So Who Delivers the Eulogy?

Leviticus 21- 22:16

So God gives Moses a list of rules for Aaron and his spawn to follow as they take care of priestly duties. First off, they can't make themselves unclean out of mourning practices- unless they are mourning a relative. For mom, dad, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister, he's welcome to become ceremonially unclean- but NOT for an in-law. Interesting that wife doesn't make this list. It's kind of implied that this kind of mourning for a wife would be natural- since the reason he can mourn for his unmarried sister is because she has no husband- but the wife,for whatever reason, is omitted from the Master's master list.

No shaving of the head, no cutting of the edges of the beard, they'd fit right in at a ZZ Top concert. Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed priest.

They also cannot cut their bodies. Sounds like a good rule of thumb, priest or not.

They can't marry former prostitutes or divorced women. This is to maintain their sanctity because they prepare God's food.

If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she gets burned in the fire. I'm guessing it would be an amazing day for an Israelite community if they were able to abstain from killing a community or family member. Hooray- we all survived!

The high priest has even more restriction. He must keep his head covered. And he can't be in the presence of a dead body. He can't make himself unclean- even for a parent. He can't leave the sanctuary- or defile it. He has to marry a virgin- so no ex-prostitutes, no divorcees, no widows. This virgin must also be from his own people. This is so he doesn't defile his offspring among his people.

These Israelites were a tad ethnocentric. Let's keep those bloodlines pure. The major contextual difference between these folks and contemporary racists is the motivation. At this point the gospel is not for all. God's inclusive kingdom hasn't been established yet- and this physical kingdom was made of God's chosen people. If the Jewish folks hadn't kept this priestly family pure- I'm guessing it would complicate things when it came time to open the doors- it would be harder to establish a Jewish rejection of all things Jesus.

I get it. I see (at least in part) why things were this way. It's still awfully hard for me to swallow. How'd you like to be the young girl from the next village over with a pure heart, in love with a priest- but sorry- not Jewish.

Next up an equally troubling section. If a priest has any kid with a physical defect- blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, crippled hand or foot, hunchbacked, dwarfed, eye defect, festering sores, damaged testicles (nope, didn't make up any of those) then keep him away from God's food. He can still eat the priest's food- but don't let him near the altar or curtain.

So like this kid isn't going to have enough to deal with? Not only can you not play on the lacrosse team- not only are the kids gonna make up cruel names for you (anyone know a Hebrew word that rhymes with fester?), but even at home, you'll be treated as less than the rest of us. Keep that club foot out of the sanctuary.

Same thing for descendants who catch a skin diseases (like leprosy), has a bodily discharge, has touched something defiled by a corpse or someone who has had an emission of semen. They are to stay away from the sacred offerings until they are made clean again. They can't even eat the priest's food until they are made clean again. He'll be clean at susnet- and then he can eat. He can't eat anything a wild animal has torn apart.

It's funny to think that Jesus treats these people totally differently. The marginalized folks in all of these categories are the people who would have flocked to Him- the former prostitutes, the divorced, the widowed, the scorned gentile, the physically disabled- these are Jesus' people! He even touched the lepers.

And maybe this criteria is setting up a religious context that makes the work of Jesus even that much more remarkable.

Finally, God specifies that the priest food is for the priest's family- no one else. Not a guest, not a hired worker. The exception would be a slave- either bought by the priest or one born into his house. If a priest's daughter marries a non-priest... no more priest food, unless she is widowed or divorced before she has children and comes back to live with her family. Then she can eat it.

If you accidentally eat the priest's food (hmmm, I wonder who this charred piece of meat belongs to? Oh well, finders keepers) you have to repay it to the priest adding an extra one fifth of the value to it. And the priests are forbidden from scamming people into eating their food. Here taste this lamb... mmmm, oh wait- that was mine...where's my extra 20%?

I guess even these holy men of God needed to be kept in line. And maybe this last rule helps to expose the potential any of us have to fall in unthinkable ways. Nice to know that we have Jesus and don't need to stand in that long line at the tabernacle.