In establishing the priesthood in ancient Israel, God brought to life an awesome vision. The role of those priests points us not only to our High Priest Jesus Christ, but also to the job of God’s Spirit-begotten people, who will serve as God’s king-priests forever.
The purpose of this priesthood is to build a family relationship between God and His people. On the one hand, God’s priests point people to God; and on the other, they represent the people to God, appearing in His presence on their behalf. The laws God gave concerning the priesthood are loaded with spiritual beauty and relevance for God’s ministers and for all New Testament Christians today.
A Responsible Position
Numbers 18 shows that being in the priesthood was both a blessing and a serious responsibility. God was deeply concerned with how these men represented Him, just as He is with His priests today. See how this truth is emphasized in Numbers 18:1. The Moffatt translation renders this verse thus: “You and your sons and your family shall answer for any guilt in connection with the sanctuary; you and your sons shall answer for any guilt in connection with your priesthood.” God holds ministers responsible for what goes on in His sanctuary—His Church—and for what goes on within the priesthood.
Study Hebrews 13:17 and James 3:1 to see how God holds His ministers accountable. Think about this in light of what has happened in the Laodicean era. Read what God says in Ezekiel 34:1-10. God puts the ministers into their offices to feed the people, care for them, strengthen them and build their relationship with God. When they fail at that job, they must answer to God! This is something God’s ministers must think seriously about. But God also wants all of us to understand our accountability to Him! Our hearts must be in God’s Work! We have a job to do—a responsibility to publicize God’s message to the world! We are here to feed the world, to teach people and point them to God! If we get selfish and begin to feed ourselves, then we will bear the iniquity. Their blood will be on our heads! We all need to have the right kind of fear about failing to fulfill that office.
Read Numbers 18:5 and the first part of verse 7. Aaron and his sons were responsible for everything from the altar of sacrifice to within the holy of holies. Specific responsibilities included lighting the lamps; keeping the fire on those lamps always burning; offering sacrifices; receiving people’s tithes; offering firstfruits; governing the Levites and supervising their service; preparing to move the tabernacle; carrying the ark; and more.
Note how the second part of verse 7 describes this not only as an honor, but also as a service position. Other priestly duties included examining lepers and purifying the unclean—not exactly enjoyable jobs. If someone in the congregation has spiritual uncleanness, no minister relishes the idea of dealing with that problem. But God says it must be done—and you have to be the one to do it!
In the Revised Standard Version, the last half of verse 7 reads, “I give your priesthood as a gift.” This is a remarkable perspective. Gift means present, or even a sacrificial offering. God is making an offering to the priest in the form of this priestly office. Another translation says, “as a service of gift (a service with which I present you) I give you the priesthood.” The Apostle Paul described the ministry as a gift to the people (Ephesians 4:8, 11), but that honorable office is certainly a gift to the minister as well. “The priesthood was a privileged service, God-given and God-appointed” (Wycliffe; emphasis added throughout). “This office, which brought them into the closest fellowship with the Lord, was a favor accorded to them by the grace of God” (Keil and Delitzsch).
The job of the priest included several specifics, many of which we will cover in future articles. These priestly responsibilities included blowing the trumpets to call assemblies and announce battle; encouraging the army before a battle; administering the law and teaching it.
Teaching the Law
God’s priests are teachers. They are guardians and stewards of God’s law. “In ancient Israel, God used the temple to conduct His religious service and teach His law,” Gerald Flurry wrote in Isaiah’s End-Time Vision. As judges, they were expected to know and teach the law, so they had to be diligent law students. Malachi 2:7 says “the priest’s lips should keep knowledge”—ministers need to seek out, guard and protect that spiritual knowledge so they can use and teach it.
God reinforced the priests’ responsibility to teach in the context of a rather tragic incident. In Leviticus 10, God killed Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, for offering strange fire on the altar. Read Leviticus 10:5-9 to see how God emphasized the need for the holy, priestly office to be fulfilled reverently. Then give special thought to verses 10-11.
The priests held teaching positions, just as they do in the Church today. God’s priests should show by their words and actions, by what they teach and do,what is holy and clean. God spoke these statutes, and the priests were to teach them to the people. They had to really study and internalize them so they could teach them. Remember, the formula for our study of the law is: hear—learn—fear—do—teach! (Deuteronomy 31:12-13).
