[Continuing our commentary from Pentateuch and Haftarahs, our MUST READ and MUST OWN Resource Book, we now reach the regulations concerning priests and the Sanctuary.
Remember that the priesthood of Israel is from the tribe of Levi. It is speculated that Jews today bearing the name ‘Cohen’ which is Hebrew for ‘priest’ might trace their roots to this tribe. They fulfilled a special function in the days when the Tabernacle and the Temple were in existence, but now that Israel has yet to rebuilt the Temple . . . possibly the Torah-observant Jews of today are preparing for that eventuality by seeking out this line from among their remnant.
Clueless gentiles like us have wondered why a Temple has to be rebuilt? Surely it can’t possibly be to restore ‘animal sacrifices’? Christians would say their Man-God Jesus Christ had fulfilled that purpose which is why there is no more need for the Temple. But let us not forget the other purpose for building the Tabernacle, and the Temple in Jerusalem — it was to be the earthly visible dwelling of Israel’s God. Israelites could connect to a particular city, Jerusalem, and a particular place —the Temple Mount where they expect to meet their Elohim. And that is why during the diaspora, the exile, they would face toward THAT PLACE where, according to Ezekiel 10:18, the Shekinah departed.
But, back to our chapter: the conduct, duties, obligations of the tribe set apart for the service at the Sanctuary are hereby commanded. The demand for perfection, without defect or blemish, is set in the physical/material but surely, as we learn from the beginning chapters of Isaiah, that is not ALL that is required by YHWH: the external must reflect the internal spiritual state. Translation is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]
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1-9 THE ORDINARY PRIEST
Whatever comes near, or is presented, to God must be perfect of its kind. Priests, therefore, must be free from physical defects or ceremonial impurity (XXI), and sacrifices must be without blemish (XXII).
The ideal of holiness, as expounded in the previous chapters, was intended for the whole Community of Israel. But since the priests were closely and constantly associated with the ritual of the Sanctuary, special laws were instituted for them and a higher standard was demanded.
Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 21
1 YHVH said to Moshe: Say to the priests, the Sons of Aharon, say to them: For a (dead-)person among his people, one is not to make oneself tamei,
unto the priests. To those performing sacerdotal functions, and not to such a one as had been rendered unfit for the priesthood on account of his father having contracted marriage forbidden to a priest (see v. 7). The daughters of priestly families were not subject to these laws.
defile himself for the dead. Contact with the dead defiles (Num.XIX) and, for the time being, renders a priest unfit to perform his duties. The law only held good when the dead person was ‘among his people’; i.e. if there were others who were not priests able and willing to attend to the burial (Sifra). In the case of an unattended dead body of a friendless man, everyone, even a High Priest or a Nazirite, had to busy himself with the last rites.
2 except for his kin, one near to him: for his mother or for his father, or for his son, or for his daughter or for his brother,except for his kin. A concession to the natural feelings of the priest as man. The word for ‘kin’ denotes the closest posible bond of relationship. The wife is not mentioned because, ,as throughout the Torah, man and wife are regarded as ‘one flesh’ (Gen. II,24), and ‘his wife’ is here understood of itself. The mother is named before the father, because there is usually a deeper attachment between her and teh son (see on XIX,3), and the desire to be with her at the last would be more intense.
3 or for his virgin sister, near to him, who has never belonged to a man, for her he may make himself tamei.sister . . . near unto him. The Rabbis explain this to include a sister who is betrothed. Although betrothal was considered almost as close a bond as marriage (Deut. II,23), the priest may attend to the body in the event of her death. On her marriage, she became part of her husband; and in the same way that a priest was not allowed to defile himself for his brother-in-law, he was similarly forbidden to do so for his brother-in-law’s wife, though she be his sister.
4 He is not to make himself tamei (as) a husband among his people (does), to profane himself.being a chief man. The translation is based on Onkelos. The reason why the priest is subjected to these special laws is that he is ‘a chief man among his people’; his is an honour which carries with it peculiar obligations. Instead of ‘chief man’, Sifra translates ‘as a husband’ (so also RV Margin) and takes it to mean that he is forbidden to attend to his dead wife, if she belonged to any of the classes named in v.7.
to profane himself. To render himself unfit for the service of the Sanctuary.
5 They are not to make-bald a bald-spot on their head, the edge of their beard they are not to shave off, in their flesh they are not to incise an incision.6 Holy are they to be to their God, they are not to profane the name of their God- for the fire-offerings of YHVH, the food-offerings of their God they bring-near, so they are to be holy!
they shall be holy. The motive for the special laws of the priest is the same as the motive for the laws of the Community (XX,26). The sole reason why the restrictions on the priests were heavier was that they had the additional privilege of offering the sacrifices to God.
