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Selected Verse: Leviticus 21:7 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Le 21:7 |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane--Private individuals might form several connections, which were forbidden as inexpedient or improper in priests. The respectability of their office, and the honor of religion, required unblemished sanctity in their families as well as themselves, and departures from it in their case were visited with severer punishment than in that of others. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| Profane - A woman who has been seduced, or one of illegitimate birth. A somewhat stricter rule for the priests' marriages was revealed to the prophet in later times, Eze 44:22. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
Their marriage and their domestic life were also to be in keeping with their holy calling. They were not to marry a whore (i.e., a public prostitute), or a fallen woman, or a woman put away (divorced) from her husband, that is to say, any person of notoriously immoral life, for this would be irreconcilable with the holiness of the priesthood, but (as may be seen from this in comparison with Lev 21:14) only a virgin or widow of irreproachable character. She need not be an Israelite, but might be the daughter of a stranger living among the Israelites; only she must not be an idolater or a Canaanite, for the Israelites were all forbidden to marry such a woman (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3).
Lev 21:8
"Thou shalt sanctify him therefore," that is to say, not merely "respect his holy dignity" (Knobel), but take care that he did not desecrate his office by a marriage so polluted. The Israelites as a nation are addressed in the persons of their chiefs. The second clause of the verse, "he shall be holy unto thee," contains the same thought. The repetition strengthens the exhortation. The reason assigned for the first clause is the same as in Lev 21:6; and that for the second, the same as in Lev 20:8, Lev 20:26; Exo 31:13, etc.
Lev 21:9
The priests's family was also to lead a blameless life. If a priest's daughter began to play the whore, she profaned her father, and was to be burned, i.e., to be stoned and then burned (see Lev 20:14). כּהן אישׁ, a man who is a priest, a priest-man. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Profane - Or defiled, or deflowered, though it were done secretly, or by force: because the priest must take care that all the members of his family be free not only from gross wickedness, but from all suspicions of evil. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
That is a whore - A prostitute, though even reclaimed.
Profane - A heathen, or one who is not a cordial believer in the true God. Put away from her husband - Because this very circumstance might lead to suspicion that the priest and the divorced woman might have been improperly connected before. |
22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.
14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
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.
13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
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.
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.
3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
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.