And the flesh that toucheth anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. And as to the flesh, all that are clean may eat [the] flesh.
Leviticus 7:19 sits inside the law of the peace offering — the one sacrifice that God, the priest, and the worshipper all shared as a meal. The verse draws two lines: meat touched by anything unclean must be burned, and the table is open to all who are clean.
One writer contrasts it with the burnt offering and the sin offering:
The burnt offering was for God alone. The sin offering was not for every Israelite to eat either. The peace offering was different: every Israelite could eat it, as long as he was clean. Of the peace offering it says: "All who are clean may eat flesh" (Lev. 7:19). This supports the thought that the peace offering speaks of fellowship.
Another writer notes what that meal did to the person who shared it:
The people ate of one offering only, and that was the peace offering. Leviticus 7:19 says of this peace offering: "All who are clean may eat flesh." The one who ate of the peace offering was in communion with the altar.
The first half of the verse deals with the meat itself, not the eater. One writer points out how little it took to spoil that meat:
The priest and the man who brought the peace offering both had the privilege of eating it. Yet if that meat touched anything unclean, no one was to eat it (v. 19). The link with uncleanness was enough to defile it. If the meat was clean, those who were clean could eat it.
The defiled meat was burned, not rescued. One commentator carries that holiness over into what believers sing to God:
So holiness must moderate, guard and govern the joy of fellowship. "Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned up with fire." Being too casual with God is an offence when we express praise and blessing. What is it to sing to God words we know are neither true nor fitting? We are under a solemn duty to see it gone!
The second half of the verse opens the table wide. One writer holds that welcome and its one condition together:
Every Israelite could be invited to share the feast. But one condition would not bend: he must be clean… Grace leaves us free to enjoy fellowship with the LORD, with Christ the Priest, with all His priests and with the simplest of His people. Yet we are just as bound to refuse everything irreverent and everything sinful. If we bring into that fellowship what offends God's nature and will, we do it at our own risk before Him. He will not fail to vindicate Himself and His word.
Verse 19 already turns on contact. One writer separates two kinds of defilement in the verses just after it:
Verse 20 deals with a person's own uncleanness… Anyone who is evil in life or wrong in teaching cannot take part in the breaking of bread. Verse 21, though, speaks of "touching". That points to defilement through association. An Israelite might be clean in himself. But if he had contact with anything unclean, he could not eat the peace offering.
The same writer moves from the meat to the eater, and names the penalty:
But if someone ate this offering while he was unclean, he was to be "cut off from his people" (v. 20). Death may seem a harsh sentence for this. Yet the Lord means to press on us how serious it is to pretend we have fellowship with Him while we go on in sinful ways.
Commentators separate the penalty under the law from the remedy God gives now:
See what care God took to guard His people from trying what His nature must reject… Under law, death was the penalty if an unclean person ate the peace offering, because that offering belonged to the Lord. Under grace, we are told to confess our sins, and communion will be restored (1 John 1:9).
- Feast — God, priest and worshipper all shared the peace offering. To eat it was to be in fellowship with the altar.
- Open — the invitation was as wide as the nation. Any Israelite could be asked to the meal.
- Clean — the welcome carried one condition that would not bend: the eater had to be clean.
- Contact — meat that only touched something unclean was burned. Association by itself defiles.
- Restored — under law, an unclean eater was cut off. Under grace, confession brings communion back.
But the soul that eateth the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offering which is for Jehovah, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples.
The peace offering was not a sacrifice you only watched. It was a meal you sat down to, shared with God Himself. This verse sets one condition on the guest. The penalty for ignoring it sounds far heavier than the offence.
The table was open, but not to everyone.
It is the shared food of those gathered as worshippers, to feast on in Jehovah's presence. But if anyone unclean ate this sacrifice, he was to be cut off from the people (Lev. 7:20). Only as clean people could they meet with Jehovah in this way. Only those already cleansed and accepted can share this delight in the Lord Jesus. He is given as a shared object of communion and enjoyment between God and us, and with one another. In this act, our worship is not merely coming to ask about our acceptance. We already have access, so we come to rejoice with God over the sacrifice, knowing its results. It was a thanksgiving offering, and praise was in it. It all rests on the certainty that full satisfaction has already been made.
Every Israelite had a right to be at this feast by birth. Yet birth alone did not qualify anyone to eat. His condition did.
Every Israelite could be invited to share the feast, but one condition was fixed: he must be clean… By grace we are free to enjoy fellowship with Jehovah, with Christ the Priest, with all His priests, and with the very simplest of His people. If that is so, we are bound to refuse all irreverence and all sin. If we bring into that fellowship what offends God's nature and will, we do so at our own risk before Him. He will certainly defend Himself and His word. To be a Christian, however real, is not enough on its own — essential as it is. In 1 Corinthians 11:27 the apostle is not speaking of people at the table who are unworthy or unconverted. He is speaking of eating and drinking the Lord's supper in an unworthy way.
Being "cut off" reads as an extreme response to a meal. The seriousness lies in the pretence, not in the food.
If one ate of this offering while he was unclean, he was to be "cut off from his people" (v. 20). Death may seem a harsh sentence for such a thing. But the Lord wants to impress on us how serious it is to pretend to have fellowship with Him while living in sinful practices.
This verse and the next are not repetition. One speaks of a man carrying his own uncleanness. The next speaks of a man who has touched something unclean.
