Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The victim for the sin of injury against a neighbor is described. Then what from each victim is to be burned and what is to be eaten; hence in verse 9, the law and rite of the holocaust and of the perpetual fire are described; in verse 14, the rite of the grain offering; in verse 20, the rite of the victim at the consecration of priests; in verse 25, the rite of the victim for sin.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 6:1-30
1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. If a soul has sinned, and despising the Lord, has denied to his neighbor a deposit that was entrusted to his good faith, or has extorted something by force, or has committed fraud, 3. or has found a lost thing, and denying it has moreover sworn falsely, and has done anything else of the many things in which men are accustomed to sin, 4. being convicted of the offense, he shall restore 5. everything that he wished to obtain by fraud, in full, and in addition a fifth part to the owner to whom he had caused the damage. 6. But for his sin he shall offer an unblemished ram from the flock, and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offense: 7. who shall pray for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for each of the things he did in sinning.
8. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 9. Command Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the holocaust: It shall burn on the altar all night until morning; the fire shall be from the same altar; 10. the priest shall be vested in a tunic and linen breeches; and he shall take up the ashes which the devouring fire has consumed, and placing them beside the altar, 11. he shall put off his former garments, and putting on others, shall carry them outside the camp, and in a very clean place shall cause them to be consumed to fine ash. 12. But the fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it by placing wood on it every morning, and having laid the holocaust upon it, shall burn the fat of the peace offerings on top. 13. This is the perpetual fire which shall never go out on the altar. 14. This is the law of the sacrifice and of the libations which the sons of Aaron shall offer before the Lord and before the altar. 15. The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour that is mixed with oil, and all the frankincense that is placed upon the flour, and shall burn it on the altar, as a memorial of a most sweet odor to the Lord; 16. but the remaining part of the fine flour Aaron shall eat with his sons, without leaven, and he shall eat it in the holy place of the court of the tabernacle; 17. and it shall not be leavened, because part of it is offered as incense to the Lord. It shall be most holy, as that which is offered for sin and for trespass. 18. Only males of the line of Aaron shall eat it. It shall be a perpetual ordinance in your generations regarding the sacrifices of the Lord; everyone who touches them shall be sanctified. 19. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 20. This is the oblation of Aaron and his sons, which they must offer to the Lord on the day of their anointing. They shall offer a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour as a perpetual sacrifice, half of it in the morning and half in the evening; 21. which shall be fried in a pan sprinkled with oil. And the priest 22. who by right has succeeded his father shall offer it warm as a most sweet odor to the Lord; and the whole of it shall be burned on the altar. 23. For every sacrifice of priests shall be consumed by fire, and no one shall eat of it. 24. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 25. Speak to Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the victim for sin: In the place where the holocaust is offered, it shall be slain before the Lord. It is most holy. 26. The priest who offers it shall eat it in a holy place, in the court of the tabernacle. 27. Whatever touches its flesh shall be sanctified. If any garment is sprinkled with its blood, it shall be washed in a holy place. 28. The earthen vessel in which it was boiled shall be broken; but if the vessel was of bronze, it shall be scoured and washed with water. 29. Every male of the priestly line shall eat of its flesh, because it is most holy. 30. For a victim that is slain for sin, whose blood is brought into the tabernacle of testimony to make expiation in the Sanctuary, shall not be eaten, but shall be burned with fire.
Verse 1: If a Soul Has Sinned, Despising the Lord
1. IF A SOUL HAS SINNED, AND, DESPISING THE LORD, HAS DENIED TO HIS NEIGHBOR A DEPOSIT. -- "And" here means "that is," as also in verse 14, and in chapter 5, verse 1, and in Matthew 13:41, where it is said: "They shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals, and (that is) those who do iniquity." And Colossians 2:8: "See that no one deceives you through philosophy and vain deceit," as if to say: I do not condemn true philosophy, which teaches nothing false, but that which is captious and vain deceit; I condemn the erroneous, I condemn the errors of philosophers who oppose the truth.
Note on "Despising the Lord"
Note the force of "despising the Lord," as if to say: He who falsely denies a secret and hidden deposit sins against the Lord, who alone saw it deposited, since the matter was conducted without witnesses. For he despises the Lord's presence, omniscience, judgment, and vengeance. Therefore this does not refer to one who formally despises the Lord by saying out of pride: I will not obey God; for such a person was to be put to death, according to the law of Numbers 15:30. See Abulensis there, Question 43.
