Verse 2
2. His kin, that is near The nearness, or “remainder of flesh,” includes all within the first degree of consanguinity, and a portion of the kin within the second. By a glance at the table at the end of chap. xviii it will be seen that of the second degree of consanguinity the grandparent, the grandchild, and the married sister are not to be mourned for, while all the kindred by marriage, whatever the degree, even the wife, are prohibited to the priest for mourning, if we adopt the exclusive interpretation. The case of Ezekiel, the prophet-priest, in Ezekiel 24:16-18, who was expressly forbidden to exhibit the customary tokens of mourning for his deceased wife, would seem to prove that the wife was not excluded in the law of priestly mourning. Keil argues that the wife is included in the near of kin from the fact that she is pronounced to be of “one flesh” with her husband.
Genesis 2:24. Yet we confess that this verse has every appearance of an exhaustive and exclusive catalogue.
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