Leviticus 21:16-24

List of Bodily Defects which prevent a priest from actually joining in the priestly rites, though he is still supported by the dues. The presence of a deformed or mutilated priest at the altar would destroy the holiness with which Yahweh has dowered it. Blemish in a priest, as in a victim, may have been regarded originally as the sign of the presence of a demon; but the æ sthetic repulsion is very deep-seated. Ritual mutilations were allowed and encouraged in other cults; cf. especially the worship of the Phrygian Cybele (Frazer's Adonis, Attis, Osiris).