properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
seed
זַרְע֖וֹzar.'O
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
people
בְּעַמָּ֑יוbe.'a.Mav
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
sanctify
מְקַדְּשֽׁוֹme.ka.de.Sho
H6942
to be (causatively · verb, piel active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclea…
Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and ju…
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…
Ezra 2:62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from…
Ezra 9:2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of…
Nehemiah 13:23-29 In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:
Malachi 2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 21:10-15
More was expected from a priest than from other people, but more from the high priest than from other priests, because upon his head the anointing oil was poured, and he was consecrated to put on the garments (Lev 21:10), both which were typical of the anointing and adorning of the Lord Jesus, with all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, which he received without measure. It is called the crown of the anointing oil of his God (Lev 21:12); for the anointing of the Spirit is, to all that have it, a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty. The high priest being thus dignified,
I. He must not defile himself at all for the dead, no, nor for his nearest relations, his father or his mother, muc…
he that is the high priest among his brethren . . . shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes--The indulgence in the excepted cases of family bereavement, mentioned above [Lev 21:2-3], which was granted to the common priests, was denied to him; for his absence from the sanctuary for the removal of any contracted defilement could not have been dispensed with, neither could he have acted as intercessor for the people, unless ceremonially clean. Moreover, the high dignity of his office demanded a corresponding superiority in personal holiness, and stringent rules were prescribed for the purpose of upholding the suitable dignity of his station and family. The same rules are extended to th…
He shall take a wife in her virginity - בתוליה bethuleyha. This is a full proof that בתולה bethulah is the proper Hebrew term for a virgin; from the emphatic root בתל bathal, to separate; because such a person was in her separate state, and had never been in any way united to man.
John Gill on Leviticus 21:15
Neither shall he profane his seed among his people,.... By marrying any such persons, whereby his children, born of them, would lie under disgrace, and be unfit to succeed him in the priesthood, or by marrying among mean persons, or by marrying them to such as were unlawful, and would be a disparagement to them:
for I the Lord do sanctify him; separate him from all others, to the high and sacred office of the high priesthood, and am concerned for his honour and holiness; and therefore it became him to observe these laws and rules, and abstain from such disagreeable marriages.
The Church Fathers
It should be noted that the Scripture says many times: It is I, the Lord, who sanctified him, speaking of the high priest, and that this same thing is said to Moses: And you shall sanctify him. How does Moses and the Lord sanctify? Moses does not do it for the Lord, but for his ministry, through visible rites. The Lord does it by his Holy Spirit, through his invisible grace, in whom all the fruit of his own visible rites resides. Because what are the visible rites taking advantage of without this sanctification of invisible grace? We can rightly ask if this invisible sanctification, without visible rites, for which man is visibly sanctified, does not serve equally for anything, which is naturally an absurdity. Because someone more acceptably would say that without them it would not exist, rather than saying that it would not take advantage if it existed, when in sanctification all the usefulness of the rites resides. But we must also see how it can be said correctly that without the rites, holiness could not exist. Because, in effect, the visible baptism of Simon Magus who lacked invisible sanctity was of no use to him (Cf Acts 8,9). But those to whom he took advantage of this invisible sanctification, because they had it, had also received the visible rites, for they had been baptized just as he was. With regard to Moses, who visibly sanctified the priests, it is not said where he himself was sanctified by the same sacrifices or by the oil. But who would dare to deny that he was sanctified invisibly, he who stood out for such great grace? The same can also be said of John the Baptist, since he appeared earlier as a baptizer than as a baptized one (Cf Mt 3,11.14). Therefore we can not deny at all that he too was sanctified. But nowhere do we find that this has been done with him in a visible way before he himself came to the ministry of baptism. The same can be said of that thief whom the Lord told him when he was crucified with him: Today you will be with me in paradise (Lc 23,43). Because this man could not receive the gift of such great happiness without invisible sanctification. Therefore, we must conclude that some had and took advantage of invisible sanctification without visible rites, which were changing over time, so that before they were some and now they are others. But the visible sanctification that would be verified by the visible rites, could…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Hair — (1.) The Egyptians let the hair of their head and beard grow only when they were in mourning, shaving it off at other times. “So particular were they on this point that to have neglected it was a…
High Priest, The · Typified Christ in: Holiness of office — Typified Christ in: Holiness of office
Priest · .Marriage of — .Marriage of
Sanctification · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Leviticus 21:1-15
Leviticus 21:1-6, 12-Oct
1. And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
1. Et dixit Jehova ad Mosen, Alloquere sacerdotes filios Aharon, et dicito eis, Super animam non contaminabit se quisquam vestrum it, populis suis:
2. But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
2. Sed super propinquo suo, propinquo sibi, nempe super matre sua, et super patre suo, et super filio suo, et super filia sua, et superfratre suo.,
3. And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no…
"Neither shall he profane his seed (posterity) among his people," sc., by contracting a marriage that was not in keeping with the holiness of his rank.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Leviticus 21:10-15
The restrictions made on the common priests (21:1-4) applied even more stringently to the high priest because he had to represent all Israel, including the other priests. • The priest must never leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothing in mourning, so that he would always be fit to minister. Although the common priest was permitted to marry a widow, the high priest was allowed to marry only a virgin. This made certain that the future high priest and the common priests descended from that union would have an unquestioned lineage (21:15).
Rashi on Leviticus 21:15
ולא יחלל זרעו NEITHER SHALL HE PROFANE HIS SEED — ,thus if he marries one of these women disqualified for a union with him his offspring (זרעו) from her becomes “profaned" (חלל) being exempted from the general law of holiness that applies to the priestly status (cf. Kiddushin 77a).
