Chapter Three
Chapter Three
A Kingdom of Priests
Under the old covenant, God’s people had a priesthood; under the new covenant, God’s people are a “holy priesthood” and a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5, 9). Every believer in Jesus Christ can say with the apostle John: “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion, forever and ever” (Rev. 1:5–6 NKJV).
God’s desire was that the entire nation of Israel be “a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6), but they failed Him and became “a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity” (Isa. 1:4). One reason the nation decayed morally and spiritually was because the leaders failed to be holy and obedient as God commanded. God finally had to send Babylon to chasten Israel “for the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests” (Lam. 4:13). “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land,” said Jeremiah. “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” (Jer. 5:30–31 NIV).
God wants His church today to be “a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [they] may declare the praises of him who called [them] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9 NIV). The Jewish priests were a privileged people, yet they despised their privileges and helped lead the nation into sin. Even after the Jews returned to their land from Babylon and established their worship again, the priests didn’t give God their best, and God had to rebuke them (Mal. 1:6—2:17).
Leviticus 8—10 describes the eight-day ordination ceremony for the high priest Aaron and his sons. As God’s chosen priests, they had to accept three solemn responsibilities: submitting to God’s authority (chap. 8), revealing God’s glory (chap. 9), and accepting God’s discipline (chap. 10).
At least twenty times in these three chapters you’ll find the word commanded. Moses and Aaron didn’t have to concoct an ordination ceremony. The same God who instructed Moses how to build the tabernacle also told him how to ordain the priests and how the priests should serve in the tabernacle (Ex. 28—29). Nothing was left to chance or to the imagination. Moses was to do everything according to what God had shown him on the mount (25:40; 26:30; 27:8; Heb. 8:5).
In the ministry of the church today, spiritual leaders must constantly ask, “For what does the Scripture say?” (Rom. 4:3 NKJV). God hasn’t left us in the dark as to what His church is, how it’s to be led, and what it’s supposed to do, but if we substitute people’s ideas for God’s Word, we will be in the dark (Isa. 8:20)! Religious novelties and fads abound, creating celebrities and increasing crowds but not always honoring the Lord or building the church. We need leaders, like Moses, who will spend time “on the mount” and find out from the Word what God wants His people to do.
The assembly called (vv. 1–5). The ordination of Aaron and his sons was a public event as every ordination ought to be (Acts 13:1–3; 16:1–3; 1 Tim. 4:14). First of all, the priests would serve God and seek to please Him (Ex. 28:1, 3–4, 41), but also they would be the servants of the people. It would have been impossible for all the people in the camp to assemble at one time at the door of the tabernacle, so it was probably the elders and leaders who gathered, representing the tribes and the various clans (see Lev. 9:1). It’s a serious thing to be set apart for ministry, and it must be done under the authority of God and witnessed by God’s people.
Aaron and his sons washed (v. 6). This may have been done at the laver in the courtyard of the tabernacle (Ex. 38:8). The priests were ceremonially bathed all over but once; from then on, they washed their hands and feet at the laver while they were serving in the tabernacle (30:17–21). When sinners trust Christ, they are washed from their sins once and for all (Rev. 1:5–6; 1 Cor. 6:9–11); God’s children need to keep their feet clean by confessing their sins to the Lord (John 13:1–10; 1 John 1:9). In the Bible, water for washing is a picture of the Word of God (Ps. 119:9; John 15:3; Eph. 5:25–27). As we meditate on the Word of God and apply it to our lives, the Spirit of God uses the Word to cleanse us and make us more like Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).
Aaron clothed (vv. 7–9). Aaron and his sons all wore linen undergarments (Ex. 28:42–43; Lev. 6:8–10; see Ex. 20:26), but the high priest wore special beautiful garments, described in Exodus 28. First, Moses put on Aaron the beautifully woven white coat and tied it with the sash. Over that he put the blue robe that had the golden bells and pomegranates on the hem. Over this went the linen ephod, a sleeveless coat that was bound with a special belt; both the ephod and the belt were beautifully embroidered with threads of scarlet, blue, purple, and gold. Over the ephod was the breastplate, an embroidered piece of cloth folded double, on which were twelve precious stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel, and in which were “the Urim and Thummim.” On his head, the high priest wore a linen turban (or bonnet) with a special golden “crown” at the front on which were engraved the words HOLY TO THE LORD.
Each “believer priest” has been clothed in the beauty and righteousness of Jesus Christ and is accepted in Him (Isa. 61:10; 2 Cor. 5:21). Our righteousnesses are but filthy rags in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6). What must our sins look like to a holy God! The high priest was accepted before God because of the garments God provided in His grace.
