the breast to all the priests; and Jarchi observes, that he that was fit for sprinkling the blood, and burning the fat, and went out an unclean person in the time of sprinkling the blood, or burning the fat, had no part in the flesh.





Leviticus 7:34



Ver. 34. For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel,.... These two parts were particularly pitched upon and selected:



from off the sacrifices of their peace offering; the rest being allowed the owners, besides what were burnt:



and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons, by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel; as long as the priesthood lasted, even to the coming of the Messiah, in whom all these sacrifices would have their accomplishment and their end.





Leviticus 7:35



Ver. 35. This [is the portion] of the anointing of Aaron,.... Of his being anointed to the priestly office; this is the part allotted and assigned him for the execution of it; this is the reward, as Aben Ezra interprets it, of his faithful performance of it, namely, his having the wave breast and heave shoulder of the peace offerings, and a cake out of everyone of the unleavened cakes, together with the leavened bread, besides other perquisites from other offerings:



and of the anointing of his sons; the successors of him in the priest hood; the Targum of Jonathan adds, above all their brethren the Levites:



out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire; out of such whose fat on the several parts of them was burnt with fire, such as the peace offerings were:



in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord in the priest's office; when they were ordered to be taken out from among the children of Israel, and to be consecrated to, and invested with, the priest's office, as they were by Moses, and presented by him unto him as his priests; at that time the above portion was assigned them, as follows.





Leviticus 7:36



Ver. 36. Which the Lord commanded to be given them of the children of Israel,.... Whenever they brought their offerings to be offered up by them, such parts thereof were ordered to be allowed them as theirs;



in the day that he anointed them; or from the day they were anointed of Moses, by the direction of the Lord, from that time they had a right and claim to the above things, out of the sacrifices brought, so Aben Ezra: and this was



by a statute for ever throughout their generations; in all successive generations, unto the coming of the Messiah, which would put an end to their priesthood. Thus the Lord provided for the maintenance of his ministers, till that time came; and since it has been the ordinance of Christ, that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, 1Co 9:13.





Leviticus 7:37



Ver. 37. This [is] the law of the burnt offering,.... As delivered, Le 6:9:



of the meat offering; as in Le 6:14:



and of the sin offering; as in Le 6:25:



and of the trespass offering; as in Le 7:1:



and of the consecrations; of Aaron and his sons to the priest's office, as in Le 6:20:



and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings; as in this chapter, Le 7:11 for this is only a recapitulation of the several laws respecting these things before observed.





Leviticus 7:38



Ver. 38. Which the Lord commanded Moses in Mount Sinai,.... Or "by" or "near" {t} Mount Sinai; for the above laws were not given to Moses when on the mount, but after the tabernacle was erected, and out of it, as appears from Le 1:1 and to which what follows agrees:



in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; where they were when the above laws were delivered to them, and which wilderness had its name from the mount near to which they now were, and where the tabernacle was pitched, from whence the Lord spoke; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,



"in the tabernacle which they made for him in the wilderness of Sinai;''



there they were ordered to offer their oblations of every sort, as before directed. It should be observed, that this is to be understood of the command given in the wilderness to offer sacrifices, but not of the sacrifices themselves then offered, which were not done while there; see Jer 7:22.



{t} rhb "by the mount"; so Patrick in loc.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Leviticus 8:1



INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 8



The order for the consecration of Aaron and his sons is renewed, Le 8:1 which accordingly was set about and performed by Moses, Le 8:4 who having first washed and clothed them, first Aaron, and then his sons, with the garments of the priesthood, anointing at the same time the tabernacle of the altar, and what appertained to them and Aaron also, Le 8:6 and then he slew the bullock for the sin offering, and the ram for the burnt offering, and the ram of consecration; and did with the blood, fat, shoulder, and breast, and the meat offering belonging thereunto, as he had been directed, Le 8:14 and the chapter is concluded with some instructions about boiling the flesh, and burning the remainder of it, and keeping the charge of the Lord night and day for seven days, Le 8:31.



Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... The following section or paragraph, relating to the consecration of Aaron and his sons, was delivered, according to Jarchi, seven days before the setting up of the tabernacle; but to me it seems to have been delivered after the setting it up, since it was out of the tabernacle that the Lord said all those things recorded in the preceding chapters; and after he had given out the laws concerning sacrifices, then he renewed the order for the consecration of Aaron and his sons, that they might offer them:



saying; as follows.





Leviticus 8:2



Ver. 2. Take Aaron, and his sons with him,.... That is, order them to come, or send a message to them, that they appear at such a time at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where the ceremony of consecration was to be performed, and was performed, Le 8:3 which is observed and recorded by Moses, to show that he had a divine warrant for what he did, and that it was not from favour and affection to his brother, and because of the relation he and his family stood in to him, that he invested him and them with the priestly office, but it was by a command from the Lord; nor did Aaron take this honour to himself, but was called of God to it, Heb 5:4:



and the garments; the garments for the priesthood, ordered and described, and now made, see Ex 28:1



and the anointing oil; which also was ordered to be made, and now was made, Ex 30:23



and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened [bread]; which were all to be used at the consecration with the anointing oil Aaron was to be anointed, and also the tabernacle and the altar; and the bullock was to be a sin offering, and one of the rams a burnt offering for Aaron, and his sons, and the other ram was the ram of consecration of them; and out of the basket of unleavened bread one cake of each sort was to be taken, and waved with other things, and burnt, which finished the consecration; but with it was no oath, as in the consecration of the antitypical high priest Christ Jesus, which difference is observed by the apostle, Heb 7:21 see Ex 29:1.





Leviticus 8:3



Ver. 3. And gather thou all the congregation together,.... That is, the heads of the tribes and the elders of the people, as Aben Ezra interprets it; for the whole body of the people, and every individual of them, could not be got together:



unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; taking this for the whole court itself, as it sometimes is; though no doubt on this occasion as great a number was convened as well could be admitted into the court, or about it, to be spectators and witnesses of the solemn investiture of Aaron and his sons with the priestly office.





Leviticus 8:4



Ver. 4. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him,.... He convened Aaron and his sons, and the heads of the people, at the door of the tabernacle, and came himself, and brought with him the garments, the oil, and sacrifices, even everything necessary for the consecration:



and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and this was, according to the Targum of Jonathan, on the twenty third day of the month Adar or February; but it rather seems to be later, some time in the beginning of Nisan or March, and before the passover began, see Nu 9:1.





Leviticus 8:5



Ver. 5. And Moses said unto the congregation,.... Having convened them, he opened to them the reason of their being called together, which was not done of himself, but by divine direction:



this [is] the thing which the Lord commanded to be done; namely, what follows, concerning the consecration of Aaron and his sons to be priests, and the investiture of them with that office, attended with various rites and ceremonies to be performed, of which they were to be witnesses.





Leviticus 8:6



Ver. 6. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons,.... To the laver which was in the court of the tabernacle



and washed them with water; to show that they should be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord, and offer the sacrifices of the people; all that are in public office in the house of God ought to have both clean hands and a pure heart, to hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, and to be of a pure and holy conversation; and indeed all that are made kings and priests to God, as all the saints are, they are washed from their sins in the blood of Jesus, Re 1:5.





Leviticus 8:7



Ver. 7. And he put upon him the coat,.... The embroidered coat of fine linen, which was next to his flesh; Ex 28:39 and all the garments were put on just in the order they are here declared; no mention is made indeed of the linen breeches, since it is highly probable these were put on by Aaron himself in some apartment in the tabernacle, or before came thither; it not being so decent to put on, or have these put on, in the sight of the whole congregation:



and girded him with the girdle; the girdle of needlework with which the linen coat was girt to him, and was distinct from the curious girdle of the ephod after mentioned, Ex 28:39



and clothed him with the robe: the robe of the ephod, which had at the hem of it golden bells and pomegranates, Ex 28:31



and put the ephod upon him; made of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, which had two shoulder pieces, and on them two onyx stones, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes,

Ex 28:6



and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound [it] unto him therewith; which was made of the same with the ephod, and by which it was girt close unto him; of the mystical meaning of these garments, See Gill on "Ex 28:39" see Gill on "Ex 28:31" see Gill on "Ex 28:32" see Gill on "Ex 28:33" see Gill on "Ex 28:34" see Gill on "Ex 28:35" see Gill on "Ex 28:6" see Gill on "Ex 28:7" see Gill on "Ex 28:8" see Gill on "Ex 28:9" see Gill on "Ex 28:10" see Gill on "Ex 28:11" see Gill on "Ex 28:12".





