Leviticus 6:17

It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) I have given it unto them for their portion.—It was ordained that those who ministered at the altar should live of the altar; hence the priests had no portion or inheritance in the land.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 6:17-18. It — That part which remains to the priest; for the part offered to God seems not to have been baked at all. Every one that toucheth them — That is, none should touch, or eat them, but consecrated persons, priests, or their sons. This preserved the dignity of the sacrifice, to have it eaten only by the priests, and by them only in a holy place.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:14-23 The law of the burnt-offerings put upon the priests a great deal of care and work; the flesh was wholly burnt, and the priests had nothing but the skin. But most of the meat-offering was their own. It is God's will that his ministers should be provided with what is needful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With unleavened bread shall it be eaten - This should be, it (the remainder) shall be eaten unleavened.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Le 6:14-18. The Law of the Meat Offering.

14-18. this is the law of the meat offering—Though this was a provision for the priests and their families, it was to be regarded as "most holy"; and the way in which it was prepared was: on any meat offerings being presented, the priest carried them to the altar, and taking a handful from each of them as an oblation, he salted and burnt it on the altar; the residue became the property of the priests, and was the food of those whose duty it was to attend on the service. They themselves as well as the vessels from which they ate were typically holy, and they were not at liberty to partake of the meat offering while they labored under any ceremonial defilement.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

It shall not be baken with leaven; that part which remains to the priest; for the part here offered to God seems not to have been baked at all.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It shall not be baked with leaven,.... Which, as it was a type of Christ, may denote his sincerity both in doctrine, life, and conversation; and as it may respect the offerer, may signify his uprightness and integrity, and his being devoid of hypocrisy and insincerity:

I have given it unto thee for their portion of my offerings made by fire; this was part of the provision made for the maintenance of the priests, as it was but just that they that ministered at the altar should live of it; and the rather, as the priests and Levites had no portion and inheritance in the land of Israel, and therefore must be supported in another way, which the Lord took care of:

it is most holy, as the sin offering, and as the trespass offering; as they, so this being devoted to sacred uses, what were not consumed upon the altar belonged to the priests, and were their perquisites, nor might they be appropriated to the use of any other.

Geneva Study Bible

It shall not be {g} baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.

(g) Or, kneaded with leaven and baked.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Leviticus 6:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Law of the Meat-Offering. - The regulations in Leviticus 6:14, Leviticus 6:15, are merely a repetition of Leviticus 2:2 and Leviticus 2:3; but in Leviticus 6:16-18 the new instructions are introduced with regard to what was left and had not been burned upon the altar. The priests were to eat this as unleavened, i.e., to bake it without leaven, and to eat it in a holy place, viz., in the court of the tabernacle. תּאכל מצות in Leviticus 6:16 is explained by "it shall not be baken with leaven" in Leviticus 6:17. It was the priests' share of the firings of Jehovah (see Leviticus 1:9), and as such it was most holy (see Leviticus 2:3), like the sin-offering and trespass-offering (Leviticus 6:25, Leviticus 6:26; Leviticus 7:6), and only to be eaten by the male members of the families of the priests. This was to be maintained as a statute for ever (see at Leviticus 3:17). Every one that touches them (the most holy offerings) becomes holy." יקדּשׁ does not mean he shall be holy, or shall sanctify himself (lxx, Vulg., Luth., a Lap., etc.), nor he is consecrated to the sanctuary and is to perform service there (Theodor., Knobel, and others). In this provision, which was equally applicable to the sin-offering (Leviticus 6:27), to the altar of the burnt-offering (Exodus 29:37), and to the most holy vessels of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:29), the word is not to be interpreted by Numbers 17:2-3, or Deuteronomy 22:9, or by the expression "shall be holy" in Leviticus 27:10, Leviticus 27:21, and Numbers 18:10, but by Isaiah 65:5, "touch me not, for I am holy." The idea is this, every layman who touched these most holy things became holy through the contact, so that henceforth he had to guard against defilement in the same manner as the sanctified priests (Leviticus 21:1-8), though without sharing the priestly rights and prerogatives. This necessarily placed him in a position which would involve many inconveniences in connection with ordinary life.