John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 10:4

"And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Draw near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp." — Leviticus 10:4 (ASV)

And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan.⁴¹⁷ To prevent Eleazar and Ithamar from carrying out the corpses, Moses commanded these others to act before them. It may also have been that all were stupefied by terror.

He forbids the father and brothers to mourn their death, not so much in accordance with the law (by which all except the high priest were permitted to mourn for their own brother) as to prevent this memorable lesson from being obscured by their grief, since in this way the sanctity of their religion was magnificently asserted. Nevertheless, God allowed the dead men to be mourned by the people, so that the memory of their punishment would not be lost too soon.

When he forbids Aaron⁴¹⁸ and his sons to go out from the door of the tabernacle, he does not mean to confine them to that place so strictly as to banish them from their own private tents, but he keeps them from all defilement that might have compelled them to abandon or interrupt their duty.

⁴¹⁷ “Se polluassent en portant les corps morts de leurs freres;” should pollute themselves by carrying the dead bodies of their brothers. — Fr. Blunt has a very ingenious conjecture that Mishael and Elzaphan were the very persons “defiled by the dead body of a man,” mentioned in Blunt has a very ingenious conjecture that Mishael and Elzaphan were the very persons “defiled by the dead body of a man,” mentioned in Numbers 9:6, 7, and who therefore could not keep the Passover. “The Veracity of the Five Books of Moses.” Art. 14. But surely, out of such a large body of persons, there must have been many deaths daily, and consequently others would have been defiled besides Mishael and Elzaphan., and who therefore could not keep the Passover. “The Veracity of the Five Books of Moses.” Art. 14. But surely, out of such a large body of persons, there must have been many deaths daily, and consequently others would have been defiled besides Mishael and Elzaphan.

⁴¹⁸ Added from Fr..