Leviticus 22: This chapter teaches about defilement of the priesthood.
(Lev 22:1 NASB) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
(Lev 22:2 NASB) “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.
Lev 22:2: There was to be a separation between the sacred and the secular. You should not treat those things that are set apart for Elohim as commonplace.
(Lev 22:3 NASB) “Say to them, ‘If any man among all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me. I am the LORD.
Lev 22:3: The priests are not to go about their office in a careless manner. They cannot be in an unclean state when they approach the offerings. They had to avoid dead bodies, etc.
(Lev 22:4 NASB) ‘No man, of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. And if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if a man has a seminal emission,
(Lev 22:5 NASB) or if a man touches any teeming things, by which he is made unclean, or any man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness;
(Lev 22:6 NASB) a person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts, unless he has bathed his body in water.
Lev 22:6: A priest who has been made unclean in any way must deal with that uncleanness before he can touch an offering. If it is a temporary uncleanness, the priest is unclean until evening and must bathe, then he may eat of the offerings.
(Lev 22:7 NASB) ‘But when the sun sets, he shall be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy gifts, for it is his food.
(Lev 22:8 NASB) ‘He shall not eat an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, becoming unclean by it; I am the LORD.
(Lev 22:9 NASB) ‘They shall therefore keep My charge, so that they may not bear sin because of it, and die thereby because they profane it; I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
Lev 22:9: The priests and the offerings were to be set apart for Elohim. If priests were unclean in any way, they were to go through the required steps to make themselves clean before they do any priestly service or touch an offering.
(Lev 22:10 NASB) ‘No layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a sojourner with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift.
Lev 22:10: Those that are not priests could not take part in the priestly offerings. A “layman” is any non-priest.
(Lev 22:11 NASB) ‘But if a priest buys a slave as his property with his money, that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food.
(Lev 22:12 NASB) ‘And if a priest’s daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts.
(Lev 22:13 NASB) ‘But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s food; but no layman shall eat of it.
Lev 22:13: The immediate family of a priest may partake of the priestly offerings. But if his daughter is now married, she is her husband’s now, not her fathers. She now has a part of the inheritance of Israel along with the non-Levites. She cannot eat of the priestly offerings unless she married a priest.
(Lev 22:14 NASB) ‘But if a man eats a holy gift unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest.
(Lev 22:15 NASB) ‘And they shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they offer to the LORD,
(Lev 22:16 NASB) and so cause them to bear punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.'”
Lev 22:16: Ignorance of Torah is no excuse. If you unknowingly broke the law, you must pay a penalty.
(Lev 22:17 NASB) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
(Lev 22:18 NASB) “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or of the aliens in Israel who presents his offering, whether it is any of their votive or any of their freewill offerings, which they present to the LORD for a burnt offering–
(Lev 22:19 NASB) for you to be accepted– it must be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.
(Lev 22:20 NASB) ‘Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you.
Lev 22:20: The offerings made were to be of animals without blemish. They are a picture of Yeshua Messiah, the Lamb of Elohim, who takes away the sins of the world. Therefore they are to be without defect or blemish.
(Lev 22:21 NASB) ‘And when a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a special vow, or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.
(Lev 22:22 NASB) ‘Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the LORD, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the LORD.
Lev 22:22: It is very tempting to give defective offerings since they are going up in smoke anyway. But Elohim says the sacrifices are to be of the best of the flocks and herds.
(Lev 22:23 NASB) ‘In respect to an ox or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member, you may present it for a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.
(Lev 22:24 NASB) ‘Also anything with its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the LORD, or sacrifice in your land,
(Lev 22:25 NASB) nor shall you accept any such from the hand of a foreigner for offering as the food of your God; for their corruption is in them, they have a defect, they shall not be accepted for you.'”
Lev 22:25: Some blemishes on some animals were acceptable for some sacrifices. But it was not a blanket allowance by any means.
The foreigner must follow these same rules of sacrifice.
(Lev 22:26 NASB) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
(Lev 22:27 NASB) “When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the LORD.
Lev 22:27: It was necessary for the mother’s health that the young one should suckle at least that long. Prior to this time, the young animal is not considered to be completely formed for offerings. There is something brutish in eating a young of beast before the hair and hoofs are fully formed. Regardless, at a very early age their flesh is not good for food, consequently they were not fit for sacrifice, which is termed the bread or food of Elohim.
(Lev 22:28 NASB) “But, whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not kill both it and its young in one day.
Lev 22:28: Natural deformity, bruises, cuts, and broken bones disqualified an animal for sacrifice. This is the area where Israel failed miserably. That was the message of the prophet Malachi over 1000 years later (Mal. 1:6-14).
(Lev 22:29 NASB) “And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.
(Lev 22:30 NASB) “It shall be eaten on the same day, you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the LORD.
Lev 22:30: An offering of thanksgiving was optional. People did not have to do it. But if they did, they must do it right.
(Lev 22:31 NASB) “So you shall keep My commandments, and do them: I am the LORD.
(Lev 22:32 NASB) “And you shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel: I am the LORD who sanctifies you,
Lev 22:32: We are to keep His commandments and do them because He is Yahweh. Paul told us this also (1 Thess. 4:1-2).
The Churchy world does not know His commandments and they do not care to follow them. Many of us came out of a world where the day of the sun-god and the fertility goddess were the major times of worship and we attempted to attribute these pagan things to Elohim. When pagan practices are followed by the world, they are saying that there is more than one Elohim. But when we keep His commandments, we are telling Him that He alone is Yahweh our Elohim (Deut. 4:39-40).
(Lev 22:33 NASB) who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.”
Lev 22:33: We are to follow Torah because He is Yahweh. He sanctifies you and hallows you. The believer has liberty today, but that liberty does not grant license to sin. We have liberty because we know what is right and what is wrong according to His Torah (James 1:25).
“I am the Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt.” Elohim has saved you. He has released you from the bondage of sin. He didn’t make you one of His to buy another worker for His kingdom. He delivered you because of His lovingkindness (grace). We need to ask ourselves “Do you love Him? Do you want to serve Him?” A wife doesn’t make a birthday dinner for her husband because it’s part of her duties. She does it because she loves her husband. A true believer loves and serves Elohim because he loves Him.
The problem with the world today is that they are not studying Scripture. They are out of step with Elohim and things are getting worse. The rest of the world is looking at you with bewilderment when you follow Torah because they don’t know the Elohim that you serve. The only hope for others is for you to walk daily in peace and love and trust and obedience. This is what will affect others and show them the Messiah of Scripture.
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2014 Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly Fort Smith, Arkansas