Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses.] See on Leviticus 4:1.
Ver. 2. Against the Lord.] As David in defiling his neighbour’s wife, and afterwards killing him, is said to have “despised the commandment of the Lord, and to have done evil in his sight,” (2 Samuel 12:9) which also he penitently acknowledgeth. (Psalms 51:4) Sin is properly against none but God, being a transgression of his law. Hence the manslayer was confined to the city of refuge as to a prison, during the life of the high priest; as being, saith one, the chief god on earth. That was a true position of the Pelagians, Omne peccatum est contemptus Dei, that every sin is a contempt of God. (Proverbs 18:3) In fellowship.] Heb., In putting of the hand. It is said in Job, (Job 8:20, marg.) that “God will not take a wicked man by the hand,” i.e., he will have no fellowship with him. Godw., Heb. Antiq., p. 98. Dextram coniungere dextrae.
Ver. 3. And lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely.] Through inordinate love of money, that “root of all evil”; but such money shall perish with them. (Zechariah 5:3) Quid non mortalia pectora cogit auri sacra fames? ηη φιλοχρηματιη μητηρ κακοτητος απασης.
Ver. 4. And is guilty.] Found guilty by a self-condemning conscience; which now, like Samson’s wife, conceals not the riddle, but tells all; as she said of our Saviour in John 4:29.
Ver. 5. In the day of his trespass offering.] Before he compass God’s altar. See Matthew 5:23, [See Trapp on “Mt 5:23”]
Ver. 6. With thy estimation,] i.e, As thou shalt value it. Moses did the priest’s office for present. He was likewise a prophet, (Deuteronomy 18:15) and king in Jeshurun, (Deuteronomy 33:5) and so became a type of Christ, that true Trismegist, the Priest, Prophet, and Prince. (Daniel 9:25)
Ver. 7. Shall make an atonement.] Through the sacrifice of Christ. (Hebrews 10:1,4,10,14)
Ver. 9. All night unto the morning.] God must be thought upon in the night season. (Psalms 4:4) David willingly brake his sleep to do it. (Psalms 119:62) “The day is thine, the night also is thine,” saith he. (Psalms 74:16)
Ver. 10. Beside the altar.] On the east side farthest from the sanctuary, (Leviticus 1:16) in reverence of the Divine Majesty.
Ver. 11. Unto a clean place.] Because they came from the Lord’s holy house. See the contrary commanded concerning the stones and dust of a leprous house. (Leviticus 14:40)
Ver. 12. It shall not be put out.] No more should our faith, love, zeal (that flame of God, as Solomon calls it, Song of Solomon 8:9), that should never go out; the waters should not quench it, nor the ashes cover it. (Song of Solomon 8:10 2 Timothy 1:6)
Ver. 13. The fire shall ever be burning.] The Gentiles, by an apish imitation hereof, had their vestal fire, salted meal, and many other sacred rites. Basil chargeth the devil as “a thief of the truth,” in that he had decked his crows with her feathers.
Ver. 14. The law of the meat offering.] Besides what is set down in Leviticus 2:1,2. Thus one text explains another; as the diamond is brightened with its own dust.
Ver. 15. Even the memorial.] [See Trapp on “Le 2:2”]
Ver. 16. Shall Aaron and his sons eat.] See 1 Corinthians 9:13,14. [See Trapp on “1Co 9:13”] [See Trapp on “1Co 9:14”]
Ver. 17. It shall not be baken with leaven.] Which is, (1.) souring; (2.) swelling; (3.) spreading; (4.) impuring.
Ver. 18. Shall be holy.] God “will be sanctified in all that draw near unto him.” “ … Procul hinc, procul este profani. ”
Ver. 20. When he is anointed,] i.e., When any high priest: for he only was anointed, (Exodus 29:7) on the head at least.
Ver. 21. In a pan.] Figuring out the sufferings of Christ, who was so parched with the fire of afflictions for our sins.
Ver. 22. Of his sons,] i.e., The eldest, if he have no deformity or impediment, to make him incapable of the priesthood.
Ver. 23. It shall not be eaten.] To teach the high priest to look for salvation out of himself.
Ver. 25. In the place,] i.e., At the north side of the altar. And why [See Trapp on “Le 5:9”]
Ver. 26. Shall eat it.] Except in that case, Leviticus 6:30.
Ver. 27. Shall be holy.] This taught a holy use of the mystery of our redemption: for the sin offering in special sort figured Christ.
Ver. 28. But the earthen vessel.] So contagious a thing is sin, that it defileth the very visible heaven and earth: which therefore must be likewise purged by the last fire, as the earthen pot which held the sin offering was broken, and the brazen scoured and rinsed in water.
Ver. 29. It is most holy.] Heb., Holy of holies. The Greek addeth, unto the Lord.
Ver. 30. And no sin offerlng.] Here the ordinary gloss makes this observation, Remissionem dare, Dei solius est, qui per ignem significatur. That to pardon sin belongs to God alone, who is a consuming fire. The Rhemists tell us of a man that could remove mountains: of which they may as soon persuade us, as that their priests have as full power to pardon sins as Christ had. One of their priests meeting with a man troubled in mind, told him that their religion afforded more comfort to the conscience than ours; and that because it had, and exercised a power to pardon sin, which our ministers neither did nor durst assume to themselves. Rhem. Annot. in Job xx. see. 3. Ley’s Pattern of Piety, p. 145.