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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 21

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron—say to them: ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, 2 except for his close relative who is near to him—his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband—he may defile himself for her. 4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. 5 Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body.⁠ 6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. 7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father.⁠ She must be burned to death.⁠ 10 “‘The high priest—who is greater than his brothers, and on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments—must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. 11 He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father or for his mother. 12 He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. 13 He must take a wife who is a virgin.⁠ 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people as a wife, 15 so that he does not profane his children among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’” 16 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations who has a physical flaw is to approach to present the food of his God.⁠ 18 Certainly no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, or who has a limb too long, 19 or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, 20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or one with a spot in his eye, or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash, or a crushed testicle. 21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. 22 He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, 23 but he must not go near the special curtain or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” 24 So Moses spoke these things to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 21:9 and Jubilees 20:4

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Leviticus commands that a priest’s daughter guilty of a sexual offense be burned. In Jubilees, Abraham anachronistically applies the same penalty to every Israelite woman, expanding the priestly rule because it treats all of Israel as a priesthood.

Passages

Leviticus 21:9

Hebrew Bible
8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. 10 “‘The high priest—who is greater than his brothers, and on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments—must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Jubilees 20:4

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
3 That they should circumcise their sons, according to the covenant which He had made with them, and not deviate to the right or the left of all the paths which the Lord had commanded us; and that we should keep ourselves from all sexual immorality and impurity, [and renounce from among us all sexual immorality and impurity]. 4 And if any woman or young woman commits sexual immorality among you, burn her with fire and do not let them commit sexual immorality with her after their eyes and their heart; and do not let them marry women from the daughters of Canaan; for the descendants of Canaan will be rooted out of the land. 5 And he told them of the judgment of the giants, and the judgment of the Sodomites, how they had been judged on account of their wickedness, and had died on account of their sexual immorality, and impurity, and mutual corruption through sexual immorality.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

... Jubilees 20:4 extends the law of Leviticus 21:9 to all Israelite women. This accords with the general tendency in Jubilees to see all Israelites as priests and is developed on the basis of Exodus 19:6 ('You shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy people'). In Jubilees 41:28, Judah determines the punishment of his daughter-in-law 'on the basis of the law which Abraham had commanded his children,' which refers back to Abraham's testament in Jubilees 20:4. Unlike rabbinic literature in which Tamar is made the daughter of a priest, in Jubilees the law is extended to all women, and, moreover, it is made known to Abraham and his offspring. Therefore, Judah knew what to do. ...
Jacques T. A. G. M. van Ruiten, Abraham in the Book of Jubilees: The Rewriting of Genesis 11:26–25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14–23:8, JSJSup 161 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 270.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 21:9 and Jubilees 20:4

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