Leviticus 9–10

Footnotes

1. 1 This eighth day is the one after the seven days of ordination referred to in Lev 8:33–35.
2. 2 Heb “called to”; , “called together.”
3. 3 Heb “a he-goat of goats.”
4. 4 Heb “and a calf and a lamb, sons of a year, flawless”; , , “without blemish”; , “without defect”; “with no physical defects.”
5. 5 The verb is either a prophetic perfect (“will appear to you”) as in the (cf. §30.5.1.e; so many English versions), or a futurum instans participle (“is going to appear to you”) as in the and several other versions (see the footnote; cf. §37.6f). In either case, the point is that Moses was anticipating that the Lord would indeed appear to them on this day (cf. vv. 6, 22–24).
6. 6 Heb “to the faces of.”
7. 7 Heb “which the Lord commanded you shall/should do.”
8. 8 Heb “and the glory of the Lord will appear,” but the construction with the simple vav (ו) plus the imperfect/jussive (וְיֵרָא, véyera’; literally, “and he will appear”) suggests purpose in this context, not just succession of events (i.e., “so that he might appear”).
9. 9 Instead of “on behalf of the people,” the has “on behalf of your house” as in the Hebrew text of Lev 16:6, 11, 17. Many commentaries follow the here (e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ) as do a few English versions (e.g., ), but others argue that, as on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16), the offerings of the priests also effected the people, even though there was still the need to have special offerings made on behalf of the people as reflected in the second half of the verse (e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ).
10. 10 Heb “from.”
11. 11 Heb “he burned with fire,” an expression which is sometimes redundant in English, but here means “burned up,” “burned up entirely.”
12. 12 See Lev 4:5–12 and the notes there regarding the sin offering for priest(s). The distinction here is that the blood of the sin offering for the priests was applied to the horns of the burnt offering altar in the court of the tabernacle, not the incense altar inside the tabernacle tent itself. See the notes on .
13. 13 For smoothness in the English translation, “his” was used in place of “Aaron’s.”
14. 14 The verb is a Hiphil form of מָצָא, matsa’, “to find” (i.e., causative, literally “to cause to find,” but here the meaning is “to hand to” or “pass to”; see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:). The distinction between this verb and “presented” in v. 9 above (see the there) is that in v. 9 Aaron’s sons held the bowl while Aaron manipulated some of the blood at the altar, while here in v. 12 they simply handed the bowl to him so he could splash all the blood around on the altar (Milgrom, 581).
15. 15 For “splashed” (also in v. 18) see the note on .
16. 16 See the note on v. .
17. 17 Heb “and the burnt offering they handed to him to its parts and the head.”
18. 18 The expression “and performed a decontamination rite [with] it” reads literally in the , “and decontaminated [with] it.” The verb is the Piel of חטא (kht’, Qal = “to sin”), which means “to decontaminate, purify” (i.e., “to de-sin”; see the note on ).
19. 19 The phrase “like the first one” at the end of the verse refers back to the sin offering for the priests described in vv. 8–11 above. The blood of the sin offering of the common people was applied to the burnt offering altar just like that of the priests.
20. 20 The term “standard regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat) here refers to the set of regulations for burnt offering goats in Lev 1:10–13. Cf. “according to the manner”; , “according to the ordinance”; , “in the prescribed way”; “in the proper way.”
21. 21 The latter part of the verse (“in addition to the morning burnt offering”) refers to the complex of morning (and evening) burnt and grain offerings that was the daily regulation for the tabernacle from the time of its erection (Exod 40:29). The regulations for it were appended to the end of the section of priestly consecration regulations in Exod 29 (see Exod 29:38–40) precisely because they were to be maintained throughout the priestly consecration period and beyond (Lev 8:33–36). Thus, the morning burnt and grain offerings would already have been placed on the altar before the inaugural burnt and grain offerings referred to here.
22. 22 See the note on .
23. 23 Heb “And the fat from the ox and from the ram.”
24. 24 The text here has only the participle “the cover” or “that which covers,” which is elliptical for “the fat which covers the entrails” (see Lev 3:3, 9, 14; 7:3).
