Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 22:3
Say unto them, Whosoever [he be] of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I [am] the LORD.
3. your seed ] For this expression, and ‘seed of Aaron,’ in Lev 22:4, see introd. note on chs. 21, 22.
your generations ] See latter part of the same note.
4 7 may be compared with Lev 21:11-15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Cut off from my presence – i. e. excluded from the sanctuary. See Lev 20:17.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Unto the holy things, to eat them or to touch them; for if the touch of one of the people having his uncleanness upon him defiled the thing he touched, much more was it so in the priest.
From my presence; either from the place of my presence and from my ordinances by excommunication: he shall be excluded both from the administration and from the participation of them. Or, from the people, among whom I am present, which commonly is expressed by
cutting off from his people. Or, from the land of the living.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Whosoever he be . . . that goethunto the holy thingsThe multitude of minute restrictions towhich the priests, from accidental defilement, were subjected, bykeeping them constantly on their guard lest they should be unfit forthe sacred service, tended to preserve in full exercise the feelingof awe and submission to the authority of God. The ideas of sin andduty were awakened in their breasts by every case to which either aninterdict or an injunction was applied. But why enact an expressstatute for priests disqualified by the leprosy or polluting touch ofa carcass [Le 22:4], when ageneral law was already in force which excluded from society allpersons in that condition? Because priests might be apt, fromfamiliarity, to trifle with religion, and in committingirregularities or sins, to shelter themselves under the cloak of thesacred office. This law, therefore, was passed, specifying the chiefforms of temporary defilement which excluded from the sanctuary, thatpriests might not deem themselves entitled to greater license thanthe rest of the people; and that so far from being in any degreeexempted from the sanctions of the law, they were under greaterobligations, by their priestly station, to observe it in its strictletter and its smallest enactments.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Say unto them, whosoever [he be] of all your seed among your generations,…. Whether male or female, in all succeeding ages, as long as the ceremonial law lasted; for females as well as males of the families of the priests ate of the holy things, provided they had no uncleanness on them, but if they had, they might not:
that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord: that approaches to any of the sacrifices which the children of Israel have devoted to the Lord, either to offer them, or even to touch them, and particularly to eat of them; and so Jarchi and Ben Gersom observe, that this going or drawing near is no other than eating; for touching only, a man was not guilty of cutting off:
having his uncleanness upon him; through a leprosy, or running issue, or touching any unclean person or thing, as the following words explain it:
that soul shall be cut off from my presence; excluded from the sanctuary, and the service of it, where the presence of God was; or be removed out of the world by death, either by the civil magistrate, or by the hand of God, by an immediate death, by the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan:
I [am] the Lord; that will avenge the breach of such a law, able to inflict such punishment, and faithful to accomplish every word of his, whether in a way of threatening or promise.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Whosoever he be of all your seed, among your generations.Better, throughout your generations, every man. So the Authorised version properly renders the expression here translated among your generations in Lev. 23:14; Lev. 23:21. (See Lev. 3:17; Lev. 21:17.)
That goeth unto the holy things.That is, who approaches the sacrifices to eat them, as is stated in Lev. 22:4; Lev. 22:6; Lev. 22:12.
Having his uncleanness upon him.Not having first submitted to the prescribed lustrations (see Lev. 7:20), the defilement which he contracted rests upon him.
That soul shall be cut off from my presence.This phrase, with the expression from my presence, does not occur again in the Pentateuch when the Lord threatens with the penalty of excision. In Leviticus, where, besides the passage before us, the penalty is enacted six times, the formula is always, that soul shall be cut off from his people (Lev. 7:20-21; Lev. 7:25; Lev. 7:27; Lev. 19:8; Lev. 23:29). Its exceptional form here may therefore have reference to the peculiar circumstances. If the priest ventures to approach the altar presumptuously to partake in a defiled state of the holy sacrifices, God himself will banish him from His presence as He did Nadab and Abihu.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. That soul shall be cut off The wilful approach to the altar to discharge the functions of the priest’s office, while conscious of ceremonial impurity, evinced such irreverence and disobedience as to call down either the severe punishment of death, by some sudden stroke, or exclusion from the sacred office, as some understand, from my presence. The latter opinion is strengthened by 2Ch 26:21, while the former is strongly confirmed by Lev 22:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 22:3. Houbigant renders this verse better, when he is unclean. The meaning of the phrase, he shall be cut off from my presence, is given us in the 9th verse; he shall die.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Nothing can more decidedly point out the universal taint of evil, than what is here adverted to in the unhallowed uncleanness of the priests. And as to this law, which separated during seasons of uncleanness, not only the people but the priests also, can anything more fully show that all access to GOD is precluded, but through him who is the only way; and but by whom none can come to the FATHER. Joh 14:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 22:3 Say unto them, Whosoever [he be] of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I [am] the LORD.
Ver. 3. Cut off from my presence. ] Who am omnipresent: Postea nullus erit. Where shall the ungodly and the wicked appear? Surely, nowhere.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13. Here rendered “soul”, but in Lev 21:11 inaccurately rendered “body”. See note on Lev 19:28.
cut off from My presence. Occurs only here in the Pentateuch; elsewhere, “cut off from his people”. See note on Lev 7:20. Accounted for here by the seriousness of the offence.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
having his uncleanness upon him: That is, in other words, “when he is unclean.” Lev 7:20, Lev 7:21
that soul: That is, according to some, thrust out of the priest’s office, or from officiating at the altar; or, according to others, cut off by some immediate stroke of divine justice, like Nadab and Abihu.
from my: Exo 33:14, Exo 33:15, Psa 16:11, Psa 51:11, Mat 25:41, 2Th 1:9
Reciprocal: Lev 6:18 – every one Lev 22:2 – General Num 5:9 – offering Num 18:11 – every one Num 19:13 – his uncleanness 2Ch 30:19 – though he be not Ezr 2:63 – should not Ezr 8:28 – the vessels Eze 14:8 – I will cut Gal 5:12 – cut
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 22:3. Goeth unto the holy things To eat them, or to touch them; for if the touch of one of the people having his uncleanness upon him defiled the thing he touched, much more was it so in the priest. Cut off From my ordinances by excommunication: he shall be excluded both from the administration and from the participation of them. Le Clerc takes it for cutting off by death.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:3 Say unto them, Whosoever [he be] of all your seed among your generations, that {b} goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I [am] the LORD.
(b) To eat of it.