Ordinances relating to the priests.
At what funerals Priests may not be present. 7. VVhat wemen they may not marie, 9. a priests daughter committing fornication must be burned. 10. The high Priest shal not vncouer his head, nor rent his garment, nor be present at anie funeral, nor at al goe forth of the holie place. 13. when he marieth he must take a virgin. 16. None that hath a blemish in his bodie (though he be of Aarons stock) shal minister in the Sanctuarie, nor approch to the Altar.
1The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say to them: Let not a priest incur an uncleanness at the death of his citizens.Disse ancora il Signore a Mosè: Parla a' sacerdoti figliuoli di Aronne, e dì loro: Il sacerdote non contragga immondezza nella morte de' suoi concittadini,OVR Lord said also to Moyses: Speake to the priestes the sonnes of Aaron, and thou shalt say to them: Let not a priest be contaminated in the deathes of his citizens,Dixit quoque Dominus ad Moysen: Loquere ad sacerdotes filios Aaron, et dices ad eos: Ne contaminetur sacerdos in mortibus civium suorum, 2But only for his kin, such as are near in blood: that is to say, for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his daughter, for his brother also:Eccettuati gli stretti parenti, e propinqui, vale a dire, il padre, e la madre, il figliuolo, e la figlia, e anche il fratello,but onlie in his kinne, and nigh of bloud, that is to say, vpon his father and mother, and sonne, and daughter, brother also,nisi tantum in consanguineis, ac propinquis, id est, super patre et matre, et filio, et filia, fratre quoque, 3And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband.E la sorella fanciulla non ancor maritata.and sister being a virgin which hath not bene maried to a husband:et sorore virgine quæ non est nupta viro: 4But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing that may make him unclean.Del resto si guarderà da contrarre immondezza nella morte dello stesso principe del suo popolo.but neither in the prince of his people shal he be contaminated.sed nec in principe populi sui contaminabitur. 5Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.Non si raderanno il capo, e la barba, e non faranno incisioni sulle loro carni.Neither shal they shaue their head, nor beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.Non radent caput, nec barbam, neque in carnibus suis facient incisuras. 6They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name. For they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God: and therefore they shall be holy.Si serberanno santi al Dio loro, e non profaneranno il suo nome: perocché eglino offeriscono l'incenso del Signore, e il pane del loro Dio; e perciò saranno santi.They shal be holie to their God, and shal not pollute his name: for the burnt sacrifice of the Lord, and breades of their God doe they offer, and therfore they shal be holie.Sancti erunt Deo suo, et non polluent nomen ejus: incensum enim Domini, et panes Dei sui offerunt, et ideo sancti erunt.
7They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor one that has been put away from her husband: because they are consecrated to their God,Non sposeranno una donna disonorata, né una vil meretrice, né quella che fu ripudiata dal marito: perocché sono consacrati al loro Dio,A whore and a vile strumpette he shal not take to wife, nor her, that is put away from her husband: because they are cō secrated to their God,Scortum et vile prostibulum non ducent uxorem, nec eam quæ repudiata est a marito: quia consecrati sunt Deo suo, 8And offer the loaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy because I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctify them.E offeriscono i pani della proposizione. Sien eglino dunque santi, perché santo son io il Signore, che li santifico.and offer the breades of proposition. Be they holie therfore, because I also am holie, the Lord, that sanctifie them.et panes propositionis offerunt. Sint ergo sancti, quia et ego sanctus sum, Dominus qui sanctifico eos. 9If the daughter of a priest be taken in whoredom and dishonour the name of her father, she shall be burnt with fire.Se la figlia d'un sacerdote è còlta in peccato, onde ha disonorato il nome del padre suo, sarà bruciata.The daughter of a priest if she be taken in whordome, & dishonour the name of hir father, shal be burnt with fire.Sacerdotis filia si deprehensa fuerit in stupro, et violaverit nomen patris sui, flammis exuretur. 10The high priest, that is to say, the priest who is the greatest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of unction hath been poured; and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood; and who hath been vested with the holy vestments. He shall not uncover his head: he shall not rend his garments.Il pontefice, vale a dire il sacerdote sommo tra' suoi fratelli, sulla testa del quale fu versato l'olio d'unzione, e le mani del quale furono consacrate per le funzioni sacerdotali, che è vestito delle vestimenta sante, non iscoprirà la sua testa, non istraccerà le vesti:The grand bishoppe, that is to say the priest that is greatest among his brethren, vpon whose head hath bene poured the oyle of vnction, and whose handes were consecrated in priesthood, and who was reuested with the holie vestimentes, shal not vncouer his head, he shal not rent his garments:Pontifex, id est, sacerdos maximus inter fratres suos, super cujus caput fusum est unctionis oleum, et cujus manus in sacerdotio consecratæ sunt, vestitusque est sanctis vestibus, caput suum non discooperiet, vestimenta non scindet:
11Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his father, or his mother, shall he be defiled.Non entrerà in alcuna casa, dove sia cadavere: non contrarrà immondezza neppur per ragion di suo padre, o della madre.and to no dead person shal he enter in at al. vpon his father also, and mother shal he not be contaninated.et ad omnem mortuum non ingredietur omnino: super patre quoque suo et matre non contaminabitur. 12Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord: because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.E non si partirà da' luoghi santi per non contaminare il santuario del Signore; perché egli ha sopra di sé l'olio della unzione santa del suo Dio. Io il Signore.Neither shal he goe forth out of the holie places, lest he pollute the Sāctuarie of the Lord, because the oyle of the holie vnction of his God is vpon him. I the Lord.Nec egredietur de sanctis, ne polluat sanctuarium Domini, quia oleum sanctæ unctionis Dei sui super eum est. Ego Dominus. 13He shall take a virgin unto his wife.Egli sposerà una vergine:He shal take a virgin vnto his wife:Virginem ducet uxorem: 14But a widow or one that is divorced, or defiled, or a harlot, he shall not take: but a maid of his own people.Non isposerà una vedova, né una ripudiata, né una donna diffamata, né una meretrice; ma una fanciulla del popol suo.but a widow and her that is put away, and a filth, and a whore he shal not take, but a maide of his owne people:viduam autem et repudiatam, et sordidam, atque meretricem non accipiet, sed puellam de populo suo: 15He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common people of this nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him.Egli non mescolerà il sangue della sua stirpe col volgo del popol suo: perocché io il Signore son quegli che lo santifico.that he mingle not the stocke of his kinred with the common people of his nation: because I am the Lord that sanctifie him.ne commisceat stirpem generis sui vulgo gentis suæ: quia ego Dominus, qui sanctifico eum. 16And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:E il Signore parlò a Mosè, e disse:And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens: 17Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families, hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God.Di' ad Aronne: Se v'ha uomo di tua stirpe in qualche famiglia, il quale abbia qualche difetto, ei non offerirà i pani al Dio suo.Speake to Aaron: The man of thy seede throughout their families, that hath a blemish, shal not offer breades to his God,Loquere ad Aaron: Homo de semine tuo per familias qui habuerit maculam, non offeret panes Deo suo,
18Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind; if he be lame; if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose;E non si accosterà a servirlo: se è cieco, se zoppo, se di troppo piccol naso, o troppo grande, o torto,neither shal he approch to his ministerie: If he be blinde, if lame, if he haue a litle, or a great, or a crooked nose,nec accedet ad ministerium ejus: si cæcus fuerit, si claudus, si parvo vel grandi, vel torto naso, 19If his foot, or if his hand be broken;Se ha un piede rotto, o una mano,if his foote be broken, if his hand,si fracto pede, si manu, 20If he be crookbacked; or blear eyed; or have a pearl in his eye, or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture.Se gobbo, se losco, se ha nell'occhio una macchia, se ha una rogna pertinace, o scabbia pel corpo, o allentato.if he be crooke backed, or blere eyed, or haue a pearle in his eye, or a continual scabbe, or drie scurffe in his bodie, or be burnt.si gibbus, si lippus, si albuginem habens in oculo, si jugem scabiem, si impetiginem in corpore, vel herniosus. 21Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish: he shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his God.Qualunque uomo della stirpe d'Aronne sacerdote, che avrà qualche difetto, non s'accosterà ad offerire ostie al Signore, né pani al suo Dio:Euerie one that hath a blemish of the seede of Aaron the priest, shal not approch to offer the hostes to the Lord, nor the breades to his God.Omnis qui habuerit maculam de semine Aaron sacerdotis, non accedet offerre hostias Domino, nec panes Deo suo: 22He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves that are offered in the sanctuary.Mangerà nondimeno dei pani offerti nel santuario;He shal eate notwithstanding of the breades, that are offered in the Sanctuarie,vescetur tamen panibus qui offeruntur in sanctuario, 23Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the altar: because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary. I am the Lord who sanctify them.Con questo però che non entrerà dentro il velo, né si accosterà all'altare, perché è difettoso; e non dee profanare il mio santuario. Io il Signore, che li santifico.yet so that he enter not within the v•ilen, or approch to the altar, because he hath a blemish, and he must not contaninate my Sanctuarie. I the Lord that sanctifie them.ita dumtaxat, ut intra velum non ingrediatur, nec accedat ad altare, quia maculam habet, et contaminare non debet sanctuarium meum. Ego Dominus qui sanctifico eos.
