This Book is called LEVITICUS, because it treats of the Offices, Ministries, Rites and Ceremonies of the Priests and Levites. The Hebrews call it VAICRA, from the word with which it begins.

 

 

 

 

[3] A holocaust: That is, a whole burnt offering (olokauston), so called, because the whole victim was consumed with fire; and given in such manner to God as wholly to evaporate, as it were, for his honour and glory; without having any part of it reserved for the use of man. The other sacrifices in the Old Testament were either offerings for sin, or peace offerings: and these latter again were either offered in thanksgiving for blessings received; or by way of prayer for new favours or graces. So that sacrifices were then offered to God for four different ends or intentions, answerable to the different obligations which man has to God: 1. By way of adoration, homage, praise, and glory due to his divine majesty. 2. By way of thanksgiving for all benefits received from him. 3. By way of confessing and craving pardon for sins. 4. By way of prayer and petition for grace and relief in all necessities. In the New Law we have but one sacrifice, viz., that of the body and blood of Christ: but this one sacrifice of the New Testament perfectly answers all these four ends; and both priest and people, as often as it is celebrated, ought to join in offering it up for these four ends.

 

 

 

 

[3] Holy of holies: That is, most holy, as being dedicated to God, and set aside by his ordinance for the use of his priests.

[11] Without leaven: No leaven nor honey was to be used in the sacrifice offered to God; to signify that we are to exclude from the pure worship of the gospel, all double dealing and affection to carnal pleasures.

[13] Salt: In every sacrifice salt was to be used, which is an emblem of wisdom and discretion, without which none of our performances are agreeable to God.

 

 

 

 

[1] Peace offerings: Peace, in the scripture language, signifies happiness, welfare or prosperity; in a word, all kind of blessings.-- Such sacrifices, therefore, as were offered either on occasion of blessings received, or to obtain new favours, were called pacific or peace offerings. In these, some part of the victim was consumed with fire on the altar of God; other parts were eaten by the priests and by the persons for whom the sacrifice was offered.

 

[17] Fat: It is meant of the fat, which by the prescription of the law was to be offered on God's altar; not of the fat of meat, such as we commonly eat.

 

Chapter 4

[2] Ignorance: To be ignorant of what we are bound to know is sinful; and for such culpable ignorance, these sacrifices, prescribed in this and the following chapter, were appointed.

[5] The blood: As the figure of the blood of Christ shed for the remission of our sins, and carried by him into the sanctuary of heaven.

 

Chapter 6

[13] The perpetual fire: This fire came from heaven, (infra. chap. 9. 24,) and was always kept burning on the altar, as a figure of the heavenly fire of divine love, which ought to be always burning in the heart of a Christian.

 

Chapter 7

[1] Trespass: Trespasses, for which these offerings were to be made, were lesser offences than those for which the sin offerings were appointed.

 

Chapter 11

[2] Animals which you are to eat: The prohibition of so many kinds of beasts, birds, and fishes, in the law, was ordered, 1 st, to exercise the people in obedience, and temperance; 2 ndly, to restrain them from the vices of which these animals were symbols; 3 rdly, because the things here forbidden were for the most part unwholesome, and not proper to be eaten; 4 thly, that the people of God, by being obliged to abstain from things corporally unclean, might be trained up to seek a spiritual cleanness.

[3] Hoof divided, and cheweth the cud: The dividing of the hoof and chewing of the cud, signify discretion between good and evil, and meditating on the law of God; and where either of these is wanting a man is unclean. In like manner fishes were reputed unclean that had not fins and scales: that is, souls that did not raise themselves up by prayer and cover themselves with the scales of virtue.

[5] The cherogrillus: Some suppose it to be the rabbit, others the hedgehog. St. Jerome intimates that it is another kind of animal common in Palestine, which lives in the holes of rocks or in the earth. We choose here, as also in the names of several other creatures that follow (which are little known in this part of the world,) to keep the Greek or Latin names.

[13] The griffon: Not the monster which the painter represent, which hath no being upon earth; but a bird of the eagle kind, larger than the common.

 

Chapter 14

[5] Living waters: That is, waters taken from a spring, brook, or river.

[10] A sextary: Heb. log: a measure of liquids, which was the twelfth part of a hin; and held about as much as six eggs.

[14] Taking of the blood: These ceremonies used in the cleansing of a leper, were mysterious and very significative. The sprinkling seven times with the blood of the little bird, the washing himself and his clothes, the shaving his hair and his beard, signify the means which are to be used in the reconciliation of a sinner, and the steps by which he is to return to God, viz., by the repeated application of the blood of Christ: the washing his conscience with the waters of compunction: and retrenching all vanities and superfluities, by employing all that is over and above what is necessary in alms deeds. The sin offering, and the holocaust or burnt offering, which he was to offer at his cleansing, signify the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart, and that of adoration in spirit and truth, with gratitude and thankfulness, for the forgiveness of sins, with which we are ever to appear before the Almighty. The touching the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, first with the blood of the victim, and then with the remainder of the oil, which had been sprinkled seven times before the Lord, signify the application of the blood of Christ, and the unction of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Ghost; to the sinner's right ear, that he may duly hearken to and obey the law of God; and to his right hand and foot, that the works of his hands, and all the steps or affections of his soul, signified by the feet, may be rightly directed to God.

 

Chapter 15

[2] Issue of seed shall be unclean: These legal uncleannesses were instituted in order to give the people a horror of carnal impurities.

 

Chapter 16

[2] Enter not: No one but the high priest, and he but once a year, could enter into the sanctuary; to signify that no one could enter into the sanctuary of heaven, till Christ our high priest opened it by his passion. Heb. 10. 8.

 

Chapter 17

[3] If he kill: That is, in order to sacrifice. The law of God forbids sacrifices to be offered in any other place but at the tabernacle or temple of the Lord; to signify that no sacrifice would be acceptable to God, out of his true temple, the one holy, catholic, apostolic church.

[10] Eat blood: To eat blood was forbidden in the law; partly, because God reserved it to himself, to be offered in sacrifices on the altar, as to the Lord of life and death; and as a figure of the blood of Christ; and partly, to give men a horror of shedding blood. Gen. 9. 4, 5, 6.

 

Chapter 18

[23] Because it is a heinous crime: In Hebrew, this word heinous crime is expressed by the word confusion, signifying the shamefulness and baseness of this abominable sin.

 

 

[19] Different seeds: This law tends to recommend simplicity and plain dealing in all things, and to teach the people not to join any false worship or heresy with the worship of the true God.

 

[23] Firstfruits: Proeputia, literally, their foreskins; it alludes to circumcision, and signifies that for the first three years the trees were to be as uncircumcised, and their fruit unclean: till in the fourth year their increase was sanctified and given to the Lord, that is, to the priests.

 

 

 

 

[15] The beast also ye shall kill: The killing of the beast was for the greater horror of the crime, and to prevent the remembrance of such abomination.

 

 

 

 

[1] An uncleanness: Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc.

 

 

 

 

[3] Approacheth: 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.

 

 

 

 

[10] Remission: That is, a general release and discharge from debts and bondage, and a reinstating of every man in his former possessions.