He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother. The high priest cannot become ritually impure even for his parents — the close-relative exception that applies to ordinary priests (verse 2) is denied to the high priest. The restriction that seems most counter-intuitive — the son who cannot mourn his own parents — communicates the total consecration of the high priestly office. Hebrews 7:26 says the high priest we need is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners — the set-apartness of the Aaronic high priest from every form of death impurity is the type of the absolute purity of the eternal high priest.

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