Leviticus 21: Special Rules For Priests

Just as Israel was to be set apart and different from all the other nations around them, so, too, were their priests to be held to an even higher standard.  Leviticus 21 details some of the special rules that the priests were to follow in order to be holy enough to serve God.

Here were the special rules for priests:

• They were not to be around any dead bodies, except for very close family members, such as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, and unmarried sister (vs. 1-3).
• They were not to marry a prostitute, divorcee, or other woman "defiled" (vs. 7).
• They were not to come near the sanctuary if they had any blemish, infirmity or deformity (vs. 17-23).

In addition to this, rules for the chief priests, drawn from among the priests, were a notch higher than even those for regular priests:

• Chief priests could not be around the dead bodies of anyone, even their own mother or father.   They were to totally abstain (vs. 11).
• Chief priests could only marry a virgin woman from among their own kin (vs. 13-15).

God says several times in this section of Leviticus, "I am holy" (19:2, 20:26, 21:8), with the understanding that the people are to be holy, too. Later on, this teaching is not restricted to the Old Testament, nor just to priests.  Jesus repeats this phrase in Matthew 5:48 and Peter likewise communicates it in I Peter 1:15-16.

What do you think about God's call in your life to be holy, as He is holy?