He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself. The married-relative exception is denied: the priest cannot become ritually impure for in-laws or other relatives by marriage. The restriction maintains a boundary between the natural family bonds (parents, children, siblings — verse 2) and the social family bonds (in-laws): the former receive the priestly exception; the latter do not. The distinction communicates the limits of the priestly exception: it covers the closest natural family bonds but does not extend to every relationship that grief might honor.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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