Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 21:8
Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, [am] holy.
8. This v. has all the air of an insertion. It interrupts the transition from the character of the priest’s wife to that of his daughter; and ‘thou’ is harsh. Who is addressed? It may be an insertion (so Oxf. Hex.) by the compiler from an older code to enforce the sanctity of the priesthood.
the bread of thy God ] See on Lev 21:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The people of Israel are now addressed. They are commanded to regard the priests, who perform for them the service of the altar, as holy in respect of their office.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Thou, O Moses, and whosoever shall succeed in thy place, to whom it belongs to see those and other of my laws observed, shall take care that the priest be holy, and do not defile himself by any of these forbidden marriages, though he would do it.
He shall be holy unto thee; either
1. In thy esteem, and therefore shall not give thee cause to think meanly and irreverently of him by his defiling or debasing of himself with irregular mixtures. Or,
2. To thy use or service, in whose name he is to act with God, and therefore shall preserve himself in a state of holiness and acceptation with God. For I the Lord am holy, and therefore my ministers must be such also.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thou shalt sanctify him therefore,…. In thought and word, as Aben Ezra, by thinking and speaking well of him; should esteem and reckon him a holy person, being in a sacred office, and honour him as such; and do all that can be done to preserve him from unholiness and impurity, and particularly from marrying with improper and unsuitable persons, such as would bring a scandal on him and his sacred office: this seems to be spoken to Moses, and so to the civil magistrate in succession, who were not to suffer such marriages to take place in the priesthood; and were not only to persuade from it, but to exercise their authority, and oblige them to put away such wives, and if they refused, to use severity; so Jarchi,
“”thou shalt sanctify him”, whether he will or not; if he will not put her away, beat him and chastise him until he does put “her away”,”
see Ezr 2:62;
for he offereth the bread of the Lord; meaning not the shewbread he set in order before the Lord every week, but the various gift and sacrifices which were offered to God by him, and were acceptable to him as his food; and therefore he ought to be holy that drew nigh to God, and was employed in such service, see Le 21:6;
he shall be holy unto thee; in thy account and estimation, and for thy service to offer holy sacrifices, and therefore should be careful of his holiness to preserve it:
for I the Lord, which sanctify you, [am] holy; in his nature, works, and ways, and who had separated them from all other people to be a holy people to him, and therefore they that ministered in holy things for them should be holy likewise.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) Thou shalt sanctify him therefore.This is addressed to the Jewish community. They are to take care that the priest does not contract such illegal marriages, and to sanctify him only who acts in obedience to these statutes. The Jewish priest is thus placed under the supervision of the people. His sacred office, and his duly performing the priestly functions. are their concern. If he refused to conform to the law of sanctity, the people, according to the administrators of the Law during the second Temple, were to compel him to do so by the penalty of administering to him the prescribed number of stripes.
He shall be holy unto thee.On the other hand, when he acts in accordance with his sacred office, the people must reverence his holy person. Hence the administrators of the Law during the second Temple enacted that the priest is to take precedence on public occasions. Thus, when the people assemble, he opens the meeting by invoking Gods blessing. At the reading of the Law of God in the synagogue, he is called up first to the rostrum to read the first portion, and at table he recites the benedictions over the repast. This honour the Jews assign to the priests to this day.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Thus He Is To Be Kept Apart From The Run Of Men ( Lev 21:8 ).
Lev 21:8
“You (s) shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.”
These words are spoken to either Moses or Israel as a whole. Yahweh is thus telling Moses to ‘sanctify’ (make holy) each priest by strictly requiring of him a life of purity and separateness from all that was unclean, precisely because he offers and eats the bread of his God. Moses had a continual responsibility, while he was alive, to watch over the holiness of the priests. If the reference is to Israel then ‘sanctify’ probably means ‘see as holy’. This was so that each one would be holy in Moses’ eyes, and therefore in Israel’s eyes, just as Yahweh, Who Himself sanctifies both Moses and Israel, is holy, and is to be seen as holy in their eyes. All was to be holiness.
“For I, Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.” This is the first of a number of similar phrases which end each of the divisions in this section, stressing the unique position of the priests (compare Lev 21:15; Lev 21:23; Lev 22:9; Lev 22:16; Lev 22:32). As His priests they had to be like Him and truly represent Him as the Holy One.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Was not this typical of the bread of life? Joh 6:31-33 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 21:8 Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, [am] holy.
Ver. 8. Thou shalt sanctify him. ] i.e., Thou, Moses, shalt command him to be sanctified, as Exo 19:10 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I the LORD, Which, &c. = Jehovah title. See note on Lev 20:8, and App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
sanctify
Lev 21:8 illustrates the O.T. holiness or sanctification–a person set apart for the service of God.
sanctify
Heb. “qodesh.” (See Scofield “Gen 2:3”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
sanctify: Lev 21:6, Exo 19:10, Exo 19:14, Exo 28:41, Exo 29:1, Exo 29:43, Exo 29:44
for I: Lev 11:44, Lev 11:45, Lev 19:2, Lev 20:7, Lev 20:8, Joh 10:36, Joh 17:19, Heb 7:26, Heb 10:29
Reciprocal: Exo 19:6 – and an Exo 31:13 – that ye may Lev 3:11 – the food Lev 10:3 – I will be Lev 21:7 – that is a whore Lev 21:15 – for I the Lev 21:21 – to offer Lev 21:23 – for I the Lord Lev 22:25 – the bread Lev 22:32 – hallow you Num 28:2 – my bread Eze 20:12 – I am Eze 37:28 – sanctify Eze 44:7 – when Hos 9:4 – their bread
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 21:8. Thou O Moses, and whosoever shall succeed in thy place, to whom it belongs to see my laws observed, shalt take care that the priest be holy, and do not defile himself by any of these forbidden marriages.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:8 Thou shalt {e} sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the {f} bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, [am] holy.
(e) You shall count them holy and reverence them.
(f) The showbread.