Leviticus 10:11

And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) And that ye may teach.—The priests were not only to keep sober to be able to decide the questions of ritual, but they were to teach the people, since the ceremonial law affected domestic life and social intercourse (Deuteronomy 33:10; Malachi 2:7). For neglecting these duties, the prophet charges them :—“Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference [i.e., taught the people the difference] between the unclean and the clean” (Ezekiel 22:26).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:8-11 Do not drink wine or strong drink. During the time they ministered, the priests were forbidden it. It is required of gospel ministers, that they be not given to wine, 1Ti 3:3. It is, Lest ye die; die when ye are in drink. The danger of death, to which we are continually exposed, should engage all to be sober.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That is, "that you may, by your example in your ministrations, preserve the minds of the Israelites from confusion in regard to the distinctions made by the divine Law."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8-11. Do not drink wine nor strong drink—This prohibition, and the accompanying admonitions, following immediately the occurrence of so fatal a catastrophe [Le 10:1, 2], has given rise to an opinion entertained by many, that the two disobedient priests were under the influence of intoxication when they committed the offense which was expiated only by their lives. But such an idea, though the presumption is in its favor, is nothing more than conjecture.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That ye may teach; be apt to teach aright, which drunken persons are very unfit to do.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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, Malachi 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 Exodus 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 Proverbs 31:4.

(s) Maimon. Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 1. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - That ye may teach the children of Israel. This shows that one part of the priest's office was teaching the Law (cf. Deuteronomy 24:8; Malachi 2:7). Leviticus 10:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Jehovah still further commanded Aaron and his sons not to drink wine and strong drink when they entered the tabernacle to perform service there, on pain of death, as a perpetual statute for their generations (Exodus 12:17), that they might be able to distinguish between the holy and common, the clean and unclean, and also to instruct the children of Israel in all the laws which God had spoken to them through Moses (ו...ו, Leviticus 10:10 and Leviticus 10:11, et...et, both...and also). Shecar was an intoxicating drink made of barley and dates or honey. הל, profanus, common, is a wider or more comprehensive notion than טמא, unclean. Everything was common (profane) which was not fitted for the sanctuary, even what was allowable for daily use and enjoyment, and therefore was to be regarded as clean. The motive for laying down on this particular occasion a prohibition which was to hold good for all time, seems to lie in the event recorded in Leviticus 10:1, although we can hardly infer from this, as some commentators have done, that Nadab and Abihu offered the unlawful incense-offering in a state of intoxication. The connection between their act and this prohibition consisted simply in the rashness, which had lost the clear and calm reflection that is indispensable to right action.