Verse 20 deals with a person's own uncleanness… Anyone who is evil in life, or wrong in what he teaches, cannot take part in the Breaking of Bread. In v. 21, however, "touching" is mentioned. That reminds us of defilement through association. An Israelite might have been clean in himself. Should he have contact with anything unclean, he could not eat of the peace offering.
The rule is often turned into a test of whether a person belongs to God at all. That was not the question the unclean Israelite faced.
The people were not examining themselves to see if they were Israelites. That was settled by their birth. Nor do we examine ourselves to find out whether we are children of God, for that was settled for ever when we were born of God by faith in Christ Jesus. But an Israelite who had uncleanness on him, because he had touched something defiling, had to be cleansed from it and made clean before he ate of the peace offering. In the same way, we have to be clean when we come to the Lord's table.
The holiness behind the command has not changed. What has changed is how God deals with the one who fails.
See what care God took to guard His people from attempting what His nature must reject. It was not simply that they would fail in what they sought. They would provoke God, who is light, to act in judgment against them, because He is holy. Under law, death was the penalty if anyone unclean ate of the peace offering, for it belonged to the Lord. Under grace, we are told to confess our sins, and communion will be restored (1 John 1:9).
- Invited. The peace offering was food shared between God and His people. Every Israelite had a place at it by birth.
- Conditioned. The invitation carried one inflexible requirement: the guest must be clean. Belonging did not override condition.
- Two ways. Uncleanness could be personal (v. 20), or caught by contact with something unclean (v. 21). Either one kept a man from the meal.
- Serious. Being cut off measures one offence: claiming fellowship with God while holding on to what He rejects.
- Cleansed. The question at the table is not whether you are His. It is whether you are clean. Under grace, confession restores communion rather than ending it.
And if any one touch anything unclean, the uncleanness of man, or unclean beast, or any unclean abomination, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offering, which is for Jehovah, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples.
Leviticus 7:21 ends the law of the peace offering with a warning: touch anything unclean, then eat the sacrifice, and you are cut off from your people. Why does one contact shut a man out of a feast that was open to the whole nation?
The peace offering was a meal, shared out among several parties. That sharing is the point.
In the peace offering God has His share. Christ (the High Priest) has His share. The individual offerer has his share. And the family of priests (all believers) have their share. So sharing together in the enjoyment of the sacrifice of Christ stands out as a mark of the peace offering.
The invitation was wide. The condition was not.
Every Israelite could be invited to share the feast, but one condition could not be bent: he had to be clean… Grace leaves us free to enjoy fellowship with the LORD, with Christ the Priest, with all His priests, and with the very simplest of His people. So we are bound to refuse everything irreverent and everything evil.
Verse 20 and verse 21 are not saying the same thing twice. The first deals with what a man is; the second with what he has touched.
Verse 20 deals with someone's personal uncleanness… Anyone whose life is evil, or whose teaching is wrong, cannot take part in the Lord's Supper. Verse 21, though, speaks of "touching." That reminds us of defilement through association. An Israelite might be clean in himself. But if he had contact with anything unclean, he could not eat of the peace offering.
Grant applies the same rule to the Christian today.
This was not a question of personal uncleanness, but simply of association with uncleanness. So today, across the Christian world, countless cases of unclean doctrine and practice have come in. The Christian is warned, "Go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you" (2 Cor. 6:17).
Leaven was allowed at this feast. Uncleanness was not. Mackintosh explains the difference.
Here we have two things clearly set before us: sin in us, and sin on us. God permitted "leaven," because there was sin in the worshipper's nature. God forbade "uncleanness," because there should be no sin on the worshipper's conscience. If sin is in question, communion must be out of the question. God has met and provided for the sin He knows is in us, by the blood of atonement… The cutting off of the worshipper for ceremonial uncleanness answers to the suspension of the believer's communion now, because of unconfessed sin.
Being cut off looks out of proportion to the offence until you see what the offence claims to be.
Death may seem a harsh sentence for such a thing, but the Lord intends to press upon us the seriousness of pretending to have fellowship with Him while indulging in sinful practices.
The risk was not only that such a man would fail in what he came for.
See what care God took to guard His people from attempting what His nature must reject. It was not only that they would fail in what they came for. They would also provoke God, who is light, to judge them, because He is holy. Under law, death was the penalty if anyone unclean ate the peace offering, for it belonged to the LORD. Under grace, our part is to confess our sins, and communion will be restored (1 John 1:9).
The same principle reached the church at Corinth.
God's hand in discipline had removed some of the Corinthians for a sin that was, in principle, like the one Leviticus 7:21 warned Israel against.
Kelly presses the same point:
Being a Christian, however real, is not enough on its own, essential as it is. In 1 Corinthians 11:27 the apostle is not speaking of unworthy or unconverted people at the table, but of eating and drinking the Lord's Supper "in an unworthy manner."
- Feast. The peace offering is a shared meal. God, the priest, the offerer and the priestly family each have a portion. So this verse is about fellowship at God's table, not about forgiveness.
- Touch. Verse 20 shuts a man out from the table for what he is. Verse 21 shuts him out for what he has touched. Defilement travels by association.
- Distinction. Leaven was allowed in the offering; uncleanness was not. The blood covers sin in the worshipper. Sin on the conscience keeps him from the table.
- Sentence. Being cut off is severe because the offence is severe. It claims fellowship with God while holding on to what defiles.
- Restoration. Under law the penalty was death. Under grace, writers point out, confession is the way back to the table.