Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
It is prescribed that the unclean and foreigners abstain from eating the sacrificial victims. Secondly, in verse 18, the blemishes which a sacrificial victim must be free from are described.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 22:1-33
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they be careful with regard to the consecrated things of the children of Israel, and that they not profane the name of the things sanctified to Me, which they offer; I am the Lord. 3. Say to them and to their posterity: Every man who, of your stock, shall approach the things that are consecrated, and which the children of Israel have offered to the Lord, in whom there is uncleanness, shall perish before the Lord; I am the Lord. 4. The man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or who suffers a flow of seed, shall not eat of the things that are sanctified to Me, until he be healed. He who touches anything unclean by reason of the dead, and he from whom the seed of copulation goes forth, 5. and he who touches a creeping thing, or anything unclean, the touching of which is defiling, 6. shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the things that are sanctified; but when he has washed his flesh with water, 7. and the sun has set, then being cleansed, he shall eat of the sanctified things, because it is his food. 8. That which dies of itself and that which is caught by a beast, they shall not eat, nor be defiled therewith; I am the Lord. 9. Let them keep My precepts, that they may not fall under sin and die in the Sanctuary, when they have profaned it; I am the Lord who sanctify them. 10. No stranger shall eat of the sanctified things; a sojourner of the priest's and a hired servant shall not eat of them. 11. But he whom the priest has bought, and he who is a house-born slave, these shall eat of them. 12. If the daughter of a priest be married to any of the people, she shall not eat of the sanctified things nor of the first fruits; 13. but if she be a widow or divorced, and having no children has returned to her father's house, she shall be fed with her father's food, as she was accustomed as a girl: No stranger has the right to eat of them. 14. He who eats of the sanctified things through ignorance shall add a fifth part to what he has eaten, and shall give it to the priest in the Sanctuary. 15. And they shall not profane the sanctified things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord; 16. lest they bear the iniquity of their trespass, when they have eaten the sanctified things; I am the Lord who sanctify them. 17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18. Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: Any man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who dwell among you, who offers his oblation, either paying his vows, or offering of his own free will, whatever he offers as a holocaust to the Lord, 19. that it may be offered by you, it shall be a male without blemish, from the oxen, and from the sheep, and from the goats; 20. if it has a blemish, you shall not offer it, neither shall it be acceptable. 21. The man who offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, either paying his vows, or offering of his own free will, whether of oxen or of sheep, shall offer it without blemish, that it may be acceptable: there shall be no blemish in it. 22. If it be blind, if broken, if it has a scar, if it has pustules, or scabies, or impetigo, you shall not offer them to the Lord, nor burn any of them upon the altar of the Lord. 23. An ox and a sheep with an ear or tail cut off, you may offer voluntarily; but a vow cannot be fulfilled with them. 24. Any animal which has its testicles bruised, or crushed, or cut and removed, you shall not offer to the Lord, and in your land you shall not do this at all. 25. From the hand of a foreigner you shall not offer bread to your God, nor anything else he may wish to give; because they are all corrupted and blemished: you shall not accept them. 26. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27. An ox, a sheep, and a goat, when they are born, shall be seven days under the udder of their mother; but from the eighth day onward, they may be offered to the Lord. 28. Whether it be an ox or a sheep, they shall not be slaughtered on the same day with their young. 29. If you sacrifice a victim of thanksgiving to the Lord, that it may be acceptable, 30. you shall eat it on the same day; nothing shall remain until the morning of the next day; I am the Lord. 31. Keep My commandments and do them; I am the Lord. 32. Do not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctify you, 33. and who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God; I am the Lord.
Verse 2: Speak to Aaron and His Sons
Speak to Aaron and to His sons, that they be careful (that they abstain; in Hebrew, that they separate themselves, namely when they are unclean) with regard to the consecrated things — which have been offered to God in any manner. It was otherwise with those things that were offered without ceremony, not to God as a sacrifice, but to the Levites and priests for their sustenance, as were the tithes and first fruits: for these had not been offered to God with solemn rite, nor was any part of them sacrificed to God; whence even unclean Levites could eat of them, and could indeed sell them to laypeople and exchange them for other goods.
And let them not profane the name of the things sanctified to Me — that is, let them not profane My sacred things, let them not sprinkle the stain of impurity upon the things sanctified and offered to Me. Our translator read in the Hebrew kadascai, that is, "of my sanctified things"; but others, with different vowel points, read kodsci, that is, "of my holiness," meaning: My holy name.
