Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Leviticus · About this commentary
The Priests Shall Be Holy
Leviticus 21:1-24
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ‘A priest shall not defile himself for the dead among his people, · WEB
The priesthood is held to stricter rules than anyone else, and a priest with a physical defect keeps his food and loses the altar.
The restrictions on priests are tighter versions of what applies to everyone, and the pattern is consistent: the closer a man stands, the narrower his freedom.
He may not make himself unclean for the dead except for his nearest relatives — mother, father, son, daughter, brother, and an unmarried sister Leviticus 21:2–3. The high priest may not do it even for his father or mother Leviticus 21:11, which is the rule Aaron was held to on the day his sons died Leviticus 10:6.
The reason given each time is the office rather than the man: he shall not profane himself... for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is on him Leviticus 21:12.
The marriage restrictions work the same way, and the phrase attached to them explains the whole chapter: he shall be holy to you; for I, Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy Leviticus 21:8. The priest's holiness is described as owed to the people — to you — because he acts on their behalf, and a compromised mediator is their loss as much as his.
Then the section that troubles a modern reader most: a descendant of Aaron who has a defect may not come near to offer the bread of his God Leviticus 21:17. A list follows — blindness, lameness, a disfigured face, a broken foot or hand, and others Leviticus 21:18–20.
Two things must be said about it, and the passage supplies both.
The first is that the exclusion is from the altar, not from the priesthood. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy Leviticus 21:22. He remains a priest. He is supported by the offerings exactly as his brothers are, and he is not put outside anything except the act of officiating.
The second is that the same standard applies to the animals. Every offering must be without defect, and the requirement is stated as often for the victim as for the officiant. Nothing damaged goes on that altar, from either direction, and the rule about the priest is an extension of the rule about the lamb rather than a judgment on disability.
What the arrangement pictures is a service in which nothing marred appears, which is the same reason the New Testament describes its own high priest as holy, guiltless, undefiled Hebrews 7:26.
held with reason What this mark means