Leviticus 10:10-20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 You must be able to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, and between what is clean and what is unclean;[a](A) 11 and you must be able to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given them through Moses.
The Eating of the Priestly Portions. 12 Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering[b] left over from the oblations to the Lord, and eat it beside the altar in the form of unleavened cakes, since it is most holy. 13 You must eat it in a sacred place because it is your and your sons’ due from the oblations to the Lord; such is the command I have received. 14 (B)The brisket of the elevated offering and the leg[c] of the contribution, however, you and your sons and daughters may eat, in a clean place; for these have been assigned to you and your children as your due from the communion sacrifices of the Israelites. 15 The leg of the contribution and the brisket of the elevated offering shall be brought in with the oblations of fat to be raised as an elevated offering before the Lord. They shall belong to you and your children as your due forever, as the Lord has commanded.”
16 Moses inquired closely about the goat of the purification offering[d] and discovered that it had all been burned. So he was angry with the surviving sons of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar, and said, 17 (C)“Why did you not eat the purification offering in the sacred place, since it is most holy? It has been given to you that you might remove the guilt of the community and make atonement for them before the Lord. 18 Since its blood was not brought inside the sanctuary, you should certainly have eaten the offering in the sanctuary, as I was commanded.” 19 Aaron answered Moses, “Even though they presented their purification offering and burnt offering before the Lord today, still this misfortune has befallen me. Had I then eaten of the purification offering today, would it have been pleasing to the Lord?” 20 On hearing this, Moses was satisfied.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 10:10 Sacred and…profane…clean and…unclean: something or someone may be either sacred or profane (i.e., ordinary, not set apart), and at the same time clean or unclean. Priests would be particularly concerned about keeping what is unclean away from the sacred.
- 10:12–13 Grain offering: this is the grain offering of the people of 9:4, 17. Only the token offering had been offered; the rest was for the priests’ consumption.
- 10:14 Brisket…leg: these are from the Israelites’ communion sacrifices in 9:4, 18–21.
- 10:16–20 Goat of the purification offering: this is the people’s purification offering of 9:3, 15. Since its blood is not brought into the sanctuary, then, according to 6:17–23, this is the type of purification offering which is to be eaten by the priests in a holy place. Eleazar and Ithamar: they burned the entire goat of the people’s purification offering (9:15) instead of eating it in a sacred place (6:19) to remove ritually the sin of the community by the ingestion of the meat of the offering. Aaron’s defense of this action of his sons is somewhat vague: he merely alludes to the loss suffered in the death of Nadab and Abihu, without giving an explicit reason for Eleazar and Ithamar’s not eating the people’s purification offering, as required.
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