But our translator read kadascai better, because what follows is: which they offer to Me; for these are the things sanctified to God.
Verse 3: Say to Them and to Their Posterity
Say to them and to their posterity — command that this law be observed among their descendants, especially because they alone will actually fulfill and carry it out; for those present only hear it and receive it, but will not actually fulfill it. The reason is that these ceremonial laws were not observed in the desert, both because there was no permanent tabernacle or dwelling place in it, and because in it they had no commerce with the Gentiles to buy frankincense, wine, honey, animals, and other things which God commanded to be offered and sacrificed to Him; whence they lived on manna alone there for forty years. See what was said in the preceding chapter, verse 12.
Every man who shall approach (for the purpose of eating) the things that are consecrated, in whom there is uncleanness (which is explained in verse 4, namely if he be a leper, polluted by seed, if he has touched a dead body or a creeping thing, if he has eaten carrion), shall perish before the Lord. — In Hebrew: that soul shall be cut off from my face, that is, from Me, as the Septuagint translates.
Note: God here so gravely and severely decrees that the unclean should not approach the sacred things and the flesh of the sacrifices to eat them, partly out of reverence for sacred things and His worship, partly allegorically to foreshadow how strictly He would require purity of soul in those receiving communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which is the one sacrifice of the new law, prefigured by all these old ones. So Abulensis, on which see St. Basil, Sermon 2 On Baptism, chapters II and III.
Deservedly, therefore, the vengeance of God has raged against impure priests and clerics. Hear the examples.
Gregory of Tours, Book V of the History of the Franks, chapter V: When through the death of Sylvester, he says, the see of the Church of Langres was vacant, the people of Langres, demanding a bishop, receive Pappolus, who had formerly been Archdeacon of Autun: who, as they say, did many wicked things, which are passed over by us, lest we seem to be detractors of the brethren; yet what sort of end he had I will not omit. In the eighth year of his episcopate, while he was going around the dioceses and estates of the Church, on a certain night Blessed Tetricus appeared to him as he slept, with a threatening countenance, saying to him thus: "Why are you here, Pappolus? Why do you defile my see? Why do you overrun the Church? Why do you scatter the sheep entrusted to me? Leave the place, abandon the see, depart far from this region." And saying this, he struck his chest with a powerful blow from the rod he held in his hand. At which he awoke, and while he was wondering what this meant, he was fixed rigidly in that place and tormented with the greatest pain. He was repelled by food and drink, and awaited death which he felt was now near. What more? On the third day, while he was vomiting blood, he died. He was carried thence and buried at Langres.
Hear Peter Damian, Bishop of Ostia, in his letter to Pope Hildebrand, volume III of the Library of the Holy Fathers: "This now comes to memory, that a Bishop stationed in the city of Benevento observed this practice at the time of the offering: he never completed it until he had seen a vision. And he was accustomed to speak certain words beforehand, and immediately it was revealed to him. When therefore on one occasion he had said the prayer three times, no vision presented itself to him. When he mourned and prayed that the cause might be made known to him, he first noticed the deacon who held the ministerial fan on the left side. And observing him, Epiphanius perceived that leprosy appeared on his forehead. But it was not evident to anyone that the deacon suffered from that disease; Epiphanius therefore stretched out his hand, and lifted the ministerial instrument, saying kindly to him: Go, my son, to your house, and do not now partake of the divine mysteries. And he immediately went out and went to his house, and Epiphanius gave the office to another deacon. Then he inquired from the former one the cause; and when he said that he had slept with his wife that night, having summoned the whole sacred order, Epiphanius kindly said to them: Whoever among you, my sons, has been deemed worthy of the clergy, remove your sandals, so that you do not enter in them, and so that you may honor the holy man, who preaches in the Church and says: 'And let those who have wives be as though they had none.'" From that time, therefore, Epiphanius no longer ordained those who had wives, but holy men who practiced the monastic life, and proven widowers; then it was truly possible to see the Church as a beautiful bride adorned with the priesthood.
