Leviticus 21:1-24
1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.
4 But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
6 They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
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 LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.
9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
10 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;
11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.
13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.
16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the breada of his God.
18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf,b or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.
24 And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.
Leviticus
*Worship the *LORD in the Beauty of *Holiness
Leviticus
Gordon Churchyard
This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.Words in boxes are from the Bible, except for the words in brackets (…).
Chapter 21
Rules for the priests, so that they remain holy
v1 The *LORD said (this) to Moses. ‘Speak to the priests, (who are) the sons of Aaron. Say this to them: “(A priest) must not make himself *unclean because one of his relatives has died.
v2 There is an exception for his closest relatives. (This means) his mother, his father, his son, his daughter and his brother.
v3 (It also means) a sister who has not married (anyone). She depended on him because she did not have a husband. So (the priest) may make himself *unclean if she (dies).
v4 He must not become *unclean (because he has touched the body of) a relative by marriage. This would make him very *unclean.
v5 (Priests) must not shave their heads (so that they have bald places). They must not shave off the edges of their beards. They must not cut their bodies.
v6 They must be holy for their God. They must not say bad things about God’s name. They must be holy, because they give the *offerings to the *LORD on the fire (at his house). The (*offerings) are (like) bread for God. So they must be holy.
v7 (A priest) must not marry a woman who has had sex with other men. (A priest) must not marry a woman (whose husband has) divorced (her). A priest must be holy for his God.
v8 Be sure that your priests are holy. (This is) because they offer bread to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the *LORD, am holy. (It is I who) makes you holy.
v9 If a priest’s daughter has sex with a man (apart from her husband,) you must burn her with fire. She has made herself very *unclean and she has made her father very *unclean.
v10 The (chief) priest is greater than (the other priests who are as) his brothers. They poured the special *oil on his head (when he became chief priest). Also, he must wear the special clothes (that is, the clothes of the chief priest). (When someone dies) he must not let his hair be untidy. He must not tear his clothes.
v11 He must not enter any place (where there is) a dead body. Even for his father or his mother, he must not make himself *unclean.
v12 He must not leave the house of his God. He must not make God’s house *unclean. His God’s *oil, which (the priests) poured on him, has made him separate (from everybody else). I am the *LORD.
v13 (The chief priest) must marry a woman who has never had sex with anybody.
v14 He must not marry a widow or a woman who has divorced (her husband). He must not marry a woman who has had sex with other men (for their religion or for money). He may only marry a woman who is from his own people. And she must not have had sex with anybody.
v15 He must not (marry such women) because they would make his children very *unclean among his relatives. I am the *LORD, who makes him separate (from everybody else).” ’
v16 The *LORD said (this) to Moses.
v17 ‘Say (this) to Aaron. “None of your *descendants who has something wrong with his body must ever come near to God. No such *descendant must ever offer him food.
v18 Nobody who has something wrong with his body may come near (to God). Such a person may be blind. He may not be able to walk normally. He may be very ugly. His arm or leg may be too long.
v19 Such a person may have a bad leg or a hand that will not work properly.
v20 He may have a bend in his back or he may be very small. He may have a problem with his eye. His skin may be a strange colour because he has a bad disease. He may have suffered an injury to the sex parts (of his body).
v21 None of Aaron the priest’s *descendants who has any damage in his body may come near (to God). He may not offer gifts to the *LORD by fire. Nobody (whose body) has damage of any sort may come near to offer food to his God.
v22 But he may eat the food (that the priests) offered to God. (He may eat) both the holy food and the most holy food.
v23 However, he must not go near the curtain or near the *altar. He will make my house *unclean because there is damage to his body. I am the *LORD who makes all these things holy.” ’
v24 Moses said this to Aaron, to his sons and to all the *Israelites.
Notes
Rules for ordinary priests – Leviticus 21:1-9
The priests were the male *descendants of Aaron. It was their duty to serve the *Israelites as they (the priests) worked for God. To do that properly, they had to be holy.
So the priests must not do the things that the other *Israelites could do. The priests had important responsibilities. So they must not be continuously sad because of people who had died. If they were always *unclean because of funerals, they could never do God’s work.
God told the priests that they should not usually make themselves *unclean after someone’s death. But if one of a priest’s closest relatives died, then the priest could bury the body. And the priest could show his sad feelings then. But at other times, God’s work was more important.
These verses also contain rules about priests’ marriages, their families, and their proper behaviour.
