Section VI Holiness of the Priest

Leviticus 21:1—22:33

The key to this section is in 21:6, 8. The priests were to be holy to the Lord because they presented the offerings (6) to God. They must protect themselves from the defilement that came from contact with the dead (1-2; except in cases involving the closest of kin, like mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister). The references to cutting the hair, the beard, or the flesh (5) had to do with mourning for the dead. In 19:27-28 such mourning procedures are forbidden to all Israel.

The wife (7) of the priest must also be acceptable. At marriage she must be a virgin. The text stipulates that she cannot be an harlot. This undoubtedly reflects the fact that temple prostitution was common among Israel's neighbors. The daughter of any priest (9) was likewise to keep herself pure. Harlotry by a priest's daughter was punishable by death. Not only the priest but also his immediate family were to be holy.

The stipulations for the high priest (10) were even more stringent. He was not to uncover his head, nor rend his clothes—the tokens of mourning that were permitted to the priest. He had to marry a virgin (14) from the daughters of Israel—otherwise his seed (15) would be profaned. He was the symbol of the highest purity. There was to be nothing in him that would defile the sanctuary (12). The expression, Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, probably refers to his leaving for purposes of mourning, not to any permanent residence within the Tabernacle.

The priest was to have no physical blemish (17). In this he was to be like the animals that were offered for the major sacrifices. He was to be physically sound and sexually whole (20d). A blemish would preclude a son of Aaron from service in the holy place, but it did not deprive him of the other rights that belonged to a priest (22). It simply meant that no man could approach the veil or the altar (23) who was not physically whole.

The priest was not to touch the holy things (22:2) when he was unclean (6) for any reason (22:1-9). A list of the ways in which a man could become unclean is included here. The unclean priest (and every priest would be unclean at times) must wait until the evening (6) and bathe before he could eat of the holy things (cf. c. 13 and 15:1-12). To be careless in such matters was to bring sin (9) upon the priest and to cause his death. Sanctify them here means, “I am the Lord who sets them apart” (Berk.) for a special ministry.

All of the true members of the priest's family could share in the holy thing. But a stranger, a sojourner, a hired servant (10), or a daughter who was now a part of her husband's family (12) could not participate. Any legal member—a priest's daughter who was a widow or divorced (13), or a slave (11)—could partake. If one ate by mistake of the holy things, a return of an equal amount plus a fifth was necessary as reparation (14). Verses 15-16 are a summary statement, “The priests shall not profane the holy things the Israelites offer to the Lord” (15, Amp. OT).

The final paragraph in this section (22:17-33) emphasizes that no offering that contained a blemish (20) was acceptable to God except in the case of the freewill offering (23). The offering was to be perfect. The priests were not to accept defective sacrifices either from the Israelites themselves or from a stranger's hand (25), i.e., from foreigners. A newly born animal was not acceptable until the eighth day (27). A mother and its offspring could not be killed the same day (28). Obedience in these matters reflected the separation of Israel unto the Lord (31) and enabled Him to hallow them unto himself (32).