Leviticus 21:1-24

B. Holiness of the priests, gifts, and sacrifices chs. 21-22

All the people were to maintain holiness before God, but the priests had higher standards because of their privileges in relationship to God. Moses explained these higher regulations in this section of two chapters.

"The thrust of this section [Leviticus 21:1 to Leviticus 22:16] is twofold: the office of a priest is holy, and the office is above the man. A priest must be holy in body, upright in conduct, and ceremonially clean; for he is the representative of God." [Note: Harris, p. 616.]

This section also contains the requirements for sacrificial animals because the sacrificial animals were the "priests" of the animal world. Many of the deformities that kept a priest from offering sacrifice (Leviticus 21:18-20) are the same as those that kept an animal from qualifying as a sacrifice (Leviticus 22:20-24). Sacrificial animals corresponded to the priests, clean animals to the Israelites, and unclean animals to the Gentiles. [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 290.]

A formula statement, "For I am the Lord who sanctifies them," or a similar affirmation, closes each of the six subsections (Leviticus 21:8; Leviticus 21:15; Leviticus 21:23; Leviticus 22:9; Leviticus 22:16; Leviticus 22:32).