Leviticus 21:8

Thus He Is To Be Kept Apart From The Run Of Men (Leviticus 21:8).

Leviticus 21:8

“You (s) shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.”

These words are spoken to either Moses or Israel as a whole. Yahweh is thus telling Moses to ‘sanctify' (make holy) each priest by strictly requiring of him a life of purity and separateness from all that was unclean, precisely because he offers and eats the bread of his God. Moses had a continual responsibility, while he was alive, to watch over the holiness of the priests. If the reference is to Israel then ‘sanctify' probably means ‘see as holy'. This was so that each one would be holy in Moses' eyes, and therefore in Israel's eyes, just as Yahweh, Who Himself sanctifies both Moses and Israel, is holy, and is to be seen as holy in their eyes. All was to be holiness.

“For I, Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.” This is the first of a number of similar phrases which end each of the divisions in this section, stressing the unique position of the priests (compare Leviticus 21:15; Leviticus 21:23; Leviticus 22:9; Leviticus 22:16; Leviticus 22:32). As His priests they had to be like Him and truly represent Him as the Holy One.