And the Lord spake unto Moses ,.... After he had spoken to him of the holiness of the priests, that they should not defile themselves, neither with the dead nor with impure marriages, he proceeded to add some things concerning blemishes in their bodies, which rendered them unfit for the service: saying ; as follows. read more
Speak unto Aaron, saying ,.... Who being the high priest, it was incumbent on him, at least at this time, to see that the laws and rules relating to the priesthood were observed; and particularly to examine carefully who were and who were not to be admitted to serve in it: whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations ; or, "a man of thy seed" F23 איש מזרעך "vir de semine tuo", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.; , for this only respected his male seed, females of his seed had no... read more
For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish ,.... Let him be otherwise ever so well qualified for his office, as with respect to his parentage, against which no objection lies; or, as to his character and abilities, being a man of knowledge and of good manners; and whether these blemishes be, as the Jews F26 Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect 1. & Becorot, c. 7. sect. 1. call them, fixed, settled ones, which have attended them ever since they were born, and are likely to attend them as... read more
Or a man that is brokenfooted or brokenhanded. That has any of the bones or joints in his hands and feet broke, or when they are distorted, and he is clubfooted, or his fingers crooked and clustered together; and such a man could not be fit to ascend the altar, and lay the sacrifice in order upon it; and may be an emblem of such as are awkward or disorderly in their walk and conservation, and to every good work and action unfit, and so unfit for their master's use. read more
Or crookbackt ,.... That has a protuberance, or bunch upon his back, one that we commonly call "hunchbacked"; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it,"whose eyebrows lying cover his eyes;'and so Jarchi, interprets it, the hair of whose eyebrows is long and lying; and so other Jewish writers understand it of some deformity about the eyes, the hair of the eyebrows being thick and heavy over them, and so hinder the sight, at least it makes the person not so sightly and graceful; it... read more
No man that hath a blemish, of the seed of Aaron the priest ,.... Whether an high priest or a common priest that lies on him anyone of the above blemishes; and which the Jewish writers F6 Maimon. Biath Hamikdash, c. 8. sect. 17. make to amount to the number of one hundred and forty, and which they reckon, so many in one part of the booty and so many in another, till they make up the said number; and whoever had any might not come nigh to offer up the sacrifices of the Lord made by... read more
He shall eat the bread of his God ,.... That part of the sacrifices which was appropriated by the Lord to the priests, for the maintenance of them and their families; for though their natural infirmities disqualified them for service, yet they did not become hereby impure, either in a moral nor ceremonial sense, and might eat of the sacrifices, which impure persons might not; and so the tradition is, blemished persons, whether their blemishes are fixed or transient, may divide and eat, but... read more
Only he shall not go in unto the vail ,.... So far as to the vail, which divided between the holy and the holy of holies; that is, he shall not go into the holy place which was before the vail; not to set the shewbread upon the table there, nor to light and him the lamps in the candlestick, nor to offer incense on the altar of incense, which stood in it: some render it "within the vail" F8 אל הפרכת "intra velum", V. L. , where only the high priest might enter once a year; but if he... read more
And Moses told it to Aaron, and to his sons ,.... What God had said to him concerning the priests defiling themselves for the dead, both common priests and high priest, and concerning their marriages and their blemishes; that they might be careful not to transgress the laws and rules given them concerning those things: and to all the children of Israel ; to the heads of the tribes and elders of the people, and by them to the whole, that they might know who were fit, and who not, to put... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 21:16-24
The priesthood being confined to one particular family, and entailed upon all the male issue of that family throughout their generations, it was very likely that some or other in after-ages that were born to the priesthood would have natural blemishes and deformities: the honour of the priesthood would not secure them from any of those calamities which are common to men. Divers blemishes are here specified; some that were ordinarily for life, as blindness; others that might be for a time, as a... read more