Leviticuschapter 21
24 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Leviticus Overview.
Moses received these instructions at Sinai for the men who served at the tent and for the nation that watched them work. Aaron had already buried two sons who died at the altar, so the first hearers knew the cost of coming near. The chapter moves from a priest's household to his body, and from the ordinary priest to the high priest. Listen for how each rule tightens as a man stands closer to the sanctuary. Notice what a barred man still keeps. It prepares a reader for the High Priest the letter to the Hebrews describes.
Context
- Who
- Aaron and his sons, and the people who had to recognise a priest as holy and watch him work
- What
- Priestly law setting the standard of holiness for Aaron's sons in grief, in marriage and in body, with a stricter rule for the high priest.
- Where
- The tabernacle in the camp at Mount Sinai, where the priests served daily and the people never entered.
- When
- The second year after the Exodus, about 1445 BC on the traditional reckoning, following the book's own setting at Sinai.
- Why
- To keep the men who carried Israel's offerings visibly set apart, so the conduct of those who served guarded the holiness of the sanctuary.
Historical context
The instruction is given to Aaron's sons, the priests, and verse 24 records Moses telling all of it to Aaron, to his sons and to all the children of Israel. Aaron at this point has already buried two sons who died at the altar, at Leviticus 10. The dating follows the book's own setting at Sinai.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The place is the tabernacle in the wilderness camp, a tent the priests served in daily and the nation never entered. The chapter reaches into the priest's ordinary life rather than into the rite, so it governs his funerals, his marriage and his household.
A first hearer knew what mourning looked like. Shaving the head, cutting the beard and cutting the flesh were the recognised signs of grief across the region, and they were already forbidden to all Israel at 19:27 and 19:28. A priest was forbidden them again, and the high priest was forbidden to leave the sanctuary even for his own father or mother.
A first hearer also knew that a priest lived from the offerings. That is why the chapter can bar a man with a physical defect from the altar and still feed him at the holy table with his brothers. He loses the function and keeps the portion.
Significance
For the people watching, these rules made the priest legible. A man set apart to carry other people's offerings was held to visible standards in his grief, his marriage and his body.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For the priests themselves the chapter set the cost of the office. The high priest could not mourn his parents, and the ordinary priest could bury only his nearest kin, so the service of the tent took precedence over the family that produced the man serving it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
This chapter binds the priesthood to a stricter standard than the nation, and Rashi reads it at that level throughout. The doubled command of the first verse he takes as a charge to the fathers about their sons, "this repetition is intended to admonish the adults about their children also", so that a priest teaches his children to keep clear of a corpse before they are old enough to be commanded (Rashi on Leviticus 21:1:1, the Rosenbaum and Silbermann Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary, 1929 to 1934, public domain, citing Yevamot 114a). The defilement itself he defines by the room rather than by touch, since the priest "shall not go into a tent wherein is a corpse" (Rashi on Leviticus 21:11:1). The near kin a priest may bury he settles one by one, taking the kin of the second verse to mean his wife (Rashi on Leviticus 21:2:1, citing Sifra, Emor, Section 1 4 and Yevamot 22b) and the sister of the third to include a sister who is betrothed and still in her father's house (Rashi on Leviticus 21:3:1, citing Sifra, Emor, Section 1 1 and Yevamot 60a).
Two comments show how the classical tradition understood the holiness of the priest to be enforced rather than merely urged. Of the command that the priests shall be holy Rashi writes that it holds "even against their will" and that "the court shall force them to remain holy in respect to this" (Rashi on Leviticus 21:6:1, citing Sifra, Emor, Chapter 1 6). Of the command to sanctify the priest he says the same again, "even against his will", and spells it out: a priest who has married a woman forbidden to the priesthood is flogged until he divorces her (Rashi on Leviticus 21:8:1, citing Sifra, Emor, Chapter 1 13 and Yevamot 88b).
