Leviticus 8-10. Laws for the Priests

hi I'm John Stevenson we're going to be looking at the laws for the priests that's leviticus chapters 8 through 10 in our study of the book of leviticus our outline for leviticus we started with laws of offering chapters 1 through 7 lots of priests what we're going to look at now as laws of purity day of atonement more laws of holiness or purity more laws of priests in chapters 21 through 22 appointed times and then finally penalties and vows in the laws of the offering chapters 1 through 5 we looked at the various types 5 major types of offerings and then we partitioned over to the the priests part in those offerings chapters 6 and 7 and now we transition nicely to the laws for the priesthood itself the biblical priesthood is first seen in Genesis chapter 14 where we have a priest king who's also a priest high priest by the name of Melchizedek he comes sort of out of the pages of history you know we see him briefly and then disappears again we don't know where he came from where he went after this but he was both priest and King in Jerusalem likewise Jethro who is introduced to us in Exodus chapter 2 verse 16 also it goes by the name of ruel he's the priest of Midian and again he's a priest outside of the of the priesthood of Aaron and the ironic priesthood that we see later on in the Old Testament now that finally we come in the book of Exodus to the priesthood of Aaron and that's where we're looking at now of course we have a great high priest in the New Testament we have Jesus who in a sense has his priesthood looking back at all those others we have Psalm chapter 110 that speak about how he is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek but we see certain commonalities with all of these in Jesus because he is our great high priest in the cornerstone commentary talks about how chapters 8 through 10 in Leviticus appear to form a narrative in the midst of a record of regulations it's not the case however that stories interrupted laws but rather the reverse the story showed the circumstances that give birth to the laws providing living flesh and sinners to the legal bones so most of Leviticus is going to be the setting forth of law but here in this section we're actually going to see some some historical narrative come to the forefront and it will be because of that narrative that will give the reason for the laws that follow Leviticus chapter 8 verse 1 then the Lord spoke to Moses saying take Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil and the bowl of the sin offering and take the two Rams and the basket of unleavened bread and assemble all of a congregation at the doorway of the tent so Moses did just as the LORD commanded him when the congregation was assemble at the doorway the tent of meeting Moses said to the congregation this is the thing which the Lord has commanded to do then Moses had Aaron and his sons come near and washed them with water there's a cleansing for preparation of this they are to be washed the Septuagint translates this washing with the Greek word lua that they are to be loosed with water he put the tunic on him and girded him with a sash and clothed him with the robe and put the effort on him that is he is dressing him in the garments of the high priests and girded him with the artistic grant of the effort with which he tied it to him he then prays placed the breast piece on him and in the breast piece he put the Urim and the Thummim the lights and the perfections we render that the lights and the perfections he also placed the turban on his head and on the turban at its front he placed the golden plate the holy crown just as the Lord had commanded Moses Moses then took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all it was in it and consecrated them so that the tabernacle is set apart for the priest and the priest is set apart for the tabernacle and they're both set apart put that place of meeting God he anoints it Meshach and remember we one of the titles we give for to Jesus is the Messiah the Messiah The Anointed One and he consecrated he Kadosh he made it holy then he poured some of the anointed oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him psalms chapter 133 looks back to this event behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity it is like the precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard even Aaron's beard coming down upon the edges of his robe likewise Isaiah chapter 61 talks about the anointing this were the Prophet says the Spirit of Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring goodness to the afflicted he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to captives and freedom to the prisoners to proclaim the favorable year Lord and remember Jesus read this particular passage in his synagogue at Nazareth and he said today this has been fulfilled in your hearing he is the ultimate fulfillment of the Anointed One well next Moses had Aaron's son come sons come near and clothe him with tunics and girded them with sashes and bound caps on them just as Lord had commanded Moses they are to be priests as well then he brought the bowl of the sin offering and Aaron his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull offering next Moses slaughtered it and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around on the horns of the altar and purified the altar then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it he has to atone these priests because they are sinners just like everyone else you see there's only one high priest that that never needed an atonement for himself and that was Jesus who was without sin then he presented the second ram the ram of the ordination and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the RAM and Moses slaughtered it and took some of his blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot that is the the ik rudiments the extensions of Aaron his his ear his thumb his big toe and on the right of each one because that's that's the the accrued amount of cleanliness he also had Aaron son sons come near and Moses put some of the blood on the lobe of their right ear and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot Moses then sprinkled the rest of the blood around the altar so Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron on his garments on his sons on the garments of his sons with him and he consecrated Aaron his garments and his sons and the garments of his sons with him to make them holy to set them apart for this special work of service then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons boil flush at the doorway of the tent of meeting and eat it there together with the bread which is in the basket of the ordination offering just like a man insane Aaron is in a son shall eat it the remainder of the flesh of the of the bread you shall burn with fire so what they don't eat there is to be burned up that is is to be offered as a offering to the Lord and they eat a meal with the Lord you shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days until the day that the period of your ordination is fulfilled for he will ordain you through seven days and so they go through this extended ordination service the Lord has commanded to do as has been done this day to make atonement on your behalf and this is all part of that service at the doorway of the tent of meeting moreover you shall remain day and night for seven days and keep the charge of Lord so that you will not die for so I have been commanded thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which Florida commanded Moses they are being set apart in this very extended solemn ceremony in the same way that God had created heavens on earth six days and then rest of them seven there take an entire seven days devoting themselves to the work of the Lord so that in Chapter eight we have the instructions for the ordination of the priesthood then in Chapter nine we have a description of the opening ministry of these priests as they as they first begin now for the first son to do their ministry and in chapter 10 is going to be judgment and replacing of the sending priests who are struck dead by God for their wrongdoing well chapter 9 verse 22 then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting when they came out and blessed the people the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people then fire came down came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar and when all the people saw it they shouted and fell on their faces God shows up and God accepts the offering with fire now that fire is going to be significant because of what takes place next chapter 10 verse 1 now nade a banda by whom the sons of Aaron took their respective fire pens and after putting fire in them place incense on it an offering offered strange fire before the Lord which he had not commanded them and fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord you see they were coming to worship God but they were coming to worship God in a way they were deciding instead of the way that God had ordained they were coming with little thought as to preparation instead of being reminded of the seven days that they've been given over to preparation Moses said to Aaron it is what the Lord spoke saying by those who come near me I will be treated as holy and before all the people I will be honored so Aaron therefore kept silent you see they weren't treating God in a serious way they weren't treating him as holy they were not treating him in the weighty manner that he deserved how often do we do the same thing where we do not take the worship of the Lord as serious business well we have the brothers who sent the brothers sons of Aaron who sin they are punished that's in verses one through five and then Moses now gives instructions to the surviving priests verses 6 and 7 and the Lord instructs Aaron and then Moses again instructs the priests notice that world the Lord instructs Aaron that's that's the pivotal point and now the two other sons two other brothers yes they sin but they're forgiven so some lessons from the death of those first two sons those first two brothers from nade AB and I by who first of all God must be worshipped as he ordains that he's to be worshipped we are not free to make it up as we go you know there's a difference between the traditions of Lutheranism versus Calvinism Luther suggested we're free to worship any way we want as long as it's not forbidden in Scripture and Calvin coming a bit later he said no no no we actually are mandated to worship God in specific ways in the scripture and we ought not to go beyond those that means that obedience is better than sacrifice and yet it's the Lord who gave the sacrificial system and yet what God wants first and foremost is obedience is reality not just ritual and the presence of God can can be either a curse or a blessing if we're obedient to him it is a blessing but if we're rebellious then the presence of God can be a curse it's possible to do the right thing in the wrong way it's right to to worship Lord it's right to honor him and yet it's possible to to worship and even try to honor God in a wrong way in a way that is other than what he is dictated and determined Leviticus chapter 10 verse 4 Moses called to Mishael the elephant and Elza fund the the sons of Aaron's uncle uzo and said to them come forward carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp just like they did with the sin offering so they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the campus Moses had said then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar these are the two younger sons the ones that are surviving do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes so that you will not die and that he will not become wrathful against all the Congress in other words don't do the things that normally go with morning but your kids been the whole house of Israel show up will the burning which the Lord has brought about the Lord didn't spoke to Aaron saying do not drink wine or strong drink maybe that's a hint I'm not sure maybe that's a hint of what had caused that earlier disobedience do not drink wine or strong drink either you or your sons with you when you come into the tent of meeting so that you will not die it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations you take God seriously and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane and between the unclean and the clean notice holy versus profane or or we could just say holy versus common clean versus ugly and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses we're reminded of the New Testament where it warns us today the spiritual priests of God how we are not to be bound together with unbelievers Paul asked for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what Fellowship has light with darkness or what harmony has Christ with Belial or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever or what agreement has the temple of God with idols for we we are the temple notice we collectively are the Temple of the Living God just as God has said I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people and if the sons of Aaron were cast down for being careless how much more we who were both priests and the temple itself how much more are we to take care in our worship and following of the Lord that we might be a holy temple unto God therefore Paul says come out from their midst and be separate says the Lord and do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you'll be sons and daughters to me says the Lord Almighty we are called to be set apart for God it doesn't mean we don't talk to unbelievers but we don't live there any longer we live with the Lord

Channel: DrJohnStevenson

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Keywords: nadab and abihu, aaron, aaronic priesthood

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Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 11 2016