How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

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Intertextuality Pair

Ezekiel 44:22 → Leviticus 21:13-15

Allusion

Later text

Ezekiel 44:22BSB

And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.

Earlier text

Leviticus 21:13-15BSB

The woman he marries must be a virgin. He is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, so that he does not defile his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him."

Significance

Ezekiel 44:22 modifies the marriage regulations of Leviticus 21:13-15, where the high priest alone must marry a virgin (בְּתוּלָה, betulah) from his own people, not a widow, divorcee, or profaned woman. Ezekiel applies this near-high-priestly standard to all Zadokite priests, requiring virginity as the norm but permitting marriage to a priest's widow as an exception. The Levitical system carefully graduated marriage restrictions between ordinary priests and the high priest; Ezekiel's eschatological temple collapses this distinction, elevating all priests toward the stricter standard. This reflects the overall tendency of Ezekiel 44 to heighten holiness requirements across the board in the restored sanctuary. Leviticus 21:15 grounds the restriction in the concern that a priest's offspring not be profaned, tying marital purity directly to the integrity of the priestly line that Ezekiel's expanded standard likewise protects.

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme

Linked Mentions 1

Trajectory Tables 1

High Priest Seated at the Right Hand (Christ's Royal-Priestly Session) Trajectory Table