Leviticus 21:16-24

Physical Defects and Priests

16 The Lord spoke to Moses:
17 "Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect is to come near to present the food of his God.
18 No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed;
19 no man who has a broken foot or hand,
20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf,[a] or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle.[b]
21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to present the fire offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God.
22 He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy.
23 But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate My sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sets them apart."
24 Moses said [this] to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Leviticus 21:16-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 21

This chapter respects the priests, the sons of Aaron, and forbids their mourning for the dead, unless in some cases, Le 21:1-6; or their marriage with an whore or a divorced woman, Le 21:7,8; and the daughters of any of them to commit fornication, which is made punishable with death, Le 21:9; and it contains particular laws for the high priest to observe, who was not to mourn for any, even for his parents, Le 21:10,11; nor to go out of the sanctuary, Le 21:12; nor to marry any woman but a virgin, Le 21:13-15; and it also directs, that none of the priests having any blemish in them should be employed in divine service, though they might eat of the holy things, Le 21:16-24.

Footnotes 2

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