Who may eat the sanctified offerings, and what animals may be offered to the Lord in Leviticus 22?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter makes eating depend on the named conditions of cleanness and household status. It also sets requirements for offerings, including unblemished animals, an exception for a voluntary offering, seven days with the mother before eligibility from the eighth day, and same-day eating of a thanksgiving offering.

Chapter breakdown

Leviticus 22 explains who may eat holy things and what may be offered. The Lord tells Moses to speak to Aaron and his sons. They must beware of the things the children of Israel have consecrated and must not defile the name of the things sanctified to God which they offer. God declares that he is the Lord. He tells Aaron’s sons and their descendants that any man of their line who approaches the consecrated things Israel has offered to the Lord while unclean shall perish before the Lord.

Challoner reads this warning as teaching the purity of soul with which Christians should approach the blessed sacrament. The note says the meats offered in sacrifice were a figure of it. This Christian reading is identified as Challoner’s commentary.

A descendant of Aaron who has leprosy or a running of the seed must not eat the sanctified things until healed. The text next names touching something made unclean through the dead, emission of seed as in generation, and touching a creeping thing or another unclean thing whose touch defiles. That person is unclean until evening and must not eat the sanctified things. After he has washed his body with water and the sun has gone down, he is purified and may eat them because they are his food.

They must not eat an animal that died by itself or was taken by a beast, nor be defiled by it. They must keep God’s commands so that they do not fall into sin and die in the sanctuary when they have defiled it. The Lord says he sanctifies them.

No stranger may eat the sanctified things, and neither a person staying with a priest nor a hired servant may eat them. A servant the priest has bought and a servant born in his house may eat them. If a priest’s daughter marries any of the people, she must not eat the sanctified things or firstfruits. If she is widowed or divorced, has no children and returns to her father’s house, she may eat her father’s food as she did when she was a maiden. No stranger has permission to eat it.

A person who eats sanctified things through ignorance must give what he ate to the priest in the sanctuary and add a fifth part. The priests must not profane the sanctified things the children of Israel offer to the Lord, lest they bear the guilt of their trespass when the sanctified things have been eaten. The Lord again says he sanctifies them.

The Lord speaks to Moses again, telling him to address Aaron, his sons and all the children of Israel. An Israelite or a stranger living among them may present a whole burnt offering to the Lord to pay a vow or of his own accord. The animal to be offered must be an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep or goats. A blemished animal must not be offered and is not acceptable. A peace offering to the Lord, whether paying a vow or offered of one’s own accord, must be an unblemished animal from cattle or sheep so that it may be acceptable. There must be no blemish in it.

An animal that is blind or broken, or has a scar, blisters, a scab or dry scurf must not be offered to the Lord, and none of it may be burned on the Lord’s altar. An ox or sheep whose ear and tail have been cut off may be offered voluntarily, but must not be used to pay a vow. An animal with testicles bruised, crushed, or cut and taken away must not be offered to the Lord; they must not do such things in their land. They must not offer bread to their God from a stranger’s hand, or any other thing he gives, because these are corrupted and defiled. They must not receive them.

The Lord speaks to Moses again. A newborn calf, sheep or goat must stay seven days under its mother’s udder. From the eighth day onward it may be offered to the Lord. A cow or sheep must not be sacrificed on the same day as its young.

If they sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the Lord so that he may be favourable, they must eat it that same day, leaving none until the next morning. They must keep and carry out God’s commands and must not profane his holy name, so that he may be sanctified among the children of Israel. He is the Lord who sanctifies them and brought them out of Egypt so that he might be their God. He declares again that he is the Lord.

The story inside

The chapter asks two related questions about offerings: who may eat them, and what may be presented to God. For eating, cleanness alone does not erase the household rules, and being a permitted household member does not erase the cleanness rules. A bought or home-born servant is permitted to eat, while a hired servant is not. A priest’s daughter has a stated return-home condition. On the offering side, the chapter keeps vow payment separate from voluntary giving: the ox or sheep with its ear and tail cut off is permitted voluntarily but cannot pay a vow. It also distinguishes seven days under the mother’s udder from eligibility beginning on the eighth day. The closing commands connect these particulars with not profaning God’s name and with the Lord who sanctifies Israel and brought them from Egypt.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Permission to eat has named conditions. Leprosy or a running of the seed requires healing, while the listed contact and emission cases require washing and waiting until sunset; the household rules must also be observed.
2
The household exceptions are specific. Bought and home-born servants may eat, while strangers, a priest’s sojourner and hired servants may not. A widowed or divorced daughter must have no children and return to her father’s house for the stated food permission. Eating through ignorance requires returning what was eaten plus a fifth.
3
The offering rules retain both limits and exceptions. The ear-and-tail case is permitted voluntarily but not for a vow; young animals remain seven days with their mother and may be offered from the eighth day; thanksgiving food must be eaten that same day.

