Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Leviticus 21:1-7
The Priests Must Not Defile Themselves Unless Absolutely Necessary.
The priesthood was the essential link between Yahweh and His people. They were therefore to be especially careful in the maintenance of holiness so that they might fulfil their functions before a holy God. Great was their privilege, but great the demands made on them. Humanly speaking the holiness of God's people depended on them.
The Requirements for Exceptional Holiness For the Priesthood (Leviticus 21:1).
A). Avoidance of Contact With The Dead (Leviticus 21:1).
Especially must they avoid coming in contact with death. To come in contact with a dead body was to become unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11), for as has been apparent in the laws of uncleanness death was the opposite of all that Yahweh stood for. He was Lord of life. This would render a priest inoperative over that period.
He was thus totally to avoid all contact with the dead, in order to prevent himself from being ‘defiled'. He was not free to do as he would. He was ‘holy'. Contact with the dead was a major source of uncleanness for a man. It lasted seven days. So the stress on the need to avoid this uncleanness, includes within it the idea that they should avoid all lesser uncleanness (as will be demonstrated later). They were ever to remain clean. The only exception was where close family relationships made it necessary
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his kin, who is near to him, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, and for his sister a virgin, who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her may he defile himself.”
So the priest was to avoid all contact with the dead apart from near kin. These comprised father, mother, son, daughter, brother or a virgin sister who has no one else responsible for her. Where she was married the latter was her husband's responsibility. For these he could be responsible for their mourning and burial. This both emphasises proper respect for close kin, and the need for continuing purity in all other cases. There is no mention of his wife. This is quite usual (compare Exodus 20:10). That she was included would be assumed. She was of one flesh with him.
“He shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.”
And the reason for these extreme precautions is given, his prominence as a ‘chief man' among the people, someone set apart from the ordinary with a principal function. This made it important that he did not profane himself by making himself unable to operate in fulfilment of his responsibilities. Those who have the greatest responsibility must exercise the greatest care in maintaining a worthiness necessary for the fulfilment of their responsibilities.
While not forbidden to touch dead bodies, those who would serve God most truly today must avoid all contact with anything that is unseemly to God. Their eyes too should be turned away from the mundane to seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). They should be taken up with the things of eternal life, not with the things of death through trespasses and sins. They are to look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). For they know that they are passed from death to life because they love their Christian brothers and sisters (1 John 3:14), and that love should permeate their whole lives. They must throw all their weight into things to do with life and purity. Their thoughts must be on whatever things are true, honourable, righteous, pure, lovely and gracious (Philippians 4:8). Like the priests they are to be separated to God.
B). Avoidance of Pagan Cultic Acts (Leviticus 21:5).
“They shall not make baldness on their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.”
Nor were they were ever to profane themselves by engaging in activities and dress that were foreign to Yahweh's ways. These included shaving their heads, trimming their beards in any fashion that might be connected with idolatry, and making cuttings in their flesh (compare 1 Kings 18:28). All these were pagan methods of representing a state of mourning or seeking to influence deity (see also 19:27-28), and may also have been utilised on other religious occasions. All were forbidden. They would be seen as blemishes which would render them ineligible to enter the sanctuary, for they would declare that they were not Yahweh's men, but defiled by paganism.
The ‘baldness' mentioned here is probably the same as the ‘rounding of the corners of the head' in Leviticus 19:27, and may have reference to offering the hairs of the head to the dead to help them maintain some form of life among the dead shades of the underworld. Later the shaving of the full head was seen as a legitimate sign of mourning (Isaiah 22:12; Amos 8:10; Micah 1:16). But that had no such idolatrous connections, and was simply a way of expressing a sense of bereftness and distress.
Thus those who would serve God truly must abstain from anything that is doubtful in the ‘spiritual' realm, seeking only to God Himself. Anything to do with the occult is to be seen by the Christian as taboo, as something not to be touched and to be avoided. For we are Christ's, and our lives are hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
The Requirement Not To Render Common God's Name But To Be Holy As Befits Their Sacred Responsibilities (Leviticus 21:6).
“They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God, do they offer. Therefore they shall be holy.”
For the priests were to be seen as holy to God, and must not degrade Him by making Him seem like other supposed gods, or bringing death into His presence. They were to avoid anything that might profane His name, that is, might wrongly represent how He was seen and what He was, anything that would hide how different He was. For they were the ones who offered to God ‘the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God'. They were His chosen servants. So in order to be fitted for this holy task they must be holy, and set apart from all that is related to death and to paganism, and all that misrepresents Him. (Mourning was given as the extreme example).
“The bread of their God do they offer.” The word ‘bread' (lechem) refers to the staple food of a people. It can refer to such diverse things as honey (1 Samuel 14:24) and goat's milk (Proverbs 27:27). Compare Leviticus 21:22 where the priests eat ‘the bread of their God'. It is therefore a general expression for sacrificial offerings through which God makes food available for His priests.
In Leviticus 24:9 the bread of the presence which is mainly eaten by the priests is described as an offering made by fire to Yahweh. That may be in mind here. In Exodus 29:25 the whole burnt offering and the bread combined are an offering made by fire to Yahweh, compare with Exodus 21:32 where the priests eat it. In Numbers 28:2 where God speaks of ‘my offering and my bread' it refers to the morning and evening sacrifices, offered with the grain offering part of which is partaken of by the priests. See also Leviticus 3:11; Leviticus 3:16, where the offering is called ‘the bread/food of the offering made by fire'. But it does not indicate food for God Himself. God Himself is always from the very beginning depicted as receiving the pleasing odour, not as eating the sacrifices. It is specifically and constantly stated that it is the priests who eat the offerings and sacrifices, and the bread and grain, that can be eaten. And that is why they must be holy.
We too are to be concerned for the name and reputation of God. By our lives we are to bring glory to Him (1 Corinthians 10:31), and to avoid anything that would besmirch His name (1 Peter 4:14). Rather we are to show forth the excellencies of His Who has called us out of darkness into His most marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9), and by our good works glorify our Father Who is in Heaven (Matthew 5:16)..
The Requirement To Marry A Suitable Woman (Leviticus 21:7).
“They shall not take a woman that is a harlot, or profane, nor shall they take a woman put away from her husband, for he is holy to his God.”
The priests must also have no sexual contact with ‘second-hand' women. Because the priests are holy they must not marry a prostitute, whether cult or otherwise, or a woman with a reputation for not being godly (or possibly an alien woman who had not entered within the covenant), or a divorced woman, who was still seen as in some way ‘one' with her divorced husband. Their wives must be of good repute and virginal, as they came from the hand of God, fitted in purity to be the wives of God's servants. Seemingly, however, they could marry widows of good repute (contrast verse 13). Such were no longer one with their husbands because the death of their husbands had removed the oneness.
In the same way those who would serve God truly must beware of whom they marry. Not only should they avoid marrying a non-Christian (2 Corinthians 6:14), they should look for chastity and purity and a right attitude of heart towards God. A man or woman's future can be made or broken by the partner that they marry.