John Gill Commentary Leviticus 21

And the Lord said to Moses
According to some Jewish writers this was said on the day the tabernacle was set up; no doubt it was delivered at the same time the above laws were given; and as care was taken for the purity and holiness of the Israelites in general, it was necessary that the priests that were concerned in a more especial manner in the service and worship of God should be holy also, and have some instructions given them to take care and keep themselves from all defilements.

And particularly the Jewish writers observe, that this paragraph or section concerning the priests follows upon, and is in connection with the law concerning such as have familiar spirits, and wizards, to teach men, that in matters of doubt and difficulty they should not have recourse to such persons, but to the priests of the Lord: speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron ;
the priests, whether elder or younger, whether fit for service, and whether having blemishes, or not; for there are some things which concern them, and these are sons, male children of Aaron, as the Targum of Jonathan, and not daughters, as Jarchi and others observe; for they were not obliged to regard the laws and rules here given.

and say to them, there shall none be defiled for the dead among his
people ;
by entering into a tent or house where a dead body lay, by touching it, or by hearing it, or attending it to the grave, or by any expressions of mourning for it, see (Numbers 19:11Numbers 19:14Numbers 19:16) ; that is, for any person in common that were of his people, that were not nearly related to him, as in the cases after excepted.

So it was a custom with the Romans, as we are told ^F14 , that such as were polluted by funerals might not sacrifice, which shows that priests were not allowed to attend funerals, which perhaps might be taken from hence; and so Porphyry says ^F15 , that sacred persons and inspectors of holy things should abstain from funerals or graves, and from every filthy and mournful sight.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. xi. ver. 3.
• F15: De Abstinentia, l. 2. c. 50.

But for his kin that is near unto him
For such he might be defiled and mourn, or be where they were, and take care of, and attend their funerals: this clause some take to be general, of which the particulars follow, as Aben Ezra; but others take it to be the first particular excepted, and instanced in, and intends his wife; for it may be rendered, as by some, "for his flesh", or "the rest of him" ^{p}, the other part of himself, his wife, which is his other self, and one flesh with him; and so Jarchi and others observe, there is no flesh of his, but his wife; and if she is not intended here, she is not expressed elsewhere, though must be supposed, because it is allowed the priest to defile himself for other relations not so near; and it is plain from the case of Ezekiel, that a priest might mourn for his wife, (Ezekiel 24:15–18) ; he being forbid it, shows his case to be an extraordinary one, and that ordinarily it was admitted, otherwise there would have been no need of a particular prohibition of him:

[that is], for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and
for his daughter, and his brother ;
R. Alphes adds ^F17 , "and his wife"; these being all near relations, and for whom natural affection would lead and oblige him to mourn, and show a concern for their death, and to take care of their funeral. This is to be understood of common priests; for as for the high priest, he might not mourn, or be concerned for either of these.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Sepher Alphes, par. 1. fol. 410. 2.

And for his sister a virgin, that is near him
That is, his sister by both father's and mother's side, as Aben Ezra; though, according to Gersom, his sister by his father's side, and not by his mother's side, is meant; but, according to Alphes, by his mother's side: perhaps this may signify not nearness of kin, which is expressed by being his sister, but nearness of place, for, being unmarried, she remained until her death in her father's house:

which has had no husband ;
neither betrothed to one, for then she would have been near her husband, and not her brother, and therefore he might not pollute himself for her, as Gersom observes; nor married to him, for such a one he might not defile himself, even though she might have been rejected or divorced by her husband, as the same writer says:

for her may he be defiled ;
for a pure virgin that had never been betrothed nor married to a man, and had never departed from her father's house, and so had no husband to mourn for her, and take care of her funeral, and so for all the rest before mentioned; and which Jarchi says is a command, and not a mere sufferance or allowance, but what he ought and was obliged to do; and so it is related of Joseph ^F18, a priest, that his wife died in the evening of the sabbath, and he would not defile himself for her, and his brethren the priests obliged him and made him defile himself against his will.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 90. 1.

[But] he shall not defile himself, [being] a chief man among
his people

Which is not to be understood of any lord or nobleman or any chief ruler or governor of the people; for the context speaks only of priests, and not of other personages; besides, such might defile themselves, or mourn for their dead, as Abraham did for Sarah; nor of any husband for his wife, for even a priest, as has been observed, might do this for his wife, and much more a private person; nor is there any need to restrain it, as some Jewish writers do, to an adulterous wife, which a husband might not mourn for, though he might for his right and lawful wife; but there is nothing in the text, neither of an husband, nor a wife:

the words are to be interpreted of a priest, and either of him as considered as a person of eminence, consequence, and importance, and sons giving a reason why he should not defile himself for the dead, because he was a principal person among his people to officiate for them in sacred things; wherefore if he did not take care that he was not defiled for the dead, which might often happen, he would be frequently hindered from doing his office for the people, which would be attended with ill consequence to them; and therefore the above cases are only excepted, as being such that rarely happened:

or rather the words are to be considered as a prohibition of defiling himself "for [any] chief" ^F19 , or principal man, lord, ruler, or governor, among his people; even for such an one he was not to defile himself, being no relation of his:

to profane himself ;
make himself unfit for sacred service, or make himself a common person; put himself upon a level with a common private man, and be no more capable of serving at the altar, or doing any part of the work off priest, than such an one.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (wymeb leb) "in principe populi sui", V. L. so Pesicta & Ben Melech in loc. & Kimchi Sepher Shorash. rad. (leb)

They shall not make baldness upon their head For the dead, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom; not shave their heads, or round the corners of them, or make baldness between their eyes on that account; as those things were forbid the Israelites, so the priests also; this and what follow being superstitious customs used among the Heathens in their mournings for the dead, particularly by the Chaldeans, as Aben Ezra observes; and so by the Grecians; when Hephestion, one of Alexander's captains, died, he shaved his soldiers and himself, imitating Achilles in Homer ^F20 ; so the Egyptians, mourning for the loss of Osiris, annually shaved their heads ^F21 ; and the priests of Isis, mourning for her lost son, are called by Minutius Felix ^F23 her bald priests; see (Leviticus 19:27Leviticus 19:28) (Deuteronomy 14:1) ;

neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard : the five corners of it; (See Gill on Leviticus 19:27). This the Israelites in common might not do, and particularly their priests; though the Egyptian priests shaved both their heads and beards, as Herodotus ^F24 relates: and so they are represented in the Table of Isis ^F25 :

nor make any cuttings in their flesh ; either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and breasts, or with an instrument cutting their flesh in any part of their bodies, as was the custom of Heathen nations; such were made by the Egyptians in their mournings ^F26 ; (See Gill on Leviticus 19:28).

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 7. c. 8.
• F21: Julius Firmicus de Error. Proph. p. 2.
• F23: In Octavio, p. 22. Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21.
• F24: Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 36.
• F25: Vid. Pignorii Mens. Isiac. liter. S.
• F26: Julius Firmicus, ut supra. (^F21)