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Leviticus 21-22: Otherness of the priesthood and their families
According to Torah, God places high moral and ethical standards on those who inherit the priesthood (those who are descendants of Aaron) because YHWH has separated them from the rest of Israel and elevated them to a high level for a particular purpose.
They were not elevated to their high station because they could do no wrong, but to serve a unique role in the community of Israel as the people who were allowed to accept the holy gifts from the children of Israel into the presence of the Lord.
There are some special rules that apply to the priestly family that do not apply to the regular Israelite.
- Priests mustn’t defile himself for the dead (negative command 166, Lev. 21:1).
- Priests must defile himself to take care of the corpse of a close relative (positive command 37, Lev. 21:2–3).
- P’rushim (Pharisees) extended this to the body of the wife, because of the provision for a priest’s unmarried sister (Lev. 21:3).1Daniel Lancaster. “Emor.” Torah Club: Depths of the Torah. Vol. 5. First Fruits of Zion
- Priests can’t serve in the Tabernacle while טְבוּל יוֹם tevul yom, or day of immersion for defilement, i.e., until sunset the day of mikvah (N76, Lev. 21:6).
- Priests mustn’t marry a זֹנָה zonah, or an immoral woman (N158, Lev. 21:7).
- Priests mustn’t marry a חֲלָלָה khalal woman, or one who is “wounded,” i.e., “defiled” (N159, Lev. 21:7).
- Priests mustn’t marry a גְּרוּשָׁה g’rushah, or divorced woman (N160, Lev. 21:7).
The priest’s role is elevated and must be carried out with all seriousness. The priests are to bring the gifts that honor the Lord with extreme care but the Israelites are also called to bestow honor to the priests and their gifts to the priests are also to be of high quality.
The apostle Paul gave us this example. In Acts 23:1–5, Paul was confronted by a group of Jewish leaders, lead by the high priest, and the High Priest was not conducting himself according to the rules God laid out in Torah. Although the high priest was not acting in accordance with his high station, Paul repented because he understood that the office of High Priest still deserves respect regardless of the carelessness that the current holder of that office brings to it.
It’s also reasonable to note that Paul may have been confused about the High Priest’s identity because there were two high priests alive at the time, which is not the norm in the Torah but was not beyond the norm when Rome controlled the High Priest’s office.
King David faced a similar dilemma in his relationship with King Saul, as David offered deference to Saul by refusing to assassinate God’s anointed, even though Saul was trying his best to assassinate him and was not acting in his anointing.
David understood that vengeance belongs to God and He will punishing His anointed in His time.
Does the common teaching that the Aharonic priesthood has been abolished and not needing honor anymore go against “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3)? Humble correction of our brothers and sisters in Messiah may be needed.
If a descendant of Aaron aspired to be High Priest, he was held to an even higher moral standard than the regular priests.
- The high priest can’t “approach” a corpse (N167, Lev. 21:11).
- The high priest can’t defile himself with any corpse (N168, Lev. 21:11).
- The high priest must marry a native-born virgin, not a widow (P38, N161–162, Lev. 21:13–15).
The priests were to be the intermediaries between life and death, between heaven and earth. That’s why it was laid with gold, unleavened bread, while the outer courts were laid with copper and leavened bread was allowed in this area during certain times.
The priests and the offerings brought to the Temple are symbols of the perfection of the Creator’s realm, a picture of what was and will be again. Everything and every one within the Temple precinct had to be “perfect.”
- Priests with physical blemishes can’t enter or minister in the Tabernacle, even if it’s temporary (N69–71, Lev. 21:17, 23).
- Priests who are טמא tamé can’t serve in the Sanctuary or eat the terumah, or priestly portions of offerings (N75, N136, Lev. 22:2).
- Everyday people, priests employees, uncircumcised people or daughters married outside the priesthood can’t eat the terumah (N133–135, N137, Lev. 22:10–12).
- Don’t eat food from the Land that is tevel, or food that hasn’t been firstfruited or tithed (N153, Lev. 22:15).
What was brought to the Temple was not common food. The priests were called to treat the offerings with holiness and the people were called to take extreme care in what they brought to the Temple. Both priest and laity were to perform their duties with their entire being, not just with their hands. The Levitical guidelines include:
- Don’t blemish consecrated offerings or offer a blemished animal, putting its blood or sacred portion on the altar (N92–94, Lev. 22:21–22).
- Don’t emasculate any male of mankind or animal (N361, Lev. 22:24).
- Don’t offer a blemished sacrifice from a gentile (N96, Lev. 22:25).
