Leviticus 21

Listen to Leviticus 21

Holiness and the Priests

1 And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ¹No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people,

2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,

3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).

4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself.

5 ²They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.

6 They shall be holy to their God and ³not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD's food offerings, ⁴the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.

7 ⁵They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ⁶divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ⁷I, the LORD, who sanctify you, ⁸am holy.

9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ⁹she shall be burned with fire.

10 ¹⁰"The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ¹¹shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes.

11 He shall not ¹²go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother.

12 ¹³He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he ¹⁴profane the sanctuary of his God, for the ¹⁵consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the LORD.

13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.^[a]

14 A widow, ¹⁶or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin^[b] of his own people,

15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for ¹⁷I am the LORD who sanctifies him."

16 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

17 "Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may ¹⁸approach to offer the bread of his God.

18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ¹⁹blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face ²⁰or a limb too long,

19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand,

20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a ²¹defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or ²²crushed testicles.

21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to ²³offer the LORD's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.

22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of ²⁴the most holy and of the ²⁵holy things,

23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not ²⁶profane my sanctuaries, ²⁷for I am the LORD who sanctifies them."

24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

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Leviticus 21 Commentary

Chapter 21

Laws concerning the priests.

- As these priests were types of Christ, so all ministers must be followers of him, that their example may teach others to imitate the Saviour. Without blemish, and separate from sinners, He executed his priestly office on earth. What manner of persons then should his ministers be! But all are, if Christians, spiritual priests; the minister especially is called to set a good example, that the people may follow it. Our bodily infirmities, blessed be God, cannot now shut us out from his service, from these privileges, or from his heavenly glory. Many a healthful, beautiful soul is lodged in a feeble, deformed body. And those who may not be suited for the work of the ministry, may serve God with comfort in other duties in his church.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 27

1. Ezekiel 44:25
2. Ezekiel 44:20; [Leviticus 19:27, 28; Deuteronomy 14:1]
3. See Leviticus 18:21
4. See Leviticus 3:11
5. ver. 13, 14; Ezekiel 44:22
6. See Deuteronomy 24:1-4
7. Leviticus 22:9, 16
8. See Leviticus 11:44
9. [Genesis 38:24]
10. Leviticus 8:12; Leviticus 16:32; Exodus 29:29, 30; Numbers 35:25
11. Leviticus 10:6
12. Numbers 19:14; [ver. 1, 2]
13. Leviticus 10:7
14. ver. 23
15. [Leviticus 8:9, 12, 30]
16. ver. 7; Ezekiel 44:22
17. [See ver. 8 above]
18. Leviticus 10:3; [Numbers 16:5; Psalms 65:4]
19. Leviticus 22:22
20. [Leviticus 22:23]
21. [See ver. 18 above]
22. [Deuteronomy 23:1]
23. ver. 6
24. Leviticus 2:3, 10; Leviticus 6:17, 25; Leviticus 7:1; Leviticus 10:12, 17; Leviticus 14:13; Leviticus 24:9; Numbers 18:9
25. Leviticus 22:10, 12
26. ver. 12
27. Leviticus 22:9, 16

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or a young wife
[b]. Hebrew young woman

Chapter Summary

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.