Leviticus 21

God is holy and that is to be reflected in the priests that represent Him before the people. What they do and don’t do reflects His desire to see holiness reflected in their lives. Relationships are important to God and sexual purity reflects holiness and therefore regulations need to be kept with regards to who priests marry. Higher standards were to be kept for the high priest but I appreciated God making consolation for the priests to be around close family members when they die. Another reflection of His holiness is found in certain people with physical defect not coming before Him. Because of the compassion that God would call His people to in how they treat the vulnerable and hurting, this can’t be about God’s lack of care for these people, but once again His holiness being reenforced in what people can see, and that holiness is about completeness and so an incomplete human would not be able to come before Him. What challenged there would be for His people now not to belittle or reject them because of that, but just understand the point God is making about His holiness in terms of who comes before Him. SO glad that Jesus changed all that and it is about Who He is and what He has done that gives access to Him and not what we bring to the table.