- Offer only animals 8 days and older (N96, Lev. 22:25).
- Akin to circumcision — dedication — of boys on their eighth day?
- Don’t slaughter an offering and its young on the same day (N101, Lev. 22:28).
- Similar to the command not to take a bird and its young (Dt. 22:6–7)?
- Possibly behind the commands that firstfruit offerings don’t include “boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Dt. 14:21)?
Lessons for today from instructions for priests and common people on bringing ‘holy gifts’
What does this mean for us today? We live in a time with no Tabernacle, and no Temple.
These gifts were an external measure of the internal character of the priests and the people they were serving. The priests were to treat the offerings as symbolic of the people’s desire to come closer to God and to treat the people and their offerings with dignity and respect and that dignity and respect was to be given to God.
Why were all these detailed instructions so important? YHWH’s “name” — reputation — deserves the utmost reverence.
“’You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the LORD.’”
Leviticus 22:32–33
- Don’t חלל, or “profane,” the name of God, but do קדש qadash, or “sanctify,” the name (N63, Lev. 22:32).
- The verb חָלַל khalal (H2490) means to bore, pierce.
- שם shem, translated as name, is used to mean identification and distinction. What makes YHWH different from the deities and philosophies of the rest of the world?
- קדש qadash, from which comes qadosh/kadosh for holy, means to set apart, make distinct.
We don’t want to become skilled liars (or hypocrites) in how we fulfill our duties to God’s service.
It wasn’t just Aaron and his descendants who were held to uphold very high ethical and moral standards in their day to day life. We see similar high standards in the New Testament regarding the office of overseer and deacons (1Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:7–9). These roles are so important that the people preparing to step into such offices have to be willing to work hard to aspire to it.
Leviticus 23: ‘Feasts to the Lord’ bear witness as we return
“The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations — My appointed times are these:”
Leviticus 23:1–2 NASB
What are appointed time? The Hebrew word that is translated as “appointed time” in Scripture is moed.
- מוֹעֵד mo’ed (H4150) = “appointed time, place, meeting” (BDB)
- Could be from יָעַד ya’ad (“to appoint, assign, designate,” H3259): What is designated
- Could be from עוּד ood (“return, go about, repeat, do again,” H5749): What will happen again
- Could be from עֵד eyd (“witness (probably from ‘reiterating,’ hence ‘emphatically affirming’),” H5707): What is emphasized repeatedly
- מִקְרָאֵי קֹ֑דֶשׁ miqrey qodesh (“set-apart callings out”) = “holy convocations” (Lev. 23:2, 4, 37)
- מוֹעֲדֵי יְהוָ֔ה mo’adey YHWH (“appointments of YHWH”) = “the LORD’s appointments”
- These were created by the LORD, not Judaism.
- מוֹעֲדָי mo’adai = “My appointments”
‘I hate your feasts!’: A statement without context is pretext
Didn’t the LORD say through prophet Yeshiyahu (Isaiah) that He hated the feasts (Isa. 1:14)?
It is a misunderstanding to say that these appointed times are only appointed for the Jewish people. These are not Jewish appointments, Christian appointments, etc. They are appointments given by God to God’s people.
““Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
“I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”
Isaiah 1:13–14 NASB
God is calling out the people’s fake festivals and fake offerings, not His festivals and honest, heartfelt offerings from the people. The offerings He is calling out are the common, profane offerings that the hypocrites, who only want to live in the world of death, were presenting. The offerings He accepts are from those who give from their hearts, those who want to elevate to the heavens.
People who were stepping on orphans and widows to get to the temple earned God’s contempt as we read in Isa. 1:13-14.
When the people brought their gifts to the temple, they were also bringing themselves to the temple. If they brought their best, than they were showing God that He deserved their best, but if they brought offerings that were not the best, they were showing God, their Creator, that He didn’t deserve their best.
“’For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘So your offspring and your name will endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,’ says the LORD.”
Isaiah 66:22–23 NASB
Appointments of God and their Messianic fulfillment
| Appointment | Messianic fulfillment |
|---|---|
| Shabbat (Sabbath) | Kingdom of Heaven |
| Khag Pesakh (Feast of Passover) | Yeshua’s death (covering for sins, transgressions and iniquity) and resurrection (new life) |
| Omer/Bikkurm (First Fruits) | Yeshua’s resurrection |
| Khag Shavu’ot (Feast of Pentecost) | Giving of the Spirit (to be able to live God’s ways) |
| Yom Teru’ah (Day of Blowing Trumpets, Rosh HaShanah) | “Last trumpet” of Yeshua’s return |
| Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement) | Judgment day |
| Khag Sukkot (Feast of Booths/Tabernacles) | Kingdom of Heaven |
| Shemini Atzeret (Eighth Day) | World to come, made new |
‘Sabbath of complete rest’ (Lev. 23:3)
Shabbat is a weekly memorial to and reminder of so many things including:
- God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 2:2–3; Ex. 20:8–11).
