9:20. They put upon the b.r.e.a.s.t.s. And after the fat was burnt upon the altar,
9:21. Aaron separated their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and the right shoulders, elevating them before the Lord, as Moses had commanded.
9:22. And stretching forth his hands to the people, he blessed them. And so the victims for sin, and the holocausts, and the peace offerings being finished, he came down.
9:23. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the testimony, and afterwards came forth and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the mult.i.tude.
9:24. And, behold, a fire, coming forth from the Lord, devoured the holocaust, and the fat that was upon the altar: which when the mult.i.tude saw, they praised the Lord, falling on their faces.
Leviticus Chapter 10
Nadab and Abiu for offering strange fire, are burnt by fire. Priests are forbidden to drink wine, when they enter into the tabernacle. The law of eating the holy things.
10:1. And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them.
10:2. And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them: and they died before the Lord.
10:3. And Moses said to Aaron: This is what the Lord hath spoken. I will be sanctified in them that approach to me: and I will be glorified in the sight of all the people. And when Aaron heard this, he held his peace.
10:4. And Moses called Misael and Elisaphan, the sons of Oziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them: Go and take away your brethren from before the sanctuary, and carry them without the camp.
10:5. And they went forthwith and took them as they lay, vested with linen tunicks, and cast them forth, as had been commanded them.
10:6. And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons: Uncover not your heads, and rend not your garments, lest perhaps you die, and indignation come upon all the congregation. Let your brethren, and all the house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled.
10:7. But you shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle: otherwise you shall perish, for the oil of the holy unction is on you. And they did all things according to the precept of Moses.
10:8. The Lord also said to Aaron:
10:9. You shall not drink wine nor any thing that may make drunk, thou nor thy sons, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest you die. Because it is an everlasting precept; through your generations:
10:10. And that you may have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean:
10:11. And may teach the children of Israel all my ordinances which the Lord hath spoken to them by the hand of Moses.
10:12. And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons that were left: Take the sacrifice that is remaining of the oblation of the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is holy of holies.
10:13. And you shall eat it in a holy place: which is given to thee and thy sons of the oblations of the Lord, as it hath been commanded me.
10:14. The breast also that is offered, and the shoulder that is separated, you shall eat in a most clean place, thou and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee. For they are set aside for thee and thy children, of the victims of peace offerings of the children of Israel.
10:15. Because they have elevated before the Lord the shoulder and the breast, and the fat that is burnt on the altar: and they belong to thee and to thy sons by a perpetual law, as the Lord hath commanded.
10:16. While these things were a doing, when Moses sought for the buck goat, that had been offered for sin, he found it burnt. And being angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron that were left, he said:
10:17. Why did you not eat in the holy place the sacrifice for sin, which is most holy, and given to you, that you may bear the iniquity of the people, and may pray for them in the sight of the Lord.
10:18. Especially, whereas none of the blood thereof hath been carried within the holy places: and you ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as was commanded me?
10:19. Aaron answered: This day hath been offered the victim for sin, and the holocaust before the Lord: and to me what thou seest has happened. How could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart?
10:20. Which when Moses had heard he was satisfied.
Leviticus Chapter 11
The distinction of clean and unclean animals.
11:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
11:2. Say to the children of Israel: These are the animals which you are to eat of all the living things of the earth.
Animals which you are to eat, etc... The prohibition of so many kinds of beasts, birds, and fishes, in the law, was ordered, 1st, to exercise the people in obedience, and temperance; 2ndly, to restrain them from the vices of which these animals were symbols; 3rdly, because the things here forbidden were for the most part unwholesome, and not proper to be eaten; 4thly, that the people of G.o.d, by being obliged to abstain from things corporally unclean, might be trained up to seek a spiritual cleanness.
11:3. Whatsoever hath the hoof divided, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, you shall eat.
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 G.o.d; 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.
11:4. But whatsoever cheweth indeed the cud, and hath a hoof, but divideth it not, as the camel, and others: that you shall not eat, but shall reckon it among the unclean.
11:5. The cherogrillus which cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, is unclean.
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.
11:6. The hare also: for that too cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof.
11:7. And the swine, which, though it divideth the hoof, cheweth not the cud.
11:8. The flesh of these you shall not eat, nor shall you touch their carca.s.ses, because they are unclean to you.
11:9. These are the things that breed in the waters, and which it is lawful to eat. All that hath fins, and scales, as well in the sea, as in the rivers, and the pools, you shall eat.
11:10. But whatsoever hath not fins and scales, of those things that move and live in the waters, shall be an abomination to you,
11:11. And detestable. Their flesh you shall not eat: and their carca.s.ses you shall avoid.
11:12. All that have not fins and scales, in the waters, shall be unclean.
11:13. Of birds these are they which you must not eat, and which are to be avoided by you: The eagle, and the griffon, and the osprey.
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.
11:14. And the kite, and the vulture, according to their kind.
11:15. And all that is of the raven kind, according to their likeness.
11:16. The ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind.
11:17. The screech owl, and the cormorant, and the ibis.