The Lord said to Moses: speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them. The holiness regulations for the priesthood address those who serve at the altar with a higher standard than the community at large: the priests who mediate between God and the covenant community must themselves embody a more intensive holiness. The higher standard is not arbitrary privilege but the logic of proximity: those who come closest to the holy God must maintain the most rigorous holiness. The regulations that follow in chapters 21–22 are the priestly application of the holiness principle that chapter 19 applied to the whole community.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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