Levítico 21:7 Comentário

This chapter might borrow its title from Mal 2:1, "And now, O you priests, this commandment is for you." It is a law obliging priests with the utmost care and jealousy to preserve the dignity of their priesthood. I. The inferior priests are here charged both concerning their mourning and concerning their marriages and their children (Lev 21:1-9). II. The high priest is restrained more than any of them (Lev 21:10-15). III. Neither the one nor the other must have any blemish (Lev 21:16, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 21 This chapter respects the priests, the sons of Aaron, and forbids their mourning for the dead, unless in some cases, Lev 21:1; or their marriage with an whore or a divorced woman, Lev 21:7; and the daughters of any of them to commit fornication, which is made punishable with death, Lev 21:9; and it contains particular laws for the high priest to observe, who was not to mourn for any, even for his parents, Lev 21:10; nor to go out of the sanctuary, Lev 21:12; nor to marry any woman but a virgin, Lev 21:13; 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, Lev 21:16.

They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane,.... By the former is meant a common whore, that prostitutes herself to any one through lust or for gain; and by the latter one whose chastity is violated, but either unwillingly, that has been forced and ravished, or else willingly, being enticed, persuaded, and prevailed upon, but did not make a practice of it; this seems to be the true sense of the words: but the Jewish writers understand them differently; by a "whore" they suppose is meant one that is not an Israelitish woman, that is not born of an Israelite, at least of an Israelitish woman, as proselytes or freed persons; for they say there are no whores but such, or one that lies with such persons, she may not marry with; as such as are guilty of cutting off, or any of the Nethinim, or spurious persons, so Jarchi; and by a "profane" person they think is meant such as are born of those that are rejected, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it; that is, that are either born of incestuous marriages, such as are forbidden, Lev 18:1; or that are born of those that are rejected in the priesthood, or whom a priest might not marry, as the daughter of a widow, by the high priest, or the daughter of one divorced, by a common priest, which is the sense of Jarchi: neither shall they take a woman put away by her husband: which was, in these and later times, common for any offence, when the crime of adultery was not pretended; but this always supposed something bad or amiss, and made such a woman suspected of having done an unseemly thing, therefore priests were forbidden marrying such persons: the Targum of Jonathan adds,"or by her husband's brother;''and so takes in one that has loosed the shoe, as the Jews call her, who being left without issue, her husband's brother refused to marry her, and therefore she plucked off his shoe, and spit in his face, see Deu 25:7; such an one a priest might not marry, according to this paraphrast, and other Jewish writers, and if he did was to be beaten (a): for he is holy unto his God; separated from common persons, and devoted to the service of God, and therefore not to be defiled with such sort of women, or to lie under any scandal or reproach through such, marriages. (a) Misn. Maccot, c. 3. sect. 1.

The priests shall not mourn for the dead, except for near relatives, such as mother, father, son, daughter, and sister if a virgin, Lev 21:1-4. They shall not shave their heads nor beards, nor make any cuttings in the flesh, because they are holy unto God, Lev 21:5, Lev 21:6. A priest shall not marry a woman who is a whore, profane, or divorced from her husband, Lev 21:7, Lev 21:8. Of the priest's daughter who profanes herself, Lev 21:9. The high priest shall not uncover his head, or rend his clothes, Lev 21:10; nor go in unto a dead body, Lev 21:11; nor go out of the sanctuary, Lev 21:12. Of his marriage and off-spring, Lev 21:13-15. No person shall be made a priest that has any blemish nor shall any person with any of the blemishes mentioned here be permitted to officiate in the worship of God, Lev 21:16-24.

That is a whore - A prostitute, though even reclaimed. Profane - A heathen, or one who is not a cordial believer in the true God. Put away from her husband - Because this very circumstance might lead to suspicion that the priest and the divorced woman might have been improperly connected before.

OF THE PRIESTS' MOURNING. (Lev. 21:1-24) There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people--The obvious design of the regulations contained in this chapter was to keep inviolate the purity and dignity of the sacred office. Contact with a corpse, or even contiguity to the place where it lay, entailing ceremonial defilement (Num 19:14), all mourners were debarred from the tabernacle for a week; and as the exclusion of a priest during that period would have been attended with great inconvenience, the whole order were enjoined to abstain from all approaches to the dead, except at the funerals of relatives, to whom affection or necessity might call them to perform the last offices. Those exceptional cases, which are specified, were strictly confined to the members of their own family, within the nearest degrees of kindred.

They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane--Private individuals might form several connections, which were forbidden as inexpedient or improper in priests. The respectability of their office, and the honor of religion, required unblemished sanctity in their families as well as themselves, and departures from it in their case were visited with severer punishment than in that of others.

Holiness of the Priests, of the Holy Gifts, and of Sacrifices - Leviticus 21-22 The Sanctification of the Priests. - As the whole nation was to strive after sanctification in all the duties of life, on account of its calling as a nation of God, the priests, whom Jehovah had chosen out of the whole nation to be the custodians of His sanctuary, and had sanctified to that end, were above all to prove themselves the sanctified servants of the Lord in their domestic life and the duties of their calling. (1) They were not to defile themselves by touching the dead or by signs of mourning (Lev 21:1-6 and Lev 21:10-12); (2) they were to contract and maintain a spotless marriage (Lev 21:7-9 and Lev 21:13-15); and (3) those members of the priesthood who had any bodily failings were to keep away from the duties of the priests' office (Lev 21:16-24).

Their marriage and their domestic life were also to be in keeping with their holy calling. They were not to marry a whore (i.e., a public prostitute), or a fallen woman, or a woman put away (divorced) from her husband, that is to say, any person of notoriously immoral life, for this would be irreconcilable with the holiness of the priesthood, but (as may be seen from this in comparison with Lev 21:14) only a virgin or widow of irreproachable character. She need not be an Israelite, but might be the daughter of a stranger living among the Israelites; only she must not be an idolater or a Canaanite, for the Israelites were all forbidden to marry such a woman (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3). Lev 21:8 "Thou shalt sanctify him therefore," that is to say, not merely "respect his holy dignity" (Knobel), but take care that he did not desecrate his office by a marriage so polluted. The Israelites as a nation are addressed in the persons of their chiefs. The second clause of the verse, "he shall be holy unto thee," contains the same thought. The repetition strengthens the exhortation. The reason assigned for the first clause is the same as in Lev 21:6; and that for the second, the same as in Lev 20:8, Lev 20:26; Exo 31:13, etc. Lev 21:9 The priests's family was also to lead a blameless life. If a priest's daughter began to play the whore, she profaned her father, and was to be burned, i.e., to be stoned and then burned (see Lev 20:14). כּהן אישׁ, a man who is a priest, a priest-man.