24Moses, therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all Israel, all the things that had been commanded him.Disse adunque Mosè ad Aronne, e a' suoi figliuoli, e a tutto Israele tutto quello che gli era stato comandato.Moyses therfore spake to Aaron, and to his sonnes and to al Israel, al thinges that had bene commanded him.Locutus est ergo Moyses ad Aaron, et ad filios ejus, et ad omnem Israël cuncta quæ fuerant sibi imperata.
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Year of the World 2514.
Challoner
An uncleanness; viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc. (Challoner)
Calmet
At the death. Hebrew, "for a soul;" by which name the carcass is here denoted, because it had once been ruled by the soul. (St. Augustine, q. 81.) This law related only to the family of Aaron, when no absolute necessity or near relationship required their attendance. When such offices of charity should be deemed defiling, it is not easy to say. But the ancients generally looked upon them in this light, Leviticus 10:6. Porphyrius enquired of Anebo, why the holy inspector touched not the dead, since in all sacred transactions, the death of animals generally intervenes. We know not the answer of this pretended prophet Egypt; and Jamblicus confesses, that he cannot resolve the difficulty. The Romans placed a branch of cypress before the door where a corpse was lying, lest any priest might see it unthinkingly, and be defiled. (Servius) "At their return from a funeral they sprinkled themselves with water, and passed over fire." (Festus) The Rabbins say, that no one could be buried in Jerusalem, nor in the towns of the Levites, on account of the sanctity of those places, and for fear lest the priests might thus contract some uncleanness. (Calmet)
Haydock
To account for all these regulations, we only need to observe that such was the will of God; and here it may surely be said, stat pro ratione voluntas. He might thus intend to exercise their obedience; to keep their minds from being too much depressed by the sight of the dead, and to remind us all that we ought carefully to avoid sin, which kills the soul, and renders us really unclean before God. (Haydock)
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Vatable
Sister, of the same parents. (Vatable)
Husband; for if she have, he ought to bury his wife, and to mourn for her. To be deprived of these advantages, was then esteemed a great misfortune.
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Plutarch
Prince. Hebrew, "Let not the prince (of the priests, Acts 23:5,) render himself unclean," by attending the funerals of any of the people; or "let not the husband," etc. He may be allowed to attend his wife to the grave: or, as others more probably assert, even this is not permitted. She is not one of the persons privileged, ver. 2, and Ezechiel 44:25. Ezechiel (xxiv. 16,) receives a command not to bewail the death of his wife. The Romans thought their priests would be defiled, by attending the funerals even of their own wives; and Sylla, going to dedicate a temple to Hercules, sent Metella a bill of divorce, and ordered her to be removed from his house, when she was just expiring. (Plutarch)
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Haydock
Flesh. This would indicate an impotent grief, and want of patience. (Haydock)
They were not allowed to put on the usual signs of mourning, as the common people were, provided they did it not in honour of an idol, Leviticus 19:27.
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Vile, (ver. 14,) defiled, (sordidam). Hebrew chalala, "a profane woman," (Pagnin) or one of ill-fame; as captives, inn-keepers, are generally esteemed. Zone, means a common prostitute. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] 3:3.) None of these fit matches for the priests.
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And offer. Hebrew addresses this to Moses. "Thou shalt sanctify him, therefore, because he offereth the bread of thy God."
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Jonathan
Fire. Provided she be betrothed, and still in her father's house; so that the infamy fall upon him. (Jonathan)
Calmet
For if she be with her husband, she must undergo the usual punishment of stoning. Other young women received no corporal punishment for simple fornication: the man was bound to marry them, if the father consented; and, at any rate, he was forced to give them a dowry, Exodus 22:16. (Calmet)
But if the woman pretended falsely that they were virgins, they were stoned, Deuteronomy 22:20.
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Head. Septuagint, "by taking off his cidaris, or tiara." He shall not shave his head, Leviticus 10:6.
Calmet
Garments, at funerals, nor the sacred vestments at all. (Calmet)
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Places. This is to be understood in the same sense. He must not leave his sacred functions to attend any corpse whatever. Having the honour of representing God, and being his first minister on earth, the utmost purity is required of him. Inferior priests may mourn on some occasions; and the Levites are not distinguished, in this respect, from the people; to shew that God requires sanctity in his officers, proportionate to their exaltation.
Calmet
Oil. Hebrew, "He is the Nozor; or the crown of the anointing oil of," etc. Joseph has the title of Nazir, (Genesis 49:26,) which is borne by the prime ministers of the Eastern kings. Such is the high priest in the temple. Let Christian priests hence learn what sanctity will be required of them. But why is the pontiff forbidden to bury his father, since he obtains that dignity after his decease. St. Augustine (q. 83,) answers, that he was to be consecrated immediately after, that he might offer incense. Another might, however, perform that office. On some occasions, the high priest was deposed, or the dignity transferred to another family. Infirmities might also hinder him from performing the duty. (Calmet)
Du Hamel
Priests must be detached, as much as possible, from all things which might divert them from their sacred offices. The greatest holiness is required of those who receive the body of Jesus Christ. (Du Hamel)
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Haydock
Wife. Josephus says he could not divorce her. The Rabbins allow him only one wife at a time. It is said that Joiada had two. But that might be successively; and it is not certain that he was the high priest; (2 Paralipomenon 24:3.; Calmet) though he has that title in the Vulgate, 2 Paralipomenon 22:11. (Haydock)
Calmet
His wife must be an Isrealite. The Septuagint intimates, "of his own race." But this is denied by others. He could not marry his brother's widow, (Selden) nor a girl under twelve and a half. "The Egyptian priests marry only one, while others have as many wives as they please." (Diodorus I.) (Calmet)
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Widow. Other priests might marry the widows of their fellow priests, Ezechiel 44:22.
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Menochius
Nation. The wife of the high priest must be of noble birth, that he may speak to kings and princes with more authority. (Menochius)
Hebrew, "he shall not defile his race," etc., by marrying one of another nation, or contrary to law. If he do, the children shall have no share in the priesthood.
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Challoner
A blemish. These corporal defects or deformities, which disqualified the priests from officiating in the old law, were figures of the vices which priests are to beware of in the new law. (St. Gregory, Cura pastorum.) (Challoner)
The Rabbins reckon 140 blemishes on which the Sanhedrim had to pass sentence. They also require in the high priest superior beauty, strength, riches, and wisdom.
