THE PRIESTHOOD OF AARON Ex. 28 & 29 In itself, the subject of the priesthood is quite a huge study. Before we come to the High Priest we shall take a look at some of the basic principles behind the office of the priest (!heko kohen {ko-hane'}). In the very beginning, - before Moses, - each man was his own priest each man was personally responsible before God for offering his own sacrifices, - Adam, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abram, etc. Then, in Egypt we find the head of the family officiating, Ex. 12:3 In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. The process progresses further when one tribe is separated from the other twelve tribes with the sole remit of serving God, and out of this one tribe one man was chosen for the office of high priest. So, the Bible speaks about three types of priest in Israel: 1. Priest. These were the sons of Levi, set aside for particular service in the work of the Lord, Ex. 28:1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. 3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. 2. High Priest. Aaron was the first High Priest, and was succeeded by his son, and each generation thereafter. Only one high priest held the office at any time. However, throughout the centuries the office of the high priest suffered from taking on a religious-political role, e.g. Caiaphas (Mt. 26:57). 3. There were many, many priests there were also many high priests (the Jewish historian Josephus reckoned there were eighty-plus) but there was only one Great High Priest, i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not come from the family of Levi, He was not a son of Aaron He was a priest after the order of Melchisedek (Gen. 14:18; Ps. 100:4; Heb. 5-7). He inherited His priesthood from none, and He passed it on to none. He remains the Great High Priest, and He will never lose that position or hand it over to another. You read about the inauguration to the general priesthood in Ex. 28 & 29. CALLED Ex. 28:1 take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office
2 This was a divine calling. It was not a position any person from any other tribe could simply apply for. It was for the children of Levi only. Each applicant had to prove his descent from Aaron, and also had to prove they were free from bodily defect or blemish. This was an extremely rigorous test, - e.g. his sister must be a virgin (Lev. 21:3), not bald (v.5), nor blind, lame, have a flat nose (v.18), broken-footed, broken-handed (v.19), crookbacked, dwarfed (v.20), etc v.21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. Becoming a priest was an tremendously important calling, and only the highest standard was acceptable. They had only one purpose to fulfil Ex. 28:1 that he may minister unto me in the priest's office vv.3,4,41 29:1 to minister unto me in the priest's office. God considered no other function for His called priests, but to minister unto Him! Sometimes they had to kill the animals (e.g. Lev. 16:11, the bullock on the Day of Atonement), and always they had to sprinkle and pour out the blood, and burn their carcasses (or part of them) on the altar. They had charge of the altar and the sanctuary, - they had to keep the fire burning on the altar. They made loaves of showbread, they trimmed and lit the lamps of the golden candlestick, and every evening and morning they burned incense on the golden altar. They conducted all the sacred services of the tabernacle worship. They were also responsible for the religious instruction of the nation, Dt. 33:10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law, and the people were also exhorted to come to them to seek knowledge of the Lord. These priests, indeed, had the highest of responsibilities. Let s apply some of these criteria into the priesthood of the Church today, - the priesthood of all believers Peter wrote, I Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 9 a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Every believer is born-again by the work of God s grace to become a priest in the eternal priesthood of God. In an even more special way than in the Old Testament economy, every priest in God s new priesthood is perfect, - no defects! God has taken away all the faults and blemishes, Rom. 6:14 sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
3 And with privilege comes responsibility For all that God has done for us, - He has purchased us and He expects nothing less than the best out of our service to Him. He expects us to obediently carry out His work according to His instructions When God calls you to salvation you become a member of His priesthood through grace and the purpose for your life is to serve Him. That is important, - it is not an add-on, or promotion, or something for someone else better qualified and more capable than me, or something you can choose to do or not to do No! When God saves you by His grace He calls you into full-time service for Him. Called. CLEANSING Ex. 29:4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water. This cleansing does not refer to salvation, it refers to priesthood. We are not told how this cleansing was done, only that it was public, in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel. The purpose was not for these young men to show off (i.e. I ve made it look what I have achieved ) Instead, the purpose was to challenge them, - before the people, - to live up to the rigors of faithful service to which God had individually called them. The Aaronic priests had a priority to God and they were not permitted to follow any secular calling, - their time was to be entirely devoted to their sacred work. How were they provided for? Their provisions were met by those whose spiritual and temporal welfare they ministered to. The remuneration consisted principally of the redemption money paid for the first-born of the Israelite families, the first-fruits of the fields, the fruit of trees in the fourth year, parts of various of the offerings, and a tenth of the tithes that fell to the Levites. God took care of them because they had been specially chosen and specially initiated, - above all the other tribes of Israel, - to serve God in the worship of His Name. He had called them into His work, He had cleansed them in order to make them fit for the work and it was a privilege for them to serve Him. It is truly a privilege to be called by God into the particular work of pastoral ministry but I dare not do it for the adulation of a congregation. It is God Who calls me initially, and it is to God I must be faithful primarily, - first and foremost! Heb. 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
4 By this calling, they were distinguished from all the others in the nation of Israel. They were called, cleansed CLOTHED Ex. 29:5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod: 6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. We are going to look at the High Priestly garments so we shall skip over these verses just now except to draw the picture so far as this title relates to Christ. He was clothed as the called of God, Jn. 1:29,36, Behold the Lamb of God! And then when He travelled to the Jordan river, - just like the priests in the Old Testament, - He had a public washing (cleansed) prior to the start of His public ministry (Mt. 3:13) And He was also clothed with the Holy Spirit, Mt. 3:16 Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. CONSECRATION Ex. 29:9 thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. The whole detail of consecration is described in vv.10-36 and God had particular reasoning behind each detail. The bullock was to be brought into the centre of the congregation, where Aaron and the priests were. It would be killed, and Aaron and his sons would stand over it, and place their hands on its head. God then gave very intricate instructions as to the act of consecration. Once the bullock has been offered as the sin offering, God also described how the ram should be taken and, - once again, - Aaron and his sons would place their hands on its head, v.20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. - What is the significance of the tip of the right ear the thumb of their right hand the great toe of their right foot? The right ear of the High Priest was anointed so that it would be sensitive to listening to the law, - the Word of God. The High Priest s responsibility was to speak to the people, Thus saith the Lord so he had to be listening with the ear purposely touched by God.
