Leviticus · chapter 21 of 27
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Leviticus 21 sets stricter rules for the priests, the sons of Aaron, because they offer the food of God: it limits contact with the dead, regulates whom they may marry and asks more of the high priest. A priest with a physical defect could not offer at the altar, though he could eat of the holy food. The reason: the Lord sanctifies them.
After the laws of holiness for all the people, the book turns to those who serve closest to the sanctuary. The priests represented Israel before God, and so their lives had to show clearly the holiness of the one they served. The rules seem demanding, but they teach that greater nearness to God brings greater responsibility.
The Lord tells Moses to speak to the priests. They must not defile themselves for a dead person, except for close relatives: mother, father, son, daughter, brother and the virgin sister who depends on him. They must not shave their heads, shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies, because they are holy to their God and offer the Lord's food. They must not marry a prostitute or a divorced woman. The daughter of a priest who prostitutes herself profanes her father.
The high priest has still stricter rules: he must not let his hair hang loose or tear his clothes, must not go near any dead body, not even his father or mother, and must not leave the sanctuary for it. He must marry a virgin of his own people, so as not to profane his offspring, for the anointing oil of his God is on him.
The last part concerns physical defects: no descendant of Aaron with a defect may approach to offer the food of God, such as someone blind, lame, disfigured, with a broken limb or with a skin disease. Yet he may eat of the holy food, though he may not go in before the veil or approach the altar, so that he does not profane the Lord's sanctuaries, who sanctifies them.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The priests are to be holy to their God and not profane his name, because they offer the Lord's food. Their service requires a character that matches what they serve. Nearness to God brings greater responsibility.
The high priest must not go out of the sanctuary or profane it, because the consecration of the anointing oil is on him. His whole life must be subordinated to his service, even in grief for the death of his parents.
The priest with a defect could eat the holy food, both of the most holy and of the holy. Though he could not offer at the altar, he was not excluded from God's table or from his support: he remained part of the priestly family.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because they offer the food of their God, and are holy to him. — Leviticus 21:6
Answer: For his mother, father, son, daughter, brother and virgin sister. — Leviticus 21:2-3
Answer: A prostitute, a woman who had been defiled, or a divorced woman. — Leviticus 21:7
Answer: A virgin of his own people. — Leviticus 21:13-14
Answer: Approach to offer the food of his God and come to the altar. — Leviticus 21:17-23
Answer: Eat of the holy food of his God. — Leviticus 21:22
Leviticus 21 reminds us that serving God is not only a function but a life. The closer to the Word and to ministry, the more important consistency is. In a Sunday school class you can ask what we expect of those who serve in the church and what we expect of ourselves.
The rules about physical defects require us to read them carefully: in Israel they limited service at the altar, but not a place at God's table. Today the New Testament shows the church as a body in which every member is needed, and Christ as the perfect high priest who welcomes us whatever our limitations.
Leviticus 21 closes the call to a special holiness for those who serve in the sanctuary. Leviticus 22 continues with the holy food: who could eat it, when, and what the animals the people presented were to be like.
Because they approached God on behalf of the people and handled what is holy. Their rules visibly expressed God's holiness. The New Testament teaches that all believers form a royal priesthood, but that Christ is the perfect high priest.
It limited a priest with a physical defect from offering at the altar, because the sacrifice was to picture perfection. But the same text keeps him as a priest and lets him eat the holy food. In the New Testament, Jesus welcomed and healed many people with limitations.