Leviticus 8:8



Ver. 8. And he put the breastplate upon him,.... Which was made of the same materials with the ephod, and was put upon it, and fastened to it:



also he put in the breastplate the Urim and Thummim: that is, Moses did it, as all the rest; for there is no reason to be given why this should be appropriated to God as a divine work, distinct from the rest; and these seem to be the twelve precious stones set in the breastplate, whose names are given, Ex 27:17 and if they are not intended, no account is here given of them; but since in Ex 29:8 an account is given of the stones, and of the setting of them in the breastplate, and no mention is made of the Urim and Thummim, and here notice is taken of them, but nothing said of the stones; it seems pretty plain they must be the same; See Gill on "Ex 28:30".





Leviticus 8:9



Ver. 9. And he put the mitre upon his head,.... Which was made of fine linen, and was a wrap of that of a considerable length about his head, Ex 28:39



also upon the mitre, [even] upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate; which was put upon the forehead of the high priest, reaching from ear to ear, and was fastened to the mitre with a blue lace, and had on it this inscription, "holiness to the Lord":

Ex 28:36 and is here therefore called



the holy crown: denoting both the sanctity and the dignity of the high priest, and typical of Christ, who is holiness itself, and to his people, and is now crowned with glory and honour, being a priest upon the throne: hence the Jews {u} speak of the crown of the law, and of the crown of the kingdom, and of the crown of the priesthood: and this, as all the rest, was done



as the Lord commanded Moses; all these were made according to the divine order, and were put on in the manner and form he directed him; of the mystery of the mitre and the crown, See Gill on "Ex 28:39" see Gill on "Ex 28:36" see Gill on "Ex 28:37".



{u} Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 13.





Leviticus 8:10



Ver. 10. And Moses took the anointing oil,.... Which Bezaleel had made, according to the directions which Moses had given him, and he had received from the Lord: this Moses brought with him to the door of the tabernacle, as he was ordered, Le 8:2 and now he took it and made use of it as follows:



and anointed the tabernacle and all that [was] therein; the altar of incense, the candlestick, and table of shewbread:



and sanctified them; separated and devoted them to sacred use and service.





Leviticus 8:11



Ver. 11. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times,.... The altar of burnt offering; the order for anointing it is given in

Ex 30:28 but in that no directions are given for the manner of doing it by sprinkling, nor the number of times it was to be sprinkled: hence Jarchi confesses his ignorance, and says,



"I know not how it was ordered about these sprinklings;''



but no doubt Moses was instructed of God in what manner to anoint it, and how often; and the number seven may denote the perfect unction of it, and made it a fitter type of Christ, who received the unction of the Spirit without measure:



and anointed the altar, and all its vessels; pans, shovels, basins, flesh hooks, and fire pans:



both the laver and his foot; which was for the priests to wash at; and very probably this was done before Moses brought Aaron and his sons thither and washed them, Le 8:6 since it seems most proper that it should be consecrated before used, as it follows:



to sanctify them; set them apart for sacred use.





Leviticus 8:12



Ver. 12. And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head,.... Which ran down to his beard, and to the collar of his coat, the robe of the ephod, but not to the skirts of his garments, as we wrongly render it, Ps 133:2. Jarchi says it was first poured on his head, and after that he put it between his eyebrows, and drew it with his finger here and there, or from one eyebrow to another: Maimonides {w} gives a like account, with some addition; he says, the oil was poured on his head, and he was anointed between the eyebrows, in the form of the Greek letter c, "chi": a greater profusion of oil was used in the anointing of Aaron than of the tabernacle, altar, and laver, and their vessels, he being so eminent a type of Christ, our high priest, anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows:



and anointed him to sanctify him; to signify that he was set apart and devoted to the sacred office of the priesthood. The Targum of Jonathan observes, that this anointing was after he had clothed him; though some have thought it was done before the mitre and holy crown were put on: but if they were put on to complete the investiture, they might be taken off while the ceremony of anointing was performed.



{w} In Misn. Ceritot, c. 1. sect. 1.





Leviticus 8:13



Ver. 13. And Moses brought Aaron's sons,.... His four sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; he ordered and directed them to come there, or sent proper persons to fetch them, or from one part of the court, where they were, he might accompany them thither:



and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles: which were made of fine linen, Ex 39:27 and the coats being made long to reach down to the ankles, needed girdles, especially when in service, that they might perform it more expeditiously:



and put bonnets on them; which were made of fine linen also, and differed from the mitre of the high priest only in the manner of rolling up the linen:



as the Lord commanded Moses; as all the above things were made, so they were all put on, according to the directions Moses received of the Lord, who was faithful in his house, with respect to everything he enjoined him, Heb 3:2.





Leviticus 8:14



Ver. 14. And he brought the bullock for the sin [offering],.... To the tabernacle, into the court of it, to the altar of burnt offering there; that is, he caused it to be brought thither as he was ordered,

Ex 29:10



and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin [offering]; their right hands, according to the Targum of Jonathan, which is not improbable, thereby as it were transferring their sins to it, and confessing them over it; acknowledging their guilt, and that they deserved to die, as that creature would, which was to be a vicarious sacrifice for sin, and whose blood was to purify and sanctify the altar, at which they, sinful men, were to serve.





Leviticus 8:15



Ver. 15. And he slew it,.... Not Aaron, nor any of his sons, who as yet were not fully consecrated and installed into their office, but Moses, as follows:



and Moses took the blood; which was received into a basin when the bullock was slain:



and put [it] upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger; upon the four horns of the altar, which were at the four corners of it, and dipping his finger into the blood, he besmeared the horns with it, and drew it about with his finger here and there; and so is said to be done round about the altar, as these horns were:



and purified the altar; or cleansed it; not from moral guilt and pollution, which it was incapable of, but from all ceremonial pollution it might be supposed to have:



and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar; the rest of the blood he did not use about the horns:



and sanctified it; separated it from common to sacred use:



to make reconciliation upon it; that it might be fit to have sacrifices offered on it to make atonement and reconciliation for sins; for which reason it was necessary it should itself be pure and holy, in such sense it was capable of being so.





Leviticus 8:16



Ver. 16. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards,.... Called the "omentum":



and the caul [above] the liver; the lobe upon the liver, as the Septuagint; or "the caul" and "the liver", so says Jarchi; the liver separately, for he took a little of the liver with it, the caul:



and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned [it] upon the altar: the fat of these several parts, which has been often observed was done; and in imitation of which, the same has been done by the Persians and their Magi, as related by Strabo {x} and others {y}; and by the Romans, to which Persius {z} refers; and these several parts are generally covered with fat in fat creatures, and especially sheep, as Aristotle {a} observes.



{x} Geograph. l. 15. p. 504. {y} "Omentum in flamma pingue", &c. Catullus. {z} "Tot tibi cum in flammis", &c. Satyr. 2. {a} Hist. Animal. l. 3. c. 17.





Leviticus 8:17



Ver. 17. But the bullock and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp,.... Aben Ezra observes, that some say that he did this himself; and others, that it was done by orders, that is, he ordered others to do it, which seems probable enough:



as the Lord commanded Moses; Ex 29:14.





Leviticus 8:18



Ver. 18. And he brought the ram for the burnt offering,.... One of the two he was ordered to take, Le 8:2



and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram; as they had done before on the head of the bullock, see Le 8:14 their right hands, as the Targum of Jonathan, and that at the same time; not first Aaron and then his sons, as a famous grammarian, Aben Ezra makes mention of, thought; but, as he himself says, they laid them on together.





Leviticus 8:19



Ver. 19. And he killed it,.... That is, Moses killed the ram, as the Septuagint version expresses it:



and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about; as he did the blood of the bullock, Le 8:15.





Leviticus 8:20



Ver. 20. And he cut the ram into pieces,.... Cut off its head and quartered it:



and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat; even all of it, as the following verse shows.





Leviticus 8:21



Ver. 21. And he washed the inwards and the legs in water,.... The one being taken out, the other cut off:



and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it [was] a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, [and] an offering made by fire unto the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses; see Ex 29:18.