Consider God’s description of His millennial headquarters ministry in Ezekiel 44:23. We have to know the difference between the holy and profane because we are going to teach it to people. How well do you understand and discern the difference? Are you preparing to fill this vital teaching position?
Judging by the Law
See another crucial priestly function in Ezekiel 44:24. God expected priests to keep His laws and statutes and to hallow His sabbaths. But also notice: They are judges—magistrates of God’s law.We must administer and implement that law, and judge by it. God’s ministers must fill that role today, and all of God’s people must be preparing to fill it in the near future. You already must think this way in your own home, in your family, with your children. You need to judge them according to God’s judgments because you judge for God!
Anciently, when local judges faced a matter that was too hard, they consulted the priests at the headquarters sanctuary for help. So those priests really had to know their business. Read Deuteronomy 17:8-10. The word inform in verse 10 means to point out, to teach, to instruct, to show. Continue reading in verse 11. The word teach is the same Hebrew word as inform. The priests held teaching positions. Local judges, elders in their hometowns, came to the priests and told them the facts of these difficult cases, and the priests evaluated by the law, getting God’s view according to the intent and the spirit of His law in order to establish justice. The priests had to be experts in the principles of proper judgment so they could instruct even the leaders within the nation how to properly implement justice in their local areas.
2 Chronicles 15:3 explains that when Asa, a righteous king, came to power, Israel had gone a long time “without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.” God’s priests were teachers, and when they failed in that responsibility, the nation had serious problems!
A Blessing to the People
See in Deuteronomy 21:5 how much authority God gave to His priests in administering justice. The priests were the ultimate judicial authority.
Notice how the first part of this verse beautifully expresses what the priests do for God and others: “God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord” (rsv). The verb minister means to wait upon or serve. God’s priests serve God; they attend to His business, acting on His behalf and representing His interests before the people.
In addition, the priests were to bless others in God’s name. God wants to richly bless His people; He wants to build a close family relationship and to shower His people with love. The priests are there to facilitate that relationship; so logically, God blesses His people through His ministers. The counsel they give, the fellowship they share, the godly examples they set, the instruction they relay that brings you into closer communion with God—all of these are ways in which the ministry serves as God’s blessing to the people! Paul said the ministers should be helpers of your joy (2 Corinthians 1:24).
Read God’s beautiful command to the priests in Numbers 6:22-27. What a joy to God’s people as they heard the priests pronounce this blessing—then saw God carry out what the priests had spoken! Just knowing that the priests were on their side would have had an uplifting effect on them and built a close, family relationship between them and the priesthood. But surely God also commanded this blessing for the benefit of the priests. He wanted to ensure they were thinking about the people, praying for them, concerned about their welfare, sincerely wanting the very best for them!
God commands His spiritual leaders to pray for His people (e.g. 1 Samuel 12:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). As ministers work with the brethren, we do become aware of your trials, problems, weaknesses and sins. God commands that we then take those details before the incense altar and put them before Him in intercession. He wants His ministers to develop the same mindset that our High Priest Jesus Christ has, who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). Ministers need to follow Christ’s example and praise God’s people before the Father, thank the Father for those people, identify with the difficulties they face, empathize with them, talk to the Father about them, and make sincere requests to the Father on their behalf (e.g. John 17). That requires a great deal of unselfishness in a priest. And he really must know the people to be able to do that effectively.
The Need for Cleanness
This is quite a collection of responsibilities God gave these men—and we haven’t even examined their various duties within the tabernacle. Given the importance of the job, God was very particular about the way His priests conducted themselves. He took extra pains to ensure they remained holy. He commanded them to take extra care in their dress, their conduct and their duties. (See “The Purpose of the Priesthood.”) God even forbade the priests from mourning the way that other people would (e.g. Leviticus 21). “The multitude of minute restrictions to which the priests, from accidental defilement, were subjected, by keeping them constantly on their guard lest they should be unfit for sacred service, tended to preserve … the feeling of awe and submission to the authority of God” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary). These requirements impressed on the priests the seriousness of their office and kept God’s law at the forefront of their minds.
Read God’s command in Leviticus 22:1-3 that the priests be clean in order to do their jobs. Moffatt translates these verses as: “The Eternal also bade Moses tell Aaron and his sons to be careful about the sacred gifts of the Israelites [which they consecrate to me], and not to profane my sacred name: I am the Eternal. Tell them that if any of their number now or hereafter approaches the sacred gifts consecrated to the Eternal by the Israelites, when he is physically unclean, that soul shall be outlawed from my presence: I am the Eternal.”
These ceremonial provisions no longer apply to New Testament Christians, but the principle remains that God requires spiritual cleanliness from those who do His Work.
Consider what constituted physical uncleanness. Some things were obvious and visible, like a physical breaking out of the flesh. Read the first half of verse 4 for one example. Being a leper or having a running issue typifies spiritual problems so obvious that we cannot hide them. By contrast, other causes of uncleanness are invisible to other people. Read the rest of verse 4 and verse 5. There is no outward sign that a man has touched something dead or unclean—but God knows.God likewise knows if you have come into contact with something unclean.This world is full of unclean things, and if we touch those things, that hurts our communion with God and our ability to do His Work! God says to touch not the unclean thing—even if “nobody else will know.” He wants us to remain clean and holy so He can use us in His service!
Look at the instruction in verse 6. If you have had that kind of contact, you need to be washed! Don’t try to go about your duties as if nothing is wrong. Don’t wait until the next day. You need Christ to clean you up—immediately! “Any successful temple building must begin with a pure ministry!” Mr. Flurry wrote in his booklet Ezra and Nehemiah. “God expects the ministers to keep themselves pure of heathen filthiness. And He also expects the people to keep themselves pure. When God’s people corrupt themselves, God begins their cleansing by purifying the ministry first. When God’s ministry purifies itself, then we can be sure that we have all the power of God behind us. Anciently, when the priests and people purified themselves, God performed great miracles for them.”
The Families of the Priests
God also gave specific laws about the family of priests. Read God’s restrictions regarding priestly marriage in Leviticus 21:7‑8. God heavily emphasizes the fact that this man is holy, doing holy work. The high priest was only allowed to marry a virgin (verse 13). God specifically says it is because He wants the children from this marriage to be holy, produced from a marriage in keeping with the holiness of his office. “Private individuals might form several connections [that] were forbidden as inexpedient or improper in priests. The respectability of their office, and the honor of religion, required unblemished sanctity in their families as well as themselves …” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary).
Consider what verse 9 requires of the priests’ children. The family of the priest matters! (This punishment was not burning someone alive; it is talking about what to do with the body after she had been put to death for her sin.) Read the New Testament counterpart of this law in 1 Timothy 3:4-5.
God wanted the priesthood to represent the purity He desired from the whole nation! In their service before God, the priests represented the nation as a whole. They were also an example for the people to follow. Obviously, they didn’t always live up to that—physical human beings always fall short—but that was God’s intended purpose for them.
High Priest’s Special Garments
Another way that God reinforced the spiritual holiness of the priestly office was by having the high priest wear specific items that had deep symbolic meaning.
Read an overview of the high priest’s garments in Exodus 28:2-5. These garments were of extremely high quality. They were made of the same materials used in the tabernacle, in the entrance curtain and in the veil. The only difference was the gold: They actually fashioned the gold into thin, flat strands that were woven into the fabrics.
Study verses 6-8 for instructions regarding the ephod. This was an outer garment like a tunic, a piece of cloth in the back and another in the front, joined by straps worn over the shoulders, and kept in place by a band around the waist. All the priests wore ephods, but most were quite simple. The high priest’s ephod was very ornate and special.
Consider the instruction in verses 9-11. The names of the tribes of Israel were carved in these two stones, and one stone was fixed on each shoulder of the tunic with a golden setting. Read why in verse 12. This high priest represented the 12 tribes in God’s presence! As he went about his duties in the sanctuary, he had this weight on his shoulders—the burden of this office—reminding him that he was there on their behalf. He was there to plead for them, to seek God’s favor for them. These stones representing the tribes of Israel show the heavy responsibility God places on the shoulders of the top man in that priestly office. This is quite a picture of how Jesus Christ “ever liveth to make intercession” for the people of spiritual Israel today!
(Some commentaries on this passage refer to Isaiah 22:22, where God lays the key of the house of David on Eliakim’s shoulder. Mr. Flurry has likened the key of David to a burden—a burdensome message to the end-time nations of Israel. And God has commanded the highest-ranking priest on the human level to bear it.)
