Leviticus 21:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Speak unto the priests The next laws concerned the behaviour and personal qualifications of the priests, and were intended to denote the dignity, and preserve the honour of the holy function. There shall none be defiled for the dead None of the priests shall touch the dead body, or assist at his funeral, or eat at the funeral feast. The reason of this law is evident, because by such pollution they were excluded from converse with men, to whom, by their function, they were to be serviceable upon all occasions, and from the handling of holy things. And God would hereby teach them, and in them all successive ministers, that they ought entirely to give themselves to the service of God. Yea, to renounce all expressions of natural affection, and all worldly employments, so far as they are impediments to the discharge of their holy services.