Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 10:10
And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
10, 11. This passage may well have an immediate relation to the preceding context, as meaning that perfect sobriety was required in order to enable them to discriminate between ‘holy’ and ‘common’ and to give right Torah. Others have thought that the words in the last clause of Lev 10:11 ‘the Lord hath spoken’ shew that it is not connected with Lev 10:8, and that Lev 10:9 seems marked off by its last clause from what follows. Lev 10:10 would form an appropriate introduction to chs. 11 15.
Driver and White (Haupt’s SBOT., ad loc.) think that something may have fallen out here.
(5) The law of eating the holy things (12 15)
The reference is to the Meal-Offering and Peace-Offering of Lev 9:17-18. The remainder of the Meal-Offering, after the handful therefrom had been burnt, belonged to the priests, Lev 2:2-3, Lev 6:16-18. Being most holy, it was eaten only by priests in a holy place here specified as ‘beside the altar.’ Cp. Lev 6:16; Lev 6:26; ‘in the court of the tent of meeting.’ The priestly portions of the Peace-Offering might be eaten by the families of the priests in a clean place, of course only by those who were ritually clean (Lev 7:20-21). The Sin-Offering when eaten, being most holy, was treated as the Meal-Offering. See Lev 6:24-29.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 10. That we may put difference between holy and unholy] This is a strong reason why they should drink no inebriating liquor, that their understanding being clear, and their judgment correct, they might be always able to discern between the clean and the unclean, and ever pronounce righteous judgment. Injunctions similar to this were found among the Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Greeks. Indeed, common sense itself shows that neither a drunkard nor a sot should ever be suffered to minister in holy things.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Persons and things, which Nadab and Abihu did not, mistaking unholy or common fire for that which was sacred and appointed by God for their use.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy,…. That being sober they might be able to distinguish between the one and the other; which a drunken man, having his mind and senses disturbed, is not capable of; as between holy and unholy persons, and between holy and unholy things; particularly, as Aben Ezra interprets it, between a sacred place and one that is common, and between a holy day and a common week day; the knowledge and memory of which may be lost through intemperance; and so that may be done in a place and on a day which ought not to be done, or that omitted on a day and in a place which ought to be done:
and between unclean and clean; between unclean men and women, beasts and fowls, and clean ones; and between unclean things in a ceremonial sense, and those that are clean, which a man in liquor may be no judge of: hence, as the above writer observes, after this section follow laws concerning fowls clean and unclean, the purification of a woman after childbirth, the leprosy in men, garments and houses, and concerning profluvious and menstruous persons; all which the priests were to be judges of, and therefore ought to be sober.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) And that ye may put difference.The motive here assigned for their abstinence from intoxicating liquor is, that by keeping sober they might be able to discriminate between the legal and illegal points in the prescribed observances, which required the greatest care. Thus, for instance, the rules as to which places and days and sundry portions of the offerings were holy or common, or as to holy fire and common fire, which Nadab and Abihu violated; or about ceremonially clean and unclean men, women, animals, and utensils. (See Eze. 44:23.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And that you may make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,”
The next important point is the distinction between the holy and the common (the unholy), the clean and the unclean. This distinction will be taken up later in Leviticus in detail. But the point is being made by it that God is holy, and that nothing that comes short of that holiness is to be permitted into His presence. Nothing ritually unclean must enter the Sanctuary and its precincts, for it will defile it. So God enjoins that it is to be the responsibility of the priests to make the distinction and see that it is observed.
Uncleanness covers a wide variety of things and states, from differences between what may be eaten and what may not, and what may be touched and what may not, to bodily imperfections and discharges, to uncleanness resulting from contact with death, and so on, to uncleanness caused by disobedience to God’s commandments, and such uncleanness must be removed before men enter the Sanctuary. For God is holy, and it is the priest’s duty to discern whether men are clean or unclean, and to instruct them on all such matters so that they may themselves discern their own state. The stress is on the importance of keeping the Sanctuary and its precincts holy so as to bring home the holiness of God. It meant that the concern for holiness would become a daily concern for all the people, both physically and morally.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
We have reason to lament over our own ignorance in the perusal of those scriptures, because after all our knowledge we discern so little concerning them. But if our conscious ignorance leads the heart to GOD for his instruction, then will these scriptures be blessed to us. No doubt the several distinctions made in these verses, between the most holy and the holy, have some precious meaning. Reader! recollect what Paul hath said concerning the whole of them, that they are the shadow, but the body is of CHRIST. It will be a well rewarded enquiry, if the Reader should find JESUS pointed out in those scriptures, Heb 10:1-12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 10:10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
Ver. 10. And that ye may put difference. ] Drunkenness takes away the heart, Hos 4:11 besots and infatuates; robs a man of himself, and lays a beast in his place.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
holy. See note on Exo 3:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lev 11:47, Lev 20:25, Lev 20:26, Jer 15:19, Eze 22:26, Eze 44:23, Tit 1:15, 1Pe 1:14-16
Reciprocal: Gen 7:2 – not Lev 13:3 – shall look Lev 14:57 – teach 1Ch 23:13 – sanctify Pro 31:4 – General Isa 28:7 – erred Eze 42:20 – a separation Hag 2:11 – General Act 11:8 – unclean
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 10:10-11. Between holy and unholy Persons and things, which Nadab and Abihu did not, mistaking unholy or common fire for that which was sacred and appointed of God for their use. Ye may teach Which drunken persons are very unfit to do.