The priesthood was never restored to its former position. It was never again the chief link between the Lord and His people. The unfaithfulness of Eli and his sons not only caused the holy office to pass into the hands of another branch of Aaron's family, but also brought about the forfeiture of the exalted position which the priesthood had enjoyed since the death of Moses (see Num. 27:18-23). When the king came upon the scene—not Saul, the man of the people's choice, but David, the man of the Lord's choice
- it was he who became the link between the people and their God, and the priesthood fell into quite a secondary place. This was foretold in 1 Samuel 2:35. It has frequently been remarked that God never repairs a ruined order. Instead, in its place, he sets up something new—something that will yield even greater blessing to His people, and which marks also a further development in His blessed ways.
We pass over the ruinous episode of Saul, and what do we find? The king is the prime mover in everything pertaining to the worship of God. Unlike Joshua, he did not stand before the priest, going out and coming in at his word. It was the king who proposed to bring up the ark from Kirjath-Jearim to Zion, and on that memorable occasion he danced before the Lord clad in a linen ephod, and when the offerings had been offered, “he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts” (2 Sam. 6). He is a delightful type of Him who, when all the purposes of God concerning Israel are brought to completion, will bear the glory and be a priest upon His throne (Zech. 6:13). It was the King, not the High Priest, who appointed Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually, while the High Priest and his associated priests were appointed to serve at the tabernacle in Gibeon (1 Chron. 16:37-43). When the plague came upon the nation as the result of the numbering, it was David, not the High Priest, who stood in the breach and offered sacrifice. Contrast 1 Chronicles 21:26 with Numbers 16:46-48. When the time came for the temple to be built, it was one king who charged another king (David and Solomon—1 Chron. 22:6), and the High Priest appears to have had no say in the matter. It was the king again who numbered the Levites and appointed to them their services (1 Chron. 23:24-27), and it was he also who distributed the priests with reference to their work (1 Chron. 24:3). The singers were separated to their service by the king and the captains of the host (1 Chron. 25:1). Later the chief priests are named among the chief officers of the kingdom, as if they were that only. What a transformation as compared with the days of Moses and Aaron. What a significant change in the ways of God.