Leviticus 21:1 to Leviticus 22:33. Regulations concerning Priests and Offerings The general legislation, addressed to the people as a whole in the preceding part of H, is now followed by directions as to the standard of holiness to be maintained by the priests, and the nature of sacrificial offerin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron_ A quite unusual formula, not occurring elsewhere in the Pentateuch. _defile himself for the dead_ The defilement caused by touching a dead body lasted for seven days, and required purification by the water in which the ashes of the red heifer have been mix... [ Continue Reading ]
The defilement prohibited in Leviticus 21:1 is allowed for certain near relations.... [ Continue Reading ]
The same six cases are enumerated in Ezekiel 44:25. The non-mention of a wife is not easily accounted for. Was it that this exception would be self-evident? This seems probable from Ezekiel 24:15 ff., which appears from its prohibition to assume that a priest would mourn for his wife. _that is near... [ Continue Reading ]
being _a chief man_ as a husband (R.V. mg.). This rendering limits the cases in which defilement is permissible to those already mentioned, and forbids mourning for a wife. The A.V. follows the Targum. The wording of the _v._suggests a corruption in the text. The Sept. substitute (see R.V. mg.) for... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Leviticus 19:27-28.... [ Continue Reading ]
The reason is given for the restriction in Leviticus 21:1, viz. that the name of God, whose ministers they are, may not be polluted by ceremonial uncleanness. _the offerings of the Lord made by fire_ This expression, or its equivalent, is very frequent in P.The words are probably an insertion from... [ Continue Reading ]
_profane_ guilty of immorality.... [ Continue Reading ]
This _v._has all the air of an insertion. It interrupts the transition from the character of the priest's wife to that of his daughter; and -thou" is harsh. Who is addressed? It may be an insertion (so _Oxf. Hex_.) by the compiler from an older code to enforce the sanctity of the priesthood. _the b... [ Continue Reading ]
For the form of punishment, cp. Leviticus 20:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Corresponding regulations, but of a somewhat stricter character, for the high priest_... [ Continue Reading ]
The reference to the anointing and vesting may be taken from Pin which source it now appears in Exodus 29:5 ff. _that is consecrated_ See R.V. mg. and note on Leviticus 8:33. _shall not let the hair of his head go loose_ so as to preserve a seemly appearance in contrast to that of the leper. See o... [ Continue Reading ]
_for his father, or for his mother_ i.e. not even in such cases, where filial affection would otherwise prescribe it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_go out_, etc.] lest, on returning to the sanctuary, he should pollute it. The words seem to imply that the sanctuary was his usual abode. Cp. 1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 3:2. But they may only mean that he was not to go out during the ceremonial. _crown_ R.V. mg. _consecration_. The former is the liter... [ Continue Reading ]
_A widow_ The rule for the high priest was thus stricter than that for an ordinary priest. The Jewish writer Rashi, in his commentary on the Talmudic treatise _Chagigah_(13 _a_, Tal. Bab.), mentions this as one of the instances of apparent discrepancies between Ezekiel (Ezekiel 44:22) and the Law (s... [ Continue Reading ]
His posterity would become unholy, if they were not sprung from a mother who was worthy of marriage union with the high priest. The later Jews were very scrupulous as to the descent of those whom it was lawful for a priest to marry.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Physical disqualifications for a priest_... [ Continue Reading ]
_throughout their generations_ See end of introd. note to ch. _the bread of his God_ See on Leviticus 21:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a flat nose_ slit, as R.V. mg., rather than -flat." The Heb. word does not occur elsewhere in O.T. But the cognate root in Arabic, having the sense _perforate, pierce_, admits of the sense of perforation of the lip, or the lobe of the ear, as well as a slit in the partition between the nostrils. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_a dwarf_ lit. thin, hence shrunk, withered. _a blemish_ lit. a confusion, obscurity.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the bread of his God_ And so in Leviticus 21:22. on Leviticus 21:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_both of the most holy, and of the holy_ This distinction is not recognised elsewhere. In Leviticus 22:1-16, where there is ample opportunity for the distinction, the offerings are spoken of in general terms as holy things. It is therefore probably the insertion of a later reviser.... [ Continue Reading ]
_my sanctuaries_ The plural may have reference to the sacred building and its surroundings, as in Jeremiah 51:51.... [ Continue Reading ]