Hear the same author in his letter to the Bishop of Turin, and from him Baronius, volume XI, at the year of Christ 1057: "When Pope Stephen, who emulated the zeal of Phinehas, had ordered all the clerics of Rome who had remained incontinent after the prohibition of Pope Leo, to leave the assembly of clerics and the choir of the Church, so that although having abandoned their women they should correct themselves through the lamentations of penance, yet because they had been disobedient to the holy man, they should leave the sanctuary for a time, and should no longer hope for permission to celebrate Mass. Near the Basilica of St. Cecilia across the Tiber there lived a priest, who would by no means agree to give up his woman, nor could he ever judge these regulations as anything but utterly vain and frivolous. On a certain day, therefore, while he was healthy, vigorous and robust, he settled himself into bed at the evening hours to rest, but was struck by the sudden punishment of divine vengeance. In the morning his lifeless body was found. Immediately the religious of the aforementioned Basilica sent two clerics to me, asking what they should do for such a dead man. We, if we remember correctly, gave the advice that they should indeed bury him near the church, since he had been a priest, but should render him no office of hymns or psalmody, so that terror might increase among the unchaste, and the glory of chastity might sprout and flourish more vigorously, and certainly he would seem worthy that when dead (according to the Prophet) he should possess the burial of an ass, who while he lived scorned to be bound by human law."
St. Epiphanius (as Surius reports from Metaphrastes in his Life, chapter XVIII, on May 12) "at Constantia it happened that I heard this. The prince of that city honored a priest of holy life, who was unceasingly diligent in divine offices and especially in the solemnity of Masses; and since he reverently celebrated the sacred mysteries daily, an angel of the Lord would customarily come, and in the sight of the prince would take the sacrament of the Lord's Body from the hands of the one offering it. But, oh, the slippery and uncertain condition of this criminal life! For he who enjoyed the services of angels suddenly fell headlong into the abyss of foul lust. What more? The time for performing the sacred mystery arrived: outward custom compelled the priest, but inwardly he was tormented by the severe remorse of conscience; he was vested, he approached, he trembled, he quaked, yet he presumed to offer. And behold, the angel came as he was accustomed, and in the sight of the prince squeezed a sponge soaked in water over his head, and poured back over all his limbs all the filth and defilement which he had previously contracted from his body. Seeing this, the prince was amazed and astonished, and meeting the priest apart from all others," he conferred with the priest secretly. The priest, being questioned whether he had recently committed any crime, at first shrinking with horror, denies the deed; then, having a bad conscience, and compelled by the authority of the prince, he at last confesses that he had fallen the previous night with a certain chambermaid of that same prince.
Listen to William of Malmesbury, On the Deeds of the English, Book II: "Emperor Henry had a cleric in his court, who defiled his skill in letters and elegance of voice by a bodily vice, because he burned vehemently for a little harlot of the town; having wallowed with her on a solemn night, in the morning he was standing before the Emperor's Mass with a brazen face. Concealing his knowledge, the Emperor ordered him to prepare for the Gospel, since he was delighted by his melody; for he was a deacon. That man, on account of his consciousness of sin, tried many pretexts to escape; the Emperor on the contrary pressed through messengers, to test his constancy; when he finally refused outright: 'I,' said the Emperor, 'because you will not obey me in so easy a service, decree you an exile from all my lands.' The cleric, embracing the sentence, immediately departed; attendants were sent to pursue him, so that if he thought he should persevere, they would recall him once he had already left the city. Thus, having hesitantly packed up all his belongings and arranged them in bundles, he had already set out but was forcibly brought back and stood before Henry. Who, joyfully smiling, said: 'You have done well, and I congratulate your probity, that you esteemed the fear of God more than your homeland, and regard for heavenly wrath more than my threats: therefore take the first bishopric that becomes vacant in my empire; only renounce your unbecoming love.'"
Finally, well known is the unhappy and terrible tragedy of Udo, Bishop of Marburg, which St. Antoninus, Nauclerus and Fulgosius relate at length: "When Bishop Udo," they say, "would not restrain himself from unchastity, not even warned by signs and divine voices, religious men prayed God either to correct or to remove the Bishop. Among them, when Frederick, a canon, was devoting himself to such prayers by night in the church of St. Maurice, he perceived that all the lights in the temple were extinguished by a gust of violent wind; and not long after, two young men came carrying two candelabra with lighted candles, and Christ followed with His Mother and the Apostles. When the holy men whose bodies rested in the temple had been summoned by them, Maurice was seen to come among them, who in a long and grave oration accused Bishop Udo; whom not long after Christ ordered to be brought naked by two men, and condemned him. And he, having been struck hard in the middle of the loins by the fist of one of those who carried him, vomited up the Christian host which he had received in communion the day before, into a chalice which had been placed on the altar; and when Udo was struck with an axe, the vision of all those things vanished. Wherefore Frederick, greatly terrified, approached the altar and found the chalice there with the Christian host; and at the same time seeing the Bishop lying dead on the ground, he roused other religious men, who took the Bishop's body from there and buried it in a field."
