No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the LORD. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. – Leviticus 21:21

Today's Scripture Reading (November 18, 2021): Leviticus 21

In 104 B.C.E., Aristobulus I became the first Hebrew King to reign over Judea in almost five centuries. A Hebrew King had not reigned since the day that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the nation in  586 B.C.E. But Aristobulus was not like the kings who had reigned over the country before the fall of Jerusalem in 586. He was also the first king ever to hold both the office of King and the office of the High Priest. In Aristobulus, there was no division of power between the sacred and the secular. As a result, no King of Judea or Israel had ever been as powerful as Aristobulus I.

But his reign was short. Aristobulus's health was not good, and his wife, Salome Alexandra, to save herself from being tortured and executed at the death of her husband, conspired with Aristobulus's brother, Alexander Jannaeus, to have Arsitobulus killed. Alexander killed his brother in 103 B.C.E and then ascended to the throne himself while also marrying the now widowed Alexandra. Alexander Jannaeus reigned for the next twenty-seven years until he died of an illness at forty-nine.

Upon Alexander's death, Salome Alexandra decided to take the throne of Judea herself. She was only the second woman to reign over the nation, the first being Athaliah from 841 – 835 B.C.E. Salome Alexandra would be the last woman to reign as queen over Judea. She was also the last ruler of Judea to die as the reigning authority rather than as a deposed former monarch.

Salome Alexandra was replaced as monarch by her son John Hyrcanus II, the product of Salome's second marriage with Alexander Jannaeus. John followed the lead of his father and his uncle and became both King and High Priest. But in 40 B.C.E, John Hyrcanus was defeated by his cousin, Antigonus Mattathias, the son of Aristobulus I. Hyrcanus was deposed as King but not executed. Instead, Antigonus Mattathias bit off his ear so that, according to Leviticus 21, he would be ineligible to serve as the High Priest. Hyrcanus was then sent into exile in Babylon. He would return to Jerusalem in 36 B.C.E. at the invitation of Herod the Great, and he would spend the rest of his life in the City of David, but not as either King or Priest. Herod would have John Hyrcanus II executed on a trumped-up charge of treason in 30 B.C.E. Hyrcanus was eighty years old at the time.

According to the law, no one with a defect of any kind could serve as High Priest because they could not draw near to the Holy of Holies. Hyrcanus had his ear removed to disqualify him, but the truth was that no one measured up to being "without defect," except for one. The Letter to the Hebrews makes this assertion about Jesus.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

Previous High Priests were appointed "in all their weakness." But that is not true with Jesus. Only he is "made perfect forever.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Leviticus 22