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Nose. Hebrew, "a flat nose, or any thing superfluous." Septuagint, "the nose, (hand) or ears slit." This verse rejects those whose members are too large, as the next does those who have them too small.
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Eyed. Hebrew dak, may denote "a dwarf." Syriac, or something very thin, Exodus 16:14.
Pearl, (albuginem) whiteness.
Rupture, (herniosus). One perhaps troubled with the stone, (Menochius) whose testicles have been bruised, (Onkelos) or who has only one (Septuagint and Syriac).
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Calmet
Veil, which separates the sanctuary from the court. The Athenians chose the most handsome man ot be the king of ceremonies; and the people of Eli appointed such only to carry the sacred vessels, etc. (Atheneus 13:2.) (Calmet)
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An uncleanness.... Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc.
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By the prīce 5. Paul. vnderstood the high Priest. Act. 23.
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Caiphas rēt his garments (Mat. 26.) cō trarie to this law, malice making him neglect his owne dignitie
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If such deformities and defectes made men irregular, and vnmete to exercise priest lie function in the old testament, how
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.23
… “The priest,” says He, “shall not enter where there is any dead person; and for his father he shall not be defiled”
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.5
… The apostle came of the Jews and the primitive Christian church was gathered out of the remnants of Israel. Paul knew that the Law allowed men to have children by several wives, and was aware that the example of the patriarchs had made polygamy familiar to the people. Even the very priests might at their own discretion enjoy the same license.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 6.11
… and they are not worse in their nature, but are aggravated through the dignity of the Priest, who dares to commit them. And why do I speak of the men who follow this ministration. For the daughters of the Priests,
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 39.4
… For, for us sin is death. In this same book, Leviticus, there is a provision which may perhaps strike some as cruel, yet is necessary to faith: the high priest is forbidden to approach the dead bodies of his father and mother, of his brothers and of his children;
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Monogamy 7
… For the reason why He recalls that young man who was hastening to his father’s obsequies, is that He may show that we are called priests by Him; (priests) whom the Law used to forbid to be present at the sepulture of parents:
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 6.14
14. Therefore, my beloved, we also have received of the Spirit of Christ, and Christ dwelleth in us , as it is written that the Spirit said this through the mouth of the Prophet:— I will dwell in them and will walk in them .
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 39.4
… Are we not taught the same lesson in the Gospel in other words? Is not the disciple forbidden to say farewell to his home or to bury his dead father? Of the high priest, again, it is said: “He shall not go out of the sanctuary, and the sanctification of his God shall not be contaminated, for the anointing oil of his God is upon him.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.10
… “And he shall not go forth from the sanctuary, lest he pollute the Sanctuary of God,”
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Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 4
… “Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a widow, not a divorced woman
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 12
… Who then would dare to allow this injury to be perpetrated upon so great a sacrament , seeing that this great and venerable mystery is not without the support of the statutes of God’s law as well, whereby it is clearly laid down that a priest is to marry a virgin, and that she who is to be the wife of a priest
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Exhortation to Chastity 7
… For look, in the old law I find the pruning-knife applied to the licence of repeated marriage. There is a caution in Leviticus: “My priests shall not pluralize marriages.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.20
… A priest, then, will not take to himself as a wife one who has been a harlot and an outcast,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 52.10
… Why do we admire what Christ calls “the mammon of unrighteousness”? Why do we cherish and love what it is Peter’s boast not to possess? Or if we insist on keeping to the letter and find the mention of gold and wealth so pleasing, let us keep to everything else as well as the gold. Let the bishops of Christ be bound to marry wives, who must be virgins.
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 10
… so that Hilary, who remained with us, had no opposition to offer. The judgment, therefore, was rescinded, which was brought forward and read to the effect that, as the husband of a widow , he could not hold the priesthood. Now this rule we, maintaining the legal constitutions
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 63.2
… and says in Leviticus: “The man in whom there shall be any blemish or stain shall not approach to offer gifts to God?”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 67.1
… “And when they come near to the altar of the Holy One to minister they shall not bring sin upon them, lest they die.” Also in Leviticus the Lord commands and says, “Whosoever hath any spot or blemish upon him, shall not approach to offer gifts to God.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.94
94. I know also that not even bodily blemishes in either priests
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 52.10
… Or if we insist on keeping to the letter and find the mention of gold and wealth so pleasing, let us keep to everything else as well as the gold. Let the bishops of Christ be bound to marry wives, who must be virgins. Let the best-intentioned priest be deprived of his office if he bear a scar and be disfigured.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Dialogue Against the Luciferians 1
… How can an impious man make a man holy? How shall the light enter into me, when my eye is blind? O misery! Antichrist’s disciple governs the Church of Christ. And what are we to think of the words, “No man can serve two masters”? And that too “What communion hath light and darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” In the old testament we read,
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.11
… lest one whom his own guilt depraves desire to become an intercessor for the faults of others. For on this account it is said to Moses by the supernal voice, Speak unto Aaron; Whosoever he be of thy seed throughout their generations that hath a blemish, he shall not offer loaves of bread to the Lord his God (
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 6.9
In what he says of the uncleanness of a man that is bald or has red hair, Faustus is inaccurate, or the manuscript he has used is incorrect.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.11
… xxi. 17 ). And it is also immediately subjoined; If he be blind, if he be lame, if he have either a small or a large and crooked nose, if he be brokenfooted or brokenhanded, if he be hunchbacked, if he be bleareyed (lippus), if he have a white speck (albuginem) in his eye, if chronic scabies, if impetigo in his body, or if he be ruptured (ponderosus) (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 71.2
… For it behoves priests and ministers, who wait upon the altar and sacrifices, to be sound and stainless; since the Lord God speaks in Leviticus, and says, “No man that hath a stain or a blemish shall come nigh to offer gifts to the Lord.”
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Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron — speak to the lesser priests: for the high priest could mourn no one at all, not even his father, as is said in verse 10, which however is permitted here to the lesser priests. Let not the priest be defiled in the deaths of his citizens — that is to say, let the priest beware lest he contract legal uncleanness by touching a corpse, or attending to a funeral, or following it, or making lamentation, or entering the house of the dead. In the deaths. — In Hebrew, over a soul, that is over a corpse; the Chaldean, over the dead: for a soul here by antiphrasis is called a lifeless corpse. St. Augustine gives another reason for this nomenclature in Questions LXXVIII: "The name," he says, "of the soul which rules has also been taken by the body deprived of soul, because it is to be restored to it in the resurrection; just as a building which is called a church, even when the church, which is the people, has departed from it, is nevertheless still called a church," by metonymy. The priest is forbidden here to mourn his citizens; therefore much more was it not permitted him to mourn foreigners and strangers. The reason for this law is, first, because it was the duty of priests to handle divine things and to perform the ministries of the sanctuary, and therefore it was fitting that they be as far as possible removed from all communication with funerals and the dead, from uncleanness and irregularity: for the old sanctity and bodily purity of priests was their concern; now among the most unclean bodies are corpses, inasmuch as they fall into putrefaction and become food for worms, toads and serpents: therefore the old priests ought to have been most remote from them. Secondly, because the priest ought to be to the people an example of heavenly life, and by not mourning the dead in fact ought to show faith and hope in the resurrection. Thirdly, because the priest was a type of Christ, who dissolved death by his immolation: therefore the priest ought to foreshadow by his sacrifices the immolation of Christ alone. Thus Cyril, book XII On Adoration, page 248.