Verse 4: He Who Touches Anything Unclean
He who touches anything unclean on account of the dead — that is to say, he shall be unclean who touches someone unclean on account of a dead person, or who has touched, tended, buried a dead person, that is a corpse, or has been present at his funeral. For such a person was unclean, and whoever touched such an unclean person likewise became unclean, so that it was not permitted for him to eat of the flesh sacrificed to God. The Seventy translate: "Who touches the uncleanness of a soul," that is, of a corpse, meaning, who touches a corpse; whence some think that only those who touch a corpse are excluded here from eating the sacred flesh, but not those who had touched those touching them: for they had not transmitted their uncleanness to others. But the former sense is required by our version, and the Hebrew and Chaldee incline to the same, as Vatablus admits; what follows also favors this:
Verse 5: He Who Touches a Creeping Thing
He who touches a creeping thing and anything unclean (in Hebrew, he who touches a creeping thing, and a person who can defile, such as a leper, a menstruating woman, one with a seminal emission), whose touch is defiling — because it pollutes and renders unclean the one whom it touches, so that it is not permitted for him to eat of the sacred flesh.
Verse 7: Because It Is His Food
Because it is his food — that is, because it pertains to him to eat of the foods offered to God.
Verse 8: They Shall Not Eat That Which Died of Itself
They shall not eat that which died of itself nor that taken by a beast. — A morticinum, says St. Jerome, is a body in which the blood dies, that is, the soul, namely one that dies without the effusion of blood; for blood is called the soul because it is the vehicle and sustenance of the soul: for this reason, therefore, animals that died of themselves are deemed unclean by this law, as also those torn by a beast.
Verse 9: Let Them Keep My Precepts
Let them keep My precepts, that they be not subject to sin, and die in the Sanctuary (that is, be put to death by Me in the sanctuary, as Nadab and Abihu were slain), when they have defiled it. — For by this very fact that they eat, contrary to these laws, the flesh offered to God in the sanctuary while they are unclean, they pollute and defile both the flesh itself and consequently the sanctuary itself in which those offerings were made.
I am the Lord who sanctifies you — who will and command them to be holy.
Verse 10: No Stranger Shall Eat of the Sanctified Things
No stranger shall eat of the sanctified things. — For "stranger," the Hebrew has "outsider," that is, one who is not of the priestly family; for only those who were of the line of Aaron, namely their sons and daughters, and their slaves and servants born in the house, were permitted to eat the flesh offered to God — that is, those portions which fell to the right of the priests: for from the peace-offering, which for the most part fell to the one offering it, any laypeople could eat with him.
Note: "Stranger" is taken in three senses. First, a stranger is one who is not of the race of the Jews. Secondly, one who is not of the tribe of Levi, Numbers XVIII, 4. Thirdly, one who is not of the line of Aaron. It is taken in this last sense here.
The sojourner of the priest and the hired servant shall not eat of them. — "Sojourner," in Hebrew toscab, is the name for one who dwells with the priest but is not of his line; he dwells, I say, as a guest, hired worker, or stranger: he therefore could not eat of the sanctified things, because he did not belong to the priest's line or family, as did the slave and the servant born in the house, that is, a slave born at home, who since they are entirely their master's and lord's, may eat of the sanctified things, just as the master himself with his children.
Verse 12: If the Daughter of a Priest Be Married
If the daughter of a priest be married to any of the people, she shall not eat of those things which are sanctified, nor of the first-fruits — because through marriage she has already moved to another family of the common people; but the wife of a priest could eat of them, because she is considered one flesh and one person with her priestly husband.
Note, first-fruits here are called the first and choice things which are offered and sanctified to God, as is evident from the Hebrew; this word is also taken in the same way at Exodus XXV, 1.
Verse 13: If She Be a Widow or Divorced
But if she be a widow, or divorced, and having no children return to her father's house, as she was accustomed when a girl, she shall be maintained with her father's food. — For such a divorced woman, even if she has children, they nevertheless follow the father: for mothers in the old law did not inherit the goods and estates of their parents: hence neither did children have maternal goods, since there were none; but only paternal: for they succeeded to the father alone; hence the father also bore the burden of their support: and so when a divorced mother returns to her father's house, she returns without children, and is to be supported by her father, just as she was supported when she was a girl before her marriage.