Aaron and the tabernacle anointed (vv. 10–12). This was done with a special oil that no one was to duplicate in the camp, nor was it to be used on anyone but a priest (Ex. 30:22–33). In Scripture, oil is often a symbol of the Spirit of God who has anointed each believer (2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27; see Ps. 133). The Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek word Christ both mean “anointed one” (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38). The fact that “the anointing oil of the Lord” was on the priests set them apart from the common people and governed what they could and could not do (Lev. 8:30; 10:7; 21:12).
Aaron’s sons clothed (v. 13). They didn’t have the beautiful garments of the high priest, but what they wore was still commanded by God, for their linen coats and turbans symbolized holiness before God in character and conduct. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14 NKJV).
The various sacrifices offered (vv. 14–29). The bullock for the sin offering for Aaron and his sons made possible the cleansing of their sins, and the ram for the burnt offering symbolized their total dedication to the Lord. The blood of the sin offering even sanctified the altar.
The “ram of consecration [ordination]” took the place of the fellowship offering, symbolizing their communion with one another and with the Lord. The word translated “consecration” or “ordination” means “to fill up.” A part of the sacrifice, along with a meal offering (Lev 8:25–26), was placed in Aaron’s hands, thus filling them up, and then waved before the Lord. Later, this would be eaten. But the unique part of the ceremony was the putting of blood and oil on the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of Aaron and his sons, symbolizing that they were set apart to hear God’s voice, do God’s work, and walk in God’s ways.
It was necessary that blood be shed before God could accept Aaron and his sons as servants in His holy tabernacle. Because He is the holy Son of God, Jesus Christ our High Priest needed no such sacrifices (Heb. 9). Instead, He is the one perfect sacrifice that “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 NKJV).
The priests anointed (v. 30). Aaron had already had the holy oil poured upon him (Lev. 8:12), but now both he and his sons were sprinkled with both the oil and the blood of the sacrifices taken from the altar. This meant that both they and their garments were “sanctified,” set apart by God for His exclusive use. Neither the priests nor what they wore could be used for any “common” purposes. They belonged wholly to God.
The ordination ram eaten (vv. 31–36). For the next week, Aaron and his sons had to remain in the tabernacle court, and each day, Moses offered sacrifices like those he had offered on “ordination day” (Ex. 29:35–36). The priests then ate the meat of the “ram of ordination” as well as the bread for the meal offering, just as they would have eaten the fellowship offerings. However, there was a difference; they were not permitted to eat the meat the next day (Lev. 7:15–16). Whatever was left over had to be burned that same day. Their seven days in the tabernacle precincts indicated the completion of their dedication to the Lord. Had they disobeyed and left the tabernacle, they would have died. It was a serious thing to be one of God’s priests.
2. REVEALING GOD’S GLORY (9:1–24)
Aaron and his sons had obeyed God’s commandments. Thus when the week was over, they were ready to begin serving the Lord at the altar. Up to this point, Moses had been offering the sacrifices; now Aaron and his sons would take up their priestly ministry.
Sacrificing on God’s altar (vv. 1–21). Aaron and his sons had to offer a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering; from then on, they would be offering a burnt offering on the altar every morning and evening (v. 17; Ex. 29:38–42). Each day must begin and end with total consecration to the Lord. Being imperfect, the priests had to offer sacrifices for themselves first before they could offer sacrifices for the people (see Heb. 7:25–28).
Their ordination, however, also involved offering sacrifices for the people (Lev. 9:3–4): a goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb for burnt offerings, and a bullock and a ram for peace (fellowship) offerings, along with the meal offerings. To have sanctified priests without a sanctified people would not be right. How gracious of God to provide for sinners a way of forgiveness, dedication, and fellowship; we have all of this in our Lord Jesus Christ!
Moses spoke to the people and told them that the glory of the Lord would appear when the ordination was completed (Lev. 9:6), just as His glory had appeared when the tabernacle was erected (Ex. 40:33–38). One of the main purposes of the tabernacle ministry was to glorify the God of Israel whose glory dwelt on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. The pagan nations around them had priests and sacrifices, but they didn’t have the glory of God. Instead, they “glorified Him not as God” and “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image” (Rom. 1:21, 23). God hates idolatry because it robs Him of the glory that is due to Him, and it robs God’s people of the blessings He wants to share with them.
When Aaron had completed all these sacrifices, he and his sons and the people of Israel were forgiven, dedicated wholly to the Lord and in fellowship with Him. The order of the sacrifices is significant: We must first deal with our sins before we can dedicate ourselves totally to the Lord; then we can enjoy fellowship with Him.
