22:3
If a priest is ceremonially unclean yet still “comes near the sacred offerings”, then he is to be cut off from the Lord’s presence. We need to note that the issue here is not becoming ceremonially unclean, but knowingly going near the sacred offerings knowing you are ceremonially unclean. Things will inevitably happen to make a person ceremonially unclean, as the next few verses will illustrate, and proper steps can be taken.
22:4-8
We now get examples of ways in which a priest could become unclean. These include: having a defiling skin disease; a bodily discharge, touching something defiled by a corpse, or by someone who had an emission of semen. Earlier chapters in Leviticus gave details on all these matters. Further examples include touching a crawling thing. Also a priest must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals. If a priest did become unclean he had to wait until he was clean before resuming his normal priestly duties. This often involved bathing and waiting until evening.
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