The first seven chapters of Leviticus detail God's instructions concerning the sacrifices He expected His people to bring. Who offers those sacrifices on behalf of the people? The priests. Therefore, I began this class by examining the first thirteen verses of chapter 8 which covers the consecration of Aaron and his sons. We can't offer sacrifices without having priests!
There are some "C" words to help us remember key points here.
The first is, command. 8:1 says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying..."
Whenever we see that, it introduces new material.
Chapters 8-10 and 24:10-23 are the only narrative sections of the book. The rest is legislative.
The divine pattern is stressed by the command of God in chapters 8 and 9 and contrasted with chapter 10, verse 1, "Which He had not commanded them." The focus is on obedience versus disobedience based on the revelation of God.
Look at chapter 8
Verse 4: "So Moses did as the Lord commanded him"
Verse 5: "This is what the Lord commanded"
Verse 9: "As the Lord commanded Moses"
Verse 13: "As the Lord had commanded Moses"
Verse 17: "As the Lord had commanded Moses"
Verse 21: "As the Lord had commanded Moses"
Verse 29: "As the Lord had commanded Moses"
Verse 34: "As he has done this day, so the Lord commanded"
Verse 35: "For so I have been commanded"
Verse 36: "So Aaron and his sons did all the things the Lord had commanded"
When something is said once, what about when it's repeated? Remember Paul writing, "As we have said before, so say I again" (Galatians 1:9).
The performance of these commands ties together Exodus 28 and 29 with Leviticus 8. I hope you paid attention to Exodus 25 through the end of the book.
Exodus is God saying, "Here's what I want you to do."
Leviticus is Moses writing, "Here's how we did it..." And you'll notice they did it EXACTLY how God said to do it.
In Exodus 29:1, we learned the purpose of all this was to hallow Aaron and his sons to minister. Hallow: to be or to make clean
They need to understand how important they are in the carrying out of God's plan. There's a lesson for us there; Every Christian, as a priest, is important. There's no unimportant priest in the priesthood!
What happens if the priesthood fails? Look at 1 Samuel 2:17. A failure in the priesthood caused the people to despise the sacrifices of God. Malachi 1 tells us what God thought of their polluted offerings.
What's being put in place here sets the framework that will last until Acts 2 for how people are either going to accept and appreciate, or despise and reject chapters 1 through 7, the sacrifices of God.
How important is the priesthood? Let go bad and you see what we have in the book of Judges. According to Jeremiah, it was a failure of the priests that contributed to Babylonian captivity
Called, (verse 2) Just as Aaron was to be the mediator for the nation of Israel, Israel was to function as a priest to the surrounding nations (Exodus 19:5-6). It's the same way that we as Christians are to serve as witnesses to the priesthood of the perfect high priest, Jesus (Hebrews 7:1-28; 1 Peter 2:5-9).
Notice that certain things are to be taken. On the surface it seems silly to, "take the priests" when they're instituting the priesthood but have you ever dealt with people? Imagine them saying, "Well, youu didn't tell us to do that!" Look at this verse and see what can be left out and still be pleasing to God
If you study with someone and they can't get past, "you must obey this command to please God (yes, referring mainly to baptism and its necessity), take this to them. Ask which part of this passage could be omitted and still be pleasing to God
Anointing oil - Was specified by God. The composition of it is given in Exodus 30:22-33 (Reference Psalm 133:2) 1 and 2 Samuel show this being used for separation to God for a task and preparation for divine guidance
Sin offering - two rams without blemish (Exodus 29:1)
Basket - Did it matter if the bread was leavened or unleavened? Says something about the Lord's Supper, doesn't it? "Jesus took the unleavened bread..."
Verse 3 - "Gather all the congregation at the door"
We're talking perhaps of 2.5 million to 3 million people!
Did the elders represent the congregation?
Do we have a representative use of the word "all?"
