Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 21:5

"They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh." — Leviticus 21:5 (ASV)

Make baldness upon their head.—The natural expression of grief, however, which the priests were to manifest for their previously mentioned deceased relatives, was not to be expressed through practices that disfigured their bodies and which were common among other ancient nations in connection with funeral ceremonies. Thus, in the graphic description of the idolatrous priests mourning, we are told, the priests sit in their temples, having their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads. .

The three things prohibited here for the priests are also forbidden to the people at large under other circumstances. (Deuteronomy 14:1.) The ordinary Israelites, however, did indulge in these same practices. (Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10.)