Leviticus 6:18

whosoever toucheth them shall be holy This does not mean that only priests who have properly purified themselves may touch the most holy things, but that anyone, priest or layman, who inadvertently comes in contact with anything that is -most holy," becomes holy (i.e. dedicated to God, and put at His disposal), cp. Joshua 6:18; Joshua 7:15. No rule is given here about the treatment of such persons; for inanimate things which are brought into contact with the -most holy," see Leviticus 6:27. According to Haggai 2:12, the garment in which -holy flesh" is carried, does not communicate holiness to the food which it may happen to touch.

Holiness is here regarded as a contagious quality; contact with holy things must be avoided, just as contact with things that are considered unclean is forbidden. This similarity in the treatment of things which from the levitical standpoint are so widely separated as the holy and the unclean is a survival of primitive modes of expression, due to imperfect conception of the gods, and of their relations to men. For further discussion of this subject see Driver (C. B.) on Exodus 29:37, with quotation from Frazer, G. B., G. B. Gray on Num. (Intern. Crit. Comm.) pp. 209 211, Rob.-Sm. Rel. Sem.2 p. 152, and the note B, pp. 446 f., and HDB. Art. Uncleanness, iv. 826 f. Cp. notes on ch. 11.