Leviticus 10:17-18

10:17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, ¹  to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord. 10:18 See here! ²  Its blood was not brought into the holy place within! ³  You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary just as I commanded!”

Numbers 18:9-10

18:9 Of all the most holy offerings reserved ⁴  from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 18:10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.

Ezekiel 44:28-29

44:28 “‘This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property. ⁵  44:29 They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs.

Ezekiel 46:20

46:20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out to the outer court to transmit holiness to the people.”

Hosea 4:8

4:8 They feed on the sin offerings of my people;

their appetites long for their iniquity!

[10:17]  ¹ sn This translation is quite literal. On the surface it appears to mean that the priests would “bear the iniquity” of the congregation by the act of eating the sin offering (so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:622-25, 635-40). Such a notion is, however, found nowhere else in the Levitical regulations and seems unlikely (so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 136). A more likely interpretation is reflected in this interpretive rendering: “he gave it to you [as payment] for [your work of] bearing the iniquity of the congregation.” The previous section of the chapter deals with the prebends that the priests received for performing the ministry of the tabernacle (Lev 10:12-15). Lev 10:16-18, therefore, seems to continue the very same topic in the light of the most immediate situation (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:702-4).

[10:18]  ² tn Or “Behold!” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[10:18]  ³ sn The term here rendered “within” refers to the bringing of the blood inside the holy place for application to the altar of incense rather than to the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard of the tabernacle (cf. Lev 4:7, 16-18; 6:30 [23 HT]).

[18:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned.

[44:28]  ⁵ sn See Num 18:20; Deut 10:9; 18:2; Josh 13:33; 18:7.