Num. 18:1-191And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. 2And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. 3And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die. 4And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. 5And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. 6And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 8And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. 9This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. 10In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee. 11And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee. 13And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. 14Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. 15Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. 16And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor unto the Lord. 18And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine. 19All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. (Numbers 18:1‑19)
All the children of God are priests. Peter speaks of a double priesthood of Christians (1 Peter 2:5-95Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9But ye are a chosen generation, 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: (1 Peter 2:5‑9)), of a holy and of a royal priesthood: spiritual, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; royal, to show forth the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The apostle makes allusion there to Christ as being Priest according to the order of Melchizedek who will come thus to manifest His excellencies and His power. Being royal priests we are called to bear testimony to this power as being children of light in the midst of darkness.
All the character of priesthood which is in question here (Num. 18) is grace. After the murmurs of the people of Israel (Num. 16:4141But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord. (Numbers 16:41)) God took away the rod from the hands of Aaron, whose election showed grace (Num. 17:55And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. (Numbers 17:5)), to conduct the people Himself across the desert. “And it shall come to pass that the man's rod whom I shall choose shall blossom; and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.” The love of God is greater than the sin of the people: without that they would never have been able to cross the desert. The rod of Aaron is thus the complete manifestation of the grace of God. It is not a question here, as to our priesthood, of our personal relationships with God; for we are already under grace by the death and resurrection of Christ. To be able to understand my priesthood, I must be convinced beforehand of my position under grace.
God, without ever sanctioning sin, permits it in the case of some, who failed to learn otherwise, to show that His grace is greater than sin. He puts these persons, spite of their sin, in relation with grace. Grace here consists in the development of love in the midst of evil; but the foundation of all is ever the individual conviction of the state of grace. The standing of a priest means to be in the midst of evil in relation with the grace of God. The perfection of Christ's love is to be occupied with His people in whatever state they may be. He would that God should be glorified, and thus He carries everything on His heart. In this position grace is manifested more powerfully than the evil. In the midst of evil the priest may glorify Him in grace; and it is a great privilege to be the vessel of this moral glory which is manifested in the midst of evil. The angels desire to sound the depths of such grace as is shown thus powerful in the midst of evil. (1 Peter 1:1212Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12).) Naturally God manifests already His glory in heaven because of the purity of all that surrounds Himself; but the denizens of heaven cannot otherwise understand how God can manifest His glory in the midst of evil. Our position is in the midst of evil, the tent of the meeting-place in the midst of the people, where God Himself dwells in the midst of a people miserable and sinful. There has God set His priests. The Holy Spirit ever kept in activity by the love of God brings home the want of holding fast the grace of God in the midst of sin and for it. As a priest of God the Christian has the power of God's love in presence of evil.
Two things are to be remarked here, responsibility and grace. According to responsibility all that which hinders the soul from being in relation with grace is a sin also of my priesthood, and therefore sin against the sanctuary and my priesthood. The priests who draw near to God ought to speak of God's love in presence of sin and of sin in presence of God's love.
All the tribe of Levi is joined to the priesthood, and there is found the tabernacle of witness, the tent of the meeting where God manifests Himself. The church has this position. The world has rejected God in Jesus. The church is the tabernacle of the testimony, the epistle of Christ before the world, and this far more than the priesthood in Israel.
Verse 5 sets forth the responsibility of these priests; verse 7 sets forth their position and ours. The church, as a testimony, ought to carry the wants of all on the heart for the blessing of God to be in and on the church.
In verse 8 we see that the priests were anointed, as we are with the Holy Ghost. (Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13); 2 Cor. 1:2121Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; (2 Corinthians 1:21); 1 John 2:2727But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)) Thus have we the unction from the Holy One, and God is He who has anointed us, and also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. How many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen unto the glory of God through us.
The priest was to eat, but only in the most holy place, in the presence of God Himself. It is only on Christ in His presence that we can nourish our souls. If I carry the wants of the church on my heart, then it is impossible not to feel the grace of God, to be able to carry those relations to God and of God to us. It is only when I understand the riches and the fullness of the grace of God in Christ that I can approach God about evil. It is only in communion with Him, in the possession of peace, in the presence of grace that I can thus draw near.
Verses 11-15. All belongs to the priest's house as to a family. It eats the fruits of the land, on which the eyes of Jehovah rest continually, the land of promise. In all the whole house rejoiced, and with all the whole family was nourished,
But the priest has not this position only; he is also anointed. It is a delight to rejoice in the promises that are accomplished in Christ, which are accomplishing, and which are to be accomplished in Him. The Holy Spirit gives joy as well as the bread of life; but what is still more is to find the fullness of grace in the midst of evil before God, and occupied with wants.
It is now for us to ask ourselves up to what point we are suitable for carrying on our hearts the wants of the church and the love of God; up to what point we nourish ourselves in the presence of God, and we own the riches of grace, of God's love in Christ.