Sharing God’s blessing (vv. 22–23a). One of the privileges of the high priest was that of blessing the people; on that first day of his ministry, Aaron gave them two blessings. He gave the first one alone, after he had offered the sacrifices; he gave the second one along with Moses after they had come out from the tabernacle when the ordination ceremony was finished.
The first blessing was probably the high priestly blessing recorded in Numbers 6:23–26. It followed the sacrifices. This reminds us that every blessing that we have comes because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Eph. 1:3–7). Unless we know Jesus Christ as our own Savior and Lord, we don’t have any spiritual blessings of our own, and we can’t ask God to bless others through us. The second blessing followed the time Moses and Aaron had in the tabernacle, and this reminds us that we must be in fellowship with God and one another if we’re to be a blessing to others.
Seeing God’s glory (vv. 23–24). The glory of the Lord had appeared when Moses finished erecting the tabernacle (Ex. 40:33–35), and it would appear again at the dedication of the temple (2 Chron. 7:1ff.). How gracious on God’s part to share His glory with sinful people!
The glory that dwelt in the tabernacle eventually left the camp because of the sins of the people (1 Sam. 4:21). It returned at the dedication of the temple, but then the prophet Ezekiel watched it depart because the nation had become so sinful (Ezek. 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22–23). The glory came to earth when Jesus was born (Luke 2:8–9) and tabernacled in Him (John 1:14), but sinful people nailed that glory to a cross. Today, God’s glory dwells in the bodies of His people (1 Cor. 6:19–20), in each local assembly of His people (3:16–17), and in His church collectively (Eph. 2:19–22). One day, we shall see that glory lighting the perfect heavenly city that God is preparing for His people (Rev. 21:22–23).
The fire of God consumed the burnt offering (see 2 Chron. 7:1–3) and gave the people the assurance that Jehovah God was among them and with them. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), and that fire could have consumed the people! This reminds us that the wrath of God fell on His Son rather than on sinners who deserved to be judged (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24).
The paradoxical response of the people helps us better understand the experience of worship, for they were both joyful and overwhelmed. There was joy in their hearts that the true and living God had deigned to dwell among them and receive their worship, but there was also fear as the people fell on their faces in awe. The two attitudes balance each other. “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Ps. 2:11). Paul saw this as a desirable and normal experience in the local assembly (1 Cor. 14:23–25). If our ministry doesn’t glorify God, then God can’t bless it and use it to help others and win the lost.
A day which should have ended with the glorious worship of Jehovah God was instead climaxed with the funeral of two of Aaron’s sons. The words of C. H. Mackintosh are pertinent and powerful:
The page of human history has ever been a sadly blotted one. It is a record of failure from first to last. Amid all the delights of Eden, man hearkened to the tempter’s lie (Gen. 3); when preserved from judgment by the hand of electing love, and introduced into a restored earth, he was guilty of the sin of intemperance (Gen. 9); when conducted, by Jehovah’s outstretched arm, into the land of Canaan, he “forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth” (Judges 2:13); when placed at the very summit of earthly power and glory, with untold wealth at his feet, and all the resources of the world at his command, he gave his heart to the uncircumcised stranger (1 Kings 11). No sooner had the blessings of the gospel been promulgated than it became needful for the Holy Ghost to prophesy concerning “grievous wolves,” “apostacy,” and all manner of failure.… Thus, man spoils everything.
Nadab and Abihu’s sin (vv. 1–2). Everything that these two men did was wrong. To begin with, they were the wrong people to be handling the incense and presenting it to the Lord. This was the task of their father, the high priest (Ex. 30:7–10). They also used the wrong instruments, their own censers instead of the censer of the high priest, sanctified by the special anointing oil (40:9). They acted at the wrong time, for it was only on the annual Day of Atonement that the high priest was permitted to take incense into the Holy of Holies, and even then he had to submit to a special ritual (Lev. 16:1ff.).
They acted under the wrong authority. They didn’t consult with Moses or their father, nor did they seek to follow the Word of God, which Moses had received. In burning the incense, they used the wrong fire, what Scripture calls “strange fire” (10:1; NIV says “unauthorized fire”). The high priest was commanded to burn the incense on coals taken from the brazen altar (16:12), but Nadab and Abihu supplied their own fire, and God rejected it. They acted from the wrong motive and didn’t seek to glorify God alone (10:3). We don’t know the secrets of their hearts, but you get the impression that what they did was a willful act of pride. Their desire wasn’t to sanctify and glorify the Lord but to promote themselves and be important.
Finally, they depended on the wrong energy, for verses 9–10 imply that they were under the influence of alcohol. This reminds us of Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine … but be filled with the Spirit.” If every child of God were killed who substituted fleshly energy for the power of the Spirit, not many would be left! A. W. Tozer once said, “If God were to take His Holy Spirit out of this world, much of what the church is doing would go right on, and nobody would know the difference.”
