Lev 21:17 | KingComments | STEP | There are a few exceptions to exercising the priesthood: 1. Daughters – only sons may be priests. The female speaks of the position, the male of the power in which the position is realized. Knowing that you are a priest is one thing, being a priest in practice is another. Only an orthodox confession (‘daughter’) doesn’t make someone a priest (‘son’). 2. If someone is too young – priests must have reached a certain age. In order to be able to practice priestly service, a certain degree of spiritual growth or maturity is needed. 3. If someone has a certain physical defect. A priest can be a son, can have reached a certain age and yet be unfit to be a priest. Someone with a defect may eat of the holy things ( ). He is not unclean. Yet he is not allowed to exercise priestly service. The defect he has does not have to be his own fault. Blindness can, spiritually-applied, result from wrong teaching. Others are given strongly one-sided spiritual teaching, which makes them deformed, causing the proportions in understanding the truth to become unbalanced. What is not possible in Israel in the literal sense – to help someone get rid of his deformity – is possible in the spiritual application in the church: the Lord Jesus can bring about change in a state of deformity if we entrust ourselves to Him.

‏ Leviticus 21:17

Exceptions for Priestly Service

There are a few exceptions to exercising the priesthood:

1. Daughters – only sons may be priests. The female speaks of the position, the male of the power in which the position is realized. Knowing that you are a priest is one thing, being a priest in practice is another. Only an orthodox confession (‘daughter’) doesn’t make someone a priest (‘son’).

2. If someone is too young – priests must have reached a certain age. In order to be able to practice priestly service, a certain degree of spiritual growth or maturity is needed.

3. If someone has a certain physical defect. A priest can be a son, can have reached a certain age and yet be unfit to be a priest. Someone with a defect may eat of the holy things (Lev 21:22). He is not unclean. Yet he is not allowed to exercise priestly service.

The defect he has does not have to be his own fault. Blindness can, spiritually-applied, result from wrong teaching. Others are given strongly one-sided spiritual teaching, which makes them deformed, causing the proportions in understanding the truth to become unbalanced.

What is not possible in Israel in the literal sense – to help someone get rid of his deformity – is possible in the spiritual application in the church: the Lord Jesus can bring about change in a state of deformity if we entrust ourselves to Him.