Leviticus 22:25
| You shall not offer bread to your God, from the hand of a stranger, nor any other thing that he would give: because they are all corrupted, and defiled: you shall not receive them.
| Bread, which always accompanies the sacrifices for sin. Holocausts might be offered by the Gentiles. (2 Machabees 3:3.; 1 Esdras 6:9.) (Josephus, Antiquities 18:7.; Selden, Jur. 3:4, 7.) --- Them. To reconcile this with ver. 18, we must understand because in the sense of in as much as; they are all corrupted, when contrary to these regulations. The strangers shall not be allowed to offer any blemished victim. Hebrew, "Neither from the hand of a stranger shall you offer the bread (or victims) of your God of any of these; because....blemishes are in them: they shall not be accepted (by God) for you (or them)." The Chaldean and other versions explain it in the same sense. Presents of gold, etc., were accepted, and kept in the temple. The family of Augustus shewed their generosity in this respect. (Philo, Legat.) (Calmet) --- Strangers, or pagans, could not offer victims, but they might give money to purchase them. (Tirinus)
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