Leviticus 21

24 verses

The holiness regulations for the priesthood apply a higher standard to those who serve at the altar, grounded in the logic of proximity: the closer to the holy God, the more intensive the holiness requirement. Ordinary priests may become ritually impure for close relatives (parents, children, siblings, dependent unmarried sisters) but not for in-laws; they must not practice mourning rites (shaved head, trimmed beard, body cuts) and must not marry divorced women or prostitutes. The high priest is held to a more restrictive standard: he cannot become impure even for his parents, cannot leave the sanctuary, and must marry only a virgin — because the genealogical succession of the anointed office requires the highest standard of priestly family purity. Physical defects disqualify from altar service (though not from eating the priestly portions): blindness, lameness, disfigured face, deformed limbs, and other conditions that affect the body's completeness. The parallel between the unblemished animal on the altar and the unblemished priest at the altar communicates the Levitical system's consistent standard: the offering and the one who presents the offering are measured by the same holiness.

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