“They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the LORD do sanctify them.”
My Notes
What Does Leviticus 22:9 Mean?
"They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the LORD do sanctify them." God warns the priests about the consequences of mishandling sacred duties. The phrase "bear sin for it" means to carry the guilt-burden of their violation. The penalty for profaning holy things is death — not arbitrary punishment but the natural consequence of unholy contact with the holy. God takes the sanctity of his own system seriously.
The closing phrase — "I the LORD do sanctify them" — is the theological anchor. God is the source of the priests' holiness. He sanctifies them. They didn't make themselves holy; he did. And if they profane what he sanctified, they bear the weight of violating something they didn't create but were entrusted to protect.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What has God sanctified in your life that you might be treating as ordinary?
- 2.How do you maintain the sacredness of things God has set apart when daily life makes everything feel common?
- 3.What does it mean that the holiness was given to you, not generated by you?
- 4.Where have you been profaning something sacred — and what would restoration look like?
Devotional
God sanctified them. They didn't sanctify themselves. And the thing God sanctified, they must not profane. The holiness came from him. The responsibility to maintain it falls on them.
There's a pattern here that extends far beyond Levitical priesthood. God gives you something holy — a calling, a relationship, a position of influence, a trust, a gift. He sanctifies it. He sets it apart. And then he says: keep it. Don't profane it. Don't treat what I've made sacred as if it were common.
The penalty seems harsh — death for profanation. But consider what profanation actually is: taking something God has consecrated and treating it as ordinary. Handling the sacred with the same carelessness you'd handle the mundane. Using what God set apart for glory as if it were a tool for your convenience. The death warning isn't about a vindictive God. It's about the seriousness of what you've been entrusted with.
"I the LORD do sanctify them." That's the key. The holiness wasn't theirs to begin with. It was given. And when you profane something you were given — when you treat a gift as a toy, a calling as a career move, a sacred trust as a personal convenience — you're not just messing up. You're violating something that belongs to the God who gave it.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
They shall therefore keep mine ordinance,.... The observance of my word, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, of his…
Those that had a natural blemish, though they were forbidden to do the priests' work, were yet allowed to eat of the…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture