Yesterday's passage ended with Aaron and his sons being ordained as priests, with all the instructions of Exodus 28 being followed exactly as God had commanded.
Leviticus 9 continues with the ordained priests performing their duties for the first time. Notice v6 Then Moses said,"This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you." And after they had done as God commanded, God's glory certainly did appear to them v24 Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat potions on the altar. And when the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
Notice that God's glorious acts appeared after God's instructions were followed. Often we seem to want to bargain with God the other way around "God, if you'll do _____, I promise to do whatever you want me to do". We're putting the cart before the horse I believe. We need to serve God out of faith and out of love for Him. Our actions should not be conditional on Him acting the way we mere humans expect Him to.
The glorious fire that consumed the offering was soon followed by a fire of judgement that consumed Aaron's two oldest sons Nadab and Abihu for their disobedience to the Lord during their holy priestly duties.
This incident reminded me of the NT account of Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead for lying to the church. This commentary agreed and provided additional insight...
In Leviticus chapter 10, where the death of Nadab and Abihu are recorded, the Mosaic Covenant has just been instituted, along with the tabernacle and the Aaronic priesthood. In Acts chapter 5, where Ananias and Sapphira were judged of God, the church age has just commenced with Pentecost (Acts 2). In both cases, the death of God’s people is designed to set a precedent, so that those who enter into the new dispensation would grasp the significance of the holiness of God in relation to the institutions which He has just created.
The Israelites who read these passages would be impressed with the importance of the priesthood. They would have taken note of the grace of God by selecting Aaron to be their high priest - the same man who had led the nation in an idolatrous orgy not too long before this. Only God's grace can explain this choice (reminiscent of Saul/Paul in the NT as well!). The Israelites would also have been reminded of the supreme holiness of God and the dangers of the priesthood, and the limitations of it as well. If even the priests can't get it right, how can they? This prepared them to look beyond the Aaronic priesthood, to look for the Messiah that would come in Christ Jesus.
We now know that the priesthood was fulfilled completely in Jesus Christ, making the Aaronic priesthood obsolete. In fact, Jesus has established a new priestly order for all those who are born again.
You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. … But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light 1 Peter 2:5,9.
The inferiority of the Aaronic priesthood should also encourage us to continue to look towards the grace provided through the death and resurrection of our Lord, instead of being tempted to revert to the OT law.
Most of the principles of the OT priesthood apply to the NT priesthood. Priesthood is reserved for a specific family - in the OT it was the family of Aaron, in the NT it is the family of God through personal faith in Jesus. God's priesthood is holy and He takes the sin of His priests seriously. Priests must not do anything to cloud their judgement or to take their duties less seriously than they ought to - we must not drink in excess. Lev 10:8-11 seem to imply that drinking may have played a part in Nadab and Abihu's disobedience by clouding their judgement. And priests are to serve God and man.
Another interesting point made in this commentary is that the OT as a whole seems to be a record of a whole pile of failures. These failures serve a two-fold purpose. One is to not become self-confident, to remain humble and to rely on God. The other is purpose is to give us hope. How can failure give us hope?
From the same commentary..
The answer to this is very clear in the Bible, and it is one that is consistently taught. It is the essence of the Gospel: When men come to the point that they see they cannot trust in themselves, they must turn to God alone for their deliverance. Thus, human hopelessness is the basis for biblical hope. Over and over in the Bible, God brought people to the end of themselves, so that in their weakness they might find God sufficient. When all human hope is lost, men still have the promises of God, backed by His power and by His character.
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:11-12
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4
Lyrics to a praise and worship song (couldn't find who wrote it)
You have called us
Out of darkness, out of darkness
Into Your marvelous light
You have saved us from the darkness
We rejoice in Your power and might
We are a chosen race
A royal priesthood
By Your grace, we are a holy nation
Set apart for You
We are to take Your light to every nation
Tongue and tribe
So they may see Your glory
Shining through our lives
Tongue and tribe
So they may see Your glory
Shining through our lives
I didn't have time to dig into chapter 11, but you can read a commentary on it here.
Tomorrow's readings: Leviticus 12:1-14:32.
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