Leviticus 7:19

Lev 7:19 And the flesh that toucheth any unclean [thing] shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof.

Ver. 19. Shall not be eaten.] Because not fit to represent Christ.

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.

Lev_7:19-21

That soul shall be cut off.

Impurity forbidden

The gospel is a holy feast. It cannot be shared in by those who continue in their impurities. He that would enjoy it must be careful to depart from iniquity. Only the meek shall eat and be satisfied; that is, such as humbly surrender themselves to Gods requirements, and are really determined to forsake all known sin. There is a morality in religion, as well as faith and ecstasy. Grace does not make void the law. And faith without works is a dead and useless faith. Though we are redeemed by blood and justified gratuitously by believing in Christ, yet that redemption obligates us just as much, and still more, to a life of virtue and moral uprightness than the law itself. We are not under law, as those are under it for whom Christs mediation does not avail; but still we are under law to Christ, and bound through Him to a practical holiness, the pattern of which He has given in His own person and life. If His blood has purged us, it is that we might serve the living God. If we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, it is unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. A pure life must needs go along with a good hope. Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. A good tree cannot produce evil fruit. And for a man to believe himself an accepted guest at the gospel feast while living in wilful, deliberate, and known sin, is a miserable antinomian delusion. The plain gospel truth upon this subject is, that, although we cannot be saved by our works alone, we certainly dare not hope to be saved without them, or without being heartily and effectually made up to do our best. Wherever grace is effective, a well-ordered morality must necessarily follow. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 7:19-21. All that be clean shall eat thereof — Whether priests, or offerers, or guests invited. Both the flesh and the eaters of it must be clean. The soul that eateth — Knowingly; for if it were done ignorantly, a sacrifice was accepted for it. Having his uncleanness upon him — Not being cleansed according to the appointment, Lev 11:24, &c. Shall be cut off from his people — That is, excluded from all the privileges of an Israelite. The intention of all these precepts was to preserve the greater reverence and regard for things sacred, and to signify, that all who live in sin not repented of and mortified, are rejected when they draw nigh to God in outward acts of worship.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the same way all sacrificial flesh that had come into contact with what was unclean, and been defiled in consequence, was to be burned and not eaten. Lev 7:19, which is not found in the Septuagint and Vulgate, reads thus: "and as for the flesh, every clean person shall eat flesh," i.e., take part in the sacrificial meal.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

7:19-21 Anything that was ceremonially unclean could not come into contact with what was holy (7:20). Although uncleanness was not sinful in itself, it symbolized what was unholy (see Exod 19:10).

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

Of the peace offering that is clean.

After it be sacrificed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(19) And the flesh that toucheth.—Not only does the sacrificial flesh become desecrated when left by itself beyond the prescribed period, but when it comes in contact with what is unclean, man, woman, or animal, which might happen whilst it is carried from the altar to the place where it is eaten, it becomes defiled, and must be burnt, so that no profane use is made of it.

And as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof.—Better, And as for the flesh, every one that is clean may eat the flesh—that is, any one whom the offerer invites may partake of the sacrificial repast, provided he is legally clean.

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

19–21. The sacrificial flesh must not be brought into contact with anything that is unclean, nor eaten by anyone that is unclean. Special cases of ritual impurity are enumerated in chs. 11–15.

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.

But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord,.... That are offered up to him, and so are holy, and therefore not to be eaten by unholy persons, or by any

having his uncleanness upon him; a profluvious person that has an issue running out of him, a gonorrhoea; see Lev 15:2.

even that soul shall be cut off from his people; be disfranchised as an Israelite, be debarred the privileges of the sanctuary, or be cut off by death before the usual time and term of man's life; so those that eat and drink unworthily in the supper of our Lord, where his flesh is eaten and his blood drank, eat and drink damnation to themselves, Co1 11:29.

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

Shall eat of it. That is, of the flesh of the thanks-offering. (Challoner) --- People might eat the flesh of animals which had been touched by something unclean, Deuteronomy xii. 15, 22. But victims, defiled by any accident, were to be burnt. The others were to be eaten only by such as were clean. (Menochius)

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).

The flesh, to wit, of the holy offering, of which he is here treating; and therefore the general word is to be so limited; for other flesh one might eat in this case, Deu 12:15,22.

That toucheth any unclean thing, after its oblation; which might easily happen, as it was conveyed from the altar to the place where it was eaten; for it was not eaten in the holy place, as appears, because it was eaten by the priests, together with the offerers, who might not come thither.

