Leviticus 22:22

Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Blind.—Whether totally blind or only of one eye. This blemish also disqualified the priest for the service at the altar (see Leviticus 21:18).

Or broken.—Better, broken-limbed (see Exodus 22:9), extending to the head, ribs, &c.

Or maimed.—This was regarded in the time of the second Temple to describe a blemish in the eyebrow. Hence the Chaldee version translates it “one whose eye-brows are fallen off.” It would thus correspond to the defect which unfitted the priest for ministering at the altar.

Or having a wen.—According to the Jewish canonists this denotes a disease of the eyes. Hence the Chaldee version translates it “one whose eyes are smitten with a mixture of white and black,” thus corresponding to the blemish which unfits the priest mentioned in Leviticus 21:19.

Or scurvy or scabbed.—These are exactly the same two defects specified with regard to the priests (see Leviticus 21:20).

Ye shall not offer these unto the Lord.—Though he must not offer animals with such blemishes, and though the man who vowed them for the sanctuary was beaten with stripes, yet the animals thus sanctified were no more his, he had to redeem them according to valuation, and with the money purchase another oblation.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-33 Laws concerning the priests and sacrifices. - In this chapter we have divers laws concerning the priests and sacrifices, all for preserving the honour of the sanctuary. Let us recollect with gratitude that our great High Priest cannot be hindered by any thing from the discharge of his office. Let us also remember, that the Lord requires us to reverence his name, his truths, his ordinances, and commandments. Let us beware of hypocrisy, and examine ourselves concerning our sinful defilements, seeking to be purified from them in the blood of Christ, and by his sanctifying Spirit. Whoever attempts to expiate his own sin, or draws near in the pride of self-righteousness, puts as great an affront on Christ, as he who comes to the Lord's table from the gratification of sinful lusts. Nor can the minister who loves the souls of the people, suffer them to continue in this dangerous delusion. He must call upon them, not only to repent of their sins, and forsake them; but to put their whole trust in the atonement of Christ, by faith in his name, for pardon and acceptance with God; thus only will the Lord make them holy, as his own people.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare Leviticus 21:19; Deuteronomy 15:21.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. Ye shall offer at your own will—rather, to your being accepted.

a male without blemish—This law (Le 1:3) is founded on a sense of natural propriety, which required the greatest care to be taken in the selection of animals for sacrifice. The reason for this extreme caution is found in the fact that sacrifices are either an expression of praise to God for His goodness, or else they are the designed means of conciliating or retaining His favor. No victim that was not perfect in its kind could be deemed a fitting instrument for such purposes if we assume that the significance of sacrifices is derived entirely from their relation to Jehovah. Sacrifices may be likened to gifts made to a king by his subjects, and hence the reasonableness of God's strong remonstrance with the worldly-minded Jews (Mal 1:8). If the tabernacle, and subsequently the temple, were considered the palace of the great King, then the sacrifices would answer to presents as offered to a monarch on various occasions by his subjects; and in this light they would be the appropriate expressions of their feelings towards their sovereign. When a subject wished to do honor to his sovereign, to acknowledge allegiance, to appease his anger, to supplicate forgiveness, or to intercede for another, he brought a present; and all the ideas involved in sacrifices correspond to these sentiments—those of gratitude, of worship, of prayer, of confession and atonement [Bib. Sac.].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Blind, or broken, or maimed,.... Which is "blind" of one eye, or both: and so the Egyptians, as they would not sacrifice any of their oxen that had any blemishes on them, and were of a different colour, or changed in their form, so likewise such that were deprived of either of their eyes (x). Some, as Aben Ezra observes, restrain that which is "broken" to its being broken in the head; but others interpret it of any fracture of the foot, as well as the head, and even of the tail, side, or rib; though others think, that such fractures as were not open and visible are excepted, as that of the rib; so Gersom; and with the Heathens, as Pliny (y) would have remarked, as they were not used to sacrifice calves, brought on men's shoulders, so neither anything that halted: that which is maimed some understand of that whose foot is broken, as Aben Ezra also remarks; but the word is by the Septuagint rendered, "cut in the tongue"; and the Targum of Jonathan, "whose eyebrows are smitten"; and Jarchi seems to take in both, interpreting it the eyebrow which is cut or broken, and so the lip, which is cut or broken: but it is rather to be understood more generally of its being maimed or mutilated in any part of it; so with the Heathens, as Porphyry (z) affirms, beasts that were mutilated were not to be sacrificed; and in the Comedian (a), a sacrifice is objected to, because it had no tail; upon which the Scholiast observes, that whatever was mutilated was not offered in sacred services, nor was any thing imperfect or unsound sacrificed to the gods; and particularly Servius (b) remarks, if their tongues were cut or slit; which illustrates the Septuagint version, which is observed by Grotius:

or having a wen: or full of warts, as others; the Targum of Jonathan is, whose eyes are smitten with a mixture of white and black; and so Gersom interprets it of a like defect in the eye, in the white of the eye; for he says, if it was in the black or pupil of the eye, the eye would be blind:

or scurvy or scabbed: the same of those in men; See Gill on Leviticus 21:20,

ye shall not offer these unto the Lord; any creatures defective in any of these instances; three times this is said, as Jarchi observes, to make them careful concerning the sanctification of them, and concerning the slaying of them, and concerning the sprinkling of their blood:

nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord; a burnt offering on the altar of burnt offering, or burn the fat of them upon it.

(x) Chaeremon. apud Porphyr. de Abstinentia, l. 4. sect. 7. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 45. (z) De Abstinentia, l. 2. sect. 23. (a) Aristoph. Acharnens. ver. 784. (b) In Virgil. Aeneid. l. 6.

Geneva Study Bible

Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. The definitions of what constitutes a blemish may be compared with those of Leviticus 21:18 ff. ‘Broken ‘here is from the same root as that so rendered in Leviticus 21:19; ‘maimed’ is lit. cut, mutilated; ‘a wen’ means a running sore, or ulcer.

Leviticus 22:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Every peace-offering was also to be faultless, whether brought "to fulfil a special (important) vow" (cf. Numbers 15:3, Numbers 15:8 : פּלּא, from פּלא to be great, distinguished, wonderful), or as a freewill gift; that is to say, it was to be free from such faults as blindness, or a broken limb (from lameness therefore: Deuteronomy 15:21), or cutting (i.e., mutilation, answering to חרוּם Leviticus 21:18), or an abscess (יבּלת, from יבל to flow, probably a flowing suppurating abscess).