The mourning rules of the high priest are read the same way. He may not let his hair go untended, and Rashi gives the measure the rabbis fixed for it, "Leaving it uncut for more than 30 days" (Rashi on Leviticus 21:10:1, citing Sanhedrin 22b). He may not leave the sanctuary for a funeral, which Rashi reads as meaning "that he must not follow the bier (attend the funeral of his father or mother)", and from the same words the rabbis drew the rule that the high priest may go on serving on the day one of his parents dies (Rashi on Leviticus 21:12:1, citing Sanhedrin 18a and 84a).
The list of blemishes that bar a priest from the altar is the part of the chapter a reader is likeliest to stop at. Rashi reads the bar as a matter of fitness rather than of worth: the verse means "it is not right that he should approach", and he sets beside it the prophet's question at Malachi 1:8 about offering a blind or lame animal to a governor (Rashi on Leviticus 21:18:1). He then works through the terms as a man describing faces, so that one of them "is one whose eye-brows have their hair long so that they lie over his eyes" (Rashi on Leviticus 21:20:1, citing Bekhorot 43b), and he takes the last clause of the list to reach bodily blemishes the text has not named (Rashi on Leviticus 21:21:1, citing Sifra, Emor, Chapter 3 1). The chapter is careful that such a priest keeps his portion of the holy food, which Rashi notes at the twenty second verse. Sforno classes the broken foot of the nineteenth verse as "an example of blemishes not caused by the priests' bodies themselves" (Sforno on Leviticus 21:19:1, the Eliyahu Munk translation HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY). Ibn Ezra comments at 21:13 and Malbim at the sixteenth verse, and the corpus holds no English version of either.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, and every one of them is a locator without text, so this site cites where the rabbis took the chapter up rather than what they said there. The tractate that returns most is Bekhorot, the tractate of the firstborn and of blemishes, at 3b:6, 43a:15, 43a:22, 43b:1, 45a:4, 56b:3 and 56b:6, seven of the forty and every one of them on the priestly marriages and the list of blemishes. With it stand Chullin 24a:8, 72a:10 and 134b:12, Bava Kamma 64a and 114b:24, Bava Metzia 10b:15, Chagigah 14b:10, Horayot 12b:10 and Arakhin 30a:19. The Jerusalem Talmud is taken up at Bava Batra 8:5:4, Yevamot 10:1:7 and 10:7:4, Nazir 3:5:3, Makkot 3:5:1 and Horayot 2:7:3. The midrashic locators are Bamidbar Rabbah 1:8, 10:1, 10:11 and 19:4, Midrash Aggadah at Leviticus 21:3 twice and 21:6, Midrash Lekach Tov at Leviticus 21:6 and 21:22, Pesikta Rabbati 42:1, Sifra, Tazria Parashat Negaim, Chapter 12 9, Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:5 and Recension B 38:6, and the Ein Yaakov collections at Nedarim 8:2 and, in the Glick edition, Nedarim 8:3, Horayot 2:1 and Bava Metzia 4:1. Rashi himself hands on locators as he goes, and the ones he names in the kept text of this chapter are Sifra, Emor at Section 1 and Chapters 1 to 3, and the Babylonian Talmud at Yevamot 22b, 60a, 61b, 88b, 90b and 114a, Sanhedrin 18a, 22b, 51b and 84a, Makkot 20a, Kiddushin 36a and 77a, and Bekhorot 43b.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Leviticus 21:1:1, 21:2:1, 21:3:1, 21:4:1, 21:5:1, 21:6:1, 21:7:1, 21:8:1, 21:9:1, 21:10:1, 21:11:1, 21:12:1, 21:14:1, 21:15:1, 21:17:1, 21:18:1, 21:20:1, 21:21:1, 21:22:1, 21:23:1 and 21:24:1, the Rosenbaum and Silbermann Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary, public domain, 1929; Sforno, Sforno on Leviticus 21:19:1, the Eliyahu Munk translation HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 21:13:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus under a licence permitting quotation; Malbim, Malbim on Leviticus, Emor 41:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus; Sifra, Sifra, Tazria Parashat Negaim, Chapter 12 9 as the corpus links it; Sifra, Emor, Section 1 and Chapters 1 to 3 as Rashi cites them; Babylonian Talmud, Bekhorot 3b:6, 43a:15, 43a:22, 43b:1, 45a:4, 56b:3 and 56b:6; Chullin 24a:8, 72a:10 and 134b:12; Bava Kamma 64a and 114b:24; Bava Metzia 10b:15; Chagigah 14b:10; Horayot 12b:10; Arakhin 30a:19; and, as Rashi cites them, Yevamot 22b, 60a, 61b, 88b, 90b