Isaiah 52:11 - Homiletics

The special need of purity in them that bear the vessels of the Lord.

It is the duty of all to avoid impurity, to "touch no unclean thing," to "perfect holiness in the fear of God." But a special purity is required of those who, by holding any sacred office, are brought nearer to God than others, and as it were serve continually in his presence. Hence the numerous directions in the Jewish Law with respect to the priests—their consecration, their ablutions, their vestments, their sin offerings, and the like (Le Isaiah 8:2 -35; Isaiah 9:1 -24). Hence, moreover, such injunctions as the following: "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou [Aaron], nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean" (Le Isaiah 10:9 , Isaiah 10:10 ). "They [the priests] shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the Name of their God: for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God they do offer: therefore, shall they be holy" (Le Isaiah 21:5 , Isaiah 21:6 ). "He that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the annointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. And he shall take a wife in her virginity" (Le Isaiah 21:10-13 ). Everything approaching to uncleanness is to be carefully eschewed by such as minister in holy things; they are to be under a law more strict than that which binds ordinary men; they are to avoid everything at which weak brethren might take exception—to shrink from even the shadow of an impure stain. Many things are harmless in the ordinary layman which are not harmless in the clergyman, who is especially bound to "walk warily," to be a pattern to the flock, to abstain from even the appearance of evil, to "let not his good be evil spoken of" ( Romans 14:16 ).