Nadab and Abihu were not outsiders; they were anointed priests who had seen God on the mountain (Ex. 24:1–11). Their father was the high priest, and they were trained in the service of the Lord. Yet they were killed for their disobedience! “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12 NIV). It’s a serious thing to be a servant of God, and our service must be empowered by His Spirit and controlled by His Word. We must serve God “acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28–29).
Aaron’s sorrow (vv. 3–11). With the privileges of ministry come also responsibilities and sacrifices. Aaron wasn’t permitted to mourn the death of his two older sons (Lev. 10:6–7; 21:10–12) but had to remain in the tabernacle precincts and complete the ceremony of ordination. Two of his nephews took care of the burial of the bodies.
It may seem strange to us that God killed Nadab and Abihu instead of merely warning them, but often at the beginning of a new era in salvation history, the Lord brought judgment in order to warn the people. The priestly ministry at the tabernacle was about to begin, and the Lord wanted to be sure the priests understood the seriousness of their work. When Israel entered the Promised Land, God used Achan’s disobedience as a warning (Josh. 7), and the death of Uzzah was His warning when the ark was brought to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:1–7). Early in the church age, the death of Ananias and Sapphira served as a warning to the saints not to try to lie to God (Acts 5).
It wasn’t enough for the priests merely to teach the people the difference between the holy and the unholy; they also had to practice it in their own lives. This is one of the burdens of the message of Ezekiel the prophet (Ezek. 22:26; 44:23; 48:14–15).
Aaron’s sincerity (vv. 12–20). Since Moses was concerned lest any other commandment of the Lord be disobeyed and His judgment fall again, he admonished Aaron and his two remaining sons to be sure to eat their share of the peace (fellowship) offerings (Lev. 7:28–36). They were also to eat their part of the sin offering (6:24–30). Moses discovered that the sin offering hadn’t been presented according to the law and that Aaron and his sons hadn’t eaten it. At first he was angry, but Aaron’s explanation satisfied him.
Aaron explained that he couldn’t eat the offering with a good conscience because of the sorrow that had befallen him that day. The Lord knew his heart, and he wasn’t going to attempt to fool God by playing the hypocrite. Aaron knew that a mere mechanical observance of the ritual wouldn’t have pleased God, for the Lord looks on the heart and wants obedience, not sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22–23; 16:7; Ps. 51:16–17; Mic. 6:6–8). The law didn’t allow Aaron to express his grief in the usual ways, but it didn’t forbid him to fast, and fasting was his way of showing his grief for the loss of his two sons.
As you review these three chapters, several lessons stand out clearly:
1. God’s Word commands us concerning our ministry, and we must obey what He says. God’s instructions are more detailed for the Old Testament priests than for New Testament ministers, but the principles and examples are clearly given in the New Testament so that we shouldn’t go astray.
2. We dedicate ourselves to God, and He consecrates us for His service. He wants servants who are clean, yielded, obedient, and “marked” by the blood and the oil.
3. Apart from the finished work of Christ and the power of the Spirit, we can’t serve God acceptably (1 Peter 2:5). No amount of fleshly zeal or “false fire” can substitute for Spirit-filled devotion to the Lord. Be sure the fire of your ministry comes from God’s altar and not from this world.
4. We minister first of all to the Lord and for His glory. No matter how much we sacrifice and serve, if God doesn’t get the glory, there can be no blessing.
5. The privileges of ministry bring with them serious responsibilities. “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48 NKJV).
6. Our greatest joy in life should be to serve the Lord and bring glory to His name. “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Ps. 2:11 NKJV).
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION OR GROUP DISCUSSION
1. Has God set you apart for any area of service? If so, what is that service?
2. Why is it such a serious thing to be set apart for ministry?
3. What might be some consequences of not doing ministry in the power of God’s Spirit and the authority of His Word?
4. Why is it so important that ordination—or any call to Christian service—be confirmed by others in the Christian community?
5. Wiersbe points out that “nothing was left to chance or to the imagination” in the instructions about priestly duties and sacrifices. To what extent is this true for the Christian servant today? How is it different in the church?
6. How does the beauty of the priests’ vestments compare and contrast with the clothing of beauty and blessing we have when we “put on” Jesus Christ? (See Rom. 13:14 and the spiritual riches in Eph. 1:1–14.)
7. What are some practical implications of the fact that Christians, though washed as described in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, still need to “keep their feet clean”? (See 1 John 1:9.)
8. The order of the sacrifices shows us that we must deal with our sin first, before we can dedicate ourselves totally to the Lord. When have you wanted spiritual growth but were not ready to give up a particular sin? What helped you move toward repentance and greater dedication?