Does your pastor measure up? What about you?

Leviticus Chapter 21: What God Wants You to Know About Priests – Part 1

Leviticus 21:1-9 Laws Concerning Priests

Today is the 19^th day of our self-isolation and/or social-distancing due to Covid-19. After two weeks of self-quarantine we can now go out but only if absolutely necessary. Until now, those terms remain definable by the person thinking of venturing away from his/her residence. We went for a walk (over ten kilometres; 2.25 hours). We saw very few people and they were definitely keeping their distance. A small majority wore masks. I imagine the majority of those that didn’t were not able to find any.

Back at home we continue to do things around the house, listen to inspiring music recommended by friends, and playing Scrabble (my wife leads our series 19-14). I am continuing my study in Leviticus.  Thanks for joining me.  Read on.

The Passage

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, ² except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, ³ also for his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. ⁴ He shall not defile himself as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. ⁵ They shall not make any baldness on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the food of their God; so, they shall be holy. ⁷ They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. ⁹ Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

Thoughts on the Passage

After God finished telling Moses what commands He had for His people, He then commenced His order for His priests. Chuck Smith reminds us to view this and the next chapter as parallels to the guidelines that God provides us for bishops in the New Testament. Also, as Paul tells Timothy (in I Timothy 4:12), “Be thou an example unto the believer,” so we too are to consider the laws for priests as examples to the extent feasible, for us.

The very first instruction here, “no one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people” requires some explanation. You will remember that touching a dead person made one unclean and they remained so until the next day. Here God is reminding priests that they are not to touch any dead person, lest they defile themselves. The exceptions are then provided in verses 2 to 4.

Verse 5 forbids a priest to shave his head or his sideburns, or to cut his bodily flesh in any way. Simply put, God wanted the priests’ bodies to be unblemished. They were in a sense standing before God, Who wanted them to be whole, as He had created them. I believe God wants that of us as well.

In verse 6 God tells us priests are not to swear or “profane the name of their God”. They need to realize that as they are presenting the offerings, they are in a sense presenting the food of their God, and so they need to be holy.

Verse 7 tells us that priests can only have women who have not been harlots, or affected by harlotry, or divorced. David Guzik says priests were only allowed to take virgins for wives, symbolic of their commitment and purity that was required of them. In all aspects of their lives, they were to seek purity.

Verse 8 requires the people to consecrate the priest for the priest is holy to the people.

And finally verse 9 provides a very strong penalty for a daughter of a priest who profanes herself in harlotry – she is to be burned with fire. While this was covered under the laws applicable to the general populace, it is repeated here for emphasis. There seems to be a special responsibility on priests to keep their daughters pure, but perhaps also on the children of priests to remain pure, recognizing the role of their family before God.

This passage yields two good questions for us today. First, do we expect our clergy to follow all these laws of God today? With the exception of not touching dead people (as some are required to when performing services among the very sick or in a war zone) and the burning of daughters of the clergy, I can see no valid reason why these things are not to be the norm for our pastors today.  Sadly, I see many pastors breaking one or more of these. So much for being examples to us as Paul called on Timothy to be.

Secondly, regardless of how our clergy are behaving, what about us? I believe the above laws could easily be adhered to by many more of God’s children. There are exceptions of course because of what God’s Son has done for us. So, I would consider it perfectly acceptable for a Christian to marry someone who is not a virgin. But that does not mean as a Christian who is a virgin, one can now go out seeking to lose their virginity outside of marriage.  Also, it would be acceptable to have tattoos and become a Christian. But these verses suggest it not okay to be a Christian and actively seek to get a tattoo because you feel you are free in Christ to do so.  God does not change His view of such things.  There is no verse in the New Testament telling you to go out and cut or mark up your body. You get the idea. Still, having said all of that, our God is a big and forgiving God.  His grace and mercy are immeasurable. And even when we fail in that way, He loves us and keeps us in His arms. 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.