John Calvin on Numbers 5:8

8 But if the man have no kinsman. This passage, which I have inserted from chapter 5 is connected “Depend bien de la matiere qui est traitee plus au long des larrecins:” depends indeed on the subject of theft which is treated more at length. — Fr. indeed with another subject, and yet, because it directly refers to the right of the priests, it was necessary to remove it to this place, especially since it expresses that kind of sacrifice which Moses has lately adverted to, i.e., when they expiated the crime of theft. God did not indeed desire that the priests should be enriched by others’ losses, nor that thieves should go free, if they offered what they had stolen to the priests; but, if there were no one to whom they could restore it, He would have their houses delivered from (the proceeds of) their sin; and with very good reason, since otherwise the very gross offender would have never hesitated to plunder the goods of a dead man, if he were without heirs. First, therefore, He commanded their property to be restored to the lawful owners; and, if they were dead, He substituted their kinsmen, who are called גאלים, goelim, on account of the right of redemption, which God granted in the Law to relatives, as we shall see elsewhere; and because he who was next of kin was commanded to marry the widow of one who had left no seed. It was therefore a very uncommon thing that a person who had defrauded another had to recompense the loss to the priest; for in most cases some successor to the dead man would be found.

Leviticus 7

Leviticus 7:6-10, 14, 31-36

6. Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy.

6. Omnis masculus in sacerdotibus comedet cam, in loco sancto comedetur, sanctificatio sanctifica tionum est.

7. As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it.

7. Sicut hostia pro peccato, sic hostia pro delicto, lex eadem illis: sacerdotis erit qui expiabit eum.

8. And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.

8. At sacerdos offerens hostiam holocausti alicujus, pellis holocausti quod obtulerit, sacerdotis ipsius erit.

9. And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it.

9. Omnis praeterea minha quae coquebatur in clibano, et omne praeparatum in sartagine et in craticula, erit sacerdotis offerentis illud.

10. And every meat offering mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another.

10. Omnis item minha mista oleo et arida, omnibus filiis Aharon erit erit unicuique sicut fratri suo.

14. ... it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace-offerings.

14. Panis sacerdotis spargentis sanguinem prosperitatum erit.

31. And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.

31. Et erit pectusculum illud Aharoni et filiis ejus.

32. And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

32. Armum autem dextrum dabitis ad elevationem sacerdoti de sacrificiis prosperitatum vestrarum.

33. He among the sons of Aaron that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for his part.

33. Qui offeret sanguinem prosperitatum, et adipem e filiis Aharonis, ipsius erit armus dexter in portionem.

34. For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest, and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.

34. Quia pectusculum agitationis, et armum elevationis tull a filiis Israel de sacrificiis prosperitatum suarum, et dedi illa Aharoni sacerdoti, et filiis ejus in statutum perpetuum a filiis Israel.

35. This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the LORD in the priest’s office;

35. Haec est unctio Aharon, et unctio filiorum ejus ex oblationibus ignitis Jehovae, a die qua accedere fecit cos ut sacerdotio fungerentur Jehovae:

36. Which the LORD commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations.

36. Quas praecepit Jehova ut darent eis a die qua unxit cos a filiis Israel statuto perpetuo in generationibus suis.