God had called the Israelites to be a Holy Nation set apart from among all the other people groups of the world to show God’s glory and walk in His ways and follow His commands.
Exodus 19:5–6 (ESV)
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Not only were the Israelites supposed to be separate, consecrated and holy set apart to God alone but the priests of Israel were to also be kingdom leaders.
This Chapter is mainly focused on the priests.
Summary- Those whom God set apart for service as priests could not have physical defects, could not defile themselves by mourning for the dead, entering into unholy marriages. If so, they were viewed as unqualified or barred from serving as a priest and eating sacrificial food.
For the OT priest, there were physical and spiritual qualifications
1. The Priest Must Maintain Hope and Joy of God’s Covenant at All Times (21:1-6; 10-12)
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
10 “The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord.
In this first section, we see that the priest could not engage in mourning the death of a relative. Being specific, he must not mourn the death of a relative by marriage but could mourn a blood relative and his wife.
Even in the mourning of a blood relative the priest could not come in contact with a dead body which would defile him.
The reason God is concerned with the priest and death is that death is the curse and the priest is a minister of the covenant. The covenant was about life not death.
Genesis 3:19 (ESV)
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
All mourning rituals were to be avoided. This included shaving the head, tearing garments, cutting the body, leaving hair unkept, and things like this. He was to remain a humble servant full of hope and joy even during the death of a relative.
His obligation to God surpassed his family responsibilities. The priest represented God to the people. God is the Creator of life. He alone sustains life. So, the priest as God’s representative had to be the priest of life and not of death.
The NT tells us that because of Jesus’ resurrection, He has removed the sting of death.
1 Corinthians 15:55–57 (ESV)
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus gave us the proper perspective on death. He said things like, let the dead bury their own dead (Luke 9:60)
Paul wrote, believers who die do not die in vain (1 Corinthians 15:16-20); To die is gain (Philippians 1:21); for Christians we should not grieve as others grieve who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13) when Christ appears He will bring with Him all who have fallen asleep.
2. The Priest Must Maintain the Purity of the Covenant at All Times (21:7-9; 13-15)
7 They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.”
God commanded the priest to not marry a woman who had been with another man…period. She had to be a virgin from the house of Israel. The text specifically mentions prostitutes or even legally divorced women.
There were two main issues in God keeping the priests pure. Defilement to the priest came from marrying a woman who had been with another man.
I think it’s important to mention here that this was for the priest. So, there was the issue of defilement.
Then there was also the issue of priestly progression. Here it’s important to see that the priest’s male children were also to be priests it was a progression that was hereditary. So, they had to keep track of their children. In other words, they had to know that their child was actually theirs in order for the line of priests to continue and be kept pure.
Then, the other issue had to do with the daughter of the priest (V9), she could not become a prostitute. This would also profane God’s name.
3. The Priest Must Meet Certain Qualifications (21:16-24)
16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
In ancient Israel, the priest had to be healthy and whole. He could not have certain physical defects. The disqualifying defects are listed here.
a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.
The priest who was disqualified could still serve in some capacity but he just could not be the priest who performed the sacrificial ritual.
While the OT rules were physical in nature because physical wholeness was part of the temple worship. Because our High Priest is perfect in every way.
Rather than having physical qualifications, the God requires spiritual qualifications for leadership within the Church.
4. The Priest Had to Remain Pure (22:1-16)
22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. 4 None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or a man who has had an emission of semen, 5 and whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6 the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because they are his food. 8 He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ 9 They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
10 “A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, 11 but if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his food. 12 If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. 13 But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. 14 And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15 They shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, 16 and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”
Here we see that just as the Israelite worshipper was barred from the sanctuary due to a defilement, so too the priest must not perform his duties. They too may encounter times of uncleanness and being disqualified.
Beginning in 22:10 God gives instruction as to who is to eat of the sacrifice and the bread. There is a prohibition none shall eat except the priest and his immediate household family.
There is a theological truth that is appropriate for this section. Like the priests in the OT God has called Church leaders to reflect the holiness of the Lord in all they do and exemplify the faith in the eyes of the congregation.
The priests in Israel were called by God to live out holiness before the nation. They had to remain clean and not defile themselves by touching a dead body or be defiled in marriage. They were called to show forth a holy covenant before the people.
Our Superior High Priest-
Now in the NT, we have a High Priest who has met all the qualifications for us. We have learned that Jesus was the Lamb of God and He was without spot or blemish. He qualified to be our Sacrifice. Now we learn that the priest too was called by God to be without spot or blemish. He had to be healthy and whole. Jesus also meets the physical qualifications to be our High Priest, He is without spot or blemish.
The OT priesthood was kept pure through descendants from Aaron from the tribe Levi. So, the Levitical/Aaronic Order was the foundation for the OT priests, they served God in the Old Covenant.
Jesus is the High Priest of the New Testament or New Covenant. He is not a Levite but from the tribe of Judah. He does not qualify based on His tribal ancestry. Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron. Jesus qualifies because of His perfection and His eternality.
Hebrews 7:11–28 (ESV)
11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’ ”
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Resources Used:
Holiness to the Lord Allen Ross
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