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sanctification. The primary significance is still that of separation for and to some special
purpose.
The Hebrew words chol and chalal, "profane" and "to profane, make common or
pollute", are used in opposition to qadesh--an opposition which gives further light upon
the underlying meaning of sanctification:--
"Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: they have
put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference
between the unclean and the clean, and I am profaned among them" (Ezek. 22: 26).
"It had a wall round about . . . . . to make a separation between the sanctuary and the
profane place" (Ezek. 42: 20).
By referring to Ezek. 48: 15 it will be seen that the word "profane" need not
necessarily imply evil, for the very city planned by God Himself is to have a "profane"
place, where dwelling-houses can be erected.
A rather obscure passage in Deut. 28: 30 will show how the people of Israel
understood the words "holy" and "profane":--
"Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof."
The margin explains that the word "gather" is really "profane". Now this can have no
morally evil meaning here, for in Deut. 20: 6 a man who has not eaten or "profaned" the
fruit of his vineyard is sent back from the battle in order that he may do so. Taken alone,
these passages would present a real and almost insuperable difficulty; but, in the light of
the law in Lev. 19: 23-25, the difficulty disappears:--
"When ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food,
then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised; three years shall it be as
uncircumcised unto you; it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit
thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the
fruit thereof."
We will conclude this article with one more reference, showing how the word "holy"
is associated with the idea of separation:--
"The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves
from the people of the land . . . . . for they have taken of their daughters for themselves,
and for their sons; so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those
lands" (Ezra 9: 1, 2).
"Mingling" is the antithesis of "separation", and separation is the basic significance of
sanctification and holiness.
There are further aspects of the truth of sanctification to be considered, but these must
be reserved for future studies.