Or Has Committed Fraud
OR HAS COMMITTED FRAUD -- namely, has injured someone through calumny and fraud, so the Septuagint, that is, by causing damage and seizing another's goods by fraud. Hence Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, according to Hesychius, translate: if he has fraudulently taken anything.
Verse 3: And Anything Else Whatever
3. AND ANYTHING ELSE WHATEVER. -- The Hebrew adds "of those," namely of those matters in which fraud customarily occurs, or other damage is inflicted on a neighbor, as happens in all the cases enumerated here.
Calvin's Error on Satisfaction Refuted
Calvin wants this sacrifice, of which Scripture speaks here, to be extended by synecdoche even to other sins committed willingly and knowingly: and therefore that there was no expiation of any sin among the Jews except through sacrifice, and this in order to overthrow and weaken works of satisfaction by that reasoning. "Whence," he himself says, "the diabolical fiction about satisfactions is refuted, by which the Papists imagine they can redeem themselves from God's judgment. To this end they fabricate works of supererogation, which are supposed to be meritorious for redeeming punishment; thence also Purgatory emerged."
But that this is false is openly demonstrated (to say nothing of other arguments) from this very clause, which clearly teaches that this sacrifice is prescribed only for similar injuries and damages inflicted on a neighbor. Hence for voluntary idolatry, divination, schism, murder of parents, etc., no sacrifices were individually prescribed; similarly, for internal sins no victims are established here, but only for external ones; yet it is certain that all these could be expiated by an act of contrition, to which all the prophets exhort sinners, promising them pardon. Furthermore, these things have nothing to do with satisfaction, which avails only for redeeming temporal punishment; indeed from this I turn the argument back in favor of satisfaction: Those old sacraments did not avail for the expiation of guilt in themselves, but only of temporal punishment, as I showed in chapter 1, verse 4: therefore they availed by way of satisfaction. For Catholic doctors call satisfaction the redemption of temporal punishment which remains after the guilt has been forgiven. See Bellarmine and Suarez on this matter.
Verses 4 and 5: He Shall Restore All Things Obtained by Fraud
4 and 5. He shall restore all things that he wished to obtain by fraud. -- "To obtain," that is, to retain; for if he only wished and coveted another's property but did not obtain it, he is not bound to restitution: for no restitution is to be made, or ever was, for an internal act; but only for another's property taken away, or for damage actually inflicted on another, as is clear from the Hebrew. Restitution of another's property is commanded here, lest anyone think he can appease God by sacrifice alone, and having done so retain another's property and enrich himself from plunder; which was the error of certain Greeks, as Guido the Carmelite testifies.
And a fifth part besides. -- The sinner was commanded to add this, both for the injury and for the damage which the owner had meanwhile suffered from the absence of his property.
Convicted of the Offense -- A Type of Confession
4. CONVICTED OF THE OFFENSE. -- In Hebrew it reads: when he has sinned; so also the Septuagint; but they take "to sin" improperly, in the sense of recognizing one's offense. So Vatablus. The Chaldean also explains it this way in chapter 5, last verse. By a similar improper usage, "to sin" means to expiate the offense, and the offense itself is here commonly called the very victim that expiates the offense; thus "to cleanse" means to declare clean, chapter 13, verses 14, 25, 27. Understand similarly what our translator renders as "convicted of the offense," namely not by witnesses, but by himself and his own conscience, which pricking him, he confesses this offense to the priest. This is more clearly expressed in Numbers 5:7, where the same case is repeated here; for that a hidden sin is treated here is clear from the fact that Moses had already dealt with public sin and enacted laws in the whole of Exodus chapter 22, and specifically in verse 8, where the defrauder, convicted of fraud, is ordered to pay not the simple amount, as is said here, but double. The same is clear from Josephus, who, since he was a priest, could know these things very well. His words are in Book III of the Antiquities, chapter 10: "He who sinned knowingly, with no one aware, offers a ram, the law so commanding;" therefore he who sins knowingly, even secretly, is here ordered to approach the priest and reveal his sin to him, so that a ram may be selected at the priest's discretion, and the priest himself may pray for the sinner. So also Philo: "If anyone," he says, "has lied about a partnership, or a deposit, or a robbery, or the finding of a lost thing; then has not refused to swear in order to avoid suspicion; and finally, with his conscience accusing him within, condemning his own perjury and denial, has confessed and sought pardon, he shall deserve the forgetting of the offense."
