Leviticus 21:8

Lev 21:8 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.

Ver. 8. Thou shalt sanctify him.] i.e., Thou, Moses, shalt command him to be sanctified, as Exo 19:10.

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 21:8. Thou — O Moses, and whosoever shall succeed in thy place, to whom it belongs to see my laws observed, shalt take care that the priest be holy, and do not defile himself by any of these forbidden marriages.

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

sanctify

Lev 21:8 illustrates the O.T. holiness or sanctification--a person set apart for the service of God.

sanctify

Heb. "qodesh." (See Scofield "Gen 2:3").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt count them holy and reverence them.

The showbread.

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

(8) Thou shalt sanctify him therefore.—This is addressed to the Jewish community. They are to take care that the priest does not contract such illegal marriages, and to sanctify him only who acts in obedience to these statutes. The Jewish priest is thus placed under the supervision of the people. His sacred office, and his duly performing the priestly functions. are their concern. If he refused to conform to the law of sanctity, the people, according to the administrators of the Law during the second Temple, were to compel him to do so by the penalty of administering to him the prescribed number of stripes.

He shall be holy unto thee.—On the other hand, when he acts in accordance with his sacred office, the people must reverence his holy person. Hence the administrators of the Law during the second Temple enacted that the priest is to take precedence on public occasions. Thus, when the people assemble, he opens the meeting by invoking God’s blessing. At the reading of the Law of God in the synagogue, he is called up first to the rostrum to read the first portion, and at table he recites the benedictions over the repast. This honour the Jews assign to the priests to this day.

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

8. This v. has all the air of an insertion. It interrupts the transition from the character of the priest’s wife to that of his daughter; and ‘thou’ is harsh. Who is addressed? It may be an insertion (so Oxf. Hex.) by the compiler from an older code to enforce the sanctity of the priesthood.

the bread of thy God] See on Lev_21:6.

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.

Thou shalt sanctify him therefore,.... In thought and word, as Aben Ezra, by thinking and speaking well of him; should esteem and reckon him a holy person, being in a sacred office, and honour him as such; and do all that can be done to preserve him from unholiness and impurity, and particularly from marrying with improper and unsuitable persons, such as would bring a scandal on him and his sacred office: this seems to be spoken to Moses, and so to the civil magistrate in succession, who were not to suffer such marriages to take place in the priesthood; and were not only to persuade from it, but to exercise their authority, and oblige them to put away such wives, and if they refused, to use severity; so Jarchi,""thou shalt sanctify him", whether he will or not; if he will not put her away, beat him and chastise him until he does put "her away",''see Ezr 2:62,

for he offereth the bread of the Lord; meaning not the shewbread he set in order before the Lord every week, but the various gift and sacrifices which were offered to God by him, and were acceptable to him as his food; and therefore he ought to be holy that drew nigh to God, and was employed in such service, see Lev 21:6,

he shall be holy unto thee; in thy account and estimation, and for thy service to offer holy sacrifices, and therefore should be careful of his holiness to preserve it:

for I the Lord, which sanctify you, am holy; in his nature, works, and ways, and who had separated them from all other people to be a holy people to him, and therefore they that ministered in holy things for them should be holy likewise.

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

The people of Israel are now addressed. They are commanded to regard the priests, who perform for them the service of the altar, as holy in respect of their office.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And offer. Hebrew addresses this to Moses. "Thou shalt sanctify him, therefore, because he offereth the bread of thy God."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou, O Moses, and whosoever shall succeed in thy place, to whom it belongs to see those and other of my laws observed, shall take care that the priest be holy, and do not defile himself by any of these forbidden marriages, though he would do it.

He shall be holy unto thee; either

1. In thy esteem, and therefore shall not give thee cause to think meanly and irreverently of him by his defiling or debasing of himself with irregular mixtures. Or,

2. To thy use or service, in whose name he is to act with God, and therefore shall preserve himself in a state of holiness and acceptation with God. For I the Lord am holy, and therefore my ministers must be such also.

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

Thou - O Moses, and whosoever shall succeed in thy place, to whom it belongs to see my laws observed, shall take care that the priest be holy, and do not defile himself by any of these forbidden marriages.

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

וקדשתו THOU SHALT SANCTIFY HIM — even against his will; it means that if he is not willing to divorce the woman whom he had illegally married flog him (מלקות ארבעים) and chastise him (מכות מרדות) until he divorces her (Sifra, Emor, Chapter 1 13; Yevamot 88b).

קדש יהיה לך HE SHALL BE HOLY UNTO THEE — holy unto thee: treat him with sanctity (as someone holy) — that he should be the first in all holy matters (e. g., the reading of the law) and that he should have the first right to recite the benedictions at a meal (המוציא and ברכת המזון) (Gittin 59b; cf. Rashi on Nedarim 62b).

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.

FOR I THE ETERNAL, WHO SANCTIFY YOU, AM HOLY. The sense [of the plural form of you] is that it is addressed to the priests, just as He began, Say unto the priests. Or it may be that the expression I the Eternal, Who sanctify you means “Who sanctifies all of you — priests and [the rest of the] people,” and the meaning thereof is as follows: “Since the priest offers ‘the bread’ of your G-d, he shall be holy unto thee, for through him I sanctify all of you and make My Shechinah (Divine Glory) dwell in your Sanctuary.” It is possible by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala] that the above phrase refers back to the beginning of [this] verse,. The sense of the whole verse is thus: “Sanctify him, and you likewise will become holy, because it is I the Eternal Who sanctifies you, and when he [the priest] performs the rites of the offerings to be acceptable upon Mine altar, he thereby sanctifies you and brings you nearer unto Me” (Ricanti). a matter which has already been explained.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.