Verses 1-4 A priest would become *unclean if he touched a dead person, Numbers 19:11-13. So God did not allow the priests to do that. God made an exception for very close relatives. If the priest were *unclean, he would not be able to serve God in God’s house.
Verses 5-6 These were things that people from other religions did. Their priests did these things when somebody died. This verse really repeats Leviticus 19:27-28. God did not want his people to do what priests from other religions did. If they cut themselves, they would not be able to serve God in his house. The cut would make them *unclean.
Verse 7 Again, God does not allow his priests to do what other priests did. They had sex with women as part of their religion. Bible students are not sure what the *Hebrew words in part of this verse mean. Our translation is therefore very simple.
Verses 8-9 The people must respect the priests and their families. The man in verse 9 is not the daughter’s husband. The daughters of priests could marry and they could have sex with their husbands. But this daughter probably did what some female priests of false gods did. They had sex with men because of the rules of their false religion. God does not allow this.
Rules for the chief priest – Leviticus 21:10-15
Verses 10-15 These are special rules for the chief priest. The *oil was from a fruit, probably a fruit called the olive. It is not the same as the *oil that we use as fuel. People poured it on him on the day when he became chief priest. The special clothes showed people that he was the chief priest, Leviticus 8:6-9 and Exodus 28:1-29.
Because the chief priest was closer to God than anyone else, he had to have a higher standard than them. He always had to be close to God. He always had to be ready to serve God. He always had to be holy. So he could not allow himself to become *unclean because of a dead body. This was so, even when a close relative died. The chief priest could not show people that he was sad. People usually made their hair untidy to show that they were sad. Also, they tore their clothes. The chief priest must do none of these things. He could not go to funerals. He must always serve God.
There were also higher standards for the chief priest’s marriage. The chief priest had to marry a woman ‘from his own people’. This probably means from the families of the priests. This was because his son would probably be the next chief priest.
Rules for priests who have something wrong with their bodies – Leviticus 21:16-23
Verses 16-24 Aaron’s *descendants were his sons, and their sons, and so on, for many centuries. They were the priests. These priests had to be men. But some of Aaron’s male *descendants could not perform all the duties of priests. This was because they had certain illnesses or other problems with their bodies.
Bible students are not sure what some of these problems were. For example, ‘very ugly’ in verse 18 may mean ‘cannot speak properly’. But it is clear that, to serve God, a priest must have good health.
These rules showed people that God’s priests should be perfect. Of course, these rules were about their bodies. But the lesson was about their lives. Really, it is *sin that spoils a person’s relationship with God. And it is *sin that spoils someone’s work for God.
The men with these problems still had a special relationship with God. Their illnesses and other problems were not *sin. So these men still ate the food that God gave to the priests. These men even ate the most holy food. But because of their problems, God did not allow them to do certain things that other priests did.
‘Come near to God’ means this: ‘Serve God in his house’. The food in verse 16 means the *offerings of meat and flour that the priests made. The curtain (verse 23) was inside the *meeting tent. The *altar was outside; the priests burned the *sacrifices there. Below are places where you can find the holy food and the most holy food (verse 22).
| Holy Food | Most Holy Food |
Something to do
1. For Christians, Jesus is their chief priest. Read Hebrews 7:25-26. Of which verses in Leviticus chapter 21 does that passage remind you?
2. Read 2 Corinthians 6:3-6. Like the chief priest, Paul had to do unusual things because he was God’s servant. Compare these two things. (a) What Paul did. (b) What the chief priest had to do in Leviticus 21:10-15.
3. Compare the list in Leviticus 21:18-20 with the list in Leviticus 22:22-24.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
holiness ~ the quality of somebody who is holy, or very, very good.
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy. Or, a description of something that belongs to God.
unclean ~ unsuitable for God or for God’s people. When someone was unclean, that person was unable to worship at God’s house.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
offering ~ gift.
oil ~ a type of oil that comes from an oily fruit called the olive. People used this oil in their food and they burnt it in lamps.
descendant ~ members of your family who live after you live.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
sin ~ to do wrong things; not to obey God’s rules. Or, the things we do when we sin. Evil thoughts, words and deeds are all sin, whether we do them on purpose or not.'meeting tent ~ the special tent where God met with Moses. The priests could enter it to worship; they burnt sacrifices on the altar in front of it.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
sacrifice ~ something that people burned on an altar for God; or to burn on an altar for God. People also gave sacrifices to false gods.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
sacrifice ~ something that people burned on an altar for God; or to burn on an altar for God. People also gave sacrifices to false gods.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.