And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is most holy:
Moses spake unto Aaron ... This was a timely and considerate rehearsal of the laws that regulated the conduct of the priests. Amid the distractions of their family bereavement, Aaron and his surviving sons might have forgotten or overlooked some of their duties (cf. Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 16:14); but those only might partake of them who were themselves ceremonially clean.
Verse 15. A statute for ever. It is repeatedly said that the injunctions addressed to Aaron and his sons were not for them as individuals only, but to serve as permanent ecclesiastical regulations. And yet, in regard to these, there was a wise accommodation to circumstances. Rites which could be observed in the wilderness were duly attended to there; while others, which implied the possession of the promised land, were deferred until the eventual settlement in that country, where the Mosaic dispensation was to be the established law of church and state (see the notes at Numbers 15:1-2; Numbers 15:13; Numbers 15:16).