Who May Eat the Holy Things
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, which they make holy to me, and that they not profane my holy name. I am Yahweh. 3 “Tell them, ‘If anyone of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things which the children of Israel make holy to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from before me. I am Yahweh. 4 “‘Whoever of the offspring of Aaron is a leper or has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man who has a seminal emission, 5 or whoever touches any creeping thing by which he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may become unclean, whatever uncleanness he has— 6 the person that touches any such shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things unless he bathes his body in water. 7 When the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his bread. 8 He shall not eat that which dies of itself or is torn by animals, defiling himself by it. I am Yahweh. 9 “‘They shall therefore follow my commandment, lest they bear sin for it and die in it, if they profane it. I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 10 “‘No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a foreigner living with the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing. 11 But if a priest buys a slave, purchased by his money, he shall eat of it; and those who are born in his house shall eat of his bread. 12 If a priest’s daughter is married to an outsider, she shall not eat of the heave offering of the holy things. 13 But if a priest’s daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s bread; but no stranger shall eat any of it. 14 “‘If a man eats something holy unwittingly, then he shall add the fifth part of its value to it, and shall give the holy thing to the priest. 15 The priests shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to Yahweh, 16 and so cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt when they eat their holy things; for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.’”
The priests' food is restricted to their household, and the widowed daughter who comes home is put back on the list.
The chapter regulates who eats from the offerings, and its rules are about household rather than merit.
A priest who is unclean may not eat until he has bathed and the sun has set Leviticus 22:6–7. The bar applies to the officiant as readily as to anyone, and it lifts on the same terms.
Then the boundaries of the household. A guest staying with a priest and a hired servant may not eat Leviticus 22:10 — they are visitors, and the food belongs to the family that has no other income. But a slave purchased by his money eats, and so does anyone born in his house Leviticus 22:11.
That distinction is worth reading carefully, because it cuts against expectation. The employee, who is free, does not eat; the slave, who is not, does. The line is drawn by permanence — a hired man goes home at the end of the season, and a bought servant belongs to the household indefinitely, so he is fed from what feeds it.
A priest's daughter who marries outside the priestly families loses the right Leviticus 22:12. She has joined another household, and her husband's land supports her.
And then the provision that shows the reasoning: if a priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father's house as in her youth, she may eat of her father's bread Leviticus 22:13.
The three conditions describe the most precarious position a woman could occupy in that world. Widowed or divorced, without a son to support her, back under her father's roof — she is restored to the list she left. The phrase as in her youth does the work: the household takes her back as though she had never gone.
A man who eats a holy thing by mistake makes restitution and adds the fifth part Leviticus 22:14, which is the same rate the trespass offering used Leviticus 5:16. The remedy for an accident is repayment, not punishment.
And the reason given for the whole chapter is protective of the people rather than the priests: they must not profane the holy things of the children of Israel Leviticus 22:15. The offerings belong to those who brought them.
settled What this mark means