Leviticus 8:22



Ver. 22-25. And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration,.... Or "filling" {b}, or "fulnesses"; because, as Jarchi says, these filled and perfected the priests in their priesthood; this was the finishing and consummation of their consecration: what is said in this and the three following verses Le 8:23 is the same as is ordered, Ex 29:19 and needs no further explanation;

See Gill on "Ex 29:19" see Gill on "Ex 29:20" see Gill on "Ex 29:21" see Gill on "Ex 29:22".



{b} Myalmh "plenitudinum", Montanus; "impletionum, [vel] potius completionum", Drusius; Heb. "impletionum", Piscator.





Leviticus 8:23



Ver. 23. See Gill on "Le 8:22".





Leviticus 8:24



Ver. 24. See Gill on "Le 8:22".





Leviticus 8:25



Ver. 25. See Gill on "Le 8:22".





Leviticus 8:26



Ver. 26. And out of the basket of unleavened bread,.... Moses was ordered to take, Le 8:2,



that [was] before the Lord; being brought to the tabernacle, where now the Lord had taken up his residence:



he took one unleavened cake; which had no oil in it or upon it:



and a cake of oiled bread; which was mixed and tempered with oil:



and one wafer; which was anointed with oil:



and put them upon the fat, and upon the right shoulder; of the ram of consecration, which he took from it, and laid the cakes uppermost upon them.





Leviticus 8:27



Ver. 27. And he put all upon Aaron's hands, and upon his son's hands,.... The fat and the right shoulder, with the cakes upon them:



and waved them [for] a wave offering before the Lord;

See Gill on "Ex 29:24".





Leviticus 8:28



Ver. 28. And Moses took them from off their hands,.... After they had been waved before the Lord:



and burnt [them] upon the altar, upon the burnt offering; of the other ram; or after that burnt offering, as Jarchi, who observes, that we do not find that the shoulder of peace offerings was offered in any place but this, it belonged to the priest; but this being at the consecration of the priests, it was offered to the Lord by Moses, to whom it seems to have belonged, as the breast also, but that was not burnt, but eaten: and the same writer affirms, that Moses ministered all the seven days of the consecration in a white shirt, or surplice; and that he might wear a linen coat, as priests did, is not improbable, since he now officiated as one:



they [were] consecrated for a sweet savour; acceptable to the Lord, and so the priests, Aaron and his sons likewise, on whose account they were made:



it [is] an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat, the shoulder, and the cakes.





Leviticus 8:29



Ver. 29. And Moses took the breast,.... Of the ram of consecration:



and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord; this Moses seems to have waved with his own hands, and not upon the hands of Aaron and his sons, putting his under them, as in the wave offering of the fat, shoulder, and cakes, and for which the following words seem to give a reason:



[for] of the ram of consecration it was Moses's part; the breast of it was his:



as the Lord commanded Moses; see Ex 29:26.





Leviticus 8:30



Ver. 30. And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar,.... Which was sprinkled upon the altar round about, Le 8:24 and these two seem to be mixed together, since it follows:



and sprinkled [it] upon Aaron, &c. See Gill on "Ex 29:21".





Leviticus 8:31



Ver. 31. And Moses said unto Aaron, and to his sons,.... After he had offered the bullock, the two rams, and cakes of unleavened bread for the consecration of them:



boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; the remainder of the flesh of the ram of consecration, which was all but the fat, the shoulder, and the breast:



and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of consecration; what was left of that, there being one cake of a sort taken out of it and burnt:



as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it; see

Ex 29:32.





Leviticus 8:32



Ver. 32. And that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread,.... Until the next morning, which could not be eaten by Aaron and his sons:



shall ye burn with fire; that it might not be corrupted, nor put to common nor superstitious uses.





Leviticus 8:33



Ver. 33. And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation [in] seven days,.... Which was the time of their consecration, so long it lasted; and they had provision enough every day from the ram of consecration, whose flesh they were to boil and eat. The Jewish writers {c} are puzzled where they should ease nature, since the place was holy; but the orders are not to be considered as so strict but that they might go in and out, though they were not to stay long, or to attend to any other business; and it was always necessary there should be some upon the spot, keeping the Lord's charge in their turns; and it was always requisite that they should also sleep alternately; for it cannot be thought that they should be all this time without rest, any more than without food:



until the days of your consecration be at an end; which were to continue so long:



for seven days shall he consecrate you; that is, Moses, who here speaks of himself in the third person, as appears from Ex 29:35. Aben Ezra observes, that the word "end" is wanting, and that the sense is, at the end of seven days he shall consecrate you, finish their consecration; all the seven days he was doing it, and at the end of the seventh concluded it.



{c} Aben Ezra, Hiscuni in loc.





Leviticus 8:34



Ver. 34. As he hath done this day, [so] the Lord hath commanded to do,.... The same were to be repeated every day until the seven days were ended; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; the former of these observes, that their Rabbins explain the phrase "to do", in the preceding clause, of the business of the red heifer, and that which follows,



to make an atonement for you, of the business of the day of atonement; and say, that it may be learned from hence that the high priest was obliged to be separate (from his own house and family) seven days before that, and so the priest that burned the red heifer; and the same is observed by other Jewish writers {d}: but this refers to neither of these cases, but to the present consecration of Aaron and his sons, and the making atonement by sacrifice for them, and the sanctification of them to minister in the priest's office.



{d} Maimon, & Bartenora in Misn. Yoma, c. 1. sect. 1. & in Parah, c. 3. sect. 1.





Leviticus 8:35



Ver. 35. Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,.... Or rather "within" it, as Noldius renders it, since they were not to go out of the door of it, Le 8:33 whereas our version seems to leave it undetermined whether they abode without the door or within; where they were to continue,



day and night, seven days; even the seven days of their consecration:



and keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not; not the charge of the tabernacle, and the service of it committed to them upon their investiture with their office, hereafter to be observed by them; but what was charged upon them to attend unto, during the seven days of their consecration; and the penalty being death in case of failure, was to make them more careful and cautious of transgressing; and which was the more necessary, as they were to be pure and holy at their entrance upon their work: and though this may seem somewhat severe, yet the aggravation of their sin would be the greater, as it was to a sacred and honourable work they were called, and to which they were now consecrating; and as what was required of them was what might easily be complied with: however Moses, to show that this was not of himself, but by divine authority, adds,



for so I am commanded; that is, to declare unto them, that if they did not punctually observe the above orders, they must expect to die.





Leviticus 8:36



Ver. 36. So Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. They submitted to have them done to them, and for them, what was done on the first day of their consecration, all the rest of the days; and they kept within the tabernacle all that time as was enjoined them.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Leviticus 9:1



INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 9



Aaron and his sons, being consecrated to and invested with the priest's office, are called upon to the exercise of it, to offer a sin offering and a burnt offering for themselves, and all sorts of offerings, a sin offering, a burnt offering, peace offerings, and a meat offering, for the people; and a promise is made for their encouragement, that the glory of the Lord would appear to them, Le 9:1 and which were in their course accordingly offered; first, Aaron's sin offering for himself, Le 9:8 then his burnt offering, Le 9:12 after that the several offerings of the people before mentioned, Le 9:15 when Aaron and Moses blessed the people, the one as soon as he had done offering, and both together when they came out of the tabernacle, Le 9:22 upon which a fire came forth from the Lord, and consumed the burnt offering upon the altar, Le 9:24.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass on the eighth day,.... When the seven days of consecration were ended, as Ben Gersom, the day following them, so soon was Aaron called to the execution of his office; and so both the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi make it to be the eighth day of the consecration, or the day after the anointing of Aaron and his sons, and which they both say was the beginning, or first day of Nisan, the day the tabernacle was erected by Moses: but that seems to have been set up before the consecration; rather this was, as Aben Ezra says, the eighth day of the month Nisan or March, and was the eighth day of the consecration, which began at the first day, on which day the tabernacle was set up, Ex 40:2:



[that] Moses, called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; Aaron and his sons to enter upon their office, by offering sacrifices for themselves, and for the people, and the elders to be witnesses thereof.