As for the flesh, i.e. the other flesh; that which shall not be polluted by any unclean touch.

All that be clean, whether priests or offerers, or guests invited to the feast. See 1Sa 9:12; 20:26. Both the flesh and the eaters of it must be clean.

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

That which is itself unclean makes whatever it touches unclean also.

So in the moral sphere, "evil communications corrupt good manners", (1Co_15:33) and "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump", (1Co_5:6) and so with respect to the spread of heresy, "Their word will eat as doth a canker (or gangrene)". (2Ti_2:17)

On the other hand, that which is itself holy makes that which it touches to be holy. (Lev_6:18) Therefore, when the Holy One was on the earth, "the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them"; (Luk_6:19) and they "brought unto him all that were diseased; and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole". (Mat_14:35, Mat_14:36) Thus the woman with an issue of blood "came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.... And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately". (Luk_8:44-47) Hence, when mankind had fallen in Adam, for the restoration of the race a new Head was found in Christ Jesus, into whom each person is baptized, and by a mystical contact with whom he may be sanctified.

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

And the flesh - Namely of the holy offering, of which he is here treating; and therefore the general word is to be so limited; for other flesh one might eat in this case. That toucheth - After its oblation; which might easily happen, as it was conveyed from the altar to the place where it was eaten: for it was not eaten in the holy place, as appears, because it was eaten by the priests, together with the offerers, who might not come thither. The flesh - That is, the other flesh; that which shall not be polluted by any unclean touch. All that are clean - Whether priests or offerers, or guests invited to the feast.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Any meat that touches an unclean thing must not be eaten

This can be translated in active form. AT: "No one may eat meat that touches something unclean" (See: Active or Passive)

an unclean thing

Something that Yahweh has stated is unfit to touch or eat is spoken of as if it were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

It must be burned

This can be translated in active form. AT: "You must burn it" (See: Active or Passive)

anyone who is clean

A person who is acceptable for God's purposes is spoken of as if the person were physically clean. (See: Metaphor)

unclean person

A person who is not acceptable for God's purposes is spoken of as if the person were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

that person must be cut off from his people

A person being excluded from his community is spoken of as if he had been cut off from his people, as one would cut a piece of cloth or cut a branch from a tree. This can be translated in active form. AT: "that person may no longer live among his people" or "you must separate that person from his people" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

translationWords

clean

clean

peace offering

Yahweh

cut off

people group

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

והבשר AND THE FLESH of the sacred animals constituting peace-offerings (not that of פגול mentioned in v. 18, for this may not be eaten even though it does not touch an unclean thing), אשר יגע בכל טמא לא יאכל THAT TOUCHETH ANY UNCLEAN THING SHALL NOT BE EATEN.

והבשר — The word והבשר the second time it occurs in this verse is redundant (it should have stated: כל טהור יאכל בשר) but it is intended to include in the law mentioned here, the limb of a sacrifice that went forth (was brought out) in part from the place where it had to be eaten (in the case of שלמים, from Jerusalem, in that of קדשי קדשים, from the forecourt) — that the part that remained inside is permitted to be eaten (cf. Sifra, Tzav, Section 9 6).

כל טהור יאכל בשר ALL THAT ARE CLEAN MAY EAT FLESH — Why is this stated? Why should it not be assumed that a clean person may eat of the sacrifices? But, since it is stated, (Deuteronomy 12:27) “and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured upon the altar …, but the flesh thou mayest eat”, I might have thought, that as it speaks of thy sacrifices and states “thou mayest eat”, only the owner of the sacrifices may eat the peace-offerings! For this reason it is stated here: “all that are clean may eat flesh” (Sifra, Tzav, Section 9 7).

[והבשר כל טהור יאכל בשר ‎AND AS FOR THE FLESH ALL THAT ARE CLEAN MAY EAT FLESH — This is as much as to say: all that I have told thee (some editions read: שאסרתי לך, — “that I have forbidden thee”), is only in the case of the sin-offering and a guilt-offering: that if these went forth (were carried forth) without the hangings of the forecourt they are forbidden (נפסלים ביוצא), as it is said, (Leviticus 6:19) “in the enclosure of the tent of meeting”) shall they eat it”; but with regard to this flesh (that of שלמים) I tell thee, “all that are clean may eat flesh” even amidst all the people (some editions read: בכל העיר, “in the whole city”, which is what “amidst all the people” is intended to mean)].

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.