"7 They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God. 8 Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire. 10 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; 11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; 12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. 15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him." — Leviticus 21:7-15 KJV.
7. Whore — A woman wilfully wanton. Profane — Hebrew, profaned or dishonoured in any way, whether by violence or with consent. Put away — A divorced woman may be perfectly virtuous, but the priest’s wife, like Caesar’s, must be above suspicion. He may marry a widow, unless he be a high priest. See verse 14. We call attention to the absence of all limitations as to nationality. The priest might marry a non-Israelite if not an idolater; but not a Canaanite, because of their idolatry, nor an Ammonite nor a Moabite, on account of national antipathy. Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3; 23:3. From verse 14 we infer that he was permitted to marry a widow, as Josephus declares. Others infer from Ezekiel 44:22 that he could marry only the widow of a priest.
9. Daughter of any priest — Not only must the priest’s lips keep knowledge, but he must also exemplify in his family the holy religion of which he is the appointed guardian and teacher. The special safeguard of this law may have arisen from the fact that the priest’s home was less guarded than were those of other people, owing to his absence when ministering. Perhaps without this law Gentile ritualistic fornication might have been introduced. She shall be burnt — After being stoned her body shall be burned, in order to impress upon the people the heinousness of sin in the high places of Israel. See Leviticus 20:14, note. The fires of the divine wrath blaze with the hottest flame around the holy altars.
10. High priest… shall not uncover his head — Aaron was forbidden to mourn for his own sons. See Leviticus 10:6. This is the first occurrence of “high priest” in the Pentateuch. He is otherwise described as the priest, and is more precisely designated by the expression, “which was anointed with the holy oil.”
11. Neither… go in to any dead body — Literally, dead soul. The Hebrew נפשׁ is here used in the sense of the common expression, “dead person,” without meaning to say that the personality lies in the body. Rhetoricians call this metonymy. Delitzsch, in his Biblical Psychology, suggests that the corpse is called נפשׁ because it bears the fresh traces of the soul imprinted upon it in parting. Since the destruction of the temple the Jews have ceased, generally, to consider themselves as polluted by being in the presence of a dead body, but the touch is still polluting.
“Modern times have afforded instances where persons, in their misguided affection, have pressed the cold lips of the dead, and taken thence disease which has laid them in the grave; and it is well known that the slightest wound inflicted by a dissecting instrument almost inevitably produces death. Against such sad consequences the Mosaic law most carefully guarded the Israelites. Contrary to the usages of the eastern world, where the dead were sometimes embalmed and preserved, or where the living and the dead were consumed together in the flames, the Jews were taught that death was a curse, that its presence was defiling, that the living were to be carefully separated from the dead, and that any person who touched a dead body thereby became unclean, and was not allowed to touch any other person or thing until he had passed a period of separation and had been thoroughly bathed. Modern science cannot fail to recognise the utility of such restrictions; and many precious lives might have been saved by paying attention to the sanitary instructions which are embodied in the Mosaic law.” — H.L. Hastings.
The high priest must never knowingly contract ceremonial pollution. He would be rendered unclean by entering a house where there was a corpse. See verse 1, note.
“He who indeed reflects the whole fulness of a holy life must be freed from all polluting fellowship with death, and not even come in contact with the corpses of his parents; his priestly rule in the sanctuary may not be interrupted by any consideration whatever of natural bonds, otherwise regarded as most holy.” — Oehler.
But Jesus, the “undefiled” High Priest of our race, touched the dead and was not defiled, because he was the Prince of Life. He was like the element of fire, which purifies other things without itself contracting impurity.
12. Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary — During the time spent in the service in the tabernacle, he shall not interrupt, abridge, or postpone his service for the purpose of visiting the sick, dying, or dead. No possible event could occur in the camp which could justify the neglect of Jehovah’s honour. In this respect Jesus Christ was exercising the prerogative of the high priest when he said, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Crown of the anointing — A metaphorical expression denoting the excellency of the oil, and the dignity its use conferred. It symbolized the Holy Spirit, the crowning gift of the Father to the Son at his baptism: through Christ’s mediation it is bestowed upon all perfect believers, as the greatest gift that man can wish or Heaven can send. ]1 John 2:20, 27. Dr. A. Clarke suggests that the regal dignity of our Lord is prefigured by this crown, his sacrificial character by his office, and his prophetic influence by his anointing. The Samaritan MS. has “crown of the excellency.”
13, 14. A wife in her virginity — The high priest’s range of choice is made narrower than the priest’s by the elimination of the widows and non-Israelites. His marriage with a virgin beautifully sets forth the character of the Church of Christ espoused unto her Lord as a “chaste virgin.” See 2 Corinthians 11:2. Hindoo priests can marry only virgins. This law was probably borrowed from Judaism. If the Hebrew high priest married outside of the prescribed limits, he profaned his seed, or disqualified his sons for the priesthood. This penalty was sufficient to deter the high priest, or the candidates for this office, from violation of this precept.
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