Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 21:9
And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
9. For the form of punishment, cp. Lev 20:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
burnt with fire – See the Lev 20:14 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. She shall be burnt with fire.] Probably not burnt alive, but strangled first, and then burnt afterward. Though it is barely possible that some kind of branding may be intended.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And by analogy his son also, and his wife, because the reason of the law here added concerns all. And nothing is more common than to name one kind for the rest of the same nature, as also is done Le 18.
She profaneth her father, i.e. exposeth his person and office, and consequently religion, one of whose prime ministers he is, to contempt.
She shall be burnt with fire; which was the severest of all the kinds of punishments among the Jews. Whereby God would show, both the greatness of their sins who stand in nearer relation to God than others, and how far God is from allowing sin in those who are nearest to him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the daughter of any priest,…. The Targum of Jonathan restrains it to one that is betrothed; but others, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, whether betrothed or married; and all confess, as the former says, that the Scripture does not speak of one that is single or entirely free: but there is no exception in the text; and besides, the daughter of any man that was betrothed to a man, and guilty of the crime here spoken of, was to die, De 22:23; and therefore such a law respecting the priest’s daughter would be needless; unless it can be thought that it was made merely for the sake of the different kind of death she was to be put to, and that burning was a more terrible one than stoning:
if she profane herself by playing the whore; which brings scandal and disgrace on any person, and much more on anyone that had the honour of being related to a person in such a sacred office, and the advantage of a more strictly religious education, and had eaten of the holy things in her father’s house; all which were aggravations of her crime, and made it the more scandalous and reproachful to her: some render it, “when she begins to play the whore” b; as soon as ever it is discovered in her, and she is taken in it; even for the first that she commits, she is not to be spared, but put to death:
she profaneth her father: which is another aggravation of her sin; she brings him under disgrace, disparages his office, and exposes him to censure, reproach, and ridicule, as not having taken care of her education, and taught her better, and kept her under restraints; men will upbraid him with it, saying, this is a priest’s daughter that has committed this lewdness; nor will say of him, as Jarchi observes, cursed be he that begat her, and cursed be he that brought her up:
she shall be burnt with fire; not with hot melted lead poured down her mouth, but with faggots set about her; [See comments on Le 20:14]; no punishment is here fixed for the person that lay with her, but, according to the Jewish canons c, she was to be strangled.
b “cum coepit fornicari”, Pagninus, Montanus; so Tigurine version. c Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 1. Maimon. Issure Biah, c. 1. sect. 6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verse 9:
The priest must exercise care over his own family, compare 1Ti 3:11; Tit 1:6. If his daughter became a prostitute, she must be “burnt with fire.” This does not mean that she was to be burned alive. She was to be put to death by some other means, either by stoning or by strangulation. Then her corpse was to be burned. There is no Scripture example of this provision being carried out.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. And the daughter of any priest. The moderation and chastity (required in the priest (191)) is extended also to his daughter; and by synecdoche all that relates to good discipline is comprised under a single head; viz., that his children should be educated in the study of virtue, and in decent and pure morality. A heavy punishment is denounced against a priest’s daughter if she should play the harlot, because sacrilege would be combined with her disgraceful licentiousness. But it is no light crime to violate God’s sanctuary; and, if the priest had tolerated such an iniquity in his daughter, he would have been no severe avenger of the same turpitude in strangers; nay, he would not have been at liberty to punish crimes, unless he made a beginning in his own house.
(191) Added from Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) And the daughter of any priest.This statute, according to the administrators of the Law during the second Temple, applies only to betrothed and married daughters. Hence the ancient Chaldee version renders it, and if the betrothed daughter
She shall be burnt with fire.Whilst the married daughter of a layman who had gone astray was punished with death by strangling (see Lev. 20:10; Deu. 22:23-24), the daughter of a priest who had disgraced herself was to be punished with the severer death by burning. Though the doom of the guilty partner in the crime is not mentioned here, his sentence was death by strangulation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Daughter of any priest Not only must the priest’s lips keep knowledge, but he must also exemplify in his family the holy religion of which he is the appointed guardian and teacher. The special safeguard of this law may have arisen from the fact that the priest’s home was less guarded than were those of other people, owing to his absence when ministering. Perhaps without this law Gentile ritualistic fornication might have been introduced.
