Leviticus 22

A person ritually unclean was not supposed to touch another person or go to the worship center because they ritually defiled whatever they touched. Israelites were able to get ritually clean again by following a set of procedures that included bathing, washing their clothes, getting sprinkled with “water of purification” (Numbers 19), and waiting for a stretch of time, often seven days.

More literally, the person “should be removed from the community” or “cut off.” This is a consequence repeated throughout these early books of the Bible. It’s unclear how and by whom the offenders were removed. Perhaps they could no longer worship at the tent worship center, or they lost their rights as citizens of this emerging nation that Moses seemed to be organizing. Maybe they were executed. Or perhaps the community let God deal with the person. Scholars seem uncertain about what happened.

Aaron’s descendants were designated as Israel’s priests. So, the priests had to come from Aaron’s family. The broader tribe of Levi became the Levites who assisted priests in leading worship rituals for the people.

The original Hebrew word has often been translated as leprosy. But writers used that same Hebrew word to talk about a lot of different skin disorders, most of which are far less critical than leprosy, known today as Hansen’s disease. Hansen’s disease is an infection caused by bacteria, which produces light patches on the skin and numbs the nerves to pain. Lepers sometimes injure themselves and fail to get treatment because they can’t feel the pain. Infection sets in and body parts are amputated. Skin diseases reported in the Bible may often have been what we know today as a simple rash or perhaps eczema or psoriasis.

Priests were assigned part of the meat presented to the LORD in sacrificial offerings. They got to cook and eat it. The LORD considered this part of the offering as “especially sacred” (Leviticus 2:3). In a peace offering, the officiating priest was given some of the best cuts of meat: the breast and the right thigh (Leviticus 7:34). In some sin offerings, the priest and associate priests and families ate most of the animal (Leviticus 6:26). Just a few parts were burned on the altar as an offering. For more, see the note for Leviticus 17:5.

Leviticus 15:16.

This was the most common sacrifice. Worshipers burned the entire animal. Burnt offering instructions: “Take the animal to the north side of the altar. Kill it there on this sacred site of the LORD. Aaron’s sons, the priests, will take some of the blood and splash it on all four sides of the altar. Cut the animal into pieces, including the head and the fat. A priest will set them onto the fire on the altar” (Leviticus 1:11-12). See also Leviticus 1:3-13; 6:1-6.

Such as a peace offering, Leviticus 3.