Tropologically, St. Cyril, Book XII On Adoration, page 245: If a soul, he says, has been divorced as a guilty one and deprived of her husband, that is, her spiritual spouse, and has no fruit from virtue, let her immediately return to her former state and swiftly return to her father's house through penance, and seek again that former kinship with God, and then at last she shall eat of his bread.
Verse 14: He Who Eats of the Sanctified Things Through Ignorance
He who eats of the sanctified things through ignorance, shall add a fifth part, for the injury done to the tabernacle or the priest: he was also required to give a ram to God as a sacrifice, as was said at chapter V, verse 15; with that which he ate, and shall give it to the priest in the Sanctuary — so that it might be brought into the sanctuary, for the use either of the priest or of the sanctuary: for if the sanctified things which the offerer had eaten were from the portions that belonged to God, as if he had eaten the blood, head, or tail in the offering for a trespass, the restitution had to be made to the sanctuary itself, that is, to the priest for the uses of the sanctuary: but if he had eaten of those things which belonged to the priest, the restitution had to be made to the priest himself for his own uses. So Abulensis.
Verse 15: They Shall Not Profane the Sanctified Things
And they shall not profane the sanctified things — by eating them, since they are not of the priestly family.
Verse 18: A Man of the House of Israel
A man of the house of Israel — of the line and posterity of Jacob. See what was said at Exodus II, 1.
Of the strangers who dwell among you — of the proselytes, who from the Gentiles have migrated to you, that they might worship the true God with you, and therefore have been circumcised and become Jews.
Whatever he offers as a holocaust to the Lord, it shall be a male. — For he could offer another victim not as a holocaust, but for sin, or as a peace-offering, even a female; but he who offered a victim as a holocaust was required to offer a male. If therefore anyone had vowed a female as a holocaust, he would have been required to give a male in her place, if indeed he had the intention of vowing a holocaust absolutely: for then in his vow he was required to follow the determination of the law, which commands a male to be offered, not a female. But if he had only vowed this particular animal, namely a female, in ignorance as a holocaust, and had not wished to vow anything else, then at most he would have been obligated to sell her, and from the price buy a male for the holocaust. I say "at most": for if he had vowed a female as a holocaust, with such intent that he specifically wanted a female, because she was beautiful or fat, to be offered as a holocaust, so that he absolutely did not want anything else, then he was bound to nothing — because this vow of his concerned a matter entirely unlawful, and he did not wish to vow what was lawful.
Verse 21: The Man Who Offers a Victim of Peace-Offerings
The man who offers a victim of peace-offerings. — Here is described what the peace-offering victim must be like, just as at verse 18 the holocaust victim was described; the sin-offering is omitted here, because it was treated at length in chapter V, and it was prescribed what each person should offer.
There shall be no blemish in it — that is, there shall be none.
The tropology of these blemishes is the same as in the blemishes of the priests at chapter XXI, verse 18. So Radulphus.
If broken — if it has broken feet, or loins, or an eye.
Verse 22: If Having a Scar
If having a scar. — In Hebrew, "if cut," that is, if it shows a scar from a wound. The Seventy: "if tongue-cut," if its tongue has been cut off. More recent translators render: "If it has a severed limb;" but this is sufficiently prohibited by the preceding clause: for if a broken one is forbidden, then so is one with a part cut off.
If blisters — that is, if it has warts. So Vatablus.
Verse 23: An Ox and a Sheep with Ear and Tail Cut Off
An ox and a sheep with the ear and tail cut off you may voluntarily offer. — For "with the ear and tail cut off," the Chaldee and more recent translators render, "excessive and diminished," that is, which has disproportionately large and contracted limbs.
But the Seventy both here and at Leviticus XXI, 18, translate as our Interpreter does: "ear-cut" or "tail-docked," that is, with the ear or tail cut off. For the general significations of Hebrew words are often determined by usage to something particular, as we saw at chapter XXI, verse 18, where pisseach, that is "leaping," signifies "lame"; dac, that is "tender," signifies "blear-eyed"; charum, that is "cut off," signifies "snub-nosed," one whose nose is as if cut; so "excessive" (if that is what the Hebrew root, which is not found elsewhere, signifies) can signify "ear-clipped," one whose head protrudes and appears as if oversized, or whose nose is overgrown, and who has a large or twisted nose, as our Interpreter translates at chapter XXI, verse 18; so "diminished" is one who has a shortened tail: for thus the Seventy and our Interpreter explain it. An ox therefore and a sheep, with ear and tail cut off, could be voluntary or spontaneous victims, but not votive ones, and consequently not for sin either, because a sacrifice for sin was not voluntary but obligatory, just like a votive one: I say the same about other things to which the Hebrews were obligated at a set time; for these were not spontaneous but necessary and prescribed by law.