Leviticus 9:2



Ver. 2. And he said unto Aaron,.... In the presence of the people of Israel:



take thee a young calf for a sin [offering]; one not exceeding a year old, as in Le 9:3 but this was not for the sin of making the calf only, to which the Jewish writers restrain it, but for all other sins of his, which it was necessary should be expiated before he offered sacrifices for the sins of others:



and a ram for a burnt offering; being a strong and innocent creature, was a proper emblem of Christ, the Lamb of God, that takes away by his sacrifice the sins of men:



without blemish; this character belongs, as Aben Ezra observes, both to the calf and ram, which were both to be without spot, and so proper types of Christ the Lamb without spot and blemish, free both from original and actual sin:



and offer [them] before the Lord; on the altar of burnt offering, which stood in the court of the tabernacle near where Jehovah was, to whom every sacrifice for sin was to be offered, being committed against him, and whose justice must be satisfied for it.





Leviticus 9:3



Ver. 3. And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak,.... That is, Aaron should speak to them, for being now high priest, Moses had no more to do with the sacrifices of the people, but it was incumbent on Aaron to call upon them to bring them to him such as the Lord by this law required of them:



saying, take ye a kid of the goats for a sin [offering]; this creature fitly represented Christ as made sin, and an offering for sin, in the room of his people:



and a calf, and a lamb; both of them, as before observed, were proper emblems of Christ in his strength and innocence, sometimes called the fatted calf, and frequently the Lamb of God, Lu 15:23 Joh 1:29:



[both] of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; denoting the tenderness of Christ, his spotless purity, and painful sufferings.





Leviticus 9:4



Ver. 4. Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord,.... An offering being made for the atonement of sin, and the gift of a whole burnt offering accepted by the Lord upon that, peace offerings were to be sacrificed thereupon; one part of which belonged to the Lord, as the fat and the blood; another part to the priest, as the shoulder and the breast; and the rest to the owners to make a feast with, expressive of the peace and joy which arise from the expiation and atonement of sin, by the great sacrifice of Christ, in commemoration of which a feast is kept by the Lord's people:



and a meat offering mingled with oil; with oil olive; each of these offerings are treated of in the preceding chapters, where an account is given of them, and the mystery of them explained:



for today the Lord will appear unto you; or "and today", as in Le 9:6 so Noldius {e}; for this is not observed as a reason why the sacrifices were to be offered, but as a promise of the divine appearance, as an encouragement thereunto; and may have special respect to some visible splendour and lustre of the divine glory more than ordinary; and particularly to the fire that should come out from before the Lord, and consume the sacrifice, Le 9:24 and so Ben Gersom interprets it. And this being on the eighth day of the consecration of the priests, may lead our thoughts to the day when our great High Priest rose from the dead, the day after the seventh, or the Jewish sabbath, even on the eighth day, or first day of the week, on which he made frequent appearances to his disciples; see Mr 16:9.



{e} P. 395, No. 1340.





Leviticus 9:5



Ver. 5. And they brought [that] which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation,.... That is, Aaron and his sons, and all the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it. All the above sacrifices they brought into the court of the tabernacle to be offered up:



and all the congregation drew near, and stood before the Lord; that is, the elders of Israel, who were called together, Le 9:1, the heads of the tribes who represented the people; as many as well could be admitted into the court no doubt were, to be spectators of Aaron and his sons officiating first in their new office, and to see their own sacrifices offered; and they stood over against where was the symbol of the divine Presence; and the Targum of Jonathan says, they stood with a perfect heart; and no doubt but they were heartily sincere and upright in their sacrifices, as they had been in their donations toward the building the tabernacle, and providing things belonging to it; and they stood with all humility, reverence, and devotion.





Leviticus 9:6



Ver. 6. This [is] the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do,.... Namely, what they had done, bring the creatures and things for sacrifice they had:



and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you; either Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, in an human form, as a presage of his future incarnation, as he frequently did; or some more than ordinary refulgence of glory breaking out of the holy of holies, where God had now taken up his dwelling between the cherubim; or, as Aben Ezra explains it, the fire that should go out from him, and consume the sacrifice, which would be a demonstration of his presence with them, and of his acceptance of the sacrifice.





Leviticus 9:7



Ver. 7. And Moses said unto Aaron,.... This is only observed to show, that as Aaron did not take upon him this office of himself, but was called unto it, and invested with it, by the appointment of God, so neither did he enter upon it but through the call of God by Moses, in the sight of the congregation:



go unto the altar, and offer thy sin [offering], and thy burnt offering; the young calf and ram:



and make an atonement for thyself and for the people; first for himself, and then for the people; for, as Aben Ezra says, a man cannot atone for another until he is pure from all sin; which is a character only to be found in Christ, our great High Priest, and so a proper person to atone for and take away the sins of others: hence the priests under the law, with their sacrifices, could never take away sin really, only typically; and this shows the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, that the priests of that order were obliged to offer first for their own sins; this our high priest, of another order, needed not to do; see Heb 7:27



and offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them; typical of the true and full atonement made by Christ, when he offered himself without spot to God:



as the Lord commanded; Aaron to do, and as he commanded Christ, his Son and our surety, the antitype of Aaron, Joh 10:18.





Leviticus 9:8



Ver. 8. Aaron therefore went unto the altar,.... Of burnt offering, freely and cheerfully, at the direction and introduction of Moses, who acted in this affair in the name of the Lord:



and slew the calf of the sin [offering], which [was] for himself; which was to be offered first, as it was proper it should, that, atonement being made for his sins, his after burnt offering might be accepted with God, and he be fit to offer the sacrifices of the people: the calf he slew on the north side of the altar, where all the sin offerings and burnt offerings were slain; see Le 1:11.





Leviticus 9:9



Ver. 9. And the sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him,.... The blood of the calf of the sin offering, which they had received in a basin when it was slain:



and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put [it] upon the horns of the altar; the four horns of it, as Moses had done at his consecration, which was an example to him, Le 8:15. This was typical of the blood of Christ, to which persons may have recourse from the four quarters of the world for atonement and pardon:



and poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar; what remained after he had put what was proper on the horns of it.





Leviticus 9:10



Ver. 10. But the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul [above] the liver of the sin [offering], he burnt upon the altar,.... The Septuagint version is, "he offered them":



as the Lord commanded Moses; see Le 4:8.





Leviticus 9:11



Ver. 11. And the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp. With common fire, for the fire from the Lord came only upon the altar, which perhaps may be the reason of this expression being used when anything was burnt without the camp, and not on the altar, see Ex 29:14. Jarchi observes, that we do not find a sin offering burnt without the camp but this; which is a great mistake; see Le 4:11.





Leviticus 9:12



Ver. 12. And he slew the burnt offering,.... The ram, which was for himself also; this he slew at the north side of the altar, Le 1:11



and Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood: which they had received into a basin, when it was slain:



which he sprinkled round about upon the altar; as he had seen Moses do before him, Le 8:19.





Leviticus 9:13



Ver. 13. And they presented the burnt offering to him,.... After it was cut in pieces, as the ram of the burnt offering was by Moses, Le 8:20 and so it was done to this, as appears by what follows:



with the pieces thereof, and the head, and he burnt them upon the altar; the Septuagint version is, "he put them on the altar".





Leviticus 9:14



Ver. 14. And he did wash the inwards and the legs,.... As Moses also had done, Le 8:21



and burnt [them] upon the burnt offering on the altar; upon the pieces, and the head, before mentioned, said to be burnt, or "after" the burnt offering, after they were burnt: the Septuagint version is as before.





Leviticus 9:15



Ver. 15. And he brought the people's offering,.... To the altar, having offered his own first:



and took the goat, which [was] the sin [offering] for the people, and slew it; where he had slain his own:



and offered it for sin, as the first: the first offering he offered for himself, which was of the same sort.





Leviticus 9:16



Ver. 16. And he brought the burnt offering,.... The calf and the lamb, Le 9:3



and offered it according to the manner; judgment, ordinance, and appointment of God respecting that sort of offerings; see Le 1:1.





Leviticus 9:17



Ver. 17. And he brought the meat offering,.... Made of fine flour, with oil and frankincense put upon it, see Le 2:1



and took a handful thereof, and burnt [it] upon the altar; see Le 2:2



beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning; the daily morning sacrifice, which was not to be omitted on account of these extraordinary sacrifices, both for the priest and for the people; or "after the burnt sacrifice of the morning"; for no sacrifice was offered up before that: so Jarchi.