Hence see here again the type and figure of priestly confession of the New Law, as also of satisfaction, in what follows: "according to the measure and estimation of the offense," namely that if the offense was grave, the offerer should give a better ram; but if it was light, he should give one of less value and lower price, at the judgment and discretion of the priest to whom he confessed the offense, as Josephus says; for those words will not bear any other sense unless they are forced. See the comments on chapter 5, verse 18. The priest was therefore here like a judge; the sinner was the accused and his own accuser; his satisfaction was present, and present also was the prayer of the priest, which served in place of absolution.
Moral Reflections on the Necessity and Fruit of Confession
"He who conceals his crimes shall not prosper; but he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy," says the Wise Man, Proverbs 28. St. Augustine on that text of Psalm 31:5, "I have made known my sin to You": "I did not cover it," he says, "but I uncovered it, so that You might cover it; I did not conceal it, so that You might hide it. For when man uncovers, God covers; when man conceals, God strips bare; when man acknowledges, God pardons." "Confession," says Tertullian in his book On Repentance, "extinguishes Gehenna." And further: "Will the sinner, knowing the public confession established by the Lord for his restoration, pass by that which restored the Babylonian king to his kingdoms? When you prostrate yourself at the knees of the brethren, you touch Christ, you implore Christ." Hear what Paulinus writes in his Life about St. Ambrose privately hearing the confessions of his people: "Whenever anyone confessed his falls to him in order to receive penance, he wept so much that he compelled the penitent also to weep; he seemed to himself to be lying prostrate with the prostrate one. But the causes of the crimes which they confessed to him, he spoke to no one except the Lord alone, with whom he interceded." St. Pacian in his Exhortation to Penitents: "You, brethren," he says, "I address, timid after your shamelessness, bashful after your sins, who are not ashamed to sin, yet are ashamed to confess. I beg you, by that Lord whom hidden things do not deceive, cease covering a wounded conscience; wisely the sick do not fear physicians, not even regarding their hidden parts, even those who will cut, even those who will cauterize."
St. Chrysostom, Homily 33 on John: "I exhort you, dearly beloved," he says, "that even if no one sees our deeds, each person enter his own conscience and set up a judge and tribunal for himself, and bring his errors into the open, lest on that dreadful day they be made manifest to the whole world." John Climacus, Step 4: "Before all things," he says, "let us confess our faults to our illustrious judge alone, and let us be prepared to confess to all if he so commands." And he adds that without confession made to a man, no one can obtain remission.
Do you want the fruit and examples of confession? Astion the Martyr, as his Life relates, was cured of a shameful thought through confession, and the devil departed from him in the form of a black boy with a fiery torch, saying: "Your confession, O Astion, has crushed my great powers and rendered me unarmed."
St. Macarius, by confessing to Theopemptus who was ashamed to confess his own sins, drove him to confession, and freed him from the temptation of blasphemy and from the devil. St. Ignatius did the same. For at Paris, by confessing the sins of his youth to a certain impure priest, with great contrition and many tears, he likewise moved him to tears and to confession. Serapion, in Cassian, Conference II, chapter 11, who was accustomed to stealing a biscuit to satisfy his gluttony, having publicly confessed this very thing, was freed forever from every temptation of gluttony and theft. For the demon was seen to depart from his breast in the form of a lamp, and indeed filled the whole cell with a stench. "Nothing, therefore," says Cassian, "is so harmful to monks, and so delights the demons, as when they conceal their thoughts from their spiritual fathers."
Another man, tempted by fornication for 14 years, when he could not overcome it by constant abstinence, at last conquered it by publicly confessing it. "Confession," says St. Isidore, Book I, chapter 12, "heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon for sins. There is no fault so grave that it does not obtain pardon through confession." Indeed, Hugo, in his book On the Cloister of the Soul, dares to say: "If a demon were to come to the chapter of confession (if indeed he could seriously repent, be contrite, and confess), he would obtain the indulgence of remission. Satan was expelled from the chapter of heaven, Adam from the chapter of paradise, Judas from the chapter of Christ. In the first case the fault was pride, in the second disobedience, in the third avarice," which none of them was willing to acknowledge and confess.
