John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 22:10

"There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest`s, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing." — Leviticus 22:10 (ASV)

There shall no stranger. It was also necessary to add this, so that the majesty of sacred things might not be impaired. For if it had been indiscriminately permitted for everyone to eat the sacred bread and the other offerings, the people would have immediately inferred that these did not differ from ordinary food.

And unless the greed of the priests had been prevented in this way,¹⁹⁵ an unworthy trade would have prevailed, for banquets would have been set up for sale, and the priest’s house would have become a kind of food market. The prohibition, therefore, that the food offered in sacrifice should not be eaten by strangers, was not made so much with reference to them as to the priests, who would have otherwise driven a profitable trade with the offerings or, by pleasing their guests, would not have hesitated to bring disrepute on the whole service of God.

Consequently, the Law prohibits either a sojourner or a hired servant from eating them, and only gives this permission to their slaves and those who were part of their households. Moreover, He counts the priests’ daughters who had married into another tribe as aliens.

The overall point is that whatever pertains to the service of God should receive its proper reverence; nor could this be the case if what was offered in the temple were not distinguished from common food. Since they were human beings, they were allowed to sustain themselves in the ordinary way; yet this distinction was necessary, as it would reflect something of the sanctity of Christ. This was the cleanness of the priests regarding food.

¹⁹⁵ “Ils eussent ttenu foire et marche des viandes, qui leurs fussent demeurees de residu, ce qui n’eust pas este sans grand opprobre:” they would have kept fair and market of the meats which remained over to them, which could not have taken place without much scandal. — :” they would have kept fair and market of the meats which remained over to them, which could not have taken place without much scandal. — Fr..