Leviticus 21:22

He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) He shall eat the bread of his God.—But though unfit for serving at the altar, and reduced to do the menial work connected with the sanctuary, he was not only allowed to partake of the less holy sacrificial gifts, such as the peace shoulder, the tithes, and the first-fruits, but also to eat what remained of the meat-offerings, the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings, which were most holy. (See Leviticus 2:3.)

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 21:22. He shall eat — Which a priest having any uncleanness might not do: whereby God would show the great difference between natural infirmities sent upon a man by God, and moral defilements which a man brought upon himself.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:1-24 Laws concerning the priests. - As these priests were types of Christ, so all ministers must be followers of him, that their example may teach others to imitate the Saviour. Without blemish, and separate from sinners, He executed his priestly office on earth. What manner of persons then should his ministers be! But all are, if Christians, spiritual priests; the minister especially is called to set a good example, that the people may follow it. Our bodily infirmities, blessed be God, cannot now shut us out from his service, from these privileges, or from his heavenly glory. Many a healthful, beautiful soul is lodged in a feeble, deformed body. And those who may not be suited for the work of the ministry, may serve God with comfort in other duties in his church.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See Leviticus 2:3 note; Leviticus 6:25 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16-24. Whosoever he be … hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God—As visible things exert a strong influence on the minds of men, any physical infirmity or malformation of body in the ministers of religion, which disturbs the associations or excites ridicule, tends to detract from the weight and authority of the sacred office. Priests laboring under any personal defect were not allowed to officiate in the public service; they might be employed in some inferior duties about the sanctuary but could not perform any sacred office. In all these regulations for preserving the unsullied purity of the sacred character and office, there was a typical reference to the priesthood of Christ (Heb 7:26).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which a priest having any uncleanness upon him might not do; whereby God would show the great difference between natural infirmities sent upon a man by God, and moral defilements which a man brought upon himself. What was

holy, and what

most holy, was declared before. See Leviticus 2:3 6:17 7:1 14:13 22:10.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He shall eat the bread of his God,.... That part of the sacrifices which was appropriated by the Lord to the priests, for the maintenance of them and their families; for though their natural infirmities disqualified them for service, yet they did not become hereby impure, either in a moral nor ceremonial sense, and might eat of the sacrifices, which impure persons might not; and so the tradition is, blemished persons, whether their blemishes are fixed or transient, may divide and eat, but not offer (g); these being priests, and having no inheritance, nor any way of getting their livelihood, provision is made for them that they might not perish through their defects in nature, which were not voluntary and brought upon them by themselves, but by the providence of God; and such were allowed to eat

both of the most holy and of the holy; there were things the priests eat of, which were most holy, as what remained of the meat offerings, and of the sin offerings, and of the trespass offerings, which only the males of the priest's family might eat of, and that only in the holy place; and there were others less holy, the lighter holy things, as the Jews call them, as the wave breast, and heave shoulder, and the tithes and firstfruits, which were eaten of by all in their families, their daughters as well as their sons, and in their own houses; now of each of these might the blemished priests eat; see Numbers 18:9, &c.

(g) Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the {q} most holy, and {r} of the holy.

(q) As of sacrifice for sin.

(r) As of the tithes and first fruits.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. both of the most holy, and of the holy] This distinction is not recognised elsewhere. In Leviticus 22:1-16, where there is ample opportunity for the distinction, the offerings are spoken of in general terms as holy things. It is therefore probably the insertion of a later reviser.

Leviticus 21:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Persons afflicted in the manner described might eat the bread of their God, however, the sacrificial gifts, the most holy and the holy, i.e., the wave-offerings, the first-fruits, the firstlings, tithes and things laid under a ban (Numbers 18:11-19 and Numbers 18:26-29), - that is to say, they might eat them like the rest of the priests; but they were not allowed to perform any priestly duty, that they might not desecrate the sanctuary of the Lord (Leviticus 21:23, cf. Leviticus 21:12).