Testimonies of the Pagans on Confession
Hear also the pagans. Seneca, in his book On Morals: "Where, he says, there is confession, there is remission." Pythagoras used to say that sins should not be covered up with words, but uncovered, so that they might be cured by reproofs. Aristotle used to say that one who confesses his sin as is fitting differs not much from one who is sinless. Witness is Maximus, in his sermon On Confession.
Attila, when asked by St. Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, who he was, who having conquered so many kings was subjecting all things to himself, confessed and said: "I am Attila, King of the Huns, the scourge of God."
Creusa, in Euripides' Ion, in order to soothe by confession the stings of her lashing conscience, revealed her secret violation.
Verse 6: For His Sin He Shall Offer a Ram
6. But for his sin he shall offer a ram. -- Note: Moses, for sins committed through ignorance, commanded a common person to offer a goat; but here, for the same person for sins knowingly committed, he commands a ram to be offered, which is better and more valuable than a goat: just as a sin committed knowingly is greater than one done through ignorance. Moreover, Moses does not mention here the high priest, or the prince, or the whole people, because he presupposes that these would not sin knowingly. Thus Solon, when asked why he had not established a penalty for parricide, replied that he supposed no one would commit it, lest he seem not so much to prohibit as to suggest it. If, however, it happened that a high priest, a prince, or the whole people sinned knowingly, God wished them to suffer the same penalties as even the lowest of men, and to offer the same sacrifices, so that they would be equal in punishment to those whom they did not equal in virtue.
Verse 9: This Is the Law of the Holocaust
9. This is the law of the holocaust, -- namely the perpetual one; for God commanded two lambs to be offered to Him daily as a continual holocaust, one in the morning, the other in the evening, as is clear from Numbers 28:3. Hence one was called the morning offering, because it was offered in the morning in the first place before all other sacrifices; the other was called the evening offering, because it was offered in the evening and in the last place: the former for God's daytime benefits, the latter for His nighttime benefits, says Philo. See what was said on Exodus 29:38.
Note on the Structure of This Chapter
Note: Just as in chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, Moses described the rite of sacrificing -- first, the holocaust; second, the grain offering; third, the peace offering; fourth, the sin offering -- so in this chapter he describes what is to be done with each type of victim, namely what is to be burned and what is to be eaten. In this verse, therefore, he describes this for the holocaust; in verse 14 he describes it for the grain offering; in verse 25, for the sin offering; in the following chapter, verse 11, for the peace offering.
Tropological Interpretation -- Isychius
Tropologically, Isychius says: The priest, and whoever wishes to be perfectly wise, ought to be a perpetual and continuous holocaust of perfection, so that beginning with perfect wisdom in the morning of his age and youth, he may end the evening of his old age and life in the same.
It Shall Be Burned on the Altar All Night
It shall be burned on the altar all night until morning. -- "It shall be burned," namely the perpetual evening holocaust, and therefore it was necessary for the parts of this holocaust to be placed successively on the altar, so that the sacrifice would last from evening until morning. For in Hebrew it reads: this holocaust shall be for burning, or in burning upon the altar all night. Therefore it was necessary for the priest to keep vigil all night in the tabernacle, to place the parts of the holocaust in turn and arrange them on the altar, so that they would thus gradually be burned throughout the whole night; and this was done so that by this means God would be continuously worshipped and honored by these sacrifices, both by day and throughout the whole night, and hence it was called the perpetual sacrifice. Therefore, while others slept, the priest had to keep vigil over the sacred rites, just as Religious now keep vigil in singing Matins and the praises of God. It was different with the morning holocaust; for this followed the common rule, and therefore, like other holocausts, it was burned all at once; for after it, other holocausts and sacrifices had to be offered and burned. So say Abulensis and others. Indeed, some understand what is said here about the perpetual evening sacrifice to apply equally or similarly to the morning one, so that it would likewise be burned over a slow fire all day long until the time of the evening sacrifice, unless other holocausts succeeded the perpetual morning one; for then those, burned over a slow fire, occupied the whole day until the time of the evening sacrifice. And this seems