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Except only in his kindred. — Excepted here from the law already laid down are father, mother, son, daughter, brother and sister, if she be a virgin: these therefore deceased the priest could mourn, but not a wife, grandson and granddaughter, because these are not excepted here. You will say: In chapter X, verse 6, Ithamar and Eleazar the priests are forbidden to mourn Nadab and Abihu their brothers now dead. I answer: That prohibition was peculiar to them, because they had only recently been consecrated priests; hence God did not wish them to mourn their brothers, justly and deservedly slain by them; otherwise according to this law they could have mourned.
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But neither shall he be defiled for the prince of his people. — Vatablus and others translate from the Hebrew: Let not the prince be defiled in his people, that he profane himself. But the matter here is not about the defilement of the prince, but of the priests. Therefore our Interpreter translated better, in the prince: for rightly in the Hebrew the preposition beth, that is in, is understood, as it often is wont to be, especially since here something else follows immediately. Tropologically, corpses are sins; the touching of corpses is participation in sins: therefore the priest ought to beware lest he become a partaker of the crimes of his citizens and live a popular life, indeed he cannot even consent to a sinning prince: but he is defiled only in father and mother, that is in the offense of the first parents, Adam and Eve, and in son and daughter, brother and sister, because after original sin we all offend in many things: and in these it is necessary that even the just receive excuse, without which neither they nor those who succeed them in religion, as sons, nor those who walk with them as brothers in the way of holiness, can live. On the contrary, concerning the high priest, that is Christ, it is said that he will be defiled in no one at all, not even in father and mother, because Christ experienced no contagion of vitiated origin or any other blemish. Thus Radulphus.
21:5
They shall not shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh. — The Gentiles did these things in mourning, and therefore they were forbidden to the Jews, even to laypeople, as I said in chapter XIX, verse 27; here, however, the same things are forbidden to priests in a particular manner, because these things are more unbecoming to them. Tropologically, priests ought not to shave their head, but only to cut their hair, because they should neither completely cut away from themselves the thoughts of the flesh concerning the life of their subjects and relatives (which are signified by hair), nor again allow them to grow excessively so as to close the eyes of the mind, in such a way that they bear the appearance of virtue, that is, a beard, on their face; in the same manner they shall not make incisions in their flesh, lest they themselves seem to evacuate faith in the resurrection, if they do not strive to moderate the mourning of their dead, as Radulphus says. What then shall the faithful do at the funerals of their own? Heroic women and heroines will teach you. Hear St. Ambrose, book I of the Offices, chapter LI: "What shall I say of the mother of the Maccabees? who looked upon the funerals of her sons with joy, as many funerals as trophies, and delighted in the voices of the dying, as in the songs of those singing psalms, seeing in her sons the most beautiful harp of her womb, and a harmony of piety sweeter than any number of lyres." The same can be said of St. Felicity, a witness of the martyrdom of seven sons, of whom St. Gregory speaks in homily 3 on the Gospel; and of St. Symphorosa, likewise the mother of seven martyr sons, of whom it is written in the Life of St. Getulian the Martyr, her husband; likewise of St. Melania the Younger, of whom St. Jerome, in his letter to Paula on the death of Blesilla: "Follow, he says, the examples present before you. St. Melania of our time is true nobility among Christians, with whom may the Lord grant to you and to me to have a part in his day. While her husband's body was still warm and not yet buried, she lost two sons at once. I am about to relate something incredible, but, with Christ as witness, not false. Who would not then have thought her, in the manner of the mad, with hair scattered, with torn garment, to be invading a lacerated breast? Not a single drop of tears flowed; she stood immobile, and wrapped at the feet of Christ, as if she held him, she smiled. "More readily, she said, shall I serve you, Lord, because you have freed me from so great a burden. But perhaps she is surpassed in other things? On the contrary, in the very way she despised them in her mind, she proved it in one son afterward, to whom she granted all the possessions she had, and when winter was already approaching, she sailed to Jerusalem." Do you wish examples from the Gentiles? Hear St. Jerome, letter 3 to Heliodorus in the epitaph of Nepotian: "Where, he says, the always praised opinion of Anaxagoras and Telamon: I knew that I had begotten a mortal; thus they would have answered when the death of a son was announced. "Cicero, Plato, Diogenes, Clitomachus, Carneades, Possidonius, set forth innumerable men, and especially Pericles and Xenophon the Socratic, of whom one, having lost two sons, spoke crowned in the assembly; the other, when sacrificing and hearing that his son had been killed in war, is said to have removed his crown, and to have replaced it on his head after he found that he had fallen fighting bravely in battle. Pulvillus, dedicating the Capitol, ordered his son, who had suddenly died, as was reported, to be buried in his absence. L. Paulus entered the city in triumph for seven days between the funerals of two sons. I pass over the Maximi, Catos, Galli, Pisones, Bruti, Scaevolas, Metelli, Scauri, Martii, Crassi, Marcellos and Aufidi, whose virtue in mourning was no less than in wars, and whose bereavements Cicero explained in the book of Consolation, lest I seem to have sought rather the affairs of others than our own. Although these things too have been briefly said for the scourging of ourselves, if faith does not surpass what infidelity has shown."
21:6
Holy shall they be to their God — namely, removed from all contamination, uncleanness, rite, and base and profane ceremonies which the Gentiles employ at funerals. And they shall not profane his name — that is to say, they shall not profane the name, reputation and priestly dignity; and therefore neither the reputation of God, whose ministers and priests they are. Incense (in Hebrew it is ignitions, which the Septuagint translates as sacrifices, but our translator as incense, which is burned with fire) and loaves (of proposition) of their God they offer, and therefore they shall be holy. — In Hebrew, therefore they shall be holiness, that is to say, they shall be most holy and most pure, so as to appear to be holiness itself. Tropologically, incense is prayer; the loaves of God are the Saints, who feed God by faith and good works, and offer themselves in the body of Christ: priests offer these to God, because by their teaching they lead them to belief. It is therefore just that they themselves be holy, who invite others to holiness. Thus Radulphus.
21:7
A harlot and a vile prostitute they (the priests) shall not take as a wife. — "Prostitute" here, as also in Deuteronomy XXIII, 18, and Joel III, 3, is a harlot who has prostituted her body and chastity. The Septuagint translates it bebēlōmenēn, profaned, that is, violated and polluted: for this is what chalala signifies in Hebrew. Thus among Plautus and other Latin writers, prostitute signifies not only a place of shame, namely a brothel, but also the harlot herself, the most vile and abject. Tropologically, a wife is a form of living; he takes one of his kind who respects God the creator and the holy Fathers, and lives according to their form: but a harlot, a vile prostitute, and a repudiated woman does he take, who conforms himself to the lovers of this world. Thus Radulphus.
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Be ye therefore holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, who sanctify you — who communicate my holiness to you, designating and consecrating you as priests to me. Secondly, "I sanctify," that is, I command you to be holy.
21:9
The priest's daughter, if she be found in fornication, and shall violate the name of her father, shall be burnt with fire. — On account of the dignity of her father the priest, simple fornication of his daughter is punished with death by fire; but the fornication of others is not punished: for that the daughters of citizens committing fornication were not punished is gathered from Exodus XXII, 16, unless they had afterwards sold themselves as virgins, and by this means deceived a betrothed husband; then indeed when the matter was discovered they were stoned, as adulteresses, as is evident from Deuteronomy XXII, 20. This distinction the words of this law signify, when they give the reason, in that she "shall violate the name of her father," as if to say: Because by her fornication she has brought a grave mark and ignominy upon her father the priest, therefore she shall be burned. Thus also the pagan Romans buried alive the Vestal virgins if found in fornication: but adulterous women, though subject to some condemnation, they punished with no death. "So much more gravely did they think the sanctuaries of the gods ought to be avenged than human bedchambers," says St. Augustine, book III of The City of God, chapter V.
