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2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Wednesday in the Word

Second Baptist Church

May 1, 2019

Leviticus 21:1-24

As we continue our study in Leviticus, we are returning to the theme to be holy or be separate. For the Hebrews, God’s call to be holy meant on many occasions to avoid and stay far away from the things that the pagans did and practiced. Not only were the people to avoid any semblance of pagan behavior, the priest had to function in a way that made them look distinct from the pagan priest. The priest had to look and operate in a manner that demonstrated exclusive loyalty to the true and Living God Yahweh. Pretty much all of the practices listed to be avoided were things that the pagan religions did. These practices may not be as familiar to us in the modern world, but in the ancient pre scientific world, these practices were well known. God’s law is designed to prevent the Hebrews from looking anything like the pagans. This is why they don’t consume blood, interpret omens, visit fortunetellers, or even cut their hair in certain ways.

  1. Verses 1-5. A priest could not come into close contact with a dead body, which we have already learned is ritually impure and defiles those who touch it. As we read in earlier chapters, much ritual defilement was of the minor sort and easily removed. A simple wash and one was clean again. But touching the dead was the cause of more serious defilement. In Numbers 19, we are given the elaborate instructions for the purification of someone who had touched a dead body. Purification required seven days and several separate washings with a special concoction prepared of water, the ashes of a heifer, and other material. One practical reason for this prohibition may have been that there weren’t that many priests at this point in Israel’s history and the sanctuary worship required priests to be available for service. They couldn’t run the risk of the sanctuary being closed to God’s people because there were no priests to preside at the altar. In Numbers 19:13 we read that anyone who touched a dead body and was not properly cleansed defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; how much more a priest whose daily work was in the sanctuary! This prohibition against being in the presence of the dead, not just touching the dead, was a problem, however, because attending to the burial of relatives was a sacred duty in Israel. [Levine, 142] In Num. 19:14 we learn that one didn’t have to touch the corpse; simply being in the tent where he or she had died rendered the person unclean for seven days. Because the pagan priest often came in contact with the dead in their religious rites, God tells his priest they are to avoid dead bodies. God makes some exceptions to this prohibition, but for the most part, they were to avoid dead bodies. Some scholar’s think this is a prohibition concerning taking part in ancient mourning rituals that had at its core…talking to the dead. Mourning cults and mourning rituals had mostly pagan origins, and in the context of being separate, we can assume that God is letting the priest know that the only rituals you can be a part of are the rituals of Yahweh. Only for close relatives can one partake, but for the most part avoid these rituals. Part of the pagan mourning rituals was cutting hair and cutting the body (Jeremiah 16:6, Deut. 14:1, 1 Kings 18:28). They were not allowed to shave a bald spot on their head. This was a pagan practice used to mourn for the dead. Pagan priests also shaved a bald spot on their head as a worship of the sun god. The slashing of bodies was an occult ritual, which ancient nations performed at the death of a loved one. They were cutting their skin in an attempt to draw compassion from the demonic gods, which they worshipped. Idolatry is the worship of demonic gods who hate their worshippers. During the days of Elijah, the Baal priests slashed their bodies in an attempt to gain favor with Baal. They were hoping that Baal would notice them, show compassion to them, and then bring rain.

  2. Verses 7-8. The priest had to be careful whom they married as well. We know from Solomon that a wife who worshipped a pagan god had great influence. They were prohibited from marrying a woman who was divorced or who used to be a prostitute. It is thought that the divorced woman would be divorced due to adultery (pagan sex) and the prostitute was a temple prostitute. The idea here is that a wife would have great influence over her husband and would lead him into pagan practices. The mention of a harlot is intended to remind the Israelites that cultic prostitution of the Canaanite variety had no place whatsoever in the life of the covenant community, since such behavior would profane God’s holy name.

  3. Verse 9. The priest is warned that if his daughter became a temple prostitute that was a lifestyle that warranted death by stoning then the body was burned. A priest could not have a daughter who was leading others in the worship of pagan gods.

  4. Verses 10-15. We move from a regular priest to the high priest. The regular priests were restricted in what they could do but the High Priest was even more restricted in his lifestyle. The High Priest had to dress a certain-way all the time, keep his hair a certain way, and could not become unclean for any reason even the death of his mother or father. The High Priest could only marry a virgin from his own people. So we notice two levels of priest. The regular priest and the High Priest. The High Priest had a more restricted life. The High Priest has to represent the ideal.

  5. Verses 16-24. God prohibited descendants of Aaron who had a severe physical defect from serving as priest. This would seem harsh, but in the context of avoiding pagan religions, we have to remember that sex between close relatives was practiced in fertility rituals produced very high numbers of children born with physical defects. In some studies 50% of children born of these type of relationships had severe birth defects and compromised immune systems. We see in this that the High Priest was a type of Christ. He was to be without blemish of all types, because he shadowed Jesus (the eternal High Priest). Jesus was holy and without blemish. The person who was the only one allowed to go inside the veil, was the High Priest. It seems that the sons of Aaron or any other High Priest who had a blemish of any kind in their body could not hold the office of High Priest. They could eat of the bread given to the High Priest and his family from the offerings. They could not represent Christ who was without blemish.

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