fitting, namely that the altar should smoke all day and night, and the sacrifice send up vapor, so that by its perpetual burning and smoke the supreme majesty of God would be worshipped -- He who must always be adored by us and honored with perpetual victims. If this is true, this sacrifice was perpetual on a double title. First, because it burned continually, that is, throughout the whole day and night on the altar, either in itself or in the victims succeeding one another in the manner already explained. So say Lyranus, Dionysius, Cajetan, and our Lorinus, and the Septuagint suggests as much, who call the perpetual sacrifice in Exodus 29:38 thysian endelechismou, that is, an offering of assiduity or continuity, which was to be burned continually and continuously before God. Furthermore, although by the holocaust is properly understood here the perpetual one, as Hesychius, Abulensis, and Hugo of St. Victor teach, nevertheless Radulphus, book 4, chapter 1, takes it of any holocaust whatsoever, and holds that it is ordained here that the flesh of any holocaust, offered and burned at any hour, even the morning, should be left all the following night on the altar, so that gradually evaporating it would turn to smoke and ash. Indeed, by this rite God was reminding the faithful that with mystical victims of charity, prayer, and other virtues, continuously succeeding one another, they should worship God, and that no time, indeed no moment, should be empty of this victim and the worship of God. Hence St. Bernard: "Consider every moment, he says, in which you do not think of God (loving Him, praising Him, invoking Him), as lost;" and St. Dominic, and following him St. Thomas Aquinas: "A Religious, he says, should always speak with God or about God."
Tropological Interpretation -- Radulphus
Tropologically: "A perfect man should, through the whole night of this world and the present life, keep the illustrious flame of his fire, that is, of his charity and fervor; so that when the true morning (of eternal glory) dawns, he may shine forever in the presence of God," says Radulphus.
Verse 10: The Fire from the Same Altar
10. The fire (by which, namely, the aforesaid perpetual holocaust will be burned) from the same altar shall be, -- that is to say: this fire shall be the altar's own, not foreign, not brought from elsewhere. Hence in Hebrew it reads: the fire of the altar shall burn, or shall be kindled on it, namely on the altar -- meaning: fire shall not be brought from elsewhere onto the altar, but shall be perpetually burning on it. The pagans imitated this at the prompting of the devil, who is the ape of God and of divine worship; for in their sacrifices they used a sacred fire made from a particular material. Hence it was forbidden among them to kindle or burn fire from olive wood, laurel, or thick-barked oak, or any tree whose trunk was hollow and spongy; for they considered these woods unlucky and accursed. Moreover, they lit this sacrificial fire with a torch placed underneath, and they would observe partly from the smoke -- what globes it rolled and how high it rose -- and partly from the flame -- whether it was brighter or dimmer and what form it took. Those who were called Capnomantes did this, and from it they divined, as Giraldus testifies, Syntagma 17.
Hence likewise among the Persians and Romans a sacred fire burned perpetually, the care of which was entrusted to the Vestal Virgins: more about this fire in chapter 9, verses 23 and 24.
Tropological Interpretation -- The Altar Is the Heart
Tropologically, the altar is the heart, the faithful Christian is the priest, the shining and burning fire, says Origen, Homily 4, is the lamp of faith and charity, of which it is said in Luke 12:35: "Let your lamps be burning in your hands." This fire, says St. Gregory, book 25, Moralia 7, must be nourished and stirred up daily with wood, that is, with the examples of the Fathers and the precepts of the Lord, and this in the morning, that is, with morning prayer and meditation (which how useful it may be, would that all people, especially clergy, understood and actually experienced in practice), and it is inextinguishable in the hearts of the elect: for even after this life the fervor of charity will increase in their minds; each one daily places himself as a holocaust upon this fire, because he burns up every vice that lives wickedly in him; he also places the fat of the peace offerings, because the internal fattening of new charity, making peace between us and God, renders a most sweet odor from us. So also Rupertus.
Verse 11: He Shall Be Stripped of His Former Garments
11. He shall be stripped of his former garments. -- Because although the removal of ashes from the altar was a sacred function in a sacred place, nevertheless the carrying of them out of the camp was not sacred. Hence the priest carrying them out would take off the sacred garments he had put on for sacrificing, and leave them in the holy place, that is, the tabernacle, and put on his ordinary clothes.