21:10
The high priest, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, shall not uncover his head. — Septuagint: tēn kephalēn ouk apokidarōsei, he shall not uncover his head, that is, he shall not bare his cidaris, namely in mourning for the dead, so that by this means it may allegorically signify the imperturbable, immobile and eternal priesthood of Christ, which shall never be taken away, says Cyril, book XII On Adoration, page 249. Note: The high priest alone was anointed on the head, and therefore mourned no dead, not even parents. The lesser priests were anointed only on the thumbs of their hands and feet, and upon their ears, and their garments were sprinkled with the blood of the sacrificed ram, mixed with the oil of sacred unction; and therefore they could indeed mourn the blood relatives designated, verse 2, but not others. Kings, however, were anointed neither on the head, nor on the hands, nor on their garments with sacred oil, but only with simple and common oil; and therefore they could mourn all the dead whom they wished.
21:11
He shall not enter to any dead body. — "To any dead," that is to none, as if to say, He shall not enter a house in which there is any corpse whatsoever, lest he weep indecently over the dead. Thus Vatablus. Again, "lest he be defiled," because if he himself defiled were to return over the dead to the sanctuary, he would defile it. Here Abulensis notes that the Hebrews wandering in the desert for 40 years did not sacrifice except on Mount Sinai, and therefore afterwards in the desert they were not bound by any ceremonial precepts, but only by moral and judicial ones. The reason is that ceremonial precepts were ordained only in relation to sacrifices; therefore, with sacrifices ceasing, the other ceremonial precepts also ceased. Except those which God specially excepted in Num. v, 2, namely the leper, the one with an issue of seed, and the unclean over the dead: for these were unclean and were to be separated according to the rite and ceremony prescribed in cap. xiii. Wherefore that these might be expiated, there was need of the ashes of the red heifer, of which Num. xix; this therefore must be said to have been burned in the desert: for those defiled over the dead were expiated by this ash. Hence it follows that priests also in the desert ought to have kept the law prescribed here, namely that they should not mourn the dead. In like manner in the desert the Hebrews did not observe feasts except the Sabbath; for he who violated the Sabbath was stoned in the desert, Num. cap. xv, vers. 35. Neither shall he be defiled for his father and mother — as if to say, If his father or mother die, the high priest shall not mourn them with external rite and sign, nor shall he attend their funeral. "For the law demands, says Philo, in book II On Monarchy, in that man a more excellent nature than human, inasmuch as he is familiar with God before others, placed in a certain boundary between divine and human nature, so that through this mediator God may be propitious to men." The Gentiles imitated this. Whence among the Romans the Flamen Dialis was not permitted to enter a place where there was a pyre or to touch a dead body, as attested by A. Gellius, lib. X, cap. xv; indeed "nor to hear funeral pipes," as attested by Festus. What then? That the Flaminica was not permitted to have sandals or shoes made of the dead, that is, made from beasts that died of themselves, as attested by Servius in IV Aeneid.: "Because, he says, all things destroyed by their own death are accursed." Hence also if the high priest ever had a funeral oration, a veil was spread before the dead, which would keep his eyes from the funeral. Hear Seneca, Consolation to Marcia, cap. xv: "Tiberius Caesar lost both him whom he had begotten and him whom he had adopted; yet he himself praised his son from the rostra, and stood in sight with the body placed, only an intervening veil, which would keep the high priest's eyes from the funeral." The same did Augustus Caesar do at the funeral of Agrippa, as attested by Dio, lib. LIV; for the Caesars themselves were also high priests up to Constantine the emperor, who, now Christian, renounced this pagan high priesthood. The same Dio speaking of Tiberius at the funeral of Augustus: "To Tiberius, he says, impunity was given, because he had touched the corpse (for this was forbidden) and had attended the funeral." Allegorically St. Bernard, serm. 1 On Circumcision, at the beginning: "Christ, he says, is the high priest, whom it was prophesied rather than commanded that he should not be defiled over his father and mother; for he has a Father from eternity, but God, into whom sin does not fall: and he has a mother, but a virgin, nor could incorruptibility bear corruption."
21:12
Nor shall he go out from the holy things — from the sanctuary, if, when he is stationed there, it should happen that even his father or mother die. For the high priest existing at home ought not to go to the sanctuary if any of his people should die; but if he were in the sanctuary, it was not permitted him on account of the death of his father or mother to leave it and its sacred duties, and to go out to the funeral; the reason is added: Lest he pollute the Sanctuary of the Lord — as if to say, Lest he bring injury and dishonor to the sanctuary, abandoning it on account of the funeral.
21:13
He shall take a virgin (the high priest) as wife. — God commanded this on account of the honor and dignity of the high priesthood: and this first, because it was not fitting for the high priest to take one corrupted and known by another; secondly, "that the sacred seed might be received in the untouched and pure womb of a virgin, nor in any way be mixed with the births of other families," says Philo, book II On Monarchy; thirdly, that having begun with minds not yet corrupted, the high priests might more easily accommodate them to their own customs. For the minds of virgins are followers and flexible toward virtue, and most ready for discipline. Tropologically St. Cyril, lib. XII On Adoration: "It was signified, he says, through this marriage of the high priest with a virgin, that Christ would not dwell with impious and corrupt souls, but with the most chaste and pure, as if with virgins spiritually, and would make them fruitful and call them joined to him by generation." Allegorically: Christ, says Radulphus, betrothed to himself, not the corrupted Synagogue and repudiated by him, but the Church from the Gentiles; whom, when she was a harlot, he loved, so that he might worthily join her to himself, he made a virgin; noble, now in morals, afterwards in dwellings.
21:14
Filthy. — Chaldean: profaned, that is, vitiated and polluted. Thus the Septuagint; for it was fitting that the wife of the high priest be altogether pure. Thus Julius Caesar divorced his wife Pompeia, whom rumor held to have been corrupted by Clodius, on which account when a day was appointed with Clodius, he himself being called as a witness said nothing sinister about her; and when the prosecutor asked him: Why then did you divorce her? he answered: "Because the wife of Caesar ought to be free from every sinister suspicion and altogether pure." The same ought to have been said here to the high priest. Tertullian, in the book On Monogamy, adds here: "My priests shall not marry again;" as if second marriages were forbidden to them here, and they ought themselves to be monogamous. Perhaps the edition of Theodotion, or of Symmachus had something of this sort, as Pamelius suspects. For neither the Septuagint nor the Hebrew has it: although the credibility of Tertullian wavers here; for he himself wrote this book in heresy: for he contends in this very book that second marriages are unlawful for Christians; which is a manifest error.
21:15
But a maiden of his people. — Philo adds that the high priest could not take a wife except of priestly stock; but this does not appear from the divine law, indeed the histories rather suggest the contrary: for from them it is established that high priests were accustomed to take wives from the daughters of princes and kings, who were not of Levi, but of Judah. Thus Jehoiada took Jehosheba the daughter of Joram king of Judah, as Josephus testifies, book IX of the Antiquities, vii. Let him not mingle the seed of his race with the common people of his nation — that is to say, Let him not take a wife from the common people, but a noble one. The Septuagint translates: He shall not profane his seed in his people, and this for two reasons: first, on account of the dignity of the priesthood; second, so that the high priest, joined by affinity with kings and princes, might all the more freely and better teach them the worship of God and true religion. I am the Lord who sanctify him — who command him to be holy, and to abstain from the defilement of a common and plebeian wife; thus "sanctify" is understood in verse 8 and 23, and in the preceding chapter, verse 8.
21:17
A man of thy seed who has a blemish (such deformity as the following), shall not offer the loaves (of proposition, which even the lesser priests offer fresh every single sabbath, taking away the former ones) to his God, nor shall he approach to the ministry thereof. — These words are not in the Hebrew, but are understood: for those having a blemish were excluded both from the altar of holocausts, of incense and the candlestick, and from the table of the loaves of proposition.