The reason is that the obligation is greater in votive and prescribed sacrifices than in spontaneous ones. Hence in the latter greater liberty is permitted than in the former; to the former also belonged greater dignity; hence a purer and more whole victim is justly required in them.
Tropologically, in the ear obedience is signified, in the tail perseverance: without these, a free work and one of supererogation, namely the work of one who has not vowed a state of perfection, can be pleasing, but not the work of one who has vowed. Hence in vows, just as the guilt is greater if they are not fulfilled by works, so the crown will be greater if they are completed, so that on both sides those who have vowed are constrained to make progress: says Radulphus. St. Bernard says beautifully, in his homily On the Two Disciples Going to Emmaus: "Patient in tribulation, and rejoicing at the labor of obedience, one can be called mighty in works. Let one see someone frequently devout in prayer, whose eyes are like the pools of Heshbon from the abundance of tears, but who refuses to bear the yoke of obedience: he thinks he is offering his vow, offering a victim with the ear cut off; he bewails his pride in prayer, but when the hour of compunction has passed, he is just as proud as before, etc. Such people seem mighty in speech, but not in works. In works and speech are those mighty who have propriety in their conduct, virtue in their works, knowledge in their speech, devotion in the assiduity of prayer, gravity in their manner of life, perseverance in love."
Chilon rightly said that great enterprises should indeed be undertaken slowly; but once you have begun, you must persevere most steadfastly in action. For there is nothing so difficult and unusual that perseverance cannot overcome it. "Perseverance is more effective than force, as Sertorius attests, and many things which cannot be accomplished in a single charge are gradually achieved. For the power of persistence is unconquerable, which surpasses and cuts away all opposition; and time, which brings the greatest aid to those who prudently seize the opportunity, is most hostile to those who employ untimely haste," says Plutarch in his Life of Sertorius.
"It is shameful," says Seneca, "to yield to the burden, and to struggle with a duty which you have once accepted. He is no brave and active man who flees from labor, nor does his spirit grow by the very difficulty of things."
The same, Letter 1: "There is nothing," he says, "that persistent effort and attentive and diligent care cannot overcome." And Letter 16: "One must persevere, and add strength by constant study, until a good mind is achieved, which is a good will." And Letter 65: "The blessed life is on a height, but perseverance can reach it."
Verse 24: Any Animal with Bruised or Crushed Testicles
Any animal that has bruised, or crushed (so it should be read with the Roman editions; not "tunsis," as the Plantin editions read), or cut and removed testicles, you shall not offer.
Tropologically, by the testicles is signified the faculty of generating and producing good works, whose father is reason and whose mother is the will; which if they are rendered sterile or barren, are unfit for the offering to the Lord. So Radulphus and Cyril, Book XV On Adoration.
Verse 25: From the Hand of a Stranger
From the hand of a stranger (a Gentile remaining in his superstition; for this one is called in Hebrew ben nechar, that is, "son of an alien") you shall not offer bread to your God. — "Bread," that is, sacrifices which are like bread, that is, the food of God. Hence the Seventy translate it as "gifts": see what was said at chapter XII, verse 22; for the showbread cannot be understood here, because the priests prepared it, not laypeople, much less foreigners, as is evident from chapter XXIV, verse 5.
And whatever else he may wish to give — the stranger, namely, to be offered directly and burned to the Lord, such as incense, oil, wine; for these could not be accepted from him, but other things could be accepted. Hence it is not forbidden here for priests to accept money from Gentiles for purchasing victims: for they received such things both from others and from Seleucus, king of Asia, 2 Maccabees III, 3.
Because all things are corrupt and blemished — namely the gifts and victims of the Gentiles, because the offerers themselves are corrupt, that is, idolaters. Furthermore, because among the Jews they were considered unclean; hence they were excluded from sacred things and could not enter the Sanctuary, because these were proper to the Jewish state, to which they did not belong: just as now those who are not baptized are not admitted to holy communion, to the temples and sacrifices of Christians. So Abulensis.