Leviticus 9:18



Ver. 18. He slew also the bullock and the ram, a sacrifice of peace offerings, which [was] for the people,.... That they might feast, rejoice, and be glad that atonement was made for their sins, and their gifts and sacrifices accepted of God, see Rom 5:11



and Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood; of the peace offerings, the bullock and the ram, which they had received into a vessel as they were killing:



which he sprinkled upon the altar round about; as he did with the blood of his own burnt offering, Le 9:12.





Leviticus 9:19



Ver. 19. And the fat of the bullock, and of the ram,.... Which in all offerings was the Lord's, and was burnt, see Le 3:16



the rump; or tail of the ram; which in those countries was very large, and had a great deal of fat upon it; See Gill on "Ex 29:22" see Gill on "Le 3:9"



and that which covereth [the inwards]; called the "omentum":



and the kidneys, and the caul [above] the liver; and the fat that was upon each of these: Ben Gersom observes, that the kidneys and liver are mentioned last, to show that they were laid uppermost in waving (after directed to), that the owners might be stirred up, or moved by these things.





Leviticus 9:20



Ver. 20. And they put the fat upon the breasts,.... Both of the bullock and of the ram, while they were waving:



and he burnt the fat upon the altar; after having been waved.





Leviticus 9:21



Ver. 21. And the breasts and the right shoulder,.... The breasts of the bullock and the ram, and the right shoulders of them both:



Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord; which was given to him as his part of the peace offerings, after they had been thus waved before the Lord; whereby an acknowledgment was made that he was Lord of all, and had a right to all they had; in token of which these parts were given to his priests towards their maintenance:



as Moses commanded; see Ex 29:27.





Leviticus 9:22



Ver. 22. And Aaron lifted up his hand towards the people, and blessed them,.... After he had offered the above sacrifices both for himself and them: the manner of the priests lifting up their hands when they blessed is thus described; in the provinces the priests lift up their hands to their shoulders, and in the sanctuary above their heads, excepting the high priest, who did not lift up his hands above the plate of gold: but R. Judah says, the high priest lift up his hands above the plate, as it is said Le 9:22 {f}; the modern Jews describe it thus {g}, they lift up their hands to their shoulders, and they lift up the right hand somewhat higher than the left; then they stretch out their hands, and part their fingers, and frame them so as to make five airs; between two fingers and two fingers one air, and between the forefinger and the thumb, and between the two thumbs; they spread out their hands so, that the middle (or palm) of the hand may be towards the earth, and the back part of it towards heaven: Aaron lift his hands upwards, signifying from whence he implored the blessing, and towards the people on whom he desired it might descend; in this was a type of Christ, who, after he had offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of his people, when he was risen from the dead and about to ascend to heaven, blessed his disciples, Lu 24:50 in Christ the saints are blessed with all spiritual blessings; by him they are procured for them, through his blood, sacrifice, and satisfaction; and he ever lives to make intercession for the application of them to them, see Eph 1:3



and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings; from the altar with joy, as the Targum of Jonathan; being glad he had done his service with acceptance; he is said to "come down", there being a rise or ascent to the altar, which, as Aben Ezra observes, was three cubits high, and therefore it is with propriety said he came down; which he did as soon as he had made an end of offering all the sacrifices.



{f} Misn. Sotah, c. 7. sect. 6. {g} Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. Orach Chayim, c. 128. sect. 12.





Leviticus 9:23



Ver. 23. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation,.... They went out of the court where the altar of burnt offering stood, and where Aaron had been offering the sacrifices; and they went into the holy place, where stood the altar of incense, the shewbread table, and the candlestick; and it is probable Moses went in with Aaron thither, to show him how to offer the incense, to order the shewbread on the table, and to light and trim the lamps of the candlestick; and so Jarchi observes, that he went in to teach him concerning the business of the incense; but it may be, it was also to pray for the people, as the Targum, and for the Lord's appearance to them, as was promised and expected, and that fire might descend on the sacrifices as a token of acceptance of them, as Aben Ezra notes:



and came out, and blessed the people; Aaron had blessed them before, but now both Moses and Aaron blessed them, atonement being made by the sacrifice of Christ, and law and justice thereby fully satisfied; Christ and the law agree together in the blessing of the Lord's people; way was hereby made for the communication of blessings to them, consistent with the law of God, and his holiness and justice, Ga 3:10:



and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people: some visible signs of his glory, some very great splendour or lustre, or breaking forth of his glory; or Christ, the glory of the Father, appeared in an human form, as a pledge of his future incarnation, when all the above sacrifices, which were types of him, would have their accomplishment; and this being immediately upon the offering of them, may signify that the glory of God greatly appears in the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ, and in the redemption and salvation of his people in that way, Ps 21:4 and the glorious and gracious presence of God is enjoyed by his people, in consequence of the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, which was signified by the mercy seat, from whence the Lord communed; and it is through Christ, his blood and sacrifice, saints have access to God, and fellowship with him, Eph 2:18.





Leviticus 9:24



Ver. 24. And there came a fire out from before the Lord,.... Either from heaven, or from the holy of holies, where was the symbol of the divine Presence, and Jehovah had now took up his residence:



and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering, and the fat; according to Aben Ezra, the burnt offering of Aaron, and of the people, and of the daily sacrifice, for so it is written, besides the burnt offering of the morning, Le 9:17 and the fat of the calf and ram of Aaron, and of the goat, ox, and ram of the people, which though they were laid upon the altar at the time of their offering, yet it is thought by some they were not burnt till now: it is a conjecture of Bishop Patrick's, that this burnt offering was the burnt offering of the evening sacrifice, which was consumed by the fire from the Lord; he supposes that the offering of the above sacrifices had taken up the whole day, from the time of the morning sacrifice until the evening; and that all the other sacrifices were burnt with common fire, but this with fire from the Lord; but then, what was the fat that was consumed? however, this was a token of acceptance; in like manner as it descended on the sacrifice of Abel, as is thought, Ge 4:4 and on the sacrifices offered at the dedication of the temple, 2Ch 7:1 and on the burnt sacrifice of Elijah, 1Ki 18:38 testifying the divine approbation and acceptance of them: for though in the mystery, the fire may design the wrath of God as a consuming fire, which was very distressing to Christ, and brought him to the dust of death; yet, with respect to the persons for whom this sacrifice was offered, it denotes acceptance of it, that it was an offering by fire, and of a sweet smelling savour to God, his law and justice being satisfied, and having honour done them: concerning this fire, and the perpetual burning of it, See Gill on "Le 6:12" see Gill on "Le 6:13". The Heathens, in imitation of this, have pretended to have fire come down also from heaven on their altars, as the Brahmans, among the Indians, taken notice of in the above note. And so Solinus {h} speaks of the Vulcanian hill in Sicily, where they that serve in sacred things lay wood of vines on the altar, but put no fire; and if God is present (and so the sacrifice is approved) the branches, though green, will take fire of themselves, and a flame is kindled by the deity sacrificed to, no one setting them on fire. And Servius says {i}, that with the ancients fires on altars were not kindled, but they procured a divine fire by their prayers, which kindled on the altars; but these were mere pretences, and juggling tricks, in which they were assisted by Satan to vie with this wonderful appearance of God in the acceptation of the sacrifice of his people:



[which] when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces; Aaron blessing them, and the appearance of the glory of God unto them, no doubt, gave them joy and pleasure, as the spiritual blessings by Christ, and the gracious presence of God do to his people,

Ps 103:1 but what filled them with joy unspeakable was the acceptance of their sacrifices, as typical of the sacrifice of Christ, and atonement by it, which made them shout, and the court to ring with it; and yet fell down on their faces with all reverence and humility, under a sense of the divine Majesty being so near unto them, in this sensible token of his presence.



{h} Polyhistor. c. 11. {i} In Virgil. Aeneid. l. 12. ver. 200.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Leviticus 10:1



INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 10



This chapter begins with the sin and punishment of two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Le 10:1 for whose death Aaron and his sons are commanded not to mourn, nor to depart from the tabernacle,

Le 10:6 and an order is given, prohibiting the priests from drinking wine when they went into it, Le 10:8 the law of eating holy things, both those that were more, and those that were less holy, is enjoined, Le 10:12 and the flesh of the sin offering not being eaten, but burnt, Aaron's sons are blamed for it, for which he makes an apology to the satisfaction of Moses, Le 10:16.