21:18
If he be blind (behold these are the blemishes which make one irregular, so that one having any of them cannot be a priest of Aaron), if he be lame, if he be small, or great, or with a crooked nose. — For "if he be small" in Hebrew it is חרום charum, which the Hebrews translate as snub-nosed, although if you consider the origin and root, it properly signifies not a nose nor snub-nosed, but something cut off. Thus for "great or crooked nose," in Hebrew it is שרוע sarua, which properly signifies something protruding, such as a great or twisted nose, to which the Hebrews accordingly applied this name. The Hebrews, besides these blemishes, assign one hundred and forty others, which render a man unfit for the priesthood: see the little book of Precepts, negative precept 308.
21:19
If he have a broken foot, if a broken hand, if he be humpbacked (humpbacked), if he be blear-eyed (thus both the Septuagint and the Chaldean. In Hebrew it is דק dac, that is, one who has weak or tender eyes, as the blear-eyed have), if he have a white spot in his eye, if he have a continual scab, if he have an eruption in his body (eruption is a kind of dry scab, spreading through the skin with itching), or if he be herniated. Whosoever hath a blemish (any one of those already mentioned), shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor loaves to his God. — He repeats what preceded; therefore loaves here are the same as sacrifices and victims, which are as it were bread, that is, food of God. Thus the Chaldean and the Septuagint. Whence it follows: "Yet he shall eat of the loaves that are offered in the sanctuary," that is, he shall eat of the flesh and sacrifices offered to God. Thus Abulensis and others. And so from a similar phrase in Hebrew, rightly is the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist offered to God called bread by St. John, chapter vi, and by St. Paul, I Corinthians xi, especially because it lies hidden under the species of bread; not however conversely, rightly is the bread itself called body and flesh, so that of bread you say: "This is my body," that is, this bread is my body. Thus also is bread understood for victims, in the following chapter, last verse.
21:22
In Hebrew it is, he shall eat of the most holy and holy oblations. The most holy oblations were called the parts of victims, sacred loaves, flour offerings, which priests alone ate in the holy place; but holy things were called tithes and first-fruits, of which others besides priests could eat.
21:23
So only that he shall not enter within the veil (within the tabernacle or the holy place) to burn incense, light the lamps, and place the loaves of proposition on the table, nor approach the altar of holocausts to offer victims. I am the Lord who sanctify them — who command them to be holy and pure from all indecency and blemish. All these things, says Philo, are to be understood figuratively as referring to the perfection of the soul; for if the mortal body of the priest must be examined lest it be touched by any defect, how much more the immortal soul formed to the image of God? Thus he himself, book II of the Monarchy.
The Tropological Sense of Blemishes Tropologically, St. Gregory, I part. of the Pastoral, final chapter, and from him Radulphus: "He is blind who, pressed by the darkness of the present life, knows not whither to direct the step of his work; he is lame who indeed sees, but through weakness of mind cannot perfectly fulfill what he sees; he has a small nose, to whom discretion is small." Whence in the Canticle VII, it is said: "Thy nose is as the tower that is in Libanus;" because the holy Church, perceiving from individual causes what temptations proceed, discerns them through discretion, and detects from on high the coming battles of vices; a large and twisted nose is the excessive subtlety of discretion, which when it has grown more than is fitting, confounds the rectitude of its own action. He is broken in foot or hand who is destitute of good works; or, as St. Cyril, book XII of the Adoration, who does not walk integrally to good actions, but performs the work of God imperfectly and negligently: "He is hunchbacked whom earthly solicitude depresses, so that he never looks upon heavenly things; he is blear-eyed whose sense and mind nature has sharpened, but the depravity of conversation confounds; he has a white spot who, attributing to himself the brightness of justice or wisdom, excludes himself from the light of supernatural knowledge through arrogance; he has continual scab, whom the petulance of the flesh dominates; he has impetigo, whom avarice dominates; he is herniated who carries in hidden places, that is in the mind, the weight of turpitude." Thus also Theodoret, Question XXX, and Cyril above. Now, if God exacted such great cleanliness from the Jews immolating beasts, how much does he exact from priests and Christians offering and consuming the body of the Lord? John Moschus relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter ci., that a Bishop of Rumelia celebrating before Pope Agapetus, when he stopped, because he did not see the Holy Spirit visibly descending upon the victim as was customary, being asked by Agapetus the reason for the delay, answered: Remove the deacon who holds the fan from the altar. When he was removed, the usual signs appeared, and he himself completed the sacrifice. Behold, the deacon's misconduct delayed the sacrifice of so holy a Bishop. The same thing happened to St. Chrysostom, on account of a deacon casting his eyes upon a woman, as Metaphrastes relates in the Life of St. Chrysostom. Let Christians therefore flee this hernia. Palladius relates in the Lausiac History, chapter xx, that a certain priest celebrating in a state of fornication was struck by God with cancer, which so ate away his head that his entire skull appeared at the crown; blessed Macarius healed him by the imposition of hands, after he had first promised that he would sin no more, nor minister at the altar, but would embrace the lot of a layman. On the contrary, to pure and holy Christians, Christ and angels assist and minister in the sacrifice, and indeed sometimes even carry the sacred victim. Thus to St. Catherine of Siena, a most holy virgin, desiring communion and unable to receive it on account of the murmurings of some, Christ himself brought a particle of the consecrated host from the altar, as Raymond of Capua testifies, from whose hands the sacred host was taken, book II of her Life, chapter xxxii. Thus to St. Barbara, entering the chamber between two angels, under their guidance, the most joyful St. Stanislaus Kostka, a novice of our Order, received the Eucharist from their hands (which he had greatly desired in a dangerous illness), as our Sacchinus relates in his Life, and Father Ribadeneira, book III of the Life of Francis Borgia, chapter vi. Blessed Macarius related to Palladius, as he himself says in the Lausiac History, chapter xx, "that he observed at the time of communion that he never gave the oblation to Mark the athlete, but an angel gave it to him from the altar; he saw only the finger of the hand of him who gave it." St. Onuphrius in the desert received the Eucharist from the hands of angels every week, and from this became so heavenly and angelic, as is evident from his Life. I shall bring forward more in Number IV, at the end. Palladius relates in the Lausiac History, chapter xx, that a certain priest celebrating was accustomed to see an angel standing at the right of the altar.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
21:1
v. 14 « Dixit quoque Dominus ad Moysen : Loquere ad sacerdotes filios Aaron et dices ad eos : Ne contaminetur [sacerdos] in mortibus civium suorum », — « tangendo cadaver Israelitae, aut curando funus eius, multo magis curando funus extranei » (Vat.). Quoad animam i. e. cadaver (cf. 19,28)... in populo suo (suff. sing. habet Sam. etiam V. h. 1^ sq.; cf. 19,16), « eum reliquo populo » (Caim.) —
Arg. — Agitur de simplici sacerdote v. 1-9, de pontifice v. 10-15. — Sacerdos quomodo se gerere debeat in luctu v. 1-5 definitur, adscripta clausula v. 6; quomodo in seligenda uxore v. 7, addita clausula v. 1 sq. Pro appendice et sine clausula adscribitur v. 9 de sacerdotis filia prostitutionem exercente. Pontifex ab omni luctu interdicitur v. 10- 129, adscripta clausula « Ego Iahve »; statuitur v. 13-15, qualem debeat ducere uxorem , adscripta totius legis (cf. v. 23; 22,16. 32) clausula.
