HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

LEVITICUS 6

CHAPTER VI.

Ver. 2. Despising: interpretatively; not formally, as Num. xv. Estius. --- The Lord, who knows the truth, and is an avenger of all injustice, even the most secret. H. --- The law inflicts indeed a smaller punishment, as these offences are supposed to be secret, and the offender is thus invited to repent, and to repair the injury done. When the crime is public, the law is more severe. C. --- Heb. "if a soul transgress and sin against the Lord." Sept. "If any one wilfully despise the commands," &c. H. --- Trust. Heb. and Sept. "or a sum given for traffic for their common benefit." --- Oppression, by any means whatsoever, detaining the wages of the labourer, &c.

Ver. 3. Lost. We acquire no title to the thing by finding it. The Roman law, as well as divines, condemn those who appropriate the thing found to their own use, as guilty of theft, whether they knew to whom it belonged or not; and Plato greatly commends the law of Solon, "Take not what thou didst not put down," a rule which the Dyrbeans and the people of Biblos rigorously observed. We may, however, take up what is lost, (C.) and endeavour to find the owner, who must indemnify us for our trouble; and, if we never find him, we are directed to give the price to the poor, for the owner's welfare. H.

Ver. 4. Convicted, by his own conscience, and by the judgment of the priest to whom he has confessed his sin. The Heb. expresses the different sorts of sins specified above, which the Vulgate denotes by the word offence.

Ver. 5. Wronged. Heb. and Chaldee add, "in the day of his sin-offering;" and the Sept. "in which he has convicted." No unnecessary delay in making restitution can be allowed to the sincere penitent, who wishes to make his peace with God.

Ver. 6. The. Heb. "thy estimation for a sin-offering." H. --- Wilful sins require a more noble victim than those of ignorance, which were expiated by the sacrifice of a goat. M.

Ver. 9. Holocaust. The regulations respecting it, as they regard the priests, are here given, as C. i. directions were given to those who represent the victims. --- Morning. All the parts of the victim were not laid on at the same time. The like was observed during the day also, when no other sacrifices were to be offered on this altar. --- Of the same, not strange, unhallowed fire, but such as was kept continually burning on the altar of holocausts, as the Heb. intimates; "the fire of the altar shall be burning in it." During the marches in the desert, it is not written how this fire was preserved. The Persians believed that their eternal fire came down from heaven, and the vestal virgins kept their sacred fire at Rome, with superstitious care. Theophrastus (ap. Euseb. prÃ¦p. i. 9,) mentions the keeping of fire in the temples, as one of the most ancient rites of religion.

Ver. 11. Others; such as were worn on common occasions, out of the tabernacle. --- And shall, &c. Heb. has only, "unto a clean place," as the other versions and some Latin copies read. The meaning of the addition is, that all the bones, &c. must be perfectly reduced to dust, before they be carried out of the camp. C.

Ver. 12. Fat, along with the whole burnt-offering. M.

Ver. 13. The perpetual fire. This fire came from heaven, (infra chap. ix. 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. Ch. --- It must be fed by assiduous meditation on the Scripture and holy things. D.

Ver. 14. Sacrifice of flour, monee. C. ii. 1. --- And libations. These words are added, to shew that oil and wine accompanied this sacrifice.

Ver. 16. He. Only the priests, who were actually officiating, could partake of it. C.

Ver. 18. Lord. As long as this law shall be enforced. M. --- Sanctified. Theodoret (q. 5,) seems to assert, that all such were obliged to serve the altar in some function or other. If any unclean person touched the victims wilfully, he was slain; if, by mistake, the blood sprinkled a garment, it was to be washed, v. 27.

Ver. 20. Evening. And this shall continue as long as they are high priests, from the day of their consecration, (Josep. iii. 20.; Cajetan,) a perpetual sacrifice. C.

Ver. 22. Rightfully. According to the law, which decides that, if the first-born be deformed, the next shall succeed. C. xxi. 18. Heb. "the priest, of his sons, who is anointed in his stead, shall offer it." No mention is made of its being hot, either here or in the Sept. H.

Ver. 23. Sacrifice of flour, not of animals. Ex. xxix. 28.

Ver. 25. Sin of individuals. The victims offered by the priest, or by the whole people, were to be burnt. C. iv. 7.

Ver. 26. Tabernacle. No part shall be given to those who are not of the sacerdotal race. C.

Ver. 27. Place, in the court, that so it may be worn again. M.

Ver. 28. Sodden, or boiled. Such vessels, of private people, as had been used to boil part of the victim, (1 K ii. 13,) were either to be abandoned to the service of the altar, or broken, &c. C. --- Earthen vessels might imbibe some part of the consecrated juice. M.

Ver. 30. Fire. As they are the victims for the sins of the priest and of the people. C. iv. 6. 18. M.