and 114a, Sanhedrin 18a, 22b, 51b and 84a, Makkot 20a, Kiddushin 36a and 77a, and Bekhorot 43b; Jerusalem Talmud, Bava Batra 8:5:4, Yevamot 10:1:7 and 10:7:4, Nazir 3:5:3, Makkot 3:5:1, Horayot 2:7:3; Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah 1:8, 10:1, 10:11 and 19:4; Midrash Aggadah, Leviticus 21:3:1, 21:3:2 and 21:6:1; Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 21:6:1 and 21:22:1; Pesikta Rabbati 42:1; Avot DeRabbi Natan, Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:5; Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 38:6; Ein Yaakov, Ein Yaakov, Nedarim 8:2; Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 8:3, Horayot 2:1 and Bava Metzia 4:1.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A priest and the dead
Leviticus 21:1-4
A priest may defile himself for "his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother" and an unmarried sister, and the list names no wife. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report two readings of verse 4, as a rule about his standing as a chief man among his people and as the bar on mourning a wife. Ezekiel 24:16-18, where a priest is told not to mourn his wife, raises the question again.
Leviticus 21:1
“Among his people - None of the priests shall touch the dead body, or assist at his funeral, or eat of the funeral feast. The reason of this law is evident, because by such pollution they were excluded from converse with men, to whom by their function they were to be serviceable upon all occasions, and from the handling of holy things.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Leviticus 21:1
“There shall none be defiled for the dead - No priest shall assist in laying out a dead body, or preparing it for interment. Any contact with the dead was supposed to be of a defiling nature, probably because putrefaction had then taken place; and animal putrefaction was ever held in detestation by all men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The five named here are all kin by blood, his parents, his children and his brother. John Wesley took immediate family to include the priest's wife as well, though the list leaves her unnamed. Verse 4 then bars kin by marriage.
The sister counts only while she remains unmarried and at home. John Wesley read near to him as nearness of dwelling, for a married sister had passed into her husband's family and his care. A priest's daughter passes out of the house by the same rule at 22:12.
Leviticus 21:3
“That is nigh him - That is, by nearness not of relation, (for that might seem a needless addition) but of habitation, one not yet cut off from the family. For if she was married, she was now of another family, and under her husband's care in those matters.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The Hebrew behind this clause is baal, which Adam Clarke notes can mean a master, a chief or a husband. The Berean takes it of kin by marriage. Clarke himself preferred the chief man, whom the humiliation of mourning would lower before the people.
Leviticus 21:4
“A chief man among his people - The word בעל baal signifies a master, chief, husband, etc., and is as variously translated here. 1. He being a chief among the people, it would be improper to see him in such a state of humiliation as mourning for the dead necessarily implies. 2. Though a husband he shall not defile himself even for the death of a wife, because the anointing of his God is upon him. But the first sense appears to be the best.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 21:5-9
The mourning customs forbidden here were forbidden to all Israel at 19:27-28, so the priest carries a rule his neighbors carry too. Verses 7 to 9 then govern whom he marries and what his daughter does. The penalty at verse 9 falls on a woman who never serves at the altar, and the ground given is that "she profanes her father".
Leviticus 21:5
“These prohibitions given to the people at large (compare the margin reference.) had a special fitness for the Hebrew priests. They were the instruments of the divine will for averting death, all their sacrifices were a type of the death of Christ, which swallowed up death in victory 1Co 15:54-57, and it would therefore have been unsuitable that they should have the same freedom as other people to become mourners.”
