Seder 94: Lev 21-22---Special Rules for Priests

 The Israelites as a body comprised "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exod 19:6).  An increased "level of holiness" was required for those with priestly duties, and in particular for the high priest.  

Here we can see an analogy with sacred space.  The Israelite camp had a level of holiness, and the level increased as one approached God through the tabernacle courtyard and into the tent.  Only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement.

In Lev 21:1-2 God instructed the priests, "No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives."

The priest's wife is not mentioned specifically in the list of close relatives that follows, but it has always been assumed that the wife is included, since she is of "one flesh" with the priest and so is the closest relative of all to him.  

A later midrash interprets "among his people" in verse 1 to mean "when other people are around to do the job of burying the dead."  So if a priest were alone and happened upon a corpse, the priest could (and should) make sure that person received a proper burial.  

This issue comes into play in Jesus' famous parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).  In that story, a fictitious priest sees a man lying beside the road and has to decide whether to stop and check on the man.  The priest decided not to check on the man, presumably in order to obey Lev 21:1-4.  

The midrash above is a rabbinic interpretation of Lev 21 and probably would have been the interpretation of Pharisees in Jesus' time.  We do not know how other Jewish groups---e.g., Sadducees, Essenes---would have applied Lev 21 at that point.  Most people surely would have checked on the man.  

At any rate, Jesus set up the situation in the parable to highlight the importance of the love commandment of Lev 19:18 relative to other commandments.  His message was that we should "go, and do likewise" (Luke 10:37), following the example of the Samaritan.  

Kyle Kettering explained all of this and more in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on March 5, 2022.  Kyle is one of the few people in the world who has talked with flesh-and-blood Samaritans, and he mentioned that encounter again in his sermon.