Definition
<p>Holiness: indicated by Heb qādash and Gk hagios
TWOT:
The verb qādash in the Qal connotes the state of that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred.
The word occurs in several dialects of Akkadian with the basic meanings "to be clean, pure, consecrated." In the Canaanite texts from Ugarit, the basic meaning of the word group is "holy," and it is always used in a cultic sense.
A definitive use of the term occurs in Numbers 16:38 [H 17:3]. The censers of the Korahites were regarded as holy because they had been devoted to the Lord. They were thus regarded as having entered the sphere of the sacred by virtue of cultic ritual (Numbers 16:17 [H 16:18]) and were accorded a special place in the sanctuary. The devotion of the censers seems to have created a condition of inviolable holiness that could not allow for their being treated in a common way. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.</p>
<p>
DS: YHWH took pains to insure there was no intermingling of the sacred and the profane (e.g. the "non-sacred") things. This is seen in the mandatory consecration of anything or any person which/who touched a consecrated/holy thing:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ex 29.37, whoever touched the consecrated altar would automatically become qādash, consecrated/holy.</li>
<li>Ex 30.29, whoever touched the annointed (with the holy annointing oil) tent, ark, table or its utensils, lampstand or its utensils, altar of incense, altar of burnt offering or its utensils, or the basin or its stand would automatically become holy.</li>
<li>Lev 6.18, anyone who touched a burnt offering would become holy.</li>
<li>Lev 6.27, a garment spattered with the blood from an offering would become holy such that it would have to be washed in a holy place.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Lev 21.1-8 explains that the Levitical priests, being holy (vs 6, 8) must take steps to be holy so as to not profain, e.g. to not "make common", the name of the Lord who they represent. These steps included:</p>
<ul>
<li>with some exceptions, not making themselves ceremonially unclean by attending to dead bodies.</li>
<li>don't shave their heads, beards, or cut their bodies.</li>
<li>don't marry women defiled by prostitution, or divorcees.</li>
</ul>
<p>
God enforced the "single use" motif of holy things:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ex 19.23, Mt Sinai, which God declared holy, was restricted from human passage. Boundaries were placed around it to keep people off of the mountain; and a death penalty was imposed for violating the borders.</li>
</ul>
<p>God demonstrated His holiness:</p>
<ul>
<li>By judging sin: Lev 10.3, Num 20.13, Ezek 28.22</li>
<li>By keeping His promises to Israel in the sight of other nations: Ezek 20.41, Ezek 28.25, Ezek 39.27</li>
</ul>