Albert Barnes notes that the Hebrew word here is the one rendered food at 3:11 and 3:16. The King James printed it as bread, and Barnes adds that bread, meat and food meant nearly the same thing when that version was made. The phrase returns at verses 8, 17, 21 and 22.
Leviticus 21:6
“The word here and in Lev 21:8 rendered “bread”, is the same as is rendered food in Lev 3:11, Lev 3:16, etc., and meat in Lev 22:11. The reader of the English Bible should keep in view that bread, meat, and food, were nearly equivalent terms when our translation was made, and represent no distinctions that exist in the Hebrew.”
Albert Barnes took the defiled woman to be one who had been seduced or one of illegitimate birth. The ground is the priest's holiness to his God. Barnes adds that a stricter rule for priests' marriages was revealed to Ezekiel at 44:22.
Leviticus 21:7
“Profane - A woman who has been seduced, or one of illegitimate birth. A somewhat stricter rule for the priests’ marriages was revealed to the prophet in later times, Eze 44:22.”
The address turns here from the priests to the people. Albert Barnes reads it as a charge on Israel to treat the men who serve the altar as holy in their office. The ground is the LORD's own holiness, and He names Himself as the one who sets the people apart.
Leviticus 21:8
“The people of Israel are now addressed. They are commanded to regard the priests, who perform for them the service of the altar, as holy in respect of their office.”
Adam Clarke suggested that the sentence meant death first by strangling, with the body burned afterward, and he allowed that some kind of branding might be meant. It is the only death sentence in the chapter.
Leviticus 21:9
“She shall be burnt with fire - Probably not burnt alive, but strangled first, and then burnt afterward. Though it is barely possible that some kind of branding may be intended.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The high priest held to a stricter line
Leviticus 21:10-12
What Moses forbade Aaron when his sons died at 10:6, loose hair and torn garments, is fixed on the office for good. Verse 11 closes to him the funerals of his father and mother, which an ordinary priest may attend. Verse 12 keeps him at the sanctuary under "the anointing oil of his God", and Matthew 26:65 records a high priest tearing his clothes at the trial of Jesus.
Leviticus 21:10
“He that is the high priest - This is the first place where this title is introduced; the title is very emphatic, הכהן הגדול haccohen haggadol, that priest, the great one. For the meaning of כהן cohen, see the note on Gen 14:18. As the chief or high priest was a representative of our blessed Lord, therefore he was required to be especially holy; and he is represented as God’s king among the people.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 21:10
“The garments - Those holy garments, which were peculiar to him. Shall not uncover his head - This being then the posture of mourners, chap. x, 6, though afterwards the custom was changed and mourners covered their heads, 2 Sam. xv, 30, Esth vi, 12.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Matthew Henry notes that other priests could fill the place of a defiled priest of lower rank, and the want of a defiled high priest would be felt more. His absence from every house of mourning also showed the people the dignity of his office. The exception of verse 2 stops short of him.
Leviticus 21:11
“If any of the inferior priests were under a ceremonial pollution, there were other priests that might supply their places; but, if the high priest were defiled, there would be a greater want of him. And the forbidding of him to go to any house of mourning, or attend any funeral, would be an indication to the people of the greatness of that dignity to which he was advanced.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The King James reads crown where the Berean reads consecration. John Wesley took the crown as the golden plate called the holy crown at Exodus 29:6, set beside the anointing oil. Adam Clarke read the office, the oil and the crown as figures of Christ's sacrifice, his prophetic office and his kingship.
Leviticus 21:12
“The crown of the anointing oil - is upon him - By his office the priest represented Christ in his sacrificial character; by his anointing, the prophetic influence; and by the crown, the regal dignity of our Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 21:12
“The crown of the anointing oil - Or, the crown, the golden plate, which is called the holy crown, Exod. xxix, 6, and the anointing oil of his God are upon him. So there is only an ellipsis of the conjunction and, which is frequent.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 21:13-15
The circle narrows toward the altar, since an ordinary Israelite may marry a widow and a priest may not marry a prostitute or a divorced woman. Verse 14 adds the widow for the high priest alone and requires "a virgin from his own people". Verse 15 puts the reason on his offspring, since the office passes to his sons, and ends "I am the LORD who sanctifies him".