Test your recall

Why must the ear-and-tail exception distinguish voluntary giving from paying a vow, and how do the seven-day rule and thanksgiving deadline show that timing also governs offerings?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 13038–13051
Leviticus Chapter 22 Who may eat the holy things: and what things may be offered. 22:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: 22:2. Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they beware of those things that are consecrated of the children of Israel: and defile not the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. I am the Lord. 22:3. Say to them and to their posterity: Every man of your race, that approacheth to those 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.
Lines 13053–13055
Approacheth, etc.... This is to give us to understand, with what purity of soul we are to approach to the blessed sacrament of which these meats that had been offered in sacrifice were a figure.
Lines 13057–13071
22:4. The man of the seed of Aaron, that is a leper, or that suffereth a running of the seed, shall not eat of those things that are sanctified to me, until he be healed. He that toucheth any thing unclean by occasion of the dead: and he whose seed goeth from him as in generation: 22:5. And he that toucheth a creeping thing, or any unclean thing, the touching of which is defiling: 22:6. Shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat those things that are sanctified. But when he hath washed his flesh with water, 22:7. And the sun is down, then being purified, he shall eat of the sanctified things, because it is his meat.
Lines 13073–13078
22:8. That which dieth of itself, and that which was taken by a beast, they shall not eat, nor be defiled therewith. I am the Lord. 22:9. Let them keep my precepts, that they may not fall into sin, and die in the sanctuary, when they shall have defiled it. I am the Lord who sanctify them.
Lines 13080–13093
22:10. No stranger shall eat of the sanctified things: a sojourner of the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of them. 22:11. But he whom the priest hath bought, and he that is his servant, born in his house, these shall eat of them. 22:12. If the daughter of a priest be married to any of the people, she shall not eat of those things that are sanctified nor of the firstfruits. 22:13. But if she be a widow, or divorced, and having no children return to her father’s house, she shall eat of her father’s meats, as she was wont to do when she was a maid. No stranger hath leave to eat of them.
Lines 13095–13104
22:14. He that eateth of the sanctified things through ignorance, shall add the fifth part with that which he ate, and shall give it to the priest into the sanctuary. 22:15. And they shall not profane the sanctified things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord: 22:16. Lest perhaps they bear the iniquity of their trespass, when they shall have eaten the sanctified things. I am the Lord who sanctify them.
Lines 13106–13123
22:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 22:18. Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who dwell with you, that offereth his oblation, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whatsoever it be which he presenteth for a holocaust of the Lord, 22:19. To be offered by you: it shall be a male without blemish of the beeves, or of the sheep, or of the goats. 22:20. If it have a blemish you shall not offer it: neither shall it be acceptable. 22:21. The man that offereth a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whether of beeves or of sheep, shall offer it without blemish, that it may be acceptable. There shall be no blemish in it.
Lines 13125–13138
22:22. If it be blind, or broken, or have a scar or blisters, or a scab, or a dry scurf: you shall not offer them to the Lord, nor burn any thing of them upon the Lord’s altar. 22:23. An ox or a sheep, that hath the ear and the tail cut off, thou mayst offer voluntarily: but a vow may not be paid with them. 22:24. you shall not offer to the Lord any beast that hath the testicles bruised, or crushed, or cut and taken away: neither shall you do any such things in your land. 22:25. you shall not offer bread to your God, from the hand of a stranger, nor any other thing that he would give: because they are all corrupted, and defiled. You shall not receive them.
Lines 13140–13147
22:26. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 22:27. When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, they shall be seven days under the udder of their dam: but the eighth day, and thenceforth, they may be offered to the Lord. 22:28. Whether it be a cow, or a sheep, they shall not be sacrificed the same day with their young ones.
Lines 13149–13163
22:29. If you immolate a victim for thanksgiving to the Lord, that he may be favourable, 22:30. You shall eat it the same day. There shall not any of it remain until the morning of the next day. I am the Lord. 22:31. Keep my commandments, and do them. I am the Lord. 22:32. Profane not my holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctify you: 22:33. And who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. I am the Lord.