Commentaria in Exodum
A STRANGER (who is not of the stock of Aaron, even though he be of the stock of Levi) SHALL NOT EAT OF THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE HOLY.—Because these loaves were offered to God for the consecration, not of the Levites, but of the priests.
34. AND IF THERE REMAIN OF THE CONSECRATED FLESH, OR OF THE LOAVES UNTIL MORNING, YOU SHALL BURN THE REMAINDER WITH FIRE; IT SHALL NOT BE EATEN, BECAUSE IT IS SANCTIFIED.—Here God gives the reason why by this ceremonial law He ordains that what has been sanctified to Him, that is, offered, shall not be eaten on the next day. As if He said: Holy things, that they may be distinguished from profane, require a peculiar ceremony; and that I may mark and define this distinction by some fitting observance, I will and ordain that the holy flesh and loaves be eaten on the same day on which they were offered to God by the priests, and by them alone; if anything remain on the second day, let it not be eaten, but burnt; for it is not fitting that they be given to dogs or to profane men; nor is it consistent with My dignity, or with that of the holy flesh, that on the second day it be set before the priests, now stale, who on the preceding day had eaten it fresh, with some loathing, or at least with less reverence. It was otherwise ordained in the sacrifices of the common people; for their flesh might be eaten on the second day, but not on the third, Levit. vii, 16. But because the flesh of the priests was held to be more holy, and to commend the greater sanctity of the priests, therefore God permits them not even on the second day to eat of it. The like was said of the paschal lamb, chap. xii, verse 10.
Anagogically, St. Cyril, book XI On Adoration in Spirit, fol. 230: Of the sacrifices, he says, nothing is kept until the second day, because in the world to come we shall have another manner than by sacrifices of offering ourselves and being united to God, when Christ shall be with us, and that which is in part shall be done away; for then God shall be all in all.
35. SEVEN DAYS SHALT THOU CONSECRATE THEIR HANDS, etc.—It is here commanded that in the consecration of the priests, during seven days, these four things be done daily: first, that the hands of the priests be anointed; secondly, that the calf be immolated; thirdly, that the altar be cleansed; fourthly, that the altar be anointed. God ordained these things both to complete the consecration of the priests, and also to initiate, and as it were consecrate, the new altar of holocausts.
Josephus adds that on these seven days repeated sprinklings were made of the priestly vestments, and likewise of the tabernacle and the sacred vessels, with oil and with the blood of bulls and rams, which were slain on alternate days. But this does not sufficiently agree with the Scripture here, which commands a calf alone to be immolated on each day, and not a bull and a ram alternately.
36. AND THOU SHALT ANOINT IT TO SANCTIFY IT,—thou shalt anoint it that it may be holy and consecrated to God.
37. AND IT SHALL BE MOST HOLY,—it shall be the holiest.
WHOSOEVER SHALL TOUCH IT SHALL BE SANCTIFIED.—That is, he ought to be sanctified, lest a profane man touch things so holy. For what some say, that the altar sanctified whatever touched it, is universally false; nay, a polluted thing, if it touched a holy thing, defiled it; but on the contrary a holy thing touching a polluted thing did not by its contact sanctify it. See Num. xix, verses 13, 14 and 22, where the water of purification is prescribed, made from the ashes of the red heifer, with which the unclean were bound to expiate and sanctify themselves before they touched or handled sacred things.
38. THIS IS WHAT THOU SHALT OFFER UPON THE ALTAR,—as if He said: To this chiefly I will have this altar of holocausts erected, that thou mayest do upon it, that is, immolate (for this the Hebrew word signifies, as also the Latin facio is used at times, as in “When I shall do a calf for the fruits, let him come himself”), a perpetual and continual sacrifice or holocaust of two lambs daily, namely one in the morning and the other in the evening; whence from this more worthy and more frequent sacrifice it is called the altar of holocausts, although other victims also, both peace-offerings and sin-offerings, were immolated upon it.
Here, then, is described the sacrifice which the Hebrews daily sacrificed, namely a lamb in the morning and the other lamb in the evening, of which Numbers 28:3, that both morning and evening this victim might worship God, and that they might offer to Him both the first-fruits and the end of the day; and hence this sacrifice is called the morning and the evening sacrifice, of which the Psalmist and Prophet often makes mention.
Note first: This lamb had to be like the paschal lamb, namely a yearling and without blemish, as is plain from Numbers 28:3. Secondly, with the lamb was offered the tenth part of an ephi of fine flour sprinkled with oil, which oil had to be the fourth part of the measure hin; the same measure of wine, namely the fourth part of a hin, was to be poured out in libation with the lamb, that is, to be poured forth in honour of God. For this sacrifice was as a perpetual and daily banquet of God, consisting of the flesh of the lamb, bread of fine flour, and wine; for in a banquet both drink and food are required. Thirdly, this perpetual sacrifice was offered at the public expense, says Josephus, Antiquities, book 3, chap. 10. Fourthly, it was omitted on no day, even if on that day some feast should fall, as the new moon, the sabbath, the pasch, and so on, on which, according to the nature of the feast, other victims were to be immolated, as is plain from Numbers chap. 28, verse 9.
St. Bernard, sermons 2 and 4 On the Purification, understands by the morning lamb the infant Christ presented and offered in the temple at the feast of the Purification; by the evening lamb he understands Christ now a man, immolated at the end of His life on the cross. So St. Cyprian, book 2, epistle 3 to Cecilius, teaches that the evening lamb prefigured not only the death of Christ on the cross, but also the time of His death; for Christ died toward evening. Tropologically, the perpetual sacrifice is the morning and evening prayer, which every faithful person ought daily to offer to God; likewise the sacrifice of the Mass, which those who can should hear daily, that in it they may offer Christ, the true Lamb, immolated to God the Father. So St. Clement, book 2 of the Apostolic Constitutions, chap. 26, admonishes Christians to go to church to pray both morning and evening. “Be not absent,” he says, “from the Church of Christ; rising to it in the morning, before you begin any work, and again go to it in the evening, to give thanks to God for the things for which He has granted you life.” This even now the more religious Christians observe, who, as soon as they have risen in the morning, before they begin their work, go to church, and if they can hear Mass. The same St. Monica did daily, as her Life, taken from St. Augustine, relates.
Where note: Daily first was immolated the perpetual morning sacrifice; after it, however, the others were immolated. But the perpetual evening sacrifice was immolated last, after all the others; whence it was burned on the altar the whole night, as God ordains, Leviticus 6:9.
Our Toletus briefly assigns five fruits of this thing, in the Summa, book 6, chap. 10: “The first,” he says, “is an increase of grace; for he who is in grace, by hearing Mass obtains an increase of grace, both because he offers, and because for him also the sacrifice is offered.
Secondly, he obtains the remission of the temporal punishment due for sins. Thirdly, what he asks he more easily obtains: for he offers to God the Father a most acceptable offering, namely Christ. Fourthly, acts of virtues are exercised, and chiefly of three, which are of great merit, namely Faith, Charity and Religion. Fifthly, a man appears in the presence of Christ; and in the manner in which he can, namely by faith, he sees Christ present, and has and obtains what he would obtain if he saw Him, provided he asks in the due manner, as the blind man obtained.” The same is delivered more fully by our Suarez, tome 3 on the 3rd part, disputation 79, section 8, § 4, who moreover piously and probably holds that those who assist at Mass (whom he reckons also to be offerers) obtain by the work done their own proper fruit, even if the priest by his intention apply no such fruit to them. For these reasons St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury,