Leviticus 21:4
in Leviticus 21He is not to defile himself for those related to him by marriage, and so profane himself.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
KJV
But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
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This verse in Leviticus 21
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA 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.
This site's exposition
There shall none be defiled for the dead
on Leviticus 21:1-4
A priest may bury his nearest kin and nobody else. Verse 2 names his mother, his father, his son, his daughter and his brother, and verse 3 adds a sister who is a virgin and still in the family. The list stops there without naming a wife, and verse 4 has been read two ways, as a rule about his standing as a chief man among his people and as the bar on mourning a wife, which is how Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report the dispute. Ezekiel 24:16-18, where a priest is told not to mourn the wife of his eyes, is where the question comes up again.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Being - Or, seeing he is a chief man, for such not only the high- priest, but others also of the inferior priests were. He shall not defile himself for any other person whatsoever.
But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
"The priest, in discharging his sacred functions, might well be regarded as a chief man among his people, and by these defilements might be said to profane himself" [BISHOP PATRICK]. The word rendered "chief man" signifies also "a husband"; and the sense according to others is, "But he being a husband, shall not defile himself by the obsequies of a wife" (Eze 44:25).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The sense seems to be that, owing to his position in the nation, the priest is not to defile himself in any cases except those named in Lev 21:2-3. The Septuagint appear to have followed a different reading of the text which would mean, “he shall not defile himself for a moment.” The explanation in the margin of our version is hardly in keeping with the prohibition to Ezekiel on a special occasion. See Eze 24:16.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִטַּמָּ֖א | yitama' | he will make himself unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| בַּ֣עַל | baal | a husband | H1167 → | |
| בְּעַמָּ֑יו | beamav | among kinspeople<s> his | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לְהֵ֖חַלּֽוֹ׃ | lehechalo | to profane himself | H2490 → | 143 times |
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִטַּמָּ֖אhe will make himself unclean
yitama'H2930 →162 times
בַּ֣עַלa husband
baalH1167 →
בְּעַמָּ֑יוamong kinspeople<s> his
beamavH5971 →1873 times
לְהֵ֖חַלּֽוֹ׃to profane himself
lehechaloH2490 →143 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Leviticus
This page draws on 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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.