Verse 27: An Ox, a Sheep, and a Goat
An ox, a sheep, and a goat, when they have been born, shall be seven days under the udder of their mother; but on the eighth day and thereafter they may be offered to the Lord — because in the first seven days the offspring is too tender. See what was said on Exodus 22:30, where the same is said about the firstborn.
Tropologically, Radulphus says: For seven days, that is, as long as someone can think of nothing other than the things of this world and temporal affairs, so long let him be nourished with simple teaching; but on the eighth day, that is, when he has become spiritual and renewed in spirit, he may be presented to the Lord.
Allegorically, for the seven days of this life we are under the Church our mother; but on the eighth day of the resurrection we shall be presented to the Lord in glory. So says Radulphus.
Verse 28: They Shall Not Be Killed on the Same Day with Their Young
Whether it be a cow or a sheep, they shall not be killed on the same day with their young — because this seems cruel. God wished by this law to teach the Jews humanity, so that, namely, kindness premeditated toward beasts might be cultivated for the relief of men, as Tertullian says, Book 2, Against Marcion, chapter 17. For the same reason, Deuteronomy 22:7 forbids one who finds a nest to take the mother together with the chicks.
Tropologically, Radulphus says: "The mother, he says, is the will, which sacrifices its offspring to God when in outward actions it slays whatever is contrary to the law of God, as far as it can; but then regarding itself, the labor is heavy for it, because the memory of the pleasures to which it voluntarily submitted, when it strives to ascend to God, it feels as troublesome even unwillingly and groaning: therefore let it not be terrified, because it cannot happen that the mother be slain on the same day with her offspring, that is, that both the act and the affection — inciting and drawing toward the act — be cut off at once."
For this happens gradually through exercise. Hence the Apostle says, 1 Timothy 4:7: "Exercise yourself unto godliness." Monks devoted to this exercise were called Ascetics, that is, exercisers; hence St. Basil called his monastic constitutions Ascetica, that is, exercises. "For every thing," says St. Ambrose, Book 1 of On Duties, "is increased by its own and domestic exercises. How can there be learning without exercise, or progress without practice? He who wishes to attain military discipline, exercises daily with arms, and as though stationed in battle array, rehearses combat. And those who seek the crown through bodily strength and lawful wrestling contests, hardening their limbs by daily use of the wrestling school, nourishing patience, accustom themselves to labor." Aristotle used to say that "three things are required for attaining wisdom: nature, learning, and exercise." The same applies to virtue, which is practical wisdom. Plato admonished "that we should exercise neither the body without the mind, nor the mind without the body; so that we may take equal care of both. For the one belongs to athletes, the other to the idle." So says Laertius, Book 3. Hercules used to strengthen himself for the endurance of labors by daily exercises, being accustomed to pull up and root out all thorns that sprouted in that place. So says Pausanias, Book 6.
Lycurgus, when asked why he fatigued the bodies of virgins with running, wrestling, and javelin-throwing, replied: So that they may become accustomed to endure the pains of childbirth and other sufferings, and to fight for their country, if need be.
Cato used to say that "the talent of man is like iron which shines from use, but in idleness becomes covered with rust; it must be exercised through learning and virtue."
Likewise Plutarch: "As bronze," he says, "becomes bright from use, so the vigor of the mind shines forth through the exercise of affairs, while through idleness it is dulled and darkened."
St. Chrysostom, Homily 3 on Matthew: "Just as," he says, "every craft is preserved and increased by bodily practice, so also every grace is increased through exercise, and diminished through sloth."
Pope Pius in his letter says: "Nature without discipline is blind; both have little effect if you take away exercise; but through these three, perfection is attained."
Verse 32: Do Not Profane My Name
Do not profane My name — lest through disobedience and an infamous life you cause the Gentiles to blaspheme My name.
I am the Lord who sanctify you — who command you to be holy.
See here how God impresses upon priests the need for holiness, and commands them to be holy. And this first, because they represent the person of God on earth. Therefore they ought to express and reflect the holiness of God in themselves: for this is what God says, Leviticus 20: "Be holy, because I am holy." For this reason the high priest wore inscribed on his tiara: "Holy to the Lord." Hence God Himself also says, Psalm 131:16: "I will clothe His priests with salvation, and His saints shall exult with great joy."
Second, because priests are compared to angels — indeed they surpass them in office; for an angel cannot forgive sins, or consecrate the body of Christ, as the priests of the new law can. "The lips of the priest," says Malachi chapter 2, "shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth; for he is the angel of the Lord of hosts."