Leviticus 21:13
“He shall take a wife in her virginity - בתוליה bethuleyha. This is a full proof that בתולה bethulah is the proper Hebrew term for a virgin; from the emphatic root בתל bathal, to separate; because such a person was in her separate state, and had never been in any way united to man.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 21:13
“The reason of this was to put a difference between him and other priests in this matter; and (as some suggest) that he might be a type of Christ, to whom the church was to be presented a chaste virgin, 2 Cor. xi. Christ must have our first love, our pure love, our entire love; thus the virgins love thee ( Cant. i. 3 ), and such only are fit to follow the Lamb, Rev. xiv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew Henry gave the reason as a difference set between the high priest and the other priests, who under verse 7 could still marry a widow. Adam Clarke took bethulah, the word for virgin in verse 13, from a root meaning to separate. The bride also had to be of his own people.
Matthew Henry reports a reading that took this clause as a bar on marrying beneath his rank. He noted that Jehoiada married into the royal family, at 2 Chronicles 22. Henry drew purity from the rule and no ground for pride.
Leviticus 21:15
“Some understand it as forbidding him to marry any of an inferior rank, which would be a disparagement to his family. Jehoiada indeed married of his own tribe, but then it was into the royal family, 2 Chron. xxii. This was not to teach him to be proud, but to teach him to be pure, and to do nothing unbecoming his office and the worthy name by which he was called.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A blemish keeps a son from the altar
Leviticus 21:16-20
Twelve defects are listed across three verses and no reason is given for any of them. Calvin declined to inquire into the particular defects and rested on the rule that only what was perfect came to the altar. Adam Clarke read the list as fitness before the people who watch the priest, and Gregory of Nazianzus in Oration 2 read it as a figure of soundness of soul.
Leviticus 21:16
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After he had spoken to him of the holiness of the priests, that they should not defile themselves, neither with the dead nor with impure marriages, he proceeded to add some things concerning blemishes in their bodies, which rendered them unfit for the service: saying; as follows.”
2 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 21:16
“He was not treated as an outcast, but enjoyed his privileges as a son of Aaron, except in regard to active duties. Lev 21:20 A dwarf - One who is small and wasted, either short, as in the text, or slender, as in the margin. It is hardly likely that dwarfishness would be overlooked in this enumeration. So most critical authorities. Scurry or scabbed - These words most probably include all affected with any skin disease. Lev 21:22 See Lev 2:3 note; Lev 6:25 note.”
Leviticus 21:16
“7 They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God. 8 Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the L ORD , which sanctify you, am holy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
For the generations to come makes the bar permanent. John Wesley declined to comment on each defect, since some of the Hebrew words are read in different ways and the service itself had ended. The bar is on approaching to offer, and verse 22 shows what such a man keeps.
Leviticus 21:17
“Whosoever - hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God - Never was a wiser, a more rational, and a more expedient law enacted relative to sacred matters. The man who ministers in holy things, who professes to be the interpreter of the will of God, should have nothing in his person nor in his manner which cannot contribute to render him respectable in the eyes of those to whom he ministers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 21:17
“Speak unto Aaron, saying. Priests in whom there was any notable bodily defect are here forbidden from approaching the altar. I will not curiously inquire into the defects which Moses enumerates, since the same rule is here laid down, which is afterwards applied to the sacrifices, whereof none but perfect ones were to be offered.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Leviticus 21:17
“I know also that not even bodily blemishes in either priests or victims passed without notice, but that it was required by the law that perfect sacrifices must be offered by perfect men—a symbol, I take it, of integrity of soul.”
Gregory of Nazianzus · written before 390 · ORATION 2 (IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS) 94patristic
Leviticus 21:17
“The particular defect's here mentioned, I shall not enlarge upon because some of the Hebrew words are diversely interpreted, and because the use of these things being abolished, the knowledge of them is not necessary.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Adam Clarke took blind to mean blind in one eye. He read the words behind disfigured and deformed as a flat nose and a superfluous part, such as six fingers or six toes. John Wesley reports a reading that pairs them as a member lacking and a member too many.
