Leviticus 21:13

_AND HE THAT IS THE HIGH PRIEST AMONG HIS BRETHREN, UPON WHOSE HEAD THE ANOINTING OIL WAS POURED, AND THAT IS CONSECRATED TO PUT ON THE GARMENTS, SHALL NOT UNCOVER HIS HEAD, NOR REND HIS CLOTHES;_ He that is the high priest. The indulgence in the excepted cases of family bereavement, mentioned above, which was granted to the common priests, was denied to him; because his absence from the sanctuary for the removal of any contracted defilement could not have been dispensed with, neither could he have acted as intercessor or the people, unless ceremonially clean. Moreover, the high dignity of his office demanded a corresponding superiority in personal holiness, and stringent rules were prescribed for the purpose of upholding the suitable dignity of his station and family. Verse 13-14. HE SHALL TAKE A WIFE IN HER VIRGINITY. This limitation was confined to the high priest. 'Every Coptic prie...

13._And he shall take a wife in her virginity. _More is required in the high priest, viz., that he should not marry a widow, nor a woman of any other tribe than his own. A question may indeed arise as to the latter clause, whether the plural word ought to be restricted to one tribe, (189) whereas it is elsewhere applied to all. But, if we examine it more closely, it is plain that “his peoples” is equivalent to “of his people,” (_populares._) But nothing peculiar will be here required of the priest, if his wife is to be taken only from the children of Abraham. I admit that the chief priests married wives of Other tribes, as Elizabeth, sprung of the tribe of Judah, married Zacharias; but, since the high priest is here distinguished from all others, I do not see how it would follow that a law or privilege referring to him should be observed by the whole posterity of Aaron. On this point, ho...

Verse Leviticus 21:13. _HE SHALL TAKE A WIFE IN HER VIRGINITY._] בתוליה _bethuleyha_. This is a full proof that בתולה _bethulah_ is the proper Hebrew term for a _virgin_; from the emphatic root בתל _bathal_, to _separate_; because such a person was in her _separate_ state, and had never been in any way _united_ to man....

PART III. SECTION IV. THE UNCLEANNESS AND DISQUALIFICATION OF PRIESTS. EXPOSITION The two remaining chapters of this division of the book (Leviticus 21:1, Leviticus 22:1) deal with the ease of defilements attaching to the priesthood, over and above those which affect other men, whether ceremonial (Leviticus 21:1, Leviticus 21:10-3; Leviticus 22:

AND HE SHALL TAKE A WIFE IN HER VIRGINITY. One, and not two, or more, as Ben Gersom observes; and so Maimonides says q, an high priest might never take two women together; for it is said, "a wife", or "woman", one, and not two; and so it is explained in the Talmud r; for though polygamy was practised by the Israelites, and even by the common priests, yet these writers suppose it was by no means allowed to an high priest: among the Egyptians, though they took as many wives as they pleased, their priests, married but one s; and so a minister of the New Testament is to be the husband of one wife, 1 Timothy 3:2; and this wife the high priest was to take was to be a "virgin", one that not only had never known a man, but that was never betrothed to any; yea, according to the Talmudists t, who was not quite ripe for marriage, or the time of her puberty not fully completed, which was the age of...

4. LAWS FOR THE PRIESTS CHAPTER 21 _ 1. Laws concerning the person of the priests (Leviticus 21:1)_ 2. Laws concerning their family (Leviticus 21:7) 3. Laws concerning the high priest (Leviticus 21:10) 4. Concerning blemishes (Leviticus 21:16) We come now to the special laws and precepts for the priestly class among the people. The preceding laws concerned the nation as such. The requirements of the priests are the highest in the entire book of Leviticus. Responsibility is always according to relationship. The priests, as we have seen before, typify the church. The grace

RESTRICTIONS FOR THE HIGH PRIEST. The title occurs here for the first time in the Law; the phrase used is literally the priest who is chief among his brothers. It is, however, implied in P in Leviticus 16 (_cf._ also the references to Aaron (Leviticus 8 f.). Ezekiel does not mention it, but he too seems to imply it in Ezekiel 45:19, as do the earlier narratives of, _e.g._ Eli, 1 Samuel 1 ff.), Zadok (1 Kings 1:26 ff.), Amaziah (Amos 7:10 ff.), and Hilkiah (2 Kings 22:4 ff.). Before the Exile, the chief priest would naturally be a royal ecclesiastical official; afterwards he tended to take the place of the king in the community (Sirach

_Corresponding regulations, but of a somewhat stricter character, for the high priest_...

HE SHALL TAKE A WIFE IN HER VIRGINITY— The inferior priests might marry a widow; see Ezekiel 44:22. But this command is enjoined upon the high-priest, as being a more eminent type of Christ, whose spouse, the church, is frequently represented as _a chaste virgin,_ 2 Corinthians 11:2.Revelation 14:4. REFLECTIONS.—1. When God's sanctuary calls for our attendance, the deepest ties which would withdraw us from it, must be broken through. 2. Every believer must be presented to Jesus the great high-priest as a chaste virgin; and he is counted such, when, having washed his soul in the blood of the Lamb, with fervent affection he cleaves to him alone....

THE HIGH PRIESTS 21:10-15 TEXT 21:10-15 10 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head go loose, nor rend his clothes; 11 neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; 12 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 Jehovah. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or one divorced, or a profane woman, a harlot, these shall he not take: but a virgin of his own people shall he take to wife. 15 And he shall not profane his seed among his people: for I am Jehovah who sanctifieth him. THOUGHT QUESTIONS 21:10-15 480. Is...