@luce-anon @anathema i do think your third point is possible. there might have been known foreign religious cults which mandated castration for priests, probably less for "celibacy as a virtue" reasons than just as a symbol of devotion. so banning castrated men would have avoided admitting people defiled by other cults into the assembly, keeping Israel's cult religiously pure. but if that's true, i imagine it's true as a nice bonus to the sacrificial logic rather than the primary reason