Leviticus · chapter 22 of 27
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Leviticus 22 sets out who may eat the holy offerings: clean priests and the members of their household, not outsiders or hired workers. It then requires that the animals presented to the Lord be without blemish, and gives rules about young animals and thanksgiving offerings. It concludes by recalling that the Lord sanctifies them and brought them out of Egypt.
After the rules about who may serve, Leviticus 22 deals with what is eaten and offered. The Lord guards his holiness on two fronts: that the priests not eat of the offerings while unclean, and that the people not offer defective animals. In both cases what is holy must be treated as holy.
The Lord tells Aaron and his sons to treat the holy offerings with respect, so as not to profane his name. A priest who is unclean, for example with a skin disease or a discharge, or from touching something unclean, may not eat of the holy things until he has bathed and waited until evening. It also says who may eat: slaves bought with money and those born in the house, a daughter who is widowed or divorced and returns without children. A stranger, a guest and a hired worker may not. Whoever eats a holy thing unintentionally must make restitution with an added fifth.
The second part deals with what is offered: animals for burnt offerings and peace offerings must be males without blemish, not blind, broken, mutilated or with sores. A freewill offering may be accepted with a slight defect in some cases, but not a vow offering. An animal with damaged testicles is not offered to the Lord. This applies also to foreigners who offer.
A newborn calf, lamb or kid must stay seven days with its mother and from the eighth day is acceptable. A cow or ewe is not slaughtered with its young on the same day. The thanksgiving offering is eaten the same day. The chapter ends by urging them to keep the commandments and recalling that the Lord brought them out of Egypt to be their God.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Aaron and his sons must treat the people's holy offerings with respect and not profane the Lord's name. Serving among holy things requires care, because what is offered is not the priests' but God's.
No animal with a defect is to be presented, because it will not be accepted on behalf of the worshiper. God deserves the best, and a flawed offering dishonors the one who receives it. The New Testament presents Christ as the lamb without blemish or spot.
The Lord demands that they not profane his holy name and that he be sanctified among the Israelites, because he is the Lord who sanctifies them. God's holiness must be seen in the conduct of his people, and he himself is the one who makes them holy.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The Lord's holy name. — Leviticus 22:2
Answer: Bathe in water and wait until sunset. — Leviticus 22:6-7
Answer: A stranger, a guest of the priest and a hired worker. — Leviticus 22:10
Answer: It had to be a male without blemish. — Leviticus 22:19-20
Answer: Seven days; from the eighth it was acceptable as an offering. — Leviticus 22:27
Answer: That he brought them out of Egypt to be their God. — Leviticus 22:33
Leviticus 22 raises an uncomfortable question: what do we give God, the best or the leftovers? In a small group you can talk about the time, money and strength we offer him, and whether we do it generously.
It also reminds us that serving God requires reverence for what is his. Peter says we were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish or spot. That is the perfect offering that covers our failings, and a life given in gratitude and without reserve answers to it.
Leviticus 22 shows that worship combines the purity of those who serve and the quality of what is offered. Leviticus 23 presents the Lord's appointed times: the Sabbath and the yearly feasts with which Israel remembered and celebrated his work.
Because they were offered to God, who deserves the best. A defective animal would have shown contempt for him. The New Testament writers take up this idea to present Christ as the spotless lamb whose life is the perfect offering.
The text commands it without explaining it. Many see it as a sign of respect for life and of mercy toward animals, a principle similar to other laws that care for what is vulnerable.