25. 25 The plural “they” refers to the sons of Aaron (cf. v. 18). The , , and have singular “he,” referring to Aaron alone as in the latter half of the verse (the singular is followed here by ). Cf. “Aaron’s sons put them.”
26. 26 Heb “from to the faces of the Lord.” The rendering here is based on the use of “my faces” and “your faces” referring to the very “presence” of the Lord in Exod 33:14–15.
27. 27 Heb “fell on their faces.” Many English versions and commentaries render here “shouted for joy” (e.g., ; cf. , ) or “shouted joyfully,” but the fact the people “fell on their faces” immediately afterward suggests that they were frightened as, for example, in Exod 19:16b; 20:18–21.
28. 1 Although it has been used elsewhere in this translation as an English variation from the ubiquitous use of vav in Hebrew, in this instance “then” as a rendering for vav is intended to show that the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe took place on the inauguration day described in Lev 9. The tragic incident in Lev 10 happened in close temporal connection to the Lord’s fire that consumed the offerings at the end of Lev 9. Thus, for example, the “sin offering” male goat referred to in Lev 10:16–19 is the very one referred to in Lev 9:15.
29. 2 The expression “strange fire” (אֵשׁ זָרָה, ’esh zarah) seems imprecise (cf. “profane fire”; “unauthorized fire”; “unholy fire”; “a different kind of fire”) and has been interpreted numerous ways (see the helpful summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ). The infraction may have involved any of the following or a combination thereof: (1) using coals from someplace other than the burnt offering altar (i.e., “unauthorized coals” according to J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:; cf. Lev 16:12 and cf. “unauthorized person” אִישׁ זָר (’ish zar) in Num 16:40 [17:5 ], “layman”), (2) using the wrong kind of incense (cf. the Exod 30:9 regulation against “strange incense” קְטֹרֶת זָרָה (qétoreh zarah) on the incense altar and the possible connection to Exod 30:34–38), (3) performing an incense offering at an unprescribed time (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ), or (4) entering the Holy of Holies at an inappropriate time (Lev 16:1–2).
30. 3 See the note on .
31. 4 The Niphal verb of the Hebrew root קָדַשׁ (qadash) can mean either “to be treated as holy” (so here, e.g., 873 קָּדַשׁ, , , and ) or “to show oneself holy” (so here, e.g., קדשׁ nif.1, , , ; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:, ; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ). The latter rendering seems more likely here since, in the immediate context, the Lord himself had indeed shown himself to be holy by the way he responded to the illegitimate incense offering of Nadab and Abihu. They had not treated the Lord as holy, so the Lord acted on his own behalf to show that he was indeed holy.
32. 5 In this context the Niphal of the Hebrew root כָּבֵד (kaved) can mean “to be honored” (e.g., and here), “be glorified” (, and here), or “glorify oneself, show one’s glory” (cf. ; e.g., specifically in this verse כבד nif.3; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:, ; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , ). Comparing this clause with the previous one (see the above), the point may be that when the Lord shows himself to be holy as he has done in 10:1–2, this results in him being honored (i.e., reverenced, feared, treated with respect) among the people. This suggests the passive rendering. It is possible, however, that one should use the reflexive rendering here as in the previous clause. If so, the passage means that the Lord showed both his holiness and his glory in one outbreak against Nadab and Abihu.
33. 6 has “you must not” (לֹא, lo’) rather than the ’s “do not” (אַל, ’al; cf. the following negative לֹא, lo’, in the ).
34. 7 Heb “do not let free your heads.” Some have taken this to mean, “do not take off your headgear” (cf. , ), but it probably also involves leaving one’s hair unkempt as a sign of mourning (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:; cf. , , , ).
35. 8 Heb “shall weep [for] the burning which the Lord has burned”; “may mourn for those the Lord has destroyed by fire.”
