Leviticus 22:1 - Meaning and Application

Those who had a physical defect, although they were not allowed to do the priests’ work, were still allowed to eat the holy food. Jewish writers say that, to keep them from idleness, they were put to work in the wood room, where they sorted out worm-eaten wood so it would not be used on the altar fire. They might also help in judging cases of leprosy.

But anyone under ceremonial uncleanness, which they may have brought on themselves, could not even eat the holy food while that uncleanness lasted. Some forms of uncleanness were lasting, like leprosy or a discharge, as in (Leviticus 22:4). These kept a person away from the sanctuary, and God meant to show that such people were not more excusable, but actually more offensive in a priest. Other forms were temporary, such as touching a dead body or something else unclean, and after a set time the person was cleansed by washing his body in water, as in (Leviticus 22:6). Even so, anyone defiled in this way was not to eat the holy food, under the threat of God’s highest displeasure, who said, and confirmed it, “That soul shall be cut off from my presence” (Leviticus 22:3).

Being in God’s presence and serving before him would not protect anyone who dared to come near in uncleanness. It would only make God’s anger greater. “The destruction shall come from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9), just as the fire that killed Nadab and Abihu came from before the Lord. In the same way, those who treat God’s holy word lightly will be condemned by that very word. They are warned again of their danger if they eat the holy food while unclean (Leviticus 22:9), so they do not “bear sin, and die” for it. Those who handle sacred things in an unholy way take on great guilt. Eating the holy food pointed to sharing in the atonement, that is, God’s provision for dealing with sin. But if they ate while unclean, they did not lessen their guilt, they increased it: “They shall bear sin.” Sin is a heavy load, and unless God’s mercy stops it, it will surely bring down those who carry it. Even priests can be ruined by uncleanness and careless pride.

This law also had a clear purpose. It forced the priests to guard their purity carefully and to fear anything that would defile them. The holy food was their living, so if they could not eat it, how would they survive? The more we stand to lose comfort and honor by becoming unclean, the more careful we should be to stay pure. It also taught the people to honor the holy things, when they saw the priests themselves set apart from them, as the verse says, while they were unclean (Leviticus 22:2). A God who keeps even his closest servants under such strict discipline is surely a God of perfect purity.

This law also teaches us to watch closely against all moral pollution, because it makes us unfit to enjoy the comfort of God’s sanctuary. Even if we are not living with a settled sinful pattern, actual sins still take away the joy of fellowship with God. That is why the one who is washed still needs to wash his feet (John 13:10), and to wash his hands before going around God’s altar (Psalm 26:6). We must be careful not to profane God’s holy name in the very things we set apart for him (Leviticus 22:2). If we offend God in the same acts by which we claim to honor him, we will have a poor account to give in the end. We do that when we treat as holy what we have handled in uncleanness.