Leviticus 21

The text employs a movement of increasing intensity, progressing from the standards of the general priesthood, to the unique responsibilities of the high priest, and finally to the physical conditions required for all serving priests.

• I the Lord, which sanctify you, am holy (v. 8)
• I the Lord do sanctify him (v. 15)
• For I the Lord do sanctify them (v. 23)

• Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron (v. 1)
• They shall not make baldness upon their head (v. 5)
• They shall not take a wife that is a whore (v. 7)
• He shall take a virgin of his own people (v. 14)
• Let him not approach to offer the bread of his God (v. 17)

• There shall none be defiled for the dead (v. 1)
• He shall not profane the name of his God (v. 6)
• He shall not go in unto the veil (v. 23)

• The setting is the wilderness tabernacle, where the priesthood was being established and regulated under the Mosaic Covenant.
• In the Ancient Near Eastern context, priesthood often required physical wholeness; this text codifies those standards for Israel, rooted in Yahweh's holiness.

• Mourning rites involving cutting the flesh or shaving the head were common in surrounding pagan nations (e.g., in worship of Ba'al or Chemosh) and were strictly forbidden for Israel's priests to maintain a distinct, holy witness.
• The high priest was subject to extreme restrictions to prevent ritual contamination, symbolizing his exclusive devotion to his function.

• This chapter follows the ordination of the priests in chapters 8-9 and the ritual purity laws of chapters 11-15, moving from general purity to the specific conduct required of those who lead worship.
• It serves as a prerequisite for the sacrificial duties described throughout the book.

• The passage anticipates the New Testament revelation of Christ as the perfect, unblemished High Priest (Hebrews 7:26-28).
• Matthew Henry observes that as these priests were types of Christ, the ministers of the Gospel must be followers of Him in character and purity; however, unlike the Aaronic priests, Christians serve God based on spiritual rather than physical qualifications.

• Leviticus 21:6-8 and the prohibition of profaning God's name echoes the third commandment (Exodus 20:7).

• כֹּהֵן (kohen, H3548): One officiating; the text demands these men be distinct from the 'people' (עַם H5971).
• חָלַל (chalal, H2490): To profane; used repeatedly to indicate the contamination of the priest's office, the sanctuary, or the name of God.
• קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, H6944): Holiness or sanctuary; the central concern of the chapter is maintaining the purity of sacred things.
• נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, H5315): Used here to refer to a 'dead body' or 'dead person'; the priest must avoid the impurity associated with death.
• זָנָה (zanah, H2181): To prostitute or play the whore; the severity of this sin is magnified when committed by the daughter of a priest (v. 9).

• Even a blemished priest was not cast out of the community or denied the right to eat the holy food (v. 22); the restriction only applied to 'approaching' the altar.
• The term 'profane' (חָלַל) is used for physical blemishes, social choices (marriage), and moral failures, suggesting that 'holiness' in the Old Testament encompasses both ceremonial and moral integrity.

• There is ongoing scholarly debate regarding whether the physical blemishes listed in vv. 18-20 are intended to be interpreted as symbolic (representing moral failings) or strictly literal; the grammatical-historical view favors the plain, literal reading of physical disqualification.