Ver. 1. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,.... His two eldest sons, as seems from Ex 6:23:



took either of them his censer; a vessel in which coals of fire were put, and incense upon them, and burnt it, and so it follows:



and put fire therein, and put incense thereon; which, as Aben Ezra says, was on the eighth day, that is, of their consecration, the day after their consecration was completely finished, and the same day that Aaron had offered the offerings for himself and for the people, see Le 9:1:



and offered strange fire before the Lord; upon the golden altar of incense, which stood in the holy place right against the vail, within which were the ark, mercy seat, and cherubim, the symbol and seat of the divine Majesty: this fire was not that which came down from heaven, and consumed the sacrifice, as related at the end of the preceding chapter Le 9:24, but common fire, and therefore called strange; it was not taken off of the altar of burnt offering, as it ought to have been, but, as the Targum of Jonathan, from under the trivets, skillets, or pots, such as the flesh of peace offerings were boiled in, in the tabernacle;



which he commanded not; yea, forbid, by sending fire from heaven, and ordering coals of fire for the incense to be taken off of the altar of burnt offering; and this, as Aben Ezra observes, they did of their own mind, and not by order. It does not appear that they had any command to offer incense at all at present, this belonged to Aaron, and not to them as yet; but without any instruction and direction they rushed into the holy place with their censers, and offered incense, even both of them, when only one priest was to offer at a time, when it was to be offered, and this they also did with strange fire. This may be an emblem of dissembled love, when a man performs religious duties, prays to God, or praises him without any cordial affection to him, or obeys commands not from love, but selfish views; or of an ignorant, false, and misguided zeal, a zeal not according to knowledge, superstitious and hypocritical; or of false and strange doctrines, such as are not of God, nor agree with the voice of Christ, and are foreign to the Scriptures; or of human ordinances, and the inventions of men, and of everything that man brings of his own, in order to obtain eternal life and salvation.





Leviticus 10:2



Ver. 2. And there went out fire from the Lord,.... They sinned by fire, and they were punished by fire, either from heaven, or from the most holy place, where the Lord dwelt between the cherubim; this was of the nature of lightning, as appears by what follows:



and devoured them; not reduced them to ashes, for neither their bodies nor their clothes were burnt with this fire, as is clear from

Le 10:4 but their lives were destroyed, they were lifeless, their souls were separated from their bodies by it, and they died; which is often the case by the lightning, that the clothes of those who are killed with it are untouched, and scarce any marks of violence on their bodies; and so the Targum of Jonathan says of these, their bodies were not burnt:



and they died before the Lord; upon the spot where they were offering incense, in the holy place, over against the most holy place. This was very awful, like the case of Ananias and Sapphira, and may seem severe: it was for the terror of others in the priesthood, or who should come after, to take care that they performed their office according to the divine precepts, and brought in no innovation into their service. And when it is considered that these were the sons of the high priest, newly invested with an high and honourable office, and just had the laws of the priesthood delivered unto them, and yet deviated from them as soon as in their office, and very probably, from what follows, went drunk into their service, their sin will appear aggravated, and the punishment less severe. This shows there is nothing in carnal descent, these were the sons of Aaron the high priest, that acted this part, and came to this end; the proneness of men to transgress the laws of God as soon as given them; thus the people of Israel fell into idolatry as soon as the moral law was given; and here the priests, as soon as the ceremonial laws, relating to the priesthood, were delivered to them; and also that the law made sinful men priests, and that the Levitical priesthood was imperfect; and that no order of men are free from sin, or exempt from punishment: and the whole of the divine conduct in this affair may lead us to observe how jealous God is in matters of worship; how much he dislikes hypocrites, and formal professors; how severe he will be against such who bring in strange doctrines; what will be the fate of the contemners of Gospel doctrines and ordinances; and how much he resents those who trust in themselves, and their works, and bring in anything of their own in the business of salvation, which is strange fire, sparks of their own kindling, a burning incense to their own drag, and sacrificing to their own net.





Leviticus 10:3



Ver. 3. And Moses said unto Aaron,.... Upon this awful occasion, and in order to quiet and humble him under the mighty hand of God:



this [is it] that the Lord spoke, saying; but when he spoke it, and where it is said and recorded, is not so very clear; it might have been said, and yet not recorded, or the substance of it may be recorded, though not in the express words here delivered; it may refer, as some think, to Ex 19:22 or else to Ex 29:43 which seems to come nearest to what follows, so Jarchi:



I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me; in the priests that drew nigh to him, and offered sacrifice and burnt incense to him; by these he expected to be sanctified, not to be made holy, but to be declared to be so, and obeyed and worshipped as such; as he is, when his commands and ordinances are observed, as he would have them be, in faith and fear, which were not done by these sons of Aaron; and therefore the Lord, by the punishment he inflicted, showed himself to be an holy, righteous, and jealous God:



and before all the people I will be glorified; as he is when he is believed and trusted in; when his worship is carried on in his own house, according to his will; when his ordinances are kept as they were delivered, and when he is reverenced in the assembly of his saints; all which were wanting in this case. And this may also have respect to the glory of divine justice, in the public punishment of the sin of those men, that since he was not glorified by them before the people in the way of their duty, he would glorify himself in their punishment:



and Aaron held his peace: was in a stupor, as the Septuagint, quite amazed, thunderstruck, as we say; he was silent, said not one word against what was done; murmured not at the providence, nor complained of any severity, but was patient under the hand of God, and resigned to his will; and since God was sanctified and glorified, he was contented.





Leviticus 10:4



Ver. 4. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of Aaron,.... Uzziel was a son of Kohath, a brother of Amram, the father of Aaron, and so Aaron's uncle, as here; he had four sons, two of which are here mentioned as called by Moses; these were first cousins to Aaron, and second to his sons; see Ex 6:18:



and said unto them, come near; it is very probable they were in the court of the tabernacle, being Kohathites, of the tribe of Levi; but not being priests, had no right to go into the holy place, where the two sons of Aaron lay dead, without a special order for it, which they here had for this time, and upon this occasion:



carry your brethren from before the sanctuary, out of the camp; the sons of Aaron are called their brethren, though but cousins, it being usual to call any relations brethren, and even if only of the same tribe, yea, of the same nation. Now these were ordered to take the dead bodies of Aaron's sons out of the holy place, and out of the tabernacle, even from before it, which, as Aben Ezra says, was the court over against the camp; and they were to carry them out of the camp into some field, or place adjacent, and there bury them; it not being usual in those times to bury in cities and towns, and much less in places devoted to sacred worship, as the tabernacle was; and therefore they were carried from both the sanctuary and the camp: it is an observation of Aben Ezra, that



"some say the incense was before the altar of burnt offering, and the Levites entered there;''



but if by incense is meant the altar of incense, the place where these sons of Aaron offered theirs, that was in the holy place, and not in the court, where stood the altar of burnt offering: but they seem to mean as if their incense was offered in another place, and not on the altar, somewhere in the court, and before you come to the altar of burnt offering; and so the persons Moses called could come in thither, and take up their bodies there fallen: but the same writer observes, that others say, that



"it was upon the altar of incense (i.e. that their incense was offered), and Moses brought them out of the tabernacle of the congregation,''



and then called these men to carry them from thence without the camp.





Leviticus 10:5



Ver. 5. So they went near,.... To the place where the bodies lay, having an order from Moses so to do, let them have been where they will;



and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said; or bid them do; they took them up in their clothes as they found them, and carried them in them; not that these men carried them in their own coats, but in the coats of the dead, as Jarchi expresses it; and had them without the camp, and there buried them, probably in their coats in which they had sinned, and in which they died: the Targum of Jonathan says, they carried them on iron hooks in their coats, and buried them without the camp.





