SEV Biblia, Chapter 10:6
Entonces Moisés dijo a Aarón, y a Eleazar y a Itamar, sus hijos: No descubráis vuestras cabezas, ni rasguéis vuestros vestidos, para que no muráis, ni se levante la ira sobre toda la congregación; pero vuestros hermanos, toda la Casa de Israel, lamentarán el incendio que el SEÑOR ha hecho.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Leviticus 10:6
Verse 6. Uncover not your heads, &c.] They were to use no sign of grief or mourning, 1. Because those who were employed in the service of the sanctuary should avoid every thing that might incapacitate them for that service; and, 2. Because the crime of their brethren was so highly provoking to God, and so fully merited the punishment which he had inflicted, that their mourning might be considered as accusing the Divine justice of undue severity.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 6. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons , etc.] His two younger sons, which yet remained; and so the Septuagint version adds, as in ( Leviticus 10:12,16) uncover not your heads ; that is, do not take off your mitre, as the Septuagint version; or the bonnets which they wore in the time of their ministry; for the Jewish priests always had their mitres and bonnets on when they sacrificed; in imitation of which, the Heathens had their heads covered when they offered their sacrifices f201 : now it was the way, or custom of a mourner, as Ben Melech observes, to remove his mitre, bonnet, or tiara, from his head; but in this case, that no sign of mourning might be shown, Aaron and his sons are forbid to uncover the head: the Targum of Onkelos is, “do not increase the hair,” or nourish it, or suffer it to grow, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom interpret it: now in times of distress and mourning they used to let the hair grow, whether on the head or beard, (see 2 Samuel 19:24) and in this the Jews were imitated by the Egyptians, contrary to other nations; the priests of the gods in other places, says Herodotus f202 , took care of their hair (or wore their hair), in Egypt they are shaved; with others the custom is, for the head immediately to be shaved at funerals; but the Egyptians, at death, suffer their hair to grow in the parts before shaved; but this custom with the Jews, though at other times used, is here forbid Aaron and his sons: neither rend your clothes , which was sometimes done at the report of the death of near relations, as children, in token of mourning, ( Genesis 37:34 Job 1:20) but here it is forbid, that there might be no sign of it: it is a particular word that is here used: Ben Melech says, there is a difference between rending and tearing; tearing is in the body of a garment where there is no seam, but rending (which is what is here meant) where there is a seam: the priests rending their garments was after this manner, according to the Jewish canons f203 , “an high priest rends below and a common priest above;” that is, as one of their commentators interprets it, the former rends the extreme part of his garment next the feet, and the latter at the breast near the shoulder; but in this case no rent at all was to be made: lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people ; so very provoking to God would be any signs of mourning in Aaron and his sons, on this account: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled : though Aaron and his sons might not mourn on this occasion, the whole body of the people might, though not bewail so much the death of the persons, as the cause of it; and be concerned for the awful judgment of God, and for the wrath that was sone forth, lest it should proceed and destroy others also, all being sinners.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 3-7 - The most quieting considerations under affliction are fetched from the word of God. What was it that God spake? Though Aaron's heart must have been filled with anguish and dismay, yet with silent submission he revered the justice of the stroke. When God corrects us or ours for sin, it is our duty to accept the punishment, and say, It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good. Whenever we worship God, we come nig unto him, as spiritual priests. This ought to make us very serious in all acts of devotion. It concerns us all, when we come nigh to God, to do every religious exercise, as those who believe that the God with whom we have to do, is a holy God. He will take vengeance on those tha profane his sacred name by trifling with him.
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 משׁה 4872 אל 413 אהרן 175 ולאלעזר 499 ולאיתמר 385 בניו 1121 ראשׁיכם 7218 אל 408 תפרעו 6544 ובגדיכם 899 לא 3808 תפרמו 6533 ולא 3808 תמתו 4191 ועל 5921 כל 3605 העדה 5712 יקצף 7107 ואחיכם 251 כל 3605 בית 1004 ישׂראל 3478 יבכו 1058 את 853 השׂרפה 8316 אשׁר 834 שׂרף 8313 יהוה׃ 3068