36. 9 Heb “a perpetual statute for your generations”; “a perpetual ordinance”; “a statute forever”; “a permanent law.” The Hebrew grammar here suggests that the last portion of v. 9 functions as both a conclusion to v. 9 and an introduction to vv. 10–11. It is a pivot clause, as it were. Thus, it was a “perpetual statute” to not drink alcoholic beverages when ministering in the tabernacle, but it was also a “perpetual statue” to distinguish between holy and profane and unclean and clean (v. 10) as well as to teach the children of Israel all such statutes (v. 11).
37. 10 Heb “and,” but regarding the translation “as well as,” see the note at the end of v. .
38. 11 The two pairs of categories in this verse refer to: (1) the status of a person, place, thing, or time—“holy” (קֹדֶשׁ, qodesh) versus “common” (חֹל, khol); as opposed to (2) the condition of a person, place, or thing—“unclean” (טָמֵא, tame’) versus “clean” (טָהוֹר, tahor). Someone or something could gain “holy” status by being “consecrated” (i.e., made holy; e.g., the Hebrew Piel קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) in Lev 8:15, 30), and to treat someone or something that was holy as if it were “common” would be to “profane” that person or thing (the Hebrew Piel הִלֵּל [hillel], e.g., in Lev 19:29 and 22:15). Similarly, on another level, someone or something could be in a “clean” condition, but one could “defile” (the Hebrew Piel טִמֵּא [timme’], e.g., in Gen 34:5 and Num 6:9) that person or thing and thereby make it “unclean.” To “purify” (the Hebrew Piel טִהֵר [tiher], e.g., in Lev 16:19 and Num 8:6, 15) that unclean person or thing would be to make it “clean” once again. With regard to the animals (Lev 11), some were by nature “unclean,” so they could never be eaten, but others were by nature “clean” and, therefore, edible (Lev 11:2, 46–47). The meat of clean animals could become inedible by too long of a delay in eating it, in which case the Hebrew term פִּגּוּל (pigul) “foul, spoiled” is used to describe it (Lev 7:18; 19:7; cf. also Ezek 4:14 and Isa 65:4), not the term for “unclean” (טָהוֹר, tahor). Strictly speaking, therefore, unclean meat never becomes clean, and clean meat never becomes unclean.
39. 12 Heb “by the hand of” (so ).
40. 13 Heb “statute” (cf. 10:9, 11); cf. , , , “due”; “share”; “regular share.”
41. 14 For the rendering of the Hebrew אִשֶׁה (’isheh) as “gift” rather than “offering [made] by fire,” see the note on .
42. 15 Cf. Lev 2:3 and 6:14–18 [6:7–11 ] for these regulations.
43. 16 The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the cleanness of the place specified is ritual or ceremonial in nature.
44. 17 Cf. Lev 7:14, 28–34 for these regulations.
45. 18 This is the very same male goat offered in Lev 9:15 (cf. the note on above).
46. 19 Heb “but behold, it had been burnt” ( and both similar).
47. 20 This translation is quite literal. On the surface it appears to mean that the priests would “bear the iniquity” of the congregation by the act of eating the sin offering (so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:, ). Such a notion is, however, found nowhere else in the Levitical regulations and seems unlikely (so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ). A more likely interpretation is reflected in this interpretive rendering: “he gave it to you [as payment] for [your work of] bearing the iniquity of the congregation.” The previous section of the chapter deals with the prebends that the priests received for performing the ministry of the tabernacle (Lev 10:12–15). Lev 10:16–18, therefore, seems to continue the very same topic in the light of the most immediate situation (see R. E. Averbeck, 2:).
48. 21 Or “Behold!” (so , , ).
49. 22 The term here rendered “within” refers to the bringing of the blood inside the holy place for application to the altar of incense rather than to the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard of the tabernacle (cf. Lev 4:7, 16–18; 6:30 23[]).
50. 23 Or “Behold!” (so , , ); “See.”
51. 24 Heb “today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and like these things have happened to me, and (if) I had eaten sin offering today would it be good in the eyes of the Lord?” The idiom “would it be good in the eyes of [the Lord]” has been translated “would [the Lord] have been pleased.” Cf. “would it have been agreeable to the Lord?”; , “Would the Lord have approved?”
52. 25 Heb “it was good in his eyes” (an idiom). Cf. “he was content”; “he approved.”