7 A woman (who is a) whore, a profaned-one, they are not to take-in-marriage, a woman divorced from her husband they are not to take-in-marriage, for holy is he to his Godprofaned. Or, ‘polluted’ (RV Margin), dishonoured’ (Driver). The Rabbis understand it as ‘profaned’—the daughter of a forbidden marriage contracted by a priest, or a woman who had already entered into a marriage forbidden to a priest (i.e. a divorced woman whose previous husband, a priest, ought not to have married her).
put away. Better, divorced. There is no mention of a widow among the women whom a priest may not marry; see on Ezek. XLIV,220.
8 and you are to treat-him-as-holy- for the food-offerings of your God he brings-near; holy shall he be for you, for holy am I, YHVH, the one-who-hallows you!thou shalt sanctify. The Community as a body is addressed. The Israelites are to consider the priests as consecrated to God, and pay them the honour which is due them. It is from this verse that the custom arose to give the Kohen precedence in such matters as the Reading of the Law.
9 And the daughter of a man (who is a) priest- when she profanes herself by whoring, it is her father that she profanes, in fire she is to be burned!burnt with fire. The Talmud maintains the penalty of burning was inflicted only if the priest’s daughter became unchaste when betrothed or married—a crime which was in all cases considered a capital offence.
10-15. INCREASED RESTRICTIONS FOR THE HIGH PRIEST
10 Now the priest that is greater than his brothers, who has had poured on his head the oil of anointing and has been mandated to dress in the garments: his head he is not to bare, his garments he is not to tear;consecrated . . . garments. Or, ‘consecrated by donning the vestments’. Nobody but a High Priest could wear the special garments; and his investiture in them was part of his consecration to his exalted office.
11 (the presence of) any dead persons he is not to enter, for (even) his father or his mother he is not to make himself tamei,for his father. Even for his father. But according to the Rabbis, he must do so for the unattended body of a friendless man.
12 from the Holy-shrine he is not to go out- that he not profane the Holy-shrine of his God, for the sacred oil of anointing is upon him, I am YHVH!out of the sanctuary. He was dispensed from following even the funeral procession of his father mor mother. It is probable that the High Priest had permanent quarters in the Temple-precincts (see I Sam. III,2).
I am the LORD. These words are added to increase the solemnity of the warning.
13 And he-(only) a woman in her virginity may he take-in-marriage;14 a widow or a divorcée, or one profaned (by) whoring, these he is not to take-in-marriage; rather, a virgin from his people he is to take as a wife,
of his own people. lit. ‘of his kinsfolk’. The Septuagint and Philo limit his choice to the priestly families.
15 that he not profane his seed among his people, for I am YHVH, the one-who-hallows him!profane his seed. Impair the pure descent of the Aaronic family by an improper marriage.
16-24. PHYSICAL BLEMISHES IN A PRIEST
A physical defect in a priest disqualified him from officiating in the Sanctuary.
16 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:17 Speak to Aharon, saying: A man of your seed, throughout their generations, who has in him a defect is not to come-near to bring-near the food of his God.
18 Indeed, any man who has in him a defect is not to come-near: a man (who is) blind or lame or mutilated or too long-limbed,
19 or a man that has in him a broken leg or a broken arm,
20 or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one spotted in his eye, or (with) a scab or (with) eruptions, or (with) crushed testicles.
dwarf. He was not to blame for being a dwarf, but only men without blemish and who had the full measure of manly power were permitted to exercise the functions of that holy office. Even so in the higher realms of the soul, a spiritual dwarf cannot offer the bread of his God to his fellows.
eye overspread. Probably, the white and black parts of the eye are not properly defined.
21 Any man that has in him a defect, from the seed of Aharon the priest, is not to approach to bring-near the fire-offerings of YHVH, a defect is in him, with the food of YHVH he is not to approach, to bring-it-near.22 The food-offerings of his God from the holiest holy-portions, or from the holy-portions, he may eat;
he may not eat. Though he may not officiate, he is still a priest by birth; and he is, therefore, entitled to his share of the sacrificial dues.
most holy., e.g. the flesh of the sin-offering, which could be eaten by male priests alone.
23 however, the curtain he is not to enter, the slaughter-site he is not to approach, for a defect is in him, he is not to profane my holy-shrines; for I am YHVH, the one-who-hallows them.24 So spoke Moshe to Aharon and to his sons and to all the Children of Israel.
all the children of Israel. These laws, although they were the peculiar concern of the priests, were also addressed to the Community as a whole. The people must insist upon their being honoured.