Leviticus 21:1-6 - The Priests’ Mourning For The Dead

"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." —  Leviticus 21:1-9 KJV.

HOLINESS IN THE PRIESTS, Leviticus 21-22:16.

Jehovah, having given general statutes to conserve the purity of Israel, now proceeds to legislate for the priests, whose character and conduct are so intimately connected with his declarative glory. The mass of men must very largely obtain their conception of the moral character of God from the moral character of those who minister at his altars and are supposed to be in his favour. A pure religion cannot be promulgated by an impure priesthood. Hence these words were ever ringing in the ears of the sons of Aaron: “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Since a man’s family is in a sense a part of his personality, especially among the Hebrews, (Joshua 7:24, note,) and reflects his character, the requirement of holiness extends to his wife and children, in which particular the offices of deacon and elder or bishop in the New Testament are strikingly similar to the Levitical priesthood. See 1 Timothy 3. 

THE PRIESTS’ MOURNING FOR THE DEAD, 1-6. 

The call to the priesthood and the holy anointing do not make the priests less human, nor eradicate the tender sensibilities which bind man to his fellow. Yet to preserve the dignity of the office, and to impress upon the priest the idea that his chief duties are to God and not to man, he is cut off from all acts of formal mourning except for those who are closely bound to him by the ties of blood. Since bodily deformities are often the results of sin in the parent or in the individual, and are, moreover, suggestive of moral failings, dwarfs and persons maimed and crippled were to be kept from the sacred office.

1. Be defiled — Contract ceremonial impurity and disqualification for the priestly offices by entering the tent or house where there is a dead body. Numbers 19:14. For the dead — Literally, “for a soul” in the sense of “person,” the word “dead” being understood. See Numbers 5:2, note.

2. His kin, that is near — The nearness, or “remainder of flesh,” includes all within the first degree of consanguinity, and a portion of the kin within the second. By a glance at the table at the end of chap. xviii it will be seen that of the second degree of consanguinity the grandparent, the grandchild, and the married sister are not to be mourned for, while all the kindred by marriage, whatever the degree, even the wife, are prohibited to the priest for mourning, if we adopt the exclusive interpretation. The case of Ezekiel, the prophet-priest, in Ezekiel 24:16-18, who was expressly forbidden to exhibit the customary tokens of mourning for his deceased wife, would seem to prove that the wife was not excluded in the law of priestly mourning. Keil argues that the wife is included in the near of kin from the fact that she is pronounced to be of “one flesh” with her husband. Genesis 2:24. Yet we confess that this verse has every appearance of an exhaustive and exclusive catalogue.

4. Being a chief man — The exegesis of this verse is much disputed. Some, as Knobel, connect it with the preceding verses, and interpret the “chief man” — בַּ֣עַל — to signify husband, who is expressly forbidden to mourn for his wife. Out of twenty-three times, it is rendered husband six times in the Pentateuch. Others, with Keil, connect this verse with verse 7, and understand it as a general prohibition which is specialized in that verse as relating to an immoral wife or daughter. The weight of argument seems to be with Knobel. Nevertheless, Ezekiel 24:16-18, has been rightly adduced against this view, where it is counted strange that Ezekiel, a priest, does not mourn for his wife.

5. Not make baldness — This forbids the priests to shave a bald place above the forehead “between the eyes” — a practice customary in mourning for the dead, as is seen in Deuteronomy 14:1, where it is forbidden to all Israelites. It was allowed to the Nazarite when his time of separation had expired. Numbers 6:18; Acts 18:18; 21:24. Beard… cuttings in their flesh — See Leviticus 19:27, 28, notes. St. Paul, not without indignation, refers to this prohibition (οὐ κατατεμοῦσιν) when he stigmatizes the antichristian Jews as τὴν κατατομήν, the mutilation. Philippians 3:2. In Jeremiah 9:26, and 25:23 we have a valuable marginal reading, “having the corners of their hair polled,” or “those with whiskers cropped,” as descriptive of the Arabians. It seems to have been the purpose of the lawgiver to keep the Israelites distinct from other nations in their very countenances.

6. Holy unto their God — See Leviticus 10:3; 11:44; 19:2, notes. This denotes entire consecration to God and perfect assimilation to his moral character. Not profane — See Leviticus 18:21, note. The bread of their God — See Leviticus 3:11, note. Therefore they shall be holy — Holiness of service demands holiness of character. It is astonishing how much is said about holiness in this book. See: The Spiritual Import of the Levitical Sacrifices.