Consumed to Ashes in a Clean Place
And in a very clean place he shall cause it to be consumed to ashes, -- not the ashes themselves, but the parts of the wood mixed with ashes, not yet entirely reduced to ash, and any parts of the fat of the flesh or bones that remained not wholly consumed by fire -- all of which Moses here comprehends under the term "ashes": for these had to be burned again outside the camp, so that nothing but ashes remained; for the holocaust had to be reduced to pure ashes.
St. Cyril on the Smallest Duties
The law wills that even these smallest duties be performed by sacred men, to show that nothing pertaining to the worship of God should be considered trivial, says St. Cyril, book 12, On Adoration.
Verse 12: He Shall Burn the Fat of the Peace Offerings
12. And having placed the holocaust on top, he shall burn the fat of the peace offerings, -- namely the fat with the kidneys, which God commanded to be offered and burned to Him from the peace offering, chapter 3, verse 3. The meaning therefore is: in the morning arrange a pile of wood on the altar, and place upon it all the flesh of the holocaust, and if there are besides any peace offerings to be offered, take from them their fat, and place it on top of the perpetual holocaust, so that it may be burned together with it. For I do not wish the fat alone to be burned separately.
Verse 14: This Is the Law of the Sacrifice and Libations
14. This is the law of the sacrifice and of the libations. -- "Of the sacrifice," namely the grain offering, not of flesh; for in Hebrew it is minchah, about which see chapter 2. Hence our translator, explaining himself, adds: "and of the libations;" and here this means "that is." For they are called libamenta here, not from "libating" (pouring), but from loaves and breads which are made or can be made from offerings, that is, from fine flour and grain. Hence what are here called libations, in the following verse he calls fine flour.
Verse 16: The Remaining Part Aaron Shall Eat
16. And the remaining part of the fine flour Aaron shall eat with his sons. -- Understand: unless they were polluted and contaminated; for these were barred from both sacred feasts and sacred places, as is clear from chapter 22, verse 6.
Note on Who May Eat the Grain Offering
Note: from the grain offering, that is, the grain sacrifice, only males could eat, namely priests alone and their sons, as will be clear from verse 18. But from the peace offering, the portion that fell to the priest could be eaten by all who belonged to the priest's household, including women and purchased slaves, though not hired servants, as is clear from chapter 22, verse 11. Hence a priest's daughter who had married a man of another tribe could not eat of it, unless after her husband's death she had returned to the house and family of her father, as is clear from chapter 22, verse 13.
Finally, these sacred meals had to be eaten "in a holy place," namely in the court of the tabernacle, as the Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean, and Roman Latin texts have here; for the Plantin edition reads incorrectly: "in the place of the sanctuary of the tabernacle."
Verse 17: It Shall Not Be Leavened
17. Therefore it shall not be leavened, because part of it is offered as incense to the Lord (that is to say: the part of the fine flour offered to God could not be leavened, according to the law of Leviticus 2:11; therefore neither is it fitting for the remaining part, which goes to the priests to eat, to be leavened, because this part too is part of the sacrifice offered to the Lord, and is considered offered to Him through its portion, namely the handful, which was burned to the Lord as incense: and therefore) it shall be most holy (that is, it shall be most sacred and separated from profane things, and shall belong to the priests alone), as the offering for sin and for trespass, -- that is to say: it shall be most holy, just as the sacrifice for sin and for trespass is most holy; for this expiates sins and sanctifies those who offer. Here there is a serious difficulty, how trespass is to be distinguished from sin, which I shall resolve in chapter 7, verse 1.
Verse 18: Only Males of the Stock of Aaron Shall Eat
18. Only the males of the stock of Aaron shall eat it. -- Abulensis thinks Moses is speaking here of the grain offering for sin; for that had to be eaten by males alone. But this is too narrow; for Moses speaks in general about the grain offering, just as he spoke about the holocaust in verse 9: for he treats the sin offering in verse 25. Furthermore, incense could not be placed on a grain offering for sin, yet here incense is commanded to be placed on the grain offering; therefore the discussion here is not about the grain offering for sin. Therefore every grain offering, that is, fine flour offered to God, was considered very holy, just like the sacrifice for sin and for trespass, and therefore could not be eaten except by priests and their male sons. So says Cajetan.