21:2
v. 2 « nisi tantum in. consanguineis ac propinquis » , Hebr. : £n consanquineis, qui proximi sunt ei, et statim enumerantur : « [?. e.] super patre et matre et filio et filia, fratre quoque »
21:3
v. 3 « ef sorore virgine, quae non est nupta viro », ideoque in domo paterna degit. An vero exceptio extendatur ad sororem viduam liberisque orbatam, quae 22,13 tractari iubetur uti puella, tacente scriptura disquirere superfluum est (cf. Bonfr.). Addit vero Hebr. : quae propinqua. est ei, qua voce crediderim excludi illam 18,11 paternae uxoris filiam , quae legis tantum fictione, non sanguinis communione soror habebatur. An sacerdos non lugebat propriam uxorem? Textus eam ignorat, vel quod res videretur evidens, vel quod de solis consanguineis agatur. Ex Ez. 25,16 sqq. effici videtur insuetum fuisse uxorem non plangere. Cf. Ez. hh,95.
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v. & « Sed nec in principe populi sut. contaminabitur ».
21:5
v. 5 « Non radent caput nec barbam », nec barbae cincinnos (cf. ad 19,27) praecidenl, « neque in carnibus suis facient incisuras », quod. etiam non sacerdotibus 19,28 interdicebatur. Iam ratio huius legis assignatur
21:6
v. 6: « Sancti erunt Deo suo, et non polluent nomen etus : incensum enim Domini [et] panes Dei sui offerunt, et ideo sanct erunt ». « Eius ara perinde est ac mensa, in quam sacrae illae dapes inferuntur... In principes obsequium vetat, ne quis coram illis sistat se nisi decore atque honeste vestitus » (Ca/m.). gnationis eius, is quippe est nativus vocis QY sensus, unde evolvitur sensus populus. Ergo : contaminetur in funeribus proximorum cognatorum (patris, matris etc.), sed non reliquorum cognatorum, qui iis, qui enumerantur, sunt remotiores. — nen 'VN potest ese ignis sacer, sed eum sacerdos non affert, cum sit semper in altari : ergo combustiones Domini seu victimae, quae sunt panis Dei (nulla adscripta copula), quia Deo quasi pro epulo proponuntur.
21:7
v. 1 « Scortum et [vile] prostibulum » — seu verius defloratam , sc. extra matrimonium ; secundum v. 1 expressio non videtur includere viduam — « non ducent uxorem nec eam, quae repudiata est a marilo », quia etiam huic aliqua semper suspicio adhaeret, « quia con - secrati sunt. Deo suo ». Et ne fastidiosi videantur non sacerdotibus hanc legem observantes, hos ipsos iam Deus directe appellat v. 8; imo secundum Hebr. etiam ultimum v. 7 incisum, numero singulari constructum ad hoc directum Dei alloquium est trahendum.
21:8
v. 8: E/ sanoetum eum habebis, quia panem Dei tui — 1. e. sacrificia (cf. v. 6) — ipse profert; sanctus erit tibi, quia ego sanctus sum, Dominus, qui sanctifico eos. « Et panes propositionis offerunt. Sint ergo sancti, quia et ego sanctus sum, Dominus , qui sanctifico eos ». Quanta ordini sacerdotali debeatur reverentia, patet ex supplicio vel sacerdotis filiae infligendo , si eius nomini infamiam intulit
21:9
v. 9 : « Sacerdotis filia, si deprehensa fuerit in stupro et violaverit nomen patris sui, flammis exuretur ». Agitur de scortatione seu prostitutione. onn Syr. vertit coeperit, quo fortasse recidit Vulg. deprehensa fuerit. LXYX Chald. verbi significationem praeferunt profanare. Puncta niphal : s? profanata fuerit scortatione, patrem suum, eius honestum nomen profanavit.
21:10
Is primum luctu mortüorum interdicitur. v. 10 « [Pontifex 1. e.] sacerdos magnus tnter fratres suos, super cutus caput fusum est unctionis oleum, et cutus manus |in. sacerdotio] consecratae sunt , vesti- (usque est [sanctis] vestibus », — Hebr. : ut induat paramenta , iisque indutus sacratissimis religionibus fungatur; ad has unctio parat viam, harum reverentia pontifici temperandum est a luctu — « caput suum casione funeris. Non hanc igitur legem transgressus est Caiphas Matth . 26,65 (Bonfr.).
21:11
v. 11 « Et ad omnem mortuum non ingredietur omnino : super patre quoque suo et matre », et a fortiori super fratre et sorore virgine (v. 2. sq.), « non contaminabitur ». v. 12 « Nec egreBLEU EM. d Cos EL AP UU oe da UOS Fou Uo diia Ju WP "ho^ LEN "AO TEPLLN Toe TN CTOr TOTNM PREIS SORIA HAMM UR NIC LANA C ONE PH UNE UNE Tn SE e EIE RA NO NQAIQUREN EnE Qo ISCLC IN SERIE dietur de sanctis » xazà xoogasw xév0coc (Philo : De monarchia II. S 12), alias enim libere egrediebantur pontifices, « ne polluat sanctuarium: Domini » : hoc, praeter praecedens incisum, trahatur ad omnia v. 10 sqq. dicta. Porro, sicut v. 6 et 7 sq. ratio adscribebatur sanc- 'titatis sacerdotum, ita iam adscribitur ratio maioris sanctitatis pontificis : « quia. oleum sanctae unctionis Dei sui super eum est. Ego Dominus ». ,Pontifex in re luctus primum interdicitur iis omnibus, quae v. 1-5 simplices sacerdotes vetantur, et praeterea aliis quibusdam, quae sola v. 10-12 efferuntur. Caput non solum non radet, sed neque discooperiet; non solum carnem non incidet, sed neque vestimenta scindet; ad nullum omnino cadaver accedet, nullius funeris causa sanctuario egredietur.
21:13
v. 13 « Virginem ducet uxorem ».
21:14
v. 4& « Viduam autem et repudiatam et sordidam » — Hebr. defloratam — « atque mere tricem non accipiet , sed. puellam » virginem « de populo suo ». Ita contra Hebr. 2v omnes. LXX vocem interpretati sunt, ut puella debuerit esse stirpis sacerdotalis; sed textui videtur satisfacere quaelibet pu ella hebraea; non vero ad iudaismum conversa, quam sicut etiam viduam simpliei sacerdoti fas erat ducere.
21:15
v. 15 « Ne commoisceat stirpem [generis] suz [vulgo] gentis suae » , Hebr. : ne profanet semen suum in populo suo, quod fit quolibet matrimonio minus honesto — « quia ego Dominus, qui sanctifico eum » : eadem clausula atque v. 8.
21:16
v. 16 « Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen dicens » :
Arg. — Enuntiata v. 17 sq. lege generali defectibus naturalibus ineptos reddi sacerdotes ad munia sacra peragenda, v. 18-20 illi defectus enumerantur, v. 21-23 limites irregularitatis definiuntur.
21:17
v. 41 « Loquere ad Aaron : Homo de semine tuo per familias » — Hebr. per generütiones eorum, sc. seminis seu Aaronitarum (cf. Ex. 12,14), omni futuro tempore — « qu habuerit maculam, non offeret panes Deo suo » , seu verius Dei sut. Panis autem Del secundum v. 6. 8 itemque secundum v. 21 (Hebr.) generali nomine sacrificia omnia tam cruenta quam incruenta complectitur.