Verses 36-38 say this ceremony is to be repeated for 7 days. Why couldn't the people be rotated then?
Why then, insist that the whole congregation be there? Because the congregation must accept them as their representatives! Similar to modern congregations "trying out" a preacher
God said, "Get the people together. I'm going to institute a system and the people's presence signifies, 'we will accept it.'"
Verse 5, Moses communicates "And Moses said, 'this is what the Lord commanded to be done." Here's what I'm doing and what I'm doing is what God said to do. (Exodus 28-29)
Here's what the principle is all about: We're not doing what I want to do, or what you want to do. We're doing what God wants done! Imagine if we had that attitude today
Consecration - Of Aaron and his sons. Look at Hebrews 5:1-5: "he who is called by God, just as Aaron was." Hebrew word is pronounced "ko-lay-hoh" God's appointing one or committing one
In Exodus 28:1 there were no volunteers. God picked them
Numbers 16: Some people didn't approve of God's selection. "Who's Aaron, to be set above us?"
1 Samuel 2 in the period of the judges, look at verses 27 and 28. My priest, my alter
There's one priesthood for the nation. What would happen if every man was his own priest? One brings unity. There's one place to approach God, one way to approach and that's the priesthood. There's one way to please God, the sacrifices. Everyone has the same
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat took 10 tribes from Israel. He attacked the worship, said, "I'm going to set up a separate priesthood, separate place of worship and system of sacrifice. It's too much for you to have to go all the way to Jerusalem." Look at the results
At Pentecost God restored what Jeroboam divided. We come back to one priesthood for everyone
John 14:6, "I am THE way, THE truth, THE light..." For whom? For everyone!
He became our High Priest (Hebrews 2). In Hebrews 13 He is our sin offering. We all have the same High Priest, we all have the same sin offering.
When there's division in the church, it goes against the priesthood of God. It's not recognizing the unity God wants.
Verse 6 Cleansed "wash them with water." Cleansing of the body was symbolically saying they're to be pure inside and out. It said to the people, as the priests look clean to you, they are to look to the Lord...clean!
In chapter 21 we'll see if a priest has a blemish, he cannot approach Jehovah.
Psalm 243-4: That's what the priesthood was supposed to look like
John 13, look at verse 13: Jesus took a towel. Cleanliness inside and out. Do I approach God clean?
Verses 7-8 Clothed Clothing is important. It says something and makes a statement. It meant something in Genesis 3, didn't it?
When you look at Colossians one of the themes is changing clothes. What you wear as a child of God makes a difference. Leviticus stresses the quality. Everything the priest wore was the best. Give God your best! That's the principle and you see it in the sacrificial system
Remember in Exodus the minute care given in their design and making? It will also focus the wearer on their purpose
Verses 10-12 and 30: They are claimed with the anointing oil and with blood. God is saying, "They are mine, I am claiming them, they belong to Me."
Holman Study Notes: The holiness of God demanded a sanctification of the place, items and persons who ministered before the Lord. This was satisfied by Christ through His perfect offering and as the perfect offeror (Hebrews 7:26; 9:11-2). Christians are anointed by a spiritual anointing (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 1 John 2:20).
They were then anointed by Moses as described in Exodus 40:9-11. Anoint is from the Hebrew word "maw-shock," root word of "ma-shy-ak" the word from which we get the word "Messiah," meaning "The Anointed." Translated in Greek as "Christas" which of course is Christ. Not the last name but who He is. Acts 10:38 refers to Jesus as the "Anointed One."
At this point the priests are sanctified, pronounced clean. In verse 11 Moses sprinkles the altar 7 times and everything around it. Then poured the oil on Aaron's beard (Psalm 133:2)
Look how important this imagery was even in the time of David
We are given here a picture of the very best, the picture of the setting apart, the picture of the anointing. This is the action of God! So when I'm reading this, I should see the picture of the church:
Our High Priest
My function as a priest
Giving God my best
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