The Grain Offering Purer Than the Peace Offering
Hence the grain offering, as a sacrifice of pure fine flour, was purer and holier than the peace offering: for the latter could be eaten even by the women and slaves of the priest's household, as I said on verse 16.
It Shall Be an Everlasting Ordinance
It shall be an everlasting ordinance, -- as if to say: This law and decree shall be everlasting, that is, it shall last as long as your law shall last; it shall last always, that is, through the whole time of the old law, until the new law succeeds it.
Whatever Touches Them Shall Be Sanctified
Whatever touches them shall be sanctified, -- that is, it must be sanctified and cleansed, lest an unclean person touch sacred things and defile them. Therefore this future tense must be taken imperatively, not indicatively; otherwise it would yield a false statement, as is clear from Haggai 2:14. So says Abulensis.
Verse 20: This Is the Offering of Aaron and His Sons
20. This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, -- that is, of the high priest and the lesser priests; thus frequently hereafter "Aaron" is taken as a common noun for any high priest. For this cannot be understood of Aaron's person, since he had already been consecrated high priest before Leviticus was dictated by God, as will be clear from chapter 8, verse 1. So say some.
But nothing prevents Aaron here from being taken simply as Aaron himself and his successors; for it is very probable that at his consecration, not only the animal victims prescribed in Exodus 29, but also the grain offering prescribed here, were offered to God; for with every victim a grain offering was used, as I said on chapter 2.
Furthermore, the consecration of Aaron was the most perfect, and the model for the consecration of other high priests succeeding him: therefore this grain offering, which was used for others, was much more used for Aaron.
I say therefore that there is a hysteron proteron here, and that this law was given before the consecration of Aaron and before Leviticus: yet it is placed here because Moses wished in this passage to treat together what was to be done with each kind of victim, whether it was to be burned or eaten, as I said on chapter 6, verse 9.
They Shall Offer a Tenth Part of an Ephah
They shall offer a tenth part of an ephah, -- namely one gomor of fine flour, which was entirely burned by fire; for, as is said in verse 23: "Every sacrifice of the priests shall be consumed by fire;" it was different with the grain offering of the laity: for in that case only a handful was burned to God, while the remainder went to the priest, as Moses said in verses 15 and 16.
As an everlasting sacrifice, -- which must always henceforth be offered at the consecration of priests.
Verse 21: The Priest Who Has Succeeded His Father
21. And the priest who has by right succeeded his father shall offer it, -- namely the firstborn son of the priest, unless he is barred from it by some deformity preventing the pontifical office, of which see chapter 21, verse 18; for then the second-born succeeded in his place, and if he was lacking, the third-born. For among the Hebrews the high priesthood devolved by hereditary right to the eldest son of the high priest, and the priesthood to his remaining sons.
Verse 22: It Shall Be Entirely Burned
22. It shall be entirely burned. -- In Hebrew it is calil, that is, a holocaust, as the Septuagint translates, and like a holocaust it shall be entirely burned. Therefore to become a holocaust here means the same as to be entirely burned; for the grain offering was not properly a holocaust: for a holocaust was a victim, namely an animal, whereas a grain offering was fine flour.
Verse 23: Every Sacrifice of the Priests Consumed by Fire
23. For every sacrifice of the priests by fire shall be consumed. -- "Sacrifice," namely of fine flour, or a grain offering: for in Hebrew it is minchah; for that priests were able to eat of their own peace offerings is clear from Exodus 29:28.
Verse 25: It Is Most Holy
25. It is most holy, -- as if to say: The sin offering is very holy; for it is the expiator of legal sin, and therefore I wish it to be sacrificed in the same place as the holocaust, namely on the northern side of the altar of holocausts, and to be eaten in the holy place, that is, in the court of the tabernacle; finally, I decree that whatever touches it shall be holy. Hence in Latin sanctum (holy) comes from sancio (to decree); for sancire properly means to consecrate something with the blood of a victim; hence sanctum is called, as it were, "consecrated by blood," and sanctio properly refers to a law that attaches the terror of punishment to its decree: thus the sin offerings were holy, because in place of the sinner's blood they offered their own blood to God.