21:18
v. 18 « Nec accedet ad ministerium eius ». Sed aliter Hebr. : quia omnis homo, in quo est macula, non accedet, seu non offeret. Ratio, cur, quoties in aliquo sacerdote maeula deprehendatur, is ab altari relegandus sit (v. 17), est quia Deus generalem legem tulit (v. 18) eiusmodi non esse admittendum. lam singulae irregularitates enumerantur ; « S? caecus fuerit, si claudus , si parvo vel grandi [vel torto naso| », — an et zv vi etymi voc. Vulg. utramque vocem ad nasum revocavit : at quis tandem definiturus erat, qui nasi neque breviores essent neque promissiores? Cum Ca, Vat., Calm. siste in general vocum significatione, et verte s? mutilus , si monsiruosus. Mutilus est, qui aliquo membro caret; monstruosus, qui v. g. sex unius manus digitos habet. Adverte, 239,93 etiam in pecoribus haberi vvv et *5p, quae distinctio non sane a nasis petitur —
21:19
v. 19 « s? /racto pede, si manu » , v. 90 « si gübbus », — &nxaE Xeyoyevoy 123. (item. Chald.) LXX vertunt xvezóc, Syr. vel 43 (ef. Gen. 29,17). LXX £enxec lentiginosus. Sed alia lectio habet v&voc, gall. « un nain ». Quocum concordat Syr., si pro improbabili lectione Npv7 (a radice significationis clamare) substituas probabiliorem NYU5, à radice minutum esse. Ergo s? nanus — « st albuginem habens in oculo », — *5zn : ambigunt versiones. Chald. v5, Syr. DD, quorum me fugit sensus. LXX «xoc, quod idem sane atque x1'A6c, quo oculis circa rubescentibus pili palpebrarum excidunt. Cum Vulg. consentiunt Ag. Symm. Theod. ^sóxoya. Sed alia leetio Ag. bx6yspa, et altera minime spernenda 6:0:6Aoc, i. e. strabo seu obliguitas oculorum. Intelligitur sane, uti in toto hoc elencho, vitium aliquod permanens — « sz [zgugem] scabiem », — 3*5 : idem sonat CAald. 1270. LXX d6ga &ygía; $ugem sapienter utique supplevit Vw/g. — « si impetiginem [in corpore] » — nz^5 cf. 99,99 : idem sonat LXX Asvp» , Chald. win. Syr. NTYpnr (?) — « vel herniosus » — "quN nmn, quod Zxa& Aey&psvo» Chald. vertit contritus testiculis, quod idem videtur esse atque Syr. N2XN NT. LXX wovsgyis. Tamen Vulg. hernia videtur praeferenda : omnes quippe recensiti defectus eiusmodi sunt, qui trans vestes vel praeter vestes cernuntur, cuiusmodi non sunt contriti testiculi. v. 21 repetit v. 17 dicta, ut a iuribus, quibus irregularitate aliqua laborantes interdicuntur, ad ea explicanda procedat, quae illis maneant intacta : « Omnis, qui habuerit maculam, de semine Aaron sacerdotis non accedet offerre hostias Domino, nec panes Deo suo ». Aliter Hebr. : non accedet ad offerendas combustiones Iahve : macula in tpso est, panem Dei sui non accedet offerre. Y, quibus tam emphaticis verbis colligitur, idem h.l. esse panem Dei sui, quod combustiones Iahve, ergo non solos panes propositionis designari. Hinc etiam
21:21
v. 22 panzs Dei sui sunt omnis generis sacrificia : « Vescetur tamen panibus , [gu offeruntur] in. sanctuario »; Hebr. de sanctissimis et de sanctis;
21:23
v. 23 « (à. dumtaxat , ut intra velum non ingrediatur, non accedat ad al- Admirationem facit, quod Moyses dicatur cuncta locutus esse ad populum, cum lamen cap. 21 relata non sit iussus ad populum dicere, utique vero ad sacerdotes. Reapse ea sacerdotes spectabant, non populum. Accedit sententiam esse mancam. Quodsi ea primitus h. l. legebatur, dubium non est, Vulgatam textum aut integrum praeservasse aut feliciter restituisse. At critice aeque probabile est, nihil eius textus h. 1. primitus fuisse, sed ortum esse e defigurato textu 22,1 sq. : Et locutus est... Moyses... ad Aaron et filios eius ». Defiguratum esse hunc textum inde etiam confirmatur, quod initio item cap. 22 aliqua sint corrupta : sc. v. 3 illud n2, quod propter suffixum trahendum est ad sequentia, non poterat primum sententiae locum ante VN 52 obtinere. Igitur nostrum v. 24 delendum censeo. Sancta sanctorum illae sunt oblationes, quae intimius ad Deum pertinent : panes propositionis (24,9), incensum (Ex. 30,36), quae in ipso sanctuario offerebantur; sacrificia pro peccato et pro delicto (Lev. 6,25. 29 [18.22]; 7,1.6; 10,17; 14,13; Num.18, 9), quae ad altare immolabantur (Lev. 1,11; 14,13); mineha (2,3. 10; 6,17 [10] ; 10, 12), cuius pars aliqua altari imponebatur, dum in sacrificio gratiarum actionis nihil carnis eo deferebatur. Cf. etiam 27,28. Holocaustum, licet omnium esset sanctissimum, nunquam saneta sanctorum praedicatur, quia nihil eius hominibus reservabatur. Saneta sanetorum soli manducabant Aarone nati, et quidem viri 6,18. 29 [11. 22]; 7,6; Num. 18,10), in loco sancto i. e. in atrio (Lev. 6,26. 29 [19. 22]; 7,6; Num. 18,10), eaque manduecantes sanctificabantur (Lev. 6,18. 27 [11. 20]). In mincha farina manducabatur azyma (6,18 sq. [9 sq.]). — Sancta erant sacrificia gratiarum actionis (7,31 sqq.; 10,14 sq; 23,20; Num. 6,20 sq.; Ex. 29,27 sq.), primogenita animalium mundorum (Num. 18,15 sqq.), primitiae (Num. 18,12 sq.), decimae (Num. 18,26 sqq.; Lev. 27,30 sq.), Deo devota (Num. 18,14). Horum nulla in sanctuarium inferebantur, solus sanguis et adeps sacrificiorum gratiarum actionis et primogenitorum altari adhibebantur. Exceptis decimis, haec erant servanda. Aaronitae viri atque feminae soli iis participabant (Lev. 10,14; 22,10 sqq.; Num. 18,11. 19), debebant esse mundi (Lev. 22,3 sqq.; Num. 18,11. 13) comedebantque in loco mundo (Lev. 10,14). Kn.
21:2
From the special purpose of Leviticus, tending to provide the ministers of worship (Lev. 17:2; 21:2; 22:2 etc.) with the detailed code of their state and their functions, it is explained how the prescriptions of a moral order that at least, for example, Deuteronomy contains, here …
21:7
… A particular severity was required for the morality of the future wives of priests (ibid. 21:7). The high priest could marry only an Israelite virgin (ibid. 21:13 f.). A divorced woman who had subsequently remarried was forbidden a new marriage with her first husband (Deut. …
21:10
or high priest, cf. II Mach. 1:10; Lev. 21:10, of the Septuagint), but usually (30 times) as a noun. …
21:12
… This rite of investiture, called mille' jādh "to fill the hand" (cf. the Akkadian mullā qātē), was repeated for 7 days; on the 8th the new priests blessed the people and began their office (Lev. 9:1-23). The priestly anointing conferred a perpetual, indelible dignity (ibid. 10:7; 21:12). But many hold that for ordinary priests there was no other consecration after that conferred on the sons of Aaron "with perpetual value" (cf. Ex. 40:13) and that the new priest …
21:13
… A particular severity was required for the morality of the future wives of priests (ibid. 21:7). The high priest could marry only an Israelite virgin (ibid. 21:13 f.). A divorced woman who had subsequently remarried was forbidden a new marriage with her first husband (Deut. 24:4); a young heiress was permitted to unite only with one of the same …
21:14
Among the Hebrews, widowhood was a state of desolation and entailed particular prohibitions (cf. Gen. 38, 14, 19; Judg. 10, 2; 16, 9; II Sam. 20, 3; Lev. 21, 14). Thus the widow is a being who commends herself by her very condition to pity (cf. Ex. 22, 22; Deut. 24, 17; 19, 21; 14, 29; 26, 12-13; 16, 11, 14; 10, 18; 27, 19; 22, 24); very …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.