Leviticus 10:6



Ver. 6. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons,.... His two younger sons, which yet remained; and so the Septuagint version adds, as in Le 10:12



uncover not your heads; that is, do not take off your mitre, as the Septuagint version; or the bonnets which they wore in the time of their ministry; for the Jewish priests always had their mitres and bonnets on when they sacrificed; in imitation of which, the Heathens had their heads covered when they offered their sacrifices {k}: now it was the way, or custom of a mourner, as Ben Melech observes, to remove his mitre, bonnet, or tiara, from his head; but in this case, that no sign of mourning might be shown, Aaron and his sons are forbid to uncover the head: the Targum of Onkelos is,



"do not increase the hair,''



or nourish it, or suffer it to grow, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom interpret it: now in times of distress and mourning they used to let the hair grow, whether on the head or beard, see 2Sa 19:24 and in this the Jews were imitated by the Egyptians, contrary to other nations; the priests of the gods in other places, says Herodotus {l}, took care of their hair (or wore their hair), in Egypt they are shaved; with others the custom is, for the head immediately to be shaved at funerals; but the Egyptians, at death, suffer their hair to grow in the parts before shaved; but this custom with the Jews, though at other times used, is here forbid Aaron and his sons:



neither rend your clothes, which was sometimes done at the report of the death of near relations, as children, in token of mourning,

Ge 37:34 but here it is forbid, that there might be no sign of it: it is a particular word that is here used: Ben Melech says, there is a difference between rending and tearing; tearing is in the body of a garment where there is no seam, but rending (which is what is here meant) where there is a seam: the priests rending their garments was after this manner, according to the Jewish canons {m},



"an high priest rends below and a common priest above;''



that is, as one of their commentators {n} interprets it, the former rends the extreme part of his garment next the feet, and the latter at the breast near the shoulder; but in this case no rent at all was to be made:



lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people; so very provoking to God would be any signs of mourning in Aaron and his sons, on this account:



but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled: though Aaron and his sons might not mourn on this occasion, the whole body of the people might, though not bewail so much the death of the persons, as the cause of it; and be concerned for the awful judgment of God, and for the wrath that was sone forth, lest it should proceed and destroy others also, all being sinners.



{k} "Purpureo velare comas", &c. Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. Vid. Kipping. Rom. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 12. sect. 17. p. 495. {l} Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 36. {m} Misn. Horayot, c. 3. sect. 5. {n} Bartenora in ib.





Leviticus 10:7



Ver. 7. And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die,.... That is, they were not to relinquish the service of the sanctuary, on the account of the death of these relations of theirs, and through grief for it, but go on in it; not Aaron on account of his children, nor his sons on account of their brethren: from hence, says Ben Gersom, we learn, that whatsoever priest leaves his service, and goes out of the sanctuary, is guilty of death: some think the seven days of consecration were not quite over, during which time Aaron and his sons were obliged to continue there, on pain of death, Le 8:33 but it is pretty plain those days were over, and that it was the day after the consecration was finished; see Le 9:1 and See Gill on "Le 10:2" wherefore this respects their continuance in the tabernacle on the day the above affair happened, and they were obliged to continue in and go through the service of the day, notwithstanding that:



for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you; a learned man {o} infers from hence, that this affair happened within the days of consecration, they being every day afresh anointed with oil, at least had it, with the blood of the sacrifices, sprinkled on them, on their garments, taking it in the strict sense, for the oil being still upon them; whereas it seems only to signify, that inasmuch as they were consecrated with oil to the priest's office, they were under obligation to continue and perform their service without being let or hindered by what had happened:



and they did according to the word of Moses; they showed no tokens of mourning on account of the dead, and did not offer to go out of the tabernacle and leave their service.



{o} Clayton's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 353.





Leviticus 10:8



Ver. 8. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,.... Because he was a prophet, Aben Ezra says; but the reason rather seems to be, because be was the high priest, and now invested with his office, and in the execution of it, and therefore the following law respecting the priest's drinking of wine was given: some say, as the same writer observes, that God spake to him by Moses; but it rather seems that he spoke to Aaron immediately: according to Jarchi, this order was delivered to him as a reward for his silence, and to do honour to him on that account: saying; as follows.





Leviticus 10:9



Ver. 9. Do not drink wine or strong drink,.... This law following upon the affair of Nadab and Abihu has caused some to think, and not without some reason, that they were drunk with wine or strong drink, when they offered strange fire; and indeed it is hardly to be accounted for upon any other foot that they should do it; but having feasted that day upon the peace offerings, and drank freely, it being the first day of their entrance on their office, they were, it may be supposed, elated and merry, and drank more than they should; wherefore this law was given, to restrain from such a disorderly and scandalous practice; not only wine, which is inebriating, but strong drink also is forbidden, which, as Aben Ezra says, is made either of a sort of wheat, or honey, or dates: and so Kimchi {p} and Ben Melech on the place after him observe, that this includes whatsoever inebriates, besides wine; and that their doctors say, whosoever drinks milk or honey (they must mean some strong liquor extracted from thence), if he enters into the tabernacle he is guilty:



thou nor thy sons with thee; the Targum of Jonathan adds, as did thy sons, who died by the burning of fire; that is, he and his sons were to avoid drinking wine or strong drink to excess, as his two sons had done, which led them to offer strange fire, for which they suffered death:



when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; they might drink wine at other times, in a moderate manner; but it seems by this they were not to drink any at all when they were about to go to service, or to enter into the tabernacle in order to do it: indeed, according to the Jewish canons, every priest that is fit for service, if he drinks wine, it is forbidden him to enter in (to the tabernacle, and so) from the altar (of burnt offering) and inward (into the holy place); and if he goes in and does his service it is profane (unlawful and rejected), and he is guilty of death by the hand of heaven; and he that drinks the fourth part (of a log) of wine at one time, of wine forty days old; but if he drinks less than a fourth part of wine, or drinks a fourth part and stops between, and mixes it with water, or drinks wine out of the press within forty days (i.e. not quite so many days old), though more than a fourth part, he is free, and does not profane his service; if he drinks more than a fourth part of wine, though it is mixed, and though he stops and drinks little by little, he is guilty of death, and his service is profane (or rejected); if he is drunk with the rest of liquors that make drunk, he is forbidden to go into the sanctuary; but if he goes in and serves, and he is drunk with the rest of liquors that make drunk, whether of milk or of figs (a strong liquor made of them), he is to be beaten, but his service is right; for they are not guilty of death but on account of wine in the hour of service; and it does not profane service, but being drunken with wine {q}: in imitation of this, Heathen priests were forbid wine, and abstained from it, particularly the Egyptian priests; at whom it is said {r}, some of them never drink any wine, and others taste but a little of it, because it is said to harm the nerves, to fill the head, or make it heavy, to hinder invention and excite to lust:



[it shall be] a statute for ever throughout all your generations: even to the coming of the Messiah; and now under the Gospel dispensation, though wine in moderation is allowed Gospel ministers, yet they are not to be given to it; it is a shame to any Christian man to be drunk with wine, and more especially a minister, and still more so when in his service; see Eze 44:21.



{p} Sepher Shorashim, Rad. rkv. {q} Maimon. Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 1. sect. 1. 2. {r} Chaeremon apud Porphyr. de Abstinentia, l. 4. c. 6.





Leviticus 10:10



Ver. 10. And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy,.... That being sober they might be able to distinguish between the one and the other; which a drunken man, having his mind and senses disturbed, is not capable of; as between holy and unholy persons, and between holy and unholy things; particularly, as Aben Ezra interprets it, between a sacred place and one that is common, and between a holy day and a common week day; the knowledge and memory of which may be lost through intemperance; and so that may be done in a place and on a day which ought not to be done, or that omitted on a day and in a place which ought to be done:



and between unclean and clean; between unclean men and women, beasts and fowls, and clean ones; and between unclean things in a ceremonial sense, and those that are clean, which a man in liquor may be no judge of: hence, as the above writer observes, after this section follow laws concerning fowls clean and unclean, the purification of a woman after childbirth, the leprosy in men, garments and houses, and concerning profluvious and menstruous persons; all which the priests were to be judges of, and therefore ought to be sober.





Leviticus 10:11



Ver. 11. And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes,.... Laws, precepts, ordinances, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which was the business of the priests to do, Mal 2:7 but one inebriated with liquor would be incapable of giving instructions about any of those things:



which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses: particularly those delivered and recorded in Ex 20:1 and as not the priests, so neither any other Israelite might instruct {s}, nor indeed would be capable of instructing others when in liquor; and therefore excessive drinking, as it should be carefully avoided by all men, so more especially by those who by their office are teachers of others; see Pr 31:4.



{s} Maimon. Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 1. sect. 3.





