Exodus 29:37

29:37 For seven days ¹  you are to make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy. Then the altar will be most holy. ²  Anything that touches the altar will be holy. ³ 

Leviticus 6:18

6:18 Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. It is a perpetual allotted portion ⁴  throughout your generations ⁵  from the gifts of the Lord. Anyone who touches these gifts ⁶  must be holy.’” ⁷ 

Matthew 23:17

23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?

Matthew 23:19

23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

¹ tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.

² tn The construction is the superlative genitive: “holy of holies,” or “most holy.”

³ sn This line states an unusual principle, meant to preserve the sanctity of the altar. S. R. Driver explains it this way (Exodus, 325): If anything comes in contact with the altar, it becomes holy and must remain in the sanctuary for Yahweh’s use. If a person touches the altar, he likewise becomes holy and cannot return to the profane regions. He will be given over to God to be dealt with as God pleases. Anyone who was not qualified to touch the altar did not dare approach it, for contact would have meant that he was no longer free to leave but was God’s holy possession – and might pay for it with his life (see Exod 30:29; Lev 6:18b, 27; and Ezek 46:20).

⁴ tn Or “a perpetual regulation”; cf. NASB “a permanent ordinance”; NRSV “as their perpetual due.”

⁵ tn Heb “for your generations”; cf. NIV “for the generations to come.”

⁶ tn Heb “touches them”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In this context “them” must refer to the “gifts” of the Lord.

⁷ tn Or “anyone/anything that touches them shall become holy” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:443-56). The question is whether this refers to the contagious nature of holy objects (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or whether it simply sets forth a demand that anyone who touches the holy gifts of the Lord must be a holy person (cf. CEV). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:900-902.