Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BLEMISH

A physical defect, prohibited on priests who serve at the altar and on animals offered on the altar (Lev. 21:17-21; 22:19-25). Blemished priests were allowed to provide other services in the sanctuary except that which involved sacrifices at the altar, and animals with limited defects could be offered as freewill offerings (Lev. 22:23). Neither the blemished priest nor the blemished animal was considered impure, since blemished priests were allowed to eat most of the offerings (Lev. 21:22) that only pure priests could eat, and blemished animals were not forbidden as food. “Without blemish” denotes the absence of general physical (Cant. 4:7; 2 Sam. 14:25) and moral (Job 11:15; 31:7) defect.

In the same way that OT sacrifices were required to be without physical blemish, so too was Christ without moral blemish as the sacrificial lamb of God (Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19). Believers are to live their lives without moral blemish (Phil. 2:15), a characteristic they should have in the divine judgment (2 Pet. 3:14). In contrast, false teachers, by reason of their immoral behavior, are blemishes among the people of God (2 Pet. 2:13).

Michael D. Hildenbrand

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BLEMISH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)