Third, because they themselves must sanctify all others. "You are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world," says Christ. Hence St. Dionysius teaches that priests should be like transparent and radiant crystal, upon which the rays of the sun falling are reflected onto all things nearby; and St. Chrysostom says that a priest ought to surpass others in virtue so much that he is like a man among beasts, like an adult among children, indeed like an angel among men. St. Hilary and Gregory assert that priests ought to be sowers of eternity.
Fourth, because they are mediators between God and men, and therefore consume and take away the sins of the people. Hence formerly the priest, when he was about to deal with God, bore upon his breast the names of the twelve tribes inscribed on the breastplate, together with the Urim and Thummim, that is, doctrine and truth. Rightly therefore is it said to them: "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own."
Fifth, because their duties are most holy, namely to baptize, to absolve from sins, to sacrifice, to consecrate, to anoint, etc. "Fourfold," says St. Bernard in the Sentences, "is the priestly office: first, to sacrifice living flesh, which belongs to Leviticus; second, to offer the chrisms of virtues to God, which is to burn incense, and belongs to the sons of Aaron; third, to enter heaven with the fervor of martyrdom, which is to enter with blood into the Holy of Holies; fourth, to transmit the offerings of grace and prayers to heaven, which is to offer bread and wine to God."
Most holy is the flesh and humanity of Christ, which priests consecrate with their mouth, touch with their hands, and behold with their eyes, though veiled under the appearances of bread and wine. Hence St. Chrysostom, Homily 60 to the People, thus infers: "How pure, then, ought he to be who enjoys such a sacrifice? How much more splendid than a sunbeam should be the hand that divides this flesh? The mouth that is filled with spiritual fire? The tongue that is reddened with that most awe-inspiring blood?"
Hence holy men so greatly shrank from the priesthood, as being unworthy of it. St. Francis never consented to be made a priest, and used to say: If an angel were to meet me on one side and a priest on the other, leaving the angel I would approach the priest and kiss his hands: for he ministers to me both the bread and the words of life. The same saint, writing to the priests of his Order (which letter is found in volume 5 of the Library of the Holy Fathers, at the end): "See," he says, "your dignity, O priests, and be holy, because He Himself is holy. What great misery, and pitiable weakness, when you have Him thus present and yet care for anything else in the whole world. Let every man tremble, let the whole world quake, and let heaven exult, when upon the altar in the hands of the priest is Christ, the Son of the living God. O wondrous height, O astonishing condescension, O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the small form of bread! See, brothers, the humility of God, and pour out your hearts before Him, and humble yourselves, that you also may be exalted by Him. Therefore retain nothing of yourselves for yourselves, so that He who offers Himself entirely to you may receive you entirely." St. Mark — not the Evangelist, but the Anchorite — cut off his own thumb so that he would not be made a priest; thus St. Anthony, St. Hilarion, and many thousands of monks declined the priesthood, to such an extent that in many monasteries of Egypt not a single monk could be found who was a priest, as is evident from the Lives of the Fathers.
Sixth, because holiness is the proper endowment of the priest: for hence he is called sacerdos, as it were sacred and holy; second, because he has been consecrated and sanctified to God by a holy consecration; third, because the rest are laymen and profane, but he is holy and as it were divine, whom it is not lawful to touch or violate: hence again he must be holy, that is, upright and unstained by every vice, especially of lust and gluttony. For holiness, says St. Dionysius, is the most uncontaminated and most perfect purity, free from all defilement. And Origen says: hagios, that is, holy, is said as it were from age, that is, without earth — one who is separated from earthly dregs, pure, heavenly, and cleaving and devoted to God: such should a priest be, so that his life may be in heaven, with the Angels and Saints. For this reason, almost daily in the Canonical Hours, the Church reads through the holy and heroic deeds of some Martyr or Saint whose feast occurs on that day, so that it may imitate them, even unto death and martyrdom.
Let the priest therefore say with St. Augustine: Grant, O Lord, that I may be held there in mind, where it is most certain that true joys are found; keep my heart with You, because without You it is not carried to higher things. Let my prayer be directed like incense in Your sight: receive graciously my perpetual sacrifice and that of the people — indeed, of Your Christ. Grant that in this present life I may receive no consolation until I come to Your kingdom, where, exulting, I shall say: I am joined in heaven to Him whom on earth I loved with all my strength.