Leviticus 10:12



Ver. 12. And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left,.... Of the burning, as the Targum of Jonathan; who survived his other two sons that were burnt, who remained alive, not being concerned with them in their sin, and so shared not in their punishment:



take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the Lord made by fire; for all but the handful that was burnt of that kind of offerings belonged to the priests, see Le 6:14 this meat offering, according to Jarchi, was the meat offering of the eighth day, that is, of the consecration, or the day after it was finished, on which the above awful case happened, Le 9:17 and also the meat offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, who offered his offering first at the dedication of the altar, on the day the tabernacle was set up, which he supposes was on this day, see Nu 7:1, now these meat offerings were not as yet eaten, and which may be true of the first of them, wherefore Aaron and his sons, notwithstanding their mourning, are bid to take it:



and eat it without leaven beside the altar: the altar of burnt offering in the court of the tabernacle, as directed

See Gill on "Le 6:16":



for it [is] most holy: and so might be eaten by none but holy persons, such as were devoted to sacred services, and only in the holy place, as follows; within hangings, where the most holy things were eaten, as Jarchi, that is, within the court of the tabernacle, which was made of hangings.





Leviticus 10:13



Ver. 13. And ye shall eat it in the holy place,.... Not in that which was properly so called, but in the court of the tabernacle; at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, as Aben Ezra, in some apartment there; for it was not to be carried out of the sanctuary, and eaten in their own houses or tents, as others might, after mentioned:



because it [is] thy due, and thy sons' due, of the offerings of the Lord made by fire; and not any others; neither his wife nor his daughters, nor any other related to him, or whom he might invite, as in other cases, might eat of it; this none but he and his sons might eat of, and nowhere else but in the sanctuary:



for so I am commanded; to make known and declare this as the will of God.





Leviticus 10:14



Ver. 14. And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place,.... The breast of the peace offerings that was waved, and the shoulder of them that was heaved before the Lord; these were given by him to the priests, towards the maintenance of their families, Le 7:34 and they might be eaten anywhere, provided the place was clean from all ceremonial pollution, and in which there were no polluted persons, as leprous ones; they were to be eaten within the camp, as Jarchi observes, where lepers came not: for, as he adds, the light holy things, such as these were, might be eaten in every city; and so it it is said in the Misnah {t}, and by the commentators on it:



thou and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee; these were not restrained to him and his sons only, as the meat offerings, and the flesh of the sin offerings were, but were common to the whole family:



for [they be] thy due, and thy sons' due; for their service of the sanctuary, and by the appointment and direction of the Lord:



[which] are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel: of which see Le 7:1 these are said to be "given out" of them, for the whole was not given, only the breast and shoulder; and after the fat was burnt, the rest belonged to the owners, with which they kept a feast of joy and thankfulness.



{t} Zebachim: c. 5. sect. 6. & Bartenora in ib.





Leviticus 10:15



Ver. 15. The heave shoulder and wave breast shall they bring,.... Not the priests, but the owners to the priests, Le 7:29:



with the offerings made by fire of the fat: upon the inwards, kidneys, and caul of the liver, which was all burnt:



to wave [it] for a wave offering before the Lord, the shoulder was lifted up, and the breast waved to and fro before the Lord of the whole earth, and towards the several parts of it, to show and own his right to all they had, and then they were given to the priests as a token of it:



and it shall be thine, and thy sons with thee; both the shoulder and the breast:



by a statute for ever, to be observed as long as the ceremonial law and Levitical priesthood lasted, even to the end of the Jewish age and economy, and the coming of the Messiah:



as the Lord hath commanded; Le 7:33.





Leviticus 10:16



Ver. 16. And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin [offering],.... The Targum of Jonathan says,



"three goats were offered on that day, the goat of the new moon, of the sin offering for the people, and of the sin offering, which Nahshon the son of Amminadab offered at the dedication of the altar; Aaron and his sons, it adds, went and burnt these three, Moses came and sought, &c.''



Jarchi also speaks of three goats offered, but says that only one was burnt, the goat of the new moon; and so Ben Gersom, who gives this reason for the diligent search after it, because it was always to be offered up, and was not a temporary affair, as the others were: but it rather seems to be the goat of the sin offering for the people, for it is not certain that the other goats were offered on this day, but this was, see Le 9:15 now according to the law, the flesh of this goat was not to be burnt, but to be eaten by the priests in the holy place, see Le 6:25. Moses now suspecting that Aaron and his sons, through their grief for the death of Nadab and Abihu, had neglected the eating of it, sought diligently after it, and so it proved:



and, behold, it was burnt: as they had no appetite to it themselves, they burnt it, that it might not be eaten by any others, for none but they might eat it, and that it might not corrupt:



and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, [which were] left alive; when their two elder brothers were killed with lightning for doing what was not commanded, which should have made them more observant of the laws of God, to do that which was commanded them: and though they were spared, and survived their brethren, yet they transgressed, in burning the sin offering of the people, when they should have eaten it. Jarchi observes, that he expressed his anger not to Aaron, but to his sons, which he did for the honour of Aaron, laying the blame not on him, who was overwhelmed with grief, but on his sons:



saying; as follows.





Leviticus 10:17



Ver. 17. Wherefore have ye not eaten of the sin [offering] in the holy place, seeing it [is] most holy,.... The sin offering was one of the most holy things, and therefore to be eaten only in the sanctuary; though this was not the fault they are here charged with that they had eat it, but not in the holy place; for they had not eaten it at all, but burnt it, as appears from the preceding verse; this is what they are blamed for particularly, though they are reminded of the whole law concerning it, that it was to he eaten by them, that it was to be eaten in the holy place, the reason of which is given; but they had not eaten it any where:



and [God] hath given it to you, to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? for by eating the sin offering, or sin itself, as it is in the original text, see Ho 4:8 they made the sins of the people, for whom the offering was, in some sense their own; and they bore them, and made a typical atonement for them; in which they were types of Christ, who was made sin for his people, took their sins upon him, and by imputation they were made his own, and he bore them in his own body on the tree, and made full satisfaction and atonement for them. Now since the eating of the sin offering of the people was of so great importance and consequence, the neglect of it by the priests was very blameworthy.





Leviticus 10:18



Ver. 18. Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place,.... When that was the case, indeed, the flesh of the sin offering was not to be eaten, but burnt, see Le 6:30 but this was not the case now, and therefore its flesh should have been eaten, and not burnt:



ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy [place], as I commanded, Le 6:26.





Leviticus 10:19



Ver. 19. And Aaron said unto Moses,.... For what Moses had said was said in his presence, though not addressed to him directly, but to his sons; and he was sensible that he was pointed at, and that if there was any blame in this affair, it lay as much or more on him than on his sons; and therefore he takes it upon him to give an answer, and to excuse the fact as well as he could:



behold, this day they have offered their sin [offering] and their burnt offering before the Lord; that is, the people of Israel had brought a kid of the goats for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb for burnt offering, and he and his sons assisting him, had offered them for them, even on the very day his two eldest sons were removed by death in an awful manner:



and such things have befallen me; at this very time, soon after the above sacrifices were offered, happened the death of his two sons, which occasioned great anguish and distress, grief and sorrow, so that he could not eat of the sin offering; he had no appetite for it, and if he had, he thought in his present circumstances it would not have been right, as follows:



and [if] I had eaten the sin [offering] today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord? he being a mourner. The Jews say {u}, an high priest may offer, being a mourner, but not eat; a common priest may neither offer nor eat; and which they illustrate by this passage, that Aaron offered and did not eat, but his sons did neither.



{u} Misn. Horayot, c. 3. sect. 5. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.





Leviticus 10:20



Ver. 20. And when Moses heard [that], he was content. He said no more, he did not proceed in blaming him and his sons, but was satisfied with the answer returned; he considered the grief and trouble of mind that attended Aaron, which might not only cause him to disregard food, but even to forget what was commanded to be done in this case; and besides he might observe, that there was some difficulty attending it; in some cases the flesh of the sin offering was to be eaten, and not burnt; in others, to be burnt, and not eaten; and this being the first time of offering one, the mistake might be the more easily made; and fearing one might be made, and especially when Aaron was in such circumstances, might be the reason Moses so diligently sought after the goat of the sin offering: moreover, what Aaron had done appeared to be not out of any wilful neglect of the command of God, but with a good design, as judging it would be unacceptable to him, should he have eaten of it in his circumstances. Moses upon the whole thought him excusable, at least insisted no more upon the blame. The Jewish writers make the mistake to lie on the side of Moses and not Aaron; and which the former acknowledged, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem: see De 26:12.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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