Read the description in Exodus 28:15-16 of another, even more dazzling item with this 12-tribe symbolism. The breastplate of judgment (some translations read “breastpiece” since it was made of cloth) was about 9 inches square. Verses 17-20 list 12 precious stones, four rows of three stones each. See what these stones represent in verse 21. Josephus wrote that these gems were “of extraordinary largeness and beauty … [having] immense value.” The stones were attached with golden sockets to the breastplate (verses 22-28). Read where this breastplate was worn in verse 29. The high priest wore these rich, brilliant, glorious jewels, representing the tribes of Israel that he was serving, right on his heart. This was always on him when he served in the sanctuary. He would “bear” (meaning carry, hold up or exalt)this memorial of the children of Israel before God continually. This shows how precious God’s people are to Him and to Christ, the High Priest!
Even the fact that Israel was represented by beautiful, gleaming gemstones is a wonderful picture, perhaps representing the glory God intends Israel to have in the future. It certainly points to new Jerusalem and the 12 foundations of that holy city. Compare the gemstones listed here with the ones in Revelation 21. Apparently they are the same; seven of them use the same English word, and commentaries say that a number of these stones have several different names.
Read verse 30 of Exodus 28. Urim means light; Thummim means perfection. The Septuagint renders these words revelation and truth. It is a bit of a mystery exactly what these are. They were placed in the high priest’s breastplate and were able to reveal God’s judgment. This was a physical means by which the high priest could inquire of God. They revealed the will of God to the high priest in a perfect and true way—though the Bible doesn’t explain how. Because we have the Holy Spirit today, we don’t use anything physical like this; God expects us to learn to use the Spirit instead. But the fact that God gives understanding of His will on certain matters only through His top man is still very much in effect today.
Next, read verses 36-37. Remember, this was a flawed human being standing in the place of the perfect High Priest to come, Jesus Christ. The February 1983 Good News says this gold plate was positioned at the top of the high priest’s forehead “where it would be most visible to the great God seated between the cherubim. On that plate were engraved the words ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ That’s what the eyes of God focused on. God didn’t look for faults in the offerings, nor for shortcomings in the human beings that were represented. Had He done so, He would have found many. Instead He looked at the holiness represented by the high priest.”
In the rsv, verse 38 reads, “It shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take upon himself any guilt incurred in the holy offering which the people of Israel hallow as their holy gifts; it shall always be upon his forehead, that they [the gifts of the children of Israel] may be accepted before the Lord.” This physical object gives you an idea of how our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. “Even our best efforts are so often imperfect. They fall short of the mark. But God looks at Jesus Christ, who is holy, blameless, without spot. … Because Jesus was sinless, because of His righteousness, when He brings our prayers and offerings before the Father, God sees His faultless Son—true ‘Holiness to the Lord’—and our sincere efforts, imperfect as they may be, are ‘accepted before the Lord.’ … Jesus’s shed blood covers all our iniquities, upon our repentance. Through Jesus we are acceptable to God” (ibid).
How God Supported His Priests
Another telling aspect of the priesthood was how God provided for them. The Levites were not to provide for themselves in the same way the rest of the Israelites were, working their own land and laboring at whatever occupation they saw fit. God set them aside for His purpose. In fact, the Levites were separated—not even numbered among the children of Israel (Numbers 1:47-54; 2:33).
Think of the symbolism. God did not treat the Levites as just another tribe of Israel. They represented the whole New Testament Church, not just a part of it. Certainly all of Israel was a type of spiritual Israel. But also, the priests and Levites are a distinct type; they specifically picture the priestly service of God’s Spirit-begotten people.
Consider Deuteronomy 18:1-2. When the tribes of Israel entered the Promised Land, they each received a portion of land as their own—except the tribe of Levi. In The United States and Britain in Prophecy Herbert W. Armstrong explains, “Each tribe occupied its own land, or district. The Levites became the priestly tribe, mingling throughout the other tribes, having no inheritance in the land and no separate territory (except for cities) of their own. To offset this, however, the children of Joseph were divided into two tribes—Ephraim and Manasseh—thus leaving 12 distinct and separate tribes, each occupying its own territory or province, in addition to the Levites who were sprinkled among the tribes.” God didn’t centralize all the priests and Levites in one area; He wanted them among the rest of the tribes of Israel! A large concentration of them lived near the headquarters sanctuary, but God also wanted people throughout the nation to have contact with the Levites. The same is true of God’s Work today with the ministers and deacons: A large number live at headquarters, but a great many serve in the field.