- God as the Creator of Israel through Abraham, a representative of God to the nations.
- God as the Provider of daily needs, our “daily bread” (Ex. 16:22–23, 27–30).
- God as the Liberator from slavery and obstructions between God and mankind (Deut. 5:12–15).
- God as the Sanctifier, the One Who sets us apart from the wayward world to call the nations into the Kingdom of Heaven (Ex. 31:13–15).
- The Messiah as healer of body and “heart” connection to God and the ultimate high priest of Yisra’el, “shabbating” the separation between mankind and God. (Jn. 1:1–4; 7:22–24; Mt. 12:1–8/Mk. 2:23–28; Mt. 12:9–14; Lk. 4:16–21; Hebrews 3–4).
- God as the Re-Creator of the heavens and the earth (Isa. 66:22–23)
Connection between Shavu’ot/Pentecost and Yobel/Jubilee?
Tradition says Shavu’ot (Lev. 23:15–21) is connected to the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Is it really?The Biblical instructions for Shavu’ot don’t specifically connect it to Sinai. But the language of the Shavu’ot directives is connected to those for the Yobel (Jubilee, discussed more in Leviticus 25, part of Parashat Behar). 2Adapted from David Fohrman, “The Origin of Shavuot – The Giving Of The Torah… Or Something Else?” AlephBeta.org
“‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths [שַׁבָּתוֹת shabbatot]. ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.”
Leviticus 23:15–16 NASB
There’s a connection between the sounding of the shofar for to declare the start of the Yobel and the sounding of Heaven’s shofar to declare the ending of the revelation of the Ten Words at Sinai and the sounding of the seven shofars at Yericho.
“You are also to count off seven sabbaths [שַׁבְּתֹת shabbatot] of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram’s horn [שׁוֹפַר shofar] abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn [שׁוֹפָר] all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee [יוֹבֵל yobel] for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.’”
Leviticus 25:8–10 NASB
“’No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the ram’s horn [יֹּבֵל yobel] sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.’”
Exodus 19:13 NASB. Fulfilled in Ex. 20:18. Moshe was instructed to put a barrier up around Sinai and to command the people not to go up for sightseeing (Ex. 19:12).
The common people were prohibited from being near the mountain and a loud shofar announced God’s presence to the people. This is fulfilled when it was blown right after the 10 commandments were read out loud.
“‘Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns [שִׁבְעָה שׁוֹפְרוֹת הַיּוֹבְלִים shiv’ah shofarot ha-yoblim] before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn [קֶרֶן qeren], and when you hear the sound of the trumpet [קוֹל הַשּׁוֹפָר qol ha-shofar], all the people shall shout with a great shout [תְּרוּעָה גְדוֹלָה teru’ah gedolah]; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.’”
Joshua 6:4–5 NASB
Rather than accusing people and using a condescending tone to rebuke them for their sins, we are to proclaim liberty, freedom and the Kingdom of Heaven to those around us.
Shavuot, the Yobel and the Battle of Yericho are connected in several ways:
- Connected by seven times seven.
- Shavu’ot: seven complete shabbatot plus one day
- Yobel: seven complete shabbatot of years (Shemitahs) plus one year
- Yericho: seven yobelim (voices) over seven days plus one great shout
- Connected by declarations of rest and restoration
- Shavu’ot: Bring in crops provided by the LORD (Maker of the sun, water and plants) in a Land provided by the LORD.
- Yobel: Declare liberty from debt (monetary and servitude) and detachment from the Land (sale of inherited property).
- Yericho: Declare the return of the Land to the original (Heaven-declared) owners via promises to Abraham, Yitzkhak and Ya’akob.
Don’t hoard the LORD
“you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest”
Leviticus 23:22 NASB
A key lesson from this isn’t just agriculture: Don’t hoard the LORD. We must strive to make the festivals an inviting time that those who are hungry for the LORD will want to and be allowed to come near. This is not just a call to charity and philanthropy. We are also to freely share the word of God. The appointment times are not just for the “in crowd.”
People are freed from debts as well as liberty from the temporary detachment to one’s own inheritance. We are not to look for loopholes in God’s law to find excuses not to help our fellow man when he is down and out.
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:23–25 NASB
Summary: Tammy