Leviticus
Summary
Leviticus Chapter 21 identifies the specific standards of holiness required for the priests. Because they were responsible for presenting the offerings to God, they were held to a higher standard of ceremonial purity and moral conduct. The chapter outlines restrictions for their mourning practices and for who they could marry, ensuring their households remained undefiled. It also notes that any physical defect would prevent a priest from performing the services at the altar, although he could still eat the sacred food. This physical wholeness symbolised the spiritual perfection and the unsullied nature of the divine presence.
The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean by mourning for any of his people who die,
except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother,
or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him.
He must not make himself ceremonially unclean as a leader among his people and so profane himself.
Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the food offerings to the LORD, the food of their God, they are to be holy.
They must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced from her husband, because the priest is holy to his God.
Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Be holy to them, because I the LORD am holy.
If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
“‘The High Priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes.
He must not go near a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother,
nor leave the sanctuary of his God or profane it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD.
The woman he marries must be a virgin.
He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people,
so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the LORD, who makes him holy.
The LORD said to Moses,
"Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God.
No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed;
no man with a crippled foot or hand,
or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.
No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the LORD.
He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food;
Because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so profane my sanctuary. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.’"
So Moses spoke this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.