Ordain

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In the Old Testament there are eleven words so translated, with a variety of meanings and applications. God ordained the moon and the stars (Psa. 8:33When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; (Psalm 8:3)). Jeroboam ordained priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made (2 Chron. 11:1515And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. (2 Chronicles 11:15)). None of God’s priests or prophets were ordained, in the sense now understood by that word, as inducting into some spiritual place, with power and authority imparted by man. In Jeremiah 1:55Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5), where God said to the prophet, “I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations,” the word translated “ordained” is nathan, which means simply “to give,” as in the margin. See also 2 Kings 23:55And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. (2 Kings 23:5).
In the New Testament there are ten words translated “ordain.” The passages that might seem to have some reference to the impartation of a sacerdotal supremacy are:
1. Christ ordained his twelve apostles (Mark 3:1414And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, (Mark 3:14)). Here the word is ποιέω, “to do, make.”