How did God provide for these people? He gave a lot of laws about this both for the priests and for the Levites. Read one in verses 3-5. These men had a job performing an important duty for God, and God wanted all of Israel to support them. As Mr. Armstrong wrote, the tribes were required to set aside certain areas for the Levites to live among them (e.g. Numbers 35).
In a Bible study on Dec. 29, 1979, Mr. Armstrong said this about the Levites: “They were the highest educated, and they did not farm or work to produce a living. But they lived on the tithe of the people. Now, since they were one of the small tribes, and Joseph had the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, that means there had been 12 other tribes, nearly all of which were a lot larger in number of people than Levi. And the result is the Levites had about 2½ or 3½ times the income, which we would use money as an exchange today. They were also the best educated and had the better minds and the better training.”
Looking at all the provisions God put in place for the priests and Levites is fascinating. You see the same dynamics in God’s Church today. The work of the ministry is something that everyone is part of and everyone supports. It is made possible by the contributions of the whole Family! “The priesthood itself was a divine, a necessary, and a beneficial institution, and every devout Israelite would count it a joy to support it, even though particular holders of the office might be very unworthy men” (Pulpit Commentary).
Consider God’s instruction in Numbers 18:20. Mr. Armstrong wrote in his autobiography what a blessing it was the day he decided to cut himself off from the salary provided by the Sardis ministry; when he decided to rely 100 percent on God for his income. This is definitely a way for God to build faith in His priests—to establish in them the habit of trusting Him completely.
Read verse 21. Mr. Armstrong explained, “God set apart the tribe of Levi for the sacrificial and priestly service with Aaron’s descendants as high priests. Ten percent of the agricultural produce went to the Levites. Israel, on entering the Promised Land, was an agricultural nation. The Levites, in turn, tithed to the family of Aaron from the tithe they received” (Good News, January 1979). See that in verse 26.
Another provision for the priests appears in verses 8-19. This shows how generous God is with those who labor for Him! God did hold these men accountable, and He severely corrected priests who took more than their rightful share. But He gave these men a lot! This freed them to completely devote themselves to the work of the ministry.
The Priesthood’s Singular Focus
Referring to these provisions for the priests, Matthew Henry’s commentary says, “Thus their maintenance was such as left them altogether disentangled from the affairs of this life; they had no grounds to occupy, no land to till, no vineyards to dress, no cattle to tend, no visible estate to take care of, and yet had a more plentiful income than any other families whatsoever. Thus God ordered it that they might be the more entirely addicted to their ministry, and not diverted from it, nor disturbed in it, by any worldly care or business (the ministry requires a whole man); and that they might be examples of living by faith, not only in God’s providence, but in His ordinance. They lived from hand to mouth, that they might learn to take no thought for the morrow; sufficient for the day would be the provision thereof.”
You see this today in the full-time ministers. But there is also an exciting corollary to this in the work that we all will be doing as spirit beings in the World Tomorrow! God wants us to have a singular focus on the work of the priesthood—on ministering to people and on ministering to Christ.
Acts 6 discusses how the ministry early in the Church’s history couldn’t keep up with all the physical demands in the Church and fulfill their ministerial duties. So they appointed deacons. The ministers understood their responsibility to devote themselves exclusively to the service of the ministry. Ideally, that is how it is to be for ministers within the Church today.
That is also how it will be when the whole Church, as God’s kingdom of priests, steps into its eternal position within the God Family! Read Isaiah 61:4 to see the work to be done restoring this world to livability after the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord. This physical rebuilding, however, will not be our primary concern in the World Tomorrow. Notice verses 5-6. We will have a lot of people helping us because God wants us to give ourselves wholly to our primary work—serving in the priesthood. There are many jobs we won’t be doing, because they are not ministers’ jobs!
This isn’t a matter of getting out of work that needs to be done; it’s a matter of ensuring the priests are able to do the work they are called to do. It’s a matter of priorities. That is something God’s ministers today must think about constantly: making sure we are delegating the non-spiritual jobs, and not filling our time with tasks that someone else could be doing—jobs that take away from the work of the ministry! We all have to learn to think like this—delegating, directing, overseeing, advising, counseling, teaching—so we can devote ourselves to the Work of God.
What a wonderful vision is bound up in the priesthood. This is the job God is putting all of us into! Studying these details of the physical priesthood within the ancient nation of Israel helps us to better understand how important—how holy and sacred, how honorable and exalted—how dazzling and full of God Family vision—that job really is!