Leviticus 21:18
“A blind man - That is, in one eye; for he that was utterly blind could not possibly be employed in such a service. A flat nose, like that of an ape; so the best versions. Any thing superfluous, such as six fingers, six toes, etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 21:18
“A flat nose - Most restrain this word to the nose, and to some great deformity relating to it. But according to others, it signifies more generally, a person that wants some member or members, because the next word, to which it is opposed, signifies one that hath more members than he should.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The list turns here from the face to the limbs. Adam Clarke said of the rupture in verse 20 that it would leave a priest unable for duties that were often very fatiguing. A broken foot or hand raises the same difficulty for a man who must stand and carry at the altar.
Leviticus 21:19
“Or a man that is brokenfooted or brokenhanded. That has any of the bones or joints in his hands and feet broke, or when they are distorted, and he is clubfooted, or his fingers crooked and clustered together; and such a man could not be fit to ascend the altar, and lay the sacrifice in order upon it; and may be an emblem of such as are awkward or disorderly in their walk and conservation, and to every good work and action unfit, and so unfit for their master's use.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 21:19
“Broken-footed, or broken-handed - Club-footed, bandy-legged, etc.; or having the ankle, wrist, or fingers dislocated.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The Hebrew word for dwarf is dak, which Adam Clarke glossed as a man too short or too thin to pass without notice. He took the eye defect as a growth or spot that others could see. The list closes here, and verse 21 restates the rule.
Leviticus 21:20
“Crooked-backed - Hunch-backed or gibbous. A dwarf, דק dak, a person too short or too thin, so as to be either particularly observable, or ridiculous in his appearance. A blemish in his eye - A protuberance on the eye, observable spots or suffusions. Scurvy, or scabbed - A bad habit of body, evidenced by scorbutic or scrofulous affections. Stones broken - Is ruptured; an infirmity which would render him incapable of fulfilling the duties of his office, which might be often very fatiguing.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 21:21-24
The priest with a defect keeps his portion and loses his function: "food of his God" bars him in verse 21 and feeds him in verse 22. Calvin read it that no natural defect kept such a man from the sacred meals, and that the bar stood on appearing before God for others. Verse 24 has Moses tell it "to all the Israelites", the people the priesthood serves.
Leviticus 21:21
“Priests laboring under any personal defect were not allowed to officiate in the public service; they might be employed in some inferior duties about the sanctuary but could not perform any sacred office. In all these regulations for preserving the unsullied purity of the sacred character and office, there was a typical reference to the priesthood of Christ (Heb 7:26).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Two grades of priestly food stand in this verse. The most holy was eaten by Aaron and his sons in a holy place, as the bread of 24:9 is, and the holy food fed the priest's household under 22:11-13. John Calvin read the verse as leaving the blemished man his share in the sacred meals.
Leviticus 21:22
“He shall eat the bread of his God. He permits them indeed to eat of the sacrifices, because no uncleanness on account of their natural defects could prevent them from partaking of the sacred meals; they are only forbidden to appear in God's presence as mediators to propitiate Him.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
John Wesley placed the veil and the altar at the two ends of the priest's work. Near the inner veil were the incense, the showbread and the lamps, and outside stood the altar of burnt offering. The man is barred from the whole office.
Leviticus 21:23
“To the veil - To the second veil which was between the holy and the most holy place, to burn incense, to order the shew-bread, and to dress the lamps, which were nigh unto that veil though without. My altar - The altar of burnt-offering, which was without the sanctuary. The sense is, he shall not execute the priest's office, which was to be done in those two places.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Moses repeats to all the Israelites a law spoken for the priests. Matthew Henry saw the high priest's restrictions as a sign to the people of the dignity of his office. A sign works only on those who know the rule.