She shall be burnt After being stoned her body shall be burned, in order to impress upon the people the heinousness of sin in the high places of Israel. See Lev 20:14, note. The fires of the divine wrath blaze with the hottest flame around the holy altars.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Behaviour Of Priests’ Daughters ( Lev 21:9 ).
Lev 21:9
“And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.”
The thought of the priest not marrying a prostitute leads on to the possible danger of a priest’s daughter becoming a prostitute by virtue of her situation. As probably in the case of the worship of the golden calf (‘rose up to play’ – Exo 32:6) it is clear that many people, even those with priestly connections, were ever in danger of desiring to participate in sexual rites connected with idolatry, possibly revering them as a kind of religious expression. And they would see sexual union with a priest’s daughter as the most desirable kind of such an expression. They had clearly had much contact with such sentiments and tended to revert to them. Such ideas had an understandable magnetic attraction. But they were forbidden to Israel, and especially to a priest’s daughter.
If a priest’s daughter was therefore encouraged by some to act in this way, and did so, she would be profaning her father, bringing shame on him and connecting him with worship that was both crude and unacceptable, and she must therefore be burned with fire. This punishment is on a par with that for a man marrying both mother and daughter at the same time (Lev 20:14), and for sinning in sacred things (Jos 7:25). She would be being ‘devoted’ to Yahweh because she had sinned in a sacred thing. A priest’s family members were seen as holy, and must behave so.
In the New Testament also the failure of a child to live rightly always brings disrepute on its parents and makes them unfitted for ministry. See 1Ti 3:11; Tit 1:6. They are a reflection of their parents. Our children reveal what we are.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 21:9. If she profane herself That is, make herself unholy, and bring not only disgrace and infamy upon herself, but also upon her father: she shall be burnt; suffering a punishment more severe than other women guilty of the same offence, (Exo 22:16. Deu 22:28.) as her education and circumstances in life might justly demand a more exemplary conduct.
Note; 1. Ministers must be examples to their flock, and when God exercises them with the severest trials, they are called to eminent resignation. 2. They should be very cautious in their choice of a wife; a light and vain woman will be a discredit to themselves, a reproach to the service they are engaged in, and a hindrance to their labours.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Nothing can be more evident respecting the sanctity required in the priests household and family, than that JESUS was all along shadowed forth under these precepts. This law may serve to teach, at the same time, what a sanctity of life and conversation ought to distinguish the children of godly ministers. It was graciously said by the LORD of Abraham, that this should be the pattern in his family. Gen 18:19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 21:9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
Ver. 9. She shall be burnt with fire. ] A peculiar plague, to show the hatefulness of the sin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
burnt = burnt up Hebrew. saraph. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the daughter: 1Sa 2:17, 1Sa 2:34, 1Sa 3:13, 1Sa 3:14, Eze 9:6, Mal 2:3, Mat 11:20-24, 1Ti 3:4, 1Ti 3:5, Tit 1:6
she shall be burnt: Lev 20:14, Gen 38:24, Jos 7:15, Jos 7:25, Isa 33:14
Reciprocal: Deu 21:18 – obey the voice Deu 22:21 – she hath wrought Jdg 19:2 – played Eze 23:45 – after the manner of adulteresses Rev 17:16 – and burn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 21:9. And the daughter And by analogy his son also, and his wife, because the reason of the law here added concerns all. And nothing is more common than to name one kind for the rest of the same nature, as also is done Leviticus 18. She profaneth her father Exposeth his person and office, and consequently religion, to contempt.