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:Just when I think I've seen how deeply repellent this book can be, there's a new wrinkle (hmm, are wrinkles blemishes?). Yahweh wants to keep imperfect-looking and physically impaired people the fuck away from his holy offerings. God is love.
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.
3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.
4 But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
6 They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
7 They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
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.
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.
10 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;
11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.
13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.
16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.
24 And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.
- #1: God tells Moses to tell Aaron and his priestly sons that no one should "be defiled for the dead among his people." (Is this about necrophilia or a less-provocative faux pas in handling a corpse... such as handling a corpse?)
- #2: The rules are different for close relatives: mother, father, son, daughter, and brother (I'm seriously hoping this isn't about necrophilia).
- #3: If your late sister was an unmarried virgin, "for her may he be defiled." (Is it just me or does that sound a little odd? I could see it saying that whatever exactly this is talking about wouldn't be considered "defiling," but to say in that case it's a downright upright kind of defiling seems kinda weird).
- #4: Big shots shouldn't defile themselves.
- #5: They shouldn't shave their headsor the corners of their beards, or cut themselves.
- #6: They should be holy re: YHWH, not use his name profanely. Because ('cuz why?) "the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy."
- #7: Holy honchos shouldn't marry whores or a profane woman, and they shouldn't steal a woman for us husband.
- #8: Treat him as sanctified, because he burns bread for me. He should be holy to you, because "I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy."
- #9: If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she's profaning her father, and she is to be burnt to death.
- #10: High priests, the ones who get anointed and authorized to wear the priestly garments, should not uncover their heads or tear their clothes.
- #11: "Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother..." ("Go in to" sounds dangerously close to "go in unto." Now, I'm really worrying that this stuff is about necrophilia.")
- #12: He shouldn't leave the sanctuary (ever?), nor "profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD."
- #13: His wife should be a virgin.
- #14: He should not marry a widow, divorcée, profane woman, or whore. His bride must be "a virgin of his own people."
- #15 "Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him." (Not sure whether this means treat your kids right, don't screw around, or don't have children with the wrong element).
- #16: Then YHWH tells Moe...
- #17: To tell Aaron that any of his physically defective offspring should not do the priestly rites (specifically, the offering of bread).
- #18: Men with blemishes, blind men, lame men, people with flat noses or growths should not approach the altar.
- #19: Same for people with broken feet or hands...
- #20: Or with crooked backs, or dwarves, or people with blemishes in their eyes, or with scurvy, scabs, or "his stones broken" (yes, it means what you think it means);
- #21: Do not let any physically defective descendants of Aaron near the offerings burned for God. If he's got a blemish, keep him away from God's bread.
- #22: He gets to eat the holy bread (even the most holy)...
- #23: But he must stay away from the vail and the altar because he is defective, and that would profane God's sacred sanctuaries.
- #24: Moses told Aaron and sons and all of the Israelites.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Leviticus 21
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3 comments:
Exodus 4, 11:
"And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?"
What the fuck is wrong with God?!? He makes the blind then blames them for their blemishes. What an asshole.
Well, there's a good reason for that. Exodus 4 is written by the Jahwist & Elohist, while Leviticus is from the Priestly Source.
Different authors, different beliefs about the nature of God. The Priestly Source's God is an absolute bastard.
This chapter has been somewhat modified by the writer of the Priestly Source from the original version when it was the independent
Holiness Code.
The references to the "sons of Aaron" being THE priests (including the obvious addition at the start of verse 17), the reference to dedication in verse 12, the distinction between priest and "high priest", and between the "holy" and the "most holy", are all additions by the Aaronid writer of the priestly source.
"Holy" and "Most Holy" do NOT refer to the bread. They refer to parts of the temple, specifically the "Holy" and the "Holy of Holies", which were ROOMS. Verse 22 refers to bread placed in the "Holy" and bread placed in the "Holy of Holies", NOT "Holy Bread" NOR "Most Holy Bread".
Verses 1-3 are indeed not about necrophilia. They refer to "contact" with the dead. The taboo was against ANY contact with the dead bodies of non-close-relatives. "Contact" was defined increadibly vaguely, so that even walking on the floor of a building that had a dead body buried a hundred feet below it would still count as "contact". This is why fundamentalist Jews with the surname "Cohen" (and permutations) completely avoid graveyards like the plague [their ancestors claimed to be descended from Jewish priests, and so made their surnames "Cohen", meaning "priest"].
In Ezekiel's (earlier) version, contact with the dead bodies of close relatives was also taboo, requiring the usual 7 days of being counted "ritually impure"; during the days of being "ritually impure", the priest wasn't allowed to perform priestly functions (due to the fact that this would break the sacred vs profane taboo).
Verse 5 is again referring to the earlier funeral practices of cutting hair for the dead (that's why it appears after verses 1-4). The book of Amos, Micah, and even the first Book of Isaiah, say the opposite - that these offerings of hair were not only permitted but to be encouraged.
However, Verse 11 IS about necrophilia, but only the first bit.
Verse 6 basically says "don't be profane, because you are doing something holy"; ie. don't mix the sacred with the profane
The bits about prostitutes, and would-be-priests with blemishes, are both really just extensions of the sacred vs profane rule.
Verse 21-23, for example, is basically "blemished people can't perform priestly functions but they are still entitled to the portions of food usually allocated to priests".
In essence blemishes and prostitution were seen as profanities. The original taboo of sacred vs profane was concerned more with the "ritually impure", but by the time of the Holiness Code, the priests had attempted to extend the rule to also cover things which were unpleasant or "wicked".
Now, verse 12 is rather peculiar. It was certainly interpreted to mean "never". The key to understanding it seems to be the surrounding context - it refers to a priest who has anointing oil upon his head; presumably when the oil was removed/dissipated, it was perfectly acceptable to leave. Except that the Hebrew doesn't quite say what its translated as. The masoretic text really says "the [nazir] of the oil of anointing"; "nazir" has been translated in the KJV as "crown", but this is somewhat misleading.
The Nazirs (also known as Nazirites) were a cultic group within Israelite religion, a bit like Trappist Monks [who are the ones that take a vow of silence] within Christianity. It may well be the the case that verse 12 and its near neighbours were originally about Nazirites, rather than priests or high priests.
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