(18) All the males among the children of Aaron.--The sin offerings, the trespass offerings, and the remainder of the peace offerings being most holy, could only be eaten by the male members of the families of the priests within the court of the sanctuary; whilst the offerings of tithes, fruit, the shoulder and breast of the people's peace offerings, &c, being less holy, were not only eaten by the officiating priests in Jerusalem, but by their incapacitated sons, their daughters, &c, provided they were ritually clean. Any priest who ate the most holy things outside the wall of the courts, or the less holy things outside of the walls of Jerusalem, received forty stripes save one.
Every one that toucheth them shall be holy.--According to this rendering, which exhibits one of the views that obtained during the second Temple, the meaning is that any one who touches the sacrifices of the first order of holiness must not only be a descendant of Aaron and a male, but must have sanctified himself by undergoing the necessary ablutions. (See Leviticus 22:6-7.) There is, however, another view of the passage which is of equal, if not of anterior, date. That is, whoso or whatsoever toucheth them shall become holy. Any layman or any ordinary utensil, &c., becomes sacred by touching one of the higher order of sanctity. (See Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; Ezekiel 44:19; Ezekiel 46:20; Haggai 2:12.)
6:14-23 The law of the burnt-offerings put upon the priests a great deal of care and work; the flesh was wholly burnt, and the priests had nothing but the skin. But most of the meat-offering was their own. It is God's will that his ministers should be provided with what is needful.
All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it,.... And they only, for none but they might eat in the holy place, and therefore these holy things that were to be eaten there, were only eaten by them; what might be eaten by the priests in their own houses, their wives and daughters ate of, but in the holy place only their males, and a male was one that was thirteen years of age:
it shall be a statute for ever in your generations, concerning the offerings of the Lord made by fire; a statute to last till the Messiah should come, the true meat or bread offering; and the bread he gave was his flesh, and he that eats of it shall not die, but live for ever, John 6:27,
everyone that toucheth them shall be holy; signifying, that no one ought to touch them but a holy person, one devoted to holy services, the priests and their sons; or "whatsoever" (o) toucheth them, the dishes they eat those offerings out of, or the knives they cut them with, were not to be used for anything else.
Every one that toucheth them shall be holy.--According to this rendering, which exhibits one of the views that obtained during the second Temple, the meaning is that any one who touches the sacrifices of the first order of holiness must not only be a descendant of Aaron and a male, but must have sanctified himself by undergoing the necessary ablutions. (See Leviticus 22:6-7.) There is, however, another view of the passage which is of equal, if not of anterior, date. That is, whoso or whatsoever toucheth them shall become holy. Any layman or any ordinary utensil, &c., becomes sacred by touching one of the higher order of sanctity. (See Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; Ezekiel 44:19; Ezekiel 46:20; Haggai 2:12.)
it shall be a statute for ever in your generations, concerning the offerings of the Lord made by fire; a statute to last till the Messiah should come, the true meat or bread offering; and the bread he gave was his flesh, and he that eats of it shall not die, but live for ever, John 6:27,
everyone that toucheth them shall be holy; signifying, that no one ought to touch them but a holy person, one devoted to holy services, the priests and their sons; or "whatsoever" (o) toucheth them, the dishes they eat those offerings out of, or the knives they cut them with, were not to be used for anything else.
(o) "quicquid", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.