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;
Ver. 35. This is the portion of the anointing.] That is, Of the anointed priests; and that because they were anointed to the office. Here Origen, according to his manner, turns all into allegories and mysteries, and tells us of a threefold sense of Scripture, (1.) Literal; (2.) Moral; (3.) Mystical: comparing them to the gridiron, frying pan, and oven, used in dressing the meat offering. Lev 7:9 But this itch of allegorising dark and difficult texts hath no small danger in it. And I may doubt of Origen, as one doth of Jerome, Utrum plus boni peritia linguarum, qua excelluit, an mali suis allegoriis, in quibus dominatus fuit, ecclesiae Dei attulerit; whether he did more harm or good to the Church. a
a Allegorias spumam scripturae vocat Luth., in Gen. iii., p. 67. Amama, Antibarb.