Disability and Service: Leviticus 21:16-23 Revisited

Disability and Service: Leviticus 21:16-23 Revisited

WONG Fook Kong

This article begins with discussions of three questions regarding Leviticus 21:16-23: (1) Who are being prohibited; (2) what they are prohibited from doing; and (3) why the prohibition. Regarding the first question, the prohibition concerns priests who have certain disabilities. However, the disabilities mentioned are just examples and the prohibition covers a wider group than those mentioned here. These priests are prohibited from offering sacrifices to the LORD in the temple. On the other hand, they have a share in the portion of the sacrifices allotted to priests and they are expected to perform other priestly duties. The reason for the prohibition is that their disabilities render them ritually unclean. Other forms of uncleanness also make priests unclean but they could be ritually cleansed. Since most of these disabilities are permanent, the disabled priests are permanently unclean.

The second part of the article deals with its meaning today. One Jewish explanation for the prohibition is that a disabled priest distracts the believers from their worship. If the priest is already well-known to the congregation, this is no longer a problem. Consequently. , a disabled priest who is well-known to the people is allowed to minister before the LORD since distraction is no longer an issue. For Christians, the issue of ritual purity is not a problem. Rather, moral purity is the overriding factor. Thus , the question of whether a disabled person can serve the LORD or not is not raised in the New Testament.

The article ends by cautioning against trivializing the suffering of the disabled or the ministry. Disability of any kind should be acknowledged and should be either healed or accepted by the community. People are more than their eyes, ears, or limbs and they should be accepted and appreciated as a whole. At the same time, ideally, the best person for a ministry should be chosen for the job. This may limit a disabled person from certain ministries, but it also means that they should be chosen for other ministries which they are qualified for, despite their disabilities.