Mystical Interpretation -- Contrition as Holocaust
Mystically, God wished to signify that the sin offering, that is, contrition and penance (by which the sinner offers his whole self, his life and his blood to God), is a most holy sacrifice and most pleasing to Him, like a holocaust. So says Isychius.
Verse 26: The Priest Who Offers It Shall Eat It
26. The priest who offers it shall eat it. -- Therefore the sin offering pertained to the offerer alone, and belonged to him alone by right, and was to be eaten by him and his male sons; however, the offerer could also invite other priests and their male sons to eat of it, as is clear from verse 29.
"They Shall Eat the Sins of My People"
And this is what is said in Hosea 4, concerning the priests: "They shall eat the sins of my people;" sins, that is, the victims offered for sins: it is metonymy. So say Cyril, Theophylactus, and Theodoret there; and this was to signify that it is the duty of priests to destroy and consume, that is, take away, the sins of the people by their prayers and offerings. So says Pope Alexander, Epistle 2, and it is found in Decretals I, Question 1, chapter Ipsi sacerdotes; Anastasius of Nicaea, book of Questions on Scripture, near the end; Rufinus on Hosea 4; Theodoret here, Question 10; and this reason is given in chapter 10, verse 17.
In the opposite and contrary sense, St. Jerome, Gregory, Homily 17 on the Gospels, and Bernard, Sermon 77 on the Canticle, take these words and turn them against wicked priests: "Wicked priests, they say, eat the sins of the people, because they encourage the sins of the delinquent, lest they lose their temporal stipends." But this is beside the mind of Scripture; for thus the Fathers sometimes play upon the words of Scripture, when they apply them to other, even contrary, matters.
Verse 27: Whatever Touches Its Flesh Shall Be Sanctified
27. Whatever touches its flesh shall be sanctified, -- that is, shall in some way be held sacred, so that it cannot be turned again to profane use without a certain preliminary ceremony having been performed; for example, if it was a garment, it had to be washed first; yet it did not transfer by its contact a similar holiness to other things it touched, as is clear from Haggai 2:13, because otherwise the process would have gone on to infinity.
Tropologically, Radulphus says: "The flesh of the sin offering sanctifies the one who touches it, because it cleanses the one who imitates the groans of the penitent."
If Blood Is Sprinkled on a Garment
If any of its blood is sprinkled on a garment, it shall be washed in a holy place, -- namely in the court of the tabernacle, so that once washed it might return to profane uses and be worn by laypeople. Abulensis gives a fine rule here: "If, he says, a sacred thing that was touched was of such a nature that through contact some part of it, moisture or juice, adhered to the thing touching it, then the touching thing was in some way sanctified; otherwise not." For example, if one touched the blood of a victim, or flesh offered to God, one was sanctified, but not if one touched the altar, sacred vessels, or holy garments.
Verse 28: The Earthen Vessel Shall Be Broken
28. But an earthen vessel in which it has been cooked (the sin offering) shall be broken, -- because an earthen vessel, being porous, easily absorbs some moisture from the sanctified flesh: therefore I command it to be broken, lest it should afterwards serve for profane uses, and thus sacred flesh or sacred moisture be mixed indecently and irreverently with profane things. Theodoret gives another reason, Question 12: "God commands, he says, the baser vessels, namely earthen ones, to be broken; but He commanded the more precious ones to be washed, so that by the breaking of the baser ones He might establish the law of uncleanness, and teach how great an evil is sin, which is prefigured by this victim." For the sin offering, although it is holy, nevertheless because it is for sin, has something abominable and that must be done away with.
But if it is a bronze vessel (or metal one, from which all sacred flesh can be scraped off and poured out into a clean place), it shall be scoured.
Verse 29: Every Male of the Priestly Line
29. Every male of the priestly line shall eat of its flesh. -- Therefore the sin offering could be eaten only by males, and those being priests or their sons.
Verse 30: The Victim Whose Blood Is Brought into the Tabernacle
30. For the victim that is slain for sin, whose blood is brought into the tabernacle (which was done in the case of the sin offering of the high priest and of the whole people, as was said in chapter 4, verses 6 and 18), shall not be eaten, but shall be burned with fire. -- For such a victim had to be entirely burned outside the camp, as God commanded in chapter 4, verses 12 and 21, which the Apostle also notes and cites in Hebrews 13:11, as I said on chapter 4.