How this psalm is built
The form: Priestly instruction on the holiness of the men who serve, given in two speeches, as Keil and Delitzsch, with John Gill classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Profane, nine times | The word profane falls nine times in these twenty four verses and holds the chapter together. The published exposition of verses 5 to 9 marks the count and reads the word as the chapter's own measure of what a priest must avoid.Keil and Delitzsch, with Matthew Henry, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, 1864 to 1870, and Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, cited in the published exposition of Leviticus 21:5 to 21:9. | Leviticus 21:4, Leviticus 21:6, Leviticus 21:9, Leviticus 21:12, Leviticus 21:15 |
| The circle narrowing toward the altar | Each rule is given twice, once for the ordinary priest and once tighter for the high priest. An Israelite may marry a widow, the priest at verse 7 may not marry a harlot or a divorced woman, and verse 14 adds the widow for the high priest alone. The same step is taken over mourning, since a priest may bury his nearest kin and the high priest may bury nobody.Keil and Delitzsch, with John Gill, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, 1864 to 1870, and Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, cited in the published exposition of Leviticus 21:13 to 21:15. | Leviticus 21:2, Leviticus 21:7, Leviticus 21:11, Leviticus 21:14 |
| The twelve defects | Twelve defects are listed across three verses and no reason is given for any of them. The word blemish falls six times in this chapter and governs the animal as well at 22:20 to 21, so the man who offers and the thing he offers are measured by one standard.John Calvin, with Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony, 1563, and Commentary on the Bible, 1832, cited in the published exposition of Leviticus 21:16 to 21:21. | Leviticus 21:18, Leviticus 21:19, Leviticus 21:20 |
| Say unto the priests, the sons of Aaron | The chapter is addressed to the priesthood and read out to the nation. Verse 24 has Moses telling all of it to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, so the law governing the priesthood is heard by the people it serves.John Calvin, with Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony, 1563, and Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, 1864 to 1870, cited in the published exposition of Leviticus 21:22 to 21:24. | Leviticus 21:1, Leviticus 21:24 |
The New Testament's use
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
The title high priest occurs here for the first time in Scripture, at verse 10. The published exposition of verses 10 to 12 records that Mark 14:63 and Matthew 26:65 both show a high priest rending his clothes at the trial of Jesus. That is the act verse 10 forbids him.
The debated readings
Verse 4. The verse has been read two ways. One reading takes it as a rule about the priest's standing as a chief man among his people. The other takes it as the bar on mourning a wife, since the list of verses 2 and 3 never names one. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report the dispute without settling it, and the published exposition of verses 1 to 4 carries both. Ezekiel 24:16 to 18, where a priest is told not to mourn the wife of his eyes, is where the question comes up again.
The list of defects. The readings on offer differ and the text settles none of them. John Calvin declined to inquire into the particular defects and rested on the rule that only what was perfect came to the altar. Adam Clarke read the list as fitness before the people who watch the priest. Gregory of Nazianzus, in Oration 2, read the whole of it as a figure of soundness of soul. The published exposition of verses 16 to 21 sets the three readings side by side and states that the text itself settles none of them.
Verse 9. The penalty falls on a woman who never serves at the altar, and the ground the verse gives is that she profanes her father. The published exposition of verses 5 to 9 marks that the sentence reaches into the priest's house rather than into the sanctuary.
What the chapter holds for the reader
One vocabulary runs through this chapter and the next. The disqualifying words used of the priest at 21:18 to 20, blind, superfluous, scurvy and scabbed, are largely the words used of the animal at 22:22 to 24. The man at the altar and the animal on it are measured by one standard, which the published exposition of Leviticus 22:22 to 25 states directly.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, with Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, and Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, cited in the published exposition of Leviticus 21:10 to 21:12; Gordon Wenham, as carried by this site's published chiasm, src/components/book/dossier-content/leviticus.ts, the chiasm "The book's own concentric shape, centered on the Day of Atonement", status proposed and Keil and Delitzsch, with John Gill, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, 1864 to 1870, and Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, cited in the published exposition of Leviticus 21:13 to 21:15.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.