5 The thumb of the right hand was anointed for the work of touching the holy things of God. Each of the fingers were so important, but it was with the thumb he make his grip the tightest. The great toe on the right foot was anointed simply that the priest would walk in the right paths, in the way of God, and in the ministry to which God had called him. Don t you notice that God has it all worked out as to how His servants would serve Him? It s a dangerous thing when we think we can serve God in a way of our choosing The sons of Korah were priests who belonged to the tribe of Levi. However, they disagreed with how Moses and Aaron were establishing the priesthood, - they reckoned they knew better, and they believed the entire congregation of Israel was qualified to perform priestly functions. They were willing to allow untrained and uncalled men into the office God said was only for the sons of Levi! Obviously God did not stand by doing nothing, - He punished them (Num. 16) for tampering with an institution with His plans for the priesthood. Today also, many are tampering with the office of the teaching and preaching elder and these people ought to beware! So, here in Ex. 29:9 we find the first occasion in the Bible when we meet this word consecrate, - Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. The word consecrate (alem' male' {maw-lay'}) means to have your hands full. It means that when you come to God and hold out your hands He gives to you so much you do not have room to hold anything else, - there is nothing of yourself, but it is all of God s riches. Aaron s and his son s hands were full with the responsibility God had given them! Matthew Henry wrote, The consecrating of them was the perfecting of them. You see, God intends each of His servants to have their hands full serving Him, - there is no time for trifling and dilly-dallying. God s work is no job for footerers, - it is a task for people with God on their minds and in their hearts completely! And just notice too how of necessity they must have something to offer, and yet they could not find it of themselves, - it had to be given them from God. They cannot fill the people s hearts until and unless God fills their hands, - they had to go to Him first, before they went to their people. Even the means of our service for God is altogether given to us by Him. Called, cleansed, clothed, consecrated
COMMISSIONED Their service for God was among the people all types of people. Some of the Israelites were faithful in their religion, others were not and yet the priests had a responsibility before God to them all. We don t choose whom the Lord will call us to serve. I find it easier working with some people than with others. I find it easier in some people s company than others that is natural, but when God called these priests into service He did not give them the option to pick and choose who they would serve and how they would serve. Yes, there are times when it is difficult to serve some people, - for various reasons, they will not allow you, or give you the freedom. I try to serve each one equally, - I apologize if you don t think I do. In my visitation I try to visit particularly the sick and the housebound, or those with matters they would wish to speak to me about, - if it is only to use me as a sounding-board. I acknowledge there are sometimes occasions when advances can be made and they can be rebuffed, repeatedly. In those circumstances I continue to try, but if my attempts arre in vain I adhere to II Thess. 3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Our service as priests of God are not as doormats to be walked over for it could then mean we are allowing the Name of God to be equally undermined. No, we have a responsibility first and foremost to the Holy Name of God, to walk as perfectly before Him as we can, and also before the world. He has called us to be His children and His servants and as servants we must serve faithfully, unstintingly and even sometimes to a degree we must work hard at serving. You might not always feel like it but you must serve God, because that is what you have been saved to do, - that is your whole purpose in life It is not just a purpose, it is your only purpose! Today the Lord Jesus Christ is fulfilling His Priestly duties on our behalf, and as His children we must fulfill ours also. CONCLUSION Called, cleansed, clothed, consecrated and commissioned It is the story not only of the sons of Aaron it is the story also of the people of God today. Ps. 132:9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. 6