Leviticus 21:11

Lev 21:11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;

Ver. 11. Nor defile himself.] But appear impassionate, as it were, and more than a man.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 21:11. Go in — Into the chamber or house where they lie. This, and divers other rites here prescribed, were from hence translated by the heathens into their use, whose priests were put under the same obligations.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, to the houses of the dead.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(11) Neither shall he go in to any dead body.—Not only is he to abstain from the manifestation of sorrow for the troubles which befell the community, or those whom he loves, but in the case of death he is not to enter into a tent, house, or place where a human corpse was lying (Num_19:14), lest he should contract defilement. According to the administrators of the Law during the second Temple, the expression any dead body extends to any portion of it, so that when the pontiff entered a place where a certain quantity of the blood of the dead body was to be found, he became defiled. Accordingly, “any dead soul,” which is literally the meaning of the phrase here translated by “dead body,” denotes the blood which constitutes the soul or life. (See Lev_17:10-14.)

Nor defile himself for his father . . . —Better, not for his father . . . shall he defile himself or, not even for his father, &c. As the rigorous enactment in the preceding clause constitutes already the difference between the high priest and the ordinary priest, this clause simply adduces an instance to illustrate it. Whilst the ordinary priest was not only permitted, but even obliged, to attend the funeral ceremonies of no less than seven of his relations (see Lev_21:2-3), the high priest was not even allowed to join in the obsequies of his parents. The only exception made in his case was when he found a human body in an isolated place. Under such circumstances he was not only permitted, but it was a meritorious act on his part, to bury it. (See Lev_21:1.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. for his father, or for his mother] i.e. not even in such cases, where filial affection would otherwise prescribe it.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither shall he go in to any dead body,.... That is, into a tent or house where any dead body lies, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it, for whoever went into such a place was unclean seven days; and so long therefore an high priest, should he enter there, would be prevented doing the duty of his office, see Num 19:14; this was aped and followed by the Heathens in later times; so among the Romans, the "Flamen Dialis", or high priest of Jupiter, might not go into a place where a dead body was burnt or buried, nor touch any (h); and it was a custom with them, as Servius (i) tells us, to put a branch of cypress at the door of a house where a dead body was, that an high priest might not enter through ignorance, and be defiled:

nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; by entering into the tent or house where they lay dead, or by touching them, or attending the funeral of them, or by concerning himself about it; and there was no need to mention his son or his daughter, his brother or his sister; for if he was not to defile himself for any of his parents, much less for any of those which are excepted in the case of a common priest, Lev 21:2; the Jews do indeed make one exception in the case of an high priest, and that is, that if he meets with a dead body in the way, he was obliged to defile himself for it and bury it (k); and so among the Romans, though it was a crime for an high priest to look upon a dead body, yet it was reckoned a greater, if, when he saw it, he left it unburied (l).

(h) Massurius Sabinus, apud A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 10. c. 15. (i) In Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. ver. 64. "atraque cupresso". (k) Maimon. Hilchot Ebel, c. 3. sect. 8. (l) Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 6. ad ver. "praecipue pius Aeneas", &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Neither shall he go, to wit, into the chamber or house where they lie. This and divers other rites here prescribed were from hence translated by the heathens into their use, whose priests were put under the same obligations.

Nor defile himself for his father; because upon his father’s death he was actually high priest, having been consecrated to this office in his father’s lifetime.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Neither… go in to any dead body — Literally, dead soul. The Hebrew nephesh is here used in the sense of the common expression, “dead person,” without meaning to say that the personality lies in the body. Rhetoricians call this metonymy. Delitzsch, in his Biblical Psychology, suggests that the corpse is called nephesh because it bears the fresh traces of the soul imprinted upon it in parting. Since the destruction of the temple the Jews have ceased, generally, to consider themselves as polluted by being in the presence of a dead body, but the touch is still polluting. “Modern times have afforded instances where persons, in their misguided affection, have pressed the cold lips of the dead, and taken thence disease which has laid them in the grave; and it is well known that the slightest wound inflicted by a dissecting instrument almost inevitably produces death. Against such sad consequences the Mosaic law most carefully guarded the Israelites. Contrary to the usages of the eastern world, where the dead were sometimes embalmed and preserved, or where the living and the dead were consumed together in the flames, the Jews were taught that death was a curse, that its presence was defiling, that the living were to be carefully separated from the dead, and that any person who touched a dead body thereby became unclean, and was not allowed to touch any other person or thing until he had passed a period of separation and had been thoroughly bathed. Modern science cannot fail to recognise the utility of such restrictions; and many precious lives might have been saved by paying attention to the sanitary instructions which are embodied in the Mosaic law.” — H.L. Hastings. The high priest must never knowingly contract ceremonial pollution. He would be rendered unclean by entering a house where there was a corpse. See Lev_21:1, note. “He who indeed reflects the whole fulness of a holy life must be freed from all polluting fellowship with death, and not even come in contact with the corpses of his parents; his priestly rule in the sanctuary may not be interrupted by any consideration whatever of natural bonds, otherwise regarded as most holy.” — Oehler. But Jesus, the “undefiled” High Priest of our race, touched the dead and was not defiled, because he was the Prince of Life. He was like the element of fire, which purifies other things without itself contracting impurity.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Go in - Into the chamber or house where they lie. This and divers other rites here prescribed were from hence translated by the Heathens into their use, whose priests were put under the same obligations.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

'ועל כל נפשת מת וגו‎‎ means, he shall not go into a tent wherein is a corpse.

נפשת מת — The word נפשת, which appears redundant, is intended to include a quarter of a log of the blood of a corpse — to intimate that even this, as a corpse itself, makes men and vessels unclean through being in a "tent” in which it happens to be (Sanhedrin 4a).

לאביו ולאמו לא יטמא NOR SHALL HE DEFILE HIMSELF FOR HIS FATHER OR FOR HIS MOTHER — By these words which appear redundant, since אביו ואמו are included in כל נפשת מת, Scripture has no other intention than to permit him to defile himself for a מת מצוה (cf. v. 1) (Sifra, Emor, Section 2 4; Nazir 47b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.