Editing Book of Leviticus (section)

===Kehuna (Jewish priesthood)===
{{main|Kohen}}

The main function of the priests is service at the altar, and only the sons of [[Aaron]] are priests in the full sense.<ref>Grabbe (2006), p. 211</ref> (Ezekiel also distinguishes between altar-priests and lower Levites, but in Ezekiel the altar-priests are sons of Zadok instead of sons of Aaron; many scholars see this as a remnant of struggles between different priestly factions in First Temple times, finding resolution by the Second Temple into a hierarchy of Aaronite altar-priests and lower-level Levites, including singers, gatekeepers and the like.)<ref>Grabbe (2006), p. 211 (fn. 11)</ref>

In chapter 10, God kills [[Nadab and Abihu]], the oldest sons of Aaron, for offering "strange incense". Aaron has two sons left. Commentators have read various messages in the incident: a reflection of struggles between priestly factions in the post-Exilic period (Gerstenberger); or a warning against offering incense outside the Temple, where there might be the risk of invoking strange gods (Milgrom). In any case, there has been a pollution of the sanctuary by the bodies of the two dead priests, leading into the next theme, holiness.<ref>Houston, p. 110</ref>