Exodus 29:37

Exo 29:37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.

Ver. 37. Whatsoever toucheth the altar.] See Mat 23:19. {See Trapp on "Mat 23:19"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29:37 As with the priests, the altar was to be made holy so it could be used in service of the holy God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 37. Whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy.] To this our Lord refers Mt 23:19, where he says the altar sanctifies the gift; and this may be understood as implying that whatever was laid on the altar became the Lord's property, and must be wholly devoted to sacred uses, for in no other sense could such things be sanctified by touching the altar.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(37) An altar most holy.—Heb., an altar, holiness of holinesses.

Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.—Rather, must be holy; nothing which is not holy must touch it. The future has the force of an imperative, as in the Ten Commandments.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37. most holy] a technical term of the priestly phraseology, applied to many different things brought specially near to God, e.g. to the altar of burnt-offering, here and Exo_40:10; to the altar of incense, Exo_30:10; to the Tent of Meeting and vessels belonging to it, Exo_30:26-29; to the meal-offering, Lev_2:3, &c. (see a complete list in Daniel in the Camb. Bible, p. 137; also in Di.’s note on Lev_21:22, where its distinction from holy is explained).

shall become holy] i.e. become sacred to Jehovah, implying that, if it be a thing (‘whatsoever’), it will be forfeited to the sanctuary (cf. Num_16:37-38, where the censers which had rashly been made ‘holy,’ are retained in the service of the sanctuary, and made into beaten plates for the altar; Deu_22:9, Lev_27:10, Jos_6:19 a, compared with 19b), and, if it be a person (‘whosoever,’ the more prob. rendering), not already properly consecrated, and so able to touch sacred things with impunity, that he is given over to the Deity to be dealt with by Him as He pleases. So Exo_30:29, Lev_6:18 b, Lev_6:27; cf. Eze_46:20 b, where ‘sanctify’ is to be similarly explained. We have here, as in the passages quoted, a survival of primitive ideas of ‘holiness.’ Holiness, i.e. consecration to a deity, is a contagious quality: thus the altar or the incense is holy, and whatever touches it becomes holy. What is holy must further be kept from profane use, and not touched, without due precaution, or by unfit persons; a person touching it in heedlessness or curiosity becomes thereby ‘holy’ himself, and may be dealt with by he Deity as He pleases, even to the extent of having to pay for his imprudence with his life: cf. 2Sa_6:6 f.; Num_4:15; Num_4:20; Num_16:37 end, 38a [read as RVm.]. See Dr Gray’s luminous note, Numbers, pp. 209–211, with the passages cited by him from Frazer’s Golden Bough, e.g. i. 321 (ed. 2), ‘In New Zealand the dread of the sanctity of chiefs was at least as great as in Tonga. Their ghostly power, derived from an ancestral spirit or atua, diffused itself by contagion over everything they touched, and could strike dead all who rashly or unwittingly meddled with it’; Rel. Sem. pp. 142 f., 427 ff. (ed. 2, pp. 152 f., 446 ff.); DB. iv. 826 f.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seven days thou shalt make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it,.... That it might be thoroughly fit to have sacrifices offered on it:

and it shall be an altar most holy; as Christ is, and is called the Most Holy, and said to be anointed, Dan 9:24. He is holy in his person, nature, and offices, more holy than angels or men; as holy as the Lord God, the God of Israel, his Father, who is glorious in holiness, and none like to him for it:

whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy; that is, whatsoever gift or sacrifice, according to law, was offered on it, whatever appertained unto it, or were suitable for it; for as for other things, they were not made holy by a touch of it, Hag 2:11. The Targum of Jonathan refers it to persons, paraphrasing the words, that such should be holy who were"of the sons of Aaron, but of the rest of the people it was not lawful for them to draw nigh, lest they should be burnt with flaming fire that comes out of the holy things;''but our Lord applies it to gifts and offerings of the altar, for to this case he seems to have respect, Mat 23:19 for he is the altar that sanctifies not only the persons, but the services of his people, and their sacrifices of prayer and praise come up with acceptance to God from off this altar; though even the best duties and services of theirs need atonement and purification by the sacrifice and blood of Christ.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Seven. This number is frequently prescribed in Scripture. Balaam required seven altars, (Numbers xxiii.) and the Egyptians never spent less than seven days in their expiations. (Porphyrius, Abstin. 4.) (Calmet) --- Shall be holy, consecrated according to this rite, (Menochius) or defiled; for sacred things purify those who approach in a proper manner, while they defile or increase the guilt of the unworthy. (Calmet) --- By the unleavened bread, (ver. 23,) we are reminded of the blessed eucharist; and by oil, of the grace of the spirit. (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

It shall be an altar most holy, as appears from the following reason, because it was not only holy in itself, but by its touch communicated a legal holiness to other things.

Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy: this may be understood either,

1. Of persons, as a caution that none should touch the altar but holy and consecrated persons. Or rather,

2. Of things, yet not of all things, for polluted things were not made holy by the touch of holy things, which is affirmed, Hag 2:12; but of things belonging to the altar Of offerings, which by God’s appointment were to be offered, which were sanctified by being laid upon this altar, and therefore the altar was greater and more holy than the gift, as our blessed Saviour notes, Mat 23:19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Seven days shalt thou make an atonement. All the ceremonial was to be repeated seven times, not only the atonement for the. (Lev_8:33) An altar most holy. Literally, "holiness of holinesses," as in Exo_40:10. Whatever toucheth the altar shall be holy. Rather, "must be holy." Nothing that is not holy must touch it (Kalisch)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

atonement

(See Scofield "Exo 29:33").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

והיה המזבח קדש AND THE ALTAR SHALL BE [MOST] HOLY — and in what consists its holiness? In this: כל הנגע במזבח יקדש that WHATSOEVER TOUCHETH THE ALTAR SHALL BECOME HOLY — that even a sacrifice which is really invalid that has been brought upon it — even that does the altar sanctify making it a valid sacrifice in so far that it must not be taken down from the altar. Now since it is said, “Anything that toucheth the altar shall become holy”, I might infer that this applies to a thing whether it was fitting to be an offering at the time when it was brought into the Sanctuary or whether it was not so fitting as, for example, in the latter case, something the disqualification of which did not happen within the Sanctuary itself but had happened before it was brought there, such as, an animal, male or female, with which sexual sin had been committed, or an animal which had been set aside as a sacrifice to an idol, or one which had been worshipped as a god, or one which showed signs of incapacity to live owing to certain diseases (technically termed טרפה) and animals similar to these (with similar disqualifications); consequently it states, “Now this is that which thou shalt offer [upon the altar]”, which follows immediately after this (in v. 38). Now how is it in the case of the burnt-offering which is mentioned in the next verse as something commanded to be brought upon the altar? It must be fitted to be brought upon the altar! So, also, the preceding statement, “Whatever [touches the altar shall become holy]”, refers only to whatever was fitting, i. e. what was already fitting to be brought upon the altar and became disqualified only after it had been brought into the fore-court of the Sanctuary, as, for example, that which had been left over night (the blood or fat of a sacrifice which had been left until the morning without having been placed upon the altar), or that which, before it had been placed upon the altar, had been taken (lit., had gone forth) outside the forecourt, or that which had become unclean, or an animal which had been slaughtered with the intention to sprinkle the blood or to burn the fat or to eat the flesh outside the prescribed period or outside the prescribed place, and animals similar to these (Zevachim 83b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.