Leviticus 21:10-15 Laws Concerning the High Priest
Day 20 and still self-isolating and keeping my distance. Not that there are many people out there to keep one’s distance from. We went for our 6.4 kilometre walk and saw a few other brave souls in the distance. Buses were running empty. Now back home we continue with our projects waiting to hear some sense about reopening our world in the near future.
As part of enjoyable routine, I am continuing my study in Leviticus. Thanks for joining me. Read on.
The Passage
10 ‘The priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; 11 nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; 12 nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. 13 He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people, 15 so that he will not profane his offspring among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”
Thoughts on the Passage
In the first 9 verses of this chapter, God outlines some strong requirements or commands for priests. But in this section, verses 10 to 15 He zeroes in on some additional, or rather more stringent aspects of some of those requirements for the “high priest”.
To begin with, it is clear that God considers the high priest to be the highest or most senior person in the priesthood with a very special role and responsibility. There seems, therefore, to be a precedent for having a “head” of a religion – think of the Pope for the Catholics; or the Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, currently Bartholomew I, of the Orthodox Church; and various denominational heads in the Protestant faith. God believes in order and certainly knows that we need some kind of order. The issue for us believers is first how are those leaders chosen and secondly what rights do they really have. Unfortunately, we forget they are all mere humans.
The second thing that God orders for the high priest is that he not be defiled by a dead person, and unlike the priests below him, he is not to be defiled by even the dead body of his own mother or father.
And then the next order (verse 13) may require some thinking. When God says, the high priest, “shall take a wife in her virginity” does He only mean it, if and when, the high priest intends to marry or that the high priest must marry? Personally, I’m taking the translation literally as an order and I believe that is supported by the wording in verse 14 where it says, “but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people.” Maybe God knows something about man and for the sake of God’s holiness and the holiness of the church such a leader is to represent, this makes absolute sense.
Now I know that the Apostle Paul says that not everyone has to marry. I get that. But last time I checked, while Paul was, and is, a favorite of Christians, he never claimed to be the head of the church – anything but. If anyone may be said to be deemed the head of the church, it is the Apostle Peter towards whom Christ uttered the statement, “You are Cephas, the Rock, upon which I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)
So, where does that leave the Catholic Church with an unmarried Pope? And if the high priest is to be a model for the lower priests (as they are to be a model for us), where does that leave many an unmarried priest in terms of the church’s ‘social order’? Sometimes I wonder just how badly we have screwed things up, and yet, the Church is God’s one and only way to accomplish His Plan for mankind. We press on.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
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