Richard Challoner — Commentary on Scripture

Leviticus 4:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:

Ignorance: To be ignorant of what we are bound to know is sinful; and for such culpable ignorance, these sacrifices, prescribed in this and the following chapter, were appointed.

Leviticus 4:5

And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:

The blood: As the figure of the blood of Christ shed for the remission of our sins, and carried by him into the sanctuary of heaven.

Leviticus 6:13

The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

The perpetual fire: This fire came from heaven, (infra. chap. 9. 24,) and was always kept burning on the altar, as a figure of the heavenly fire of divine love, which ought to be always burning in the heart of a Christian.

Leviticus 7:1

Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy.

Trespass: Trespasses, for which these offerings were to be made, were lesser offences than those for which the sin offerings were appointed.

Leviticus 11:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.

Animals which you are to eat: The prohibition of so many kinds of beasts, birds, and fishes, in the law, was ordered, 1 st, to exercise the people in obedience, and temperance; 2 ndly, to restrain them from the vices of which these animals were symbols; 3 rdly, because the things here forbidden were for the most part unwholesome, and not proper to be eaten; 4 thly, that the people of God, by being obliged to abstain from things corporally unclean, might be trained up to seek a spiritual cleanness.

Leviticus 11:3

Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

Hoof divided, and cheweth the cud: The dividing of the hoof and chewing of the cud, signify discretion between good and evil, and meditating on the law of God; and where either of these is wanting a man is unclean. In like manner fishes were reputed unclean that had not fins and scales: that is, souls that did not raise themselves up by prayer and cover themselves with the scales of virtue.

Leviticus 11:5

And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

The cherogrillus: Some suppose it to be the rabbit, others the hedgehog. St. Jerome intimates that it is another kind of animal common in Palestine, which lives in the holes of rocks or in the earth. We choose here, as also in the names of several other creatures that follow (which are little known in this part of the world,) to keep the Greek or Latin names.

Leviticus 11:13

And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

The griffon: Not the monster which the painter represent, which hath no being upon earth; but a bird of the eagle kind, larger than the common.

Leviticus 14:5

And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

Living waters: That is, waters taken from a spring, brook, or river.

Leviticus 14:10

And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

A sextary: Heb. log: a measure of liquids, which was the twelfth part of a hin; and held about as much as six eggs.

Leviticus 14:14

And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

Taking of the blood: These ceremonies used in the cleansing of a leper, were mysterious and very significative. The sprinkling seven times with the blood of the little bird, the washing himself and his clothes, the shaving his hair and his beard, signify the means which are to be used in the reconciliation of a sinner, and the steps by which he is to return to God, viz., by the repeated application of the blood of Christ: the washing his conscience with the waters of compunction: and retrenching all vanities and superfluities, by employing all that is over and above what is necessary in alms deeds. The sin offering, and the holocaust or burnt offering, which he was to offer at his cleansing, signify the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart, and that of adoration in spirit and truth, with gratitude and thankfulness, for the forgiveness of sins, with which we are ever to appear before the Almighty. The touching the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, first with the blood of the victim, and then with the remainder of the oil, which had been s…

Taking of the blood: These ceremonies used in the cleansing of a leper, were mysterious and very significative. The sprinkling seven times with the blood of the little bird, the washing himself and his clothes, the shaving his hair and his beard, signify the means which are to be used in the reconciliation of a sinner, and the steps by which he is to return to God, viz., by the repeated application of the blood of Christ: the washing his conscience with the waters of compunction: and retrenching all vanities and superfluities, by employing all that is over and above what is necessary in alms deeds. The sin offering, and the holocaust or burnt offering, which he was to offer at his cleansing, signify the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart, and that of adoration in spirit and truth, with gratitude and thankfulness, for the forgiveness of sins, with which we are ever to appear before the Almighty. The touching the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, first with the blood of the victim, and then with the remainder of the oil, which had been sprinkled seven times before the Lord, signify the application of the blood of Christ, and the unction of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Ghost; to the sinner's right ear, that he may duly hearken to and obey the law of God; and to his right hand and foot, that the works of his hands, and all the steps or affections of his soul, signified by the feet, may be rightly directed to God.

Leviticus 15:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.

Issue of seed shall be unclean: These legal uncleannesses were instituted in order to give the people a horror of carnal impurities.

Leviticus 16:2

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

Enter not: No one but the high priest, and he but once a year, could enter into the sanctuary; to signify that no one could enter into the sanctuary of heaven, till Christ our high priest opened it by his passion. Heb. 10. 8.

Leviticus 17:3

What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,

If he kill: That is, in order to sacrifice. The law of God forbids sacrifices to be offered in any other place but at the tabernacle or temple of the Lord; to signify that no sacrifice would be acceptable to God, out of his true temple, the one holy, catholic, apostolic church.

Leviticus 17:10

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

Eat blood: To eat blood was forbidden in the law; partly, because God reserved it to himself, to be offered in sacrifices on the altar, as to the Lord of life and death; and as a figure of the blood of Christ; and partly, to give men a horror of shedding blood. Gen. 9. 4, 5, 6.

Leviticus 18:23

Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

Because it is a heinous crime: In Hebrew, this word heinous crime is expressed by the word confusion, signifying the shamefulness and baseness of this abominable sin.

Leviticus 19:19

Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

Different seeds: This law tends to recommend simplicity and plain dealing in all things, and to teach the people not to join any false worship or heresy with the worship of the true God.

Leviticus 19:23

And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.

Firstfruits: Proeputia, literally, their foreskins; it alludes to circumcision, and signifies that for the first three years the trees were to be as uncircumcised, and their fruit unclean: till in the fourth year their increase was sanctified and given to the Lord, that is, to the priests.

Leviticus 20:15

And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

The beast also ye shall kill: The killing of the beast was for the greater horror of the crime, and to prevent the remembrance of such abomination.

Leviticus 21:1

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:

An uncleanness: Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc.