Leviticus 22:1-16

The Voice

In our world, these rules are hard to understand. But remember, it has only been in recent years that Western society has shown concern for people with disabilities. In much of the world today, people who suffer deformities or disabilities are treated differently—as somehow imperfect. Less than a century ago, “little people” and other “freaks of nature” were in circuses for the amusement of the rest of us. So we must be careful not to judge people who lived 3,000 years ago by our modern standards and sensibilities. That would not be fair. The logic is clear: just as the sacrifice must be pure and unblemished, so must the priest who offers the sacrifice be whole in body. Disabled priests are mercifully included in God’s provision because they are permitted to eat the consecrated bread.

22 The Eternal One spoke to Moses.

Eternal One: ²Instruct Aaron and his sons to be cautious with the sacred food offerings the Israelites bring—the ones they give in My honor so that they do not desecrate My sacred name and ruin My reputation. I am the Eternal One. ³Tell them that anyone from your present and future generations who is ritually impure and goes near the sacred gifts the Israelites have presented to Me will be cut off from My presence, for I am the Eternal One. ⁴None of Aaron’s offspring who has a serious skin disease or a discharge is allowed to consume the sacred food offerings until he is ritually pure again. If anyone touches something that has become impure by having contact with a dead body or if he has a semen emission, ⁵or if he touches some small creature or anyone impure, whatever the impurity may be— ⁶anyone who has contact with such impurity will be impure until evening; he is not allowed to consume the sacred gifts until he has bathed in water. ⁷When evening arrives, it is a new day; he will be ritually pure. Then he can consume the sacred food offerings, which are his food. ⁸He should not consume any animal that dies a natural death or is torn apart by another animal; if he does, he will become impure, for I am the Eternal One. ⁹The priests are to respect and keep My instructions or they will have to bear the punishment for their sin and die for treating my instructions with contempt, for I am the Eternal One who makes them holy.

¹⁰No laypeople, guests, or hired workers who enter a priest’s house are allowed to consume the sacred food offerings. ¹¹But if a priest purchases a slave, then that slave and anyone born into his family can eat his food. ¹²When a priest’s daughter marries a non-priest, she is no longer allowed to eat any of the sacred food offerings. ¹³But if she—after being childless, and divorced or widowed—goes back to live with her father as she did when she was young, then she is allowed to consume her father’s food; but no lay person is allowed to consume it. ¹⁴If a man consumes a sacred food offering accidentally, then when he becomes aware, he must present the same amount of food plus ⅕ to the priest. ¹⁵When the people of Israel present their sacred offerings to Me, the priests are not to treat them lightly, ¹⁶or else they will bear the guilt and punishment for consuming the sacred gifts; for I am the Eternal One who makes them holy.