John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 22:14

"And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give unto the priest the holy thing." — Leviticus 22:14 (ASV)

And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly. A question may arise here, why God would require restitution to be made to the priests, if anyone had eaten of the offerings; for they deserved punishment rather than reward, if they had allowed sacred things to be treated with contempt by their indiscriminate use. But the error of those is dealt with here, who had not reserved for the priests their lawful share.

A portion, as we will see, was assigned by God, which they were to set aside before they tasted any part of the victim. Those, therefore, who had sinned by inadvertence, are commanded by Him to expiate their fault, to restore that amount to the priest, and to add a fifth part. And this was done for the purpose we have mentioned, lest religion be treated with contempt if the things offered to God were exposed to common use.

What follows, “and they shall not profane the holy things,” I interpret as addressed to the priests themselves. This sentence is connected with the previous one, in which the injunctions were directed to the priests alone. This is further confirmed by the next verse, which declares that the whole people would be accomplices in the sin of the priests if they had polluted the sacred oblations. This is how I interpret the words, “that they should not suffer the people to bear the iniquity,” or the punishment of the transgression, if an unclean person had touched things offered to God. For as the priest is the mediator of reconciliation to propitiate God towards humanity, so his impiety is a common iniquity, which brings guilt upon all.

The translation which some give, “that they should not lade themselves,”¹⁹⁶ is further from the meaning, and completely distorted. Finally, God again declares that in proportion to the greatness of the honor which He had conferred on them, would be the severity and inexcusability of the crime, if they acted unworthily of their calling.

¹⁹⁶ As in margin of A. V.