Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 21:13

"And he shall take a wife in her virginity." — Leviticus 21:13 (ASV)

A wife in her virginity. — From this verse the administrators of the Law during the second Temple concluded that:

1. the high priest must be the husband of one wife, though the ordinary priests might have several;
2. she must be a virgin, under the age of thirteen;
3. she must not even have been betrothed to another person;
4. she must be the daughter of Jewish parents by race, as it is stated in the next verse, though the ordinary priest was allowed to marry the daughter of proselytes.

The first of these enactments is also enjoined by St. Paul on Christian bishops (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:16); while the fourth is actually expressed in the Greek version (Septuagint), which has at the end of the verse, of his own race.