Leviticus 22King James Version
How the priests are to handle the holy things, and who in their household may eat of them. Animals offered must be without blemish. A bull and its young are not to be killed in one day. The pattern is everywhere: do not collapse what is meant to be distinct.
Priests must be in a state of ritual cleanness before eating the sacred portions. Non-priests (even within priestly households in some cases) may not eat the sacred food. Animals offered must be without defect; animals for freewill offerings may be deformed. The chapter closes by noting that each law is given so Israel will not profane God's holy name.
Sacred things require careful handling by qualified people in proper states. Holiness is not self-maintaining; it is protected by discipline.
22:32 "Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you." The burden is inverted: God is the one who hallows them. Their role is not to profane what has been given.
Sinai. The sacred food allocations were real economic provisions for priestly families. The cleanness requirements meant priests sometimes could not eat even their own portion for days at a time. The law required waiting, not just wishing things were different.
God to Moses and Aaron. The laws address priests and the boundaries around sacred food. Household composition is detailed: the priest's wife, daughters who marry outside the family, purchased slaves, and sojourners are named as categories with different access levels.
The chapter makes explicit that the entire sacrificial system serves one purpose: to keep God's name holy among Israel. Profaning the sacred portions was not a breach of religious etiquette; it was a statement about who God is. The law against offering animals with defects and blemishes reflects the same logic: bring the best or it communicates something false about the value of the exchange.
For when you are going through religious motions without attention. The chapter presses on exactly this: handling sacred things with carelessness is not neutral. It communicates something about how you regard what you are touching.
1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the LORD.
3Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD.
4What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;
5Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;
6The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water.
7And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it is his food.
8That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am the LORD.
9They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the LORD do sanctify them.
10There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.
11But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat.
12If the priest's daughter also be married unto a stranger, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things.
13But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned unto her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.
14And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give it unto the priest with the holy thing.
15And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer unto the LORD;
16Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy things: for I the LORD do sanctify them.
17And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
18Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering;
19Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.
20But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.
21And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.
22Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD.
23Either a bullock or a lamb that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.
24Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.
25Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.
26And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
27When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
28And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day.
29And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will.
30On the same day it shall be eaten up; ye shall leave none of it until the morrow: I am the LORD.
31Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the LORD.
32Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you,
33That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.