In this latest draft chapter of “Priests of the Bible”, we turn our attention to the Aaronic Priesthood.

Chapter 7: The Aaronic Priesthood – an introduction

“At Mount Sinai, God designated Aaron and his descendants to serve as priests (Exodus 28:1, 29:44; 30:30; 40:13-15; Numbers 3:3). One of the twelve tribes of Israel, Levi, was assigned priestly duties, although not all Levites were priests. Only those designated could perform priestly duties, not other Levites (Numbers 16:1-3; 17:1-10; 18:1-3), not Moses or his descendants (1 Chronicles 23:13). The Levites who served had to be between 30 and 50 years old (Numbers 4:3), unblemished – e.g. not lame (Leviticus 21:16-23), have a proper marriage (Leviticus 21:9, 14) – i.e. not married to a harlot or a divorced woman or a widow other than a priest’s widow (Ezekiel 44:22). While the other tribes of Israel were given an inheritance, when it came to dividing up the land, this was not so for the tribe of Levi, for the Lord was their inheritance (Deuteronomy 10:9). The standards of ritual holiness and actual holiness among priests were high, and when two of Aaron’s sons offered unauthorized fire before the Lord (Leviticus 10:1), without further ado, God struck them down dead.

Among the duties of the priests was to teach the people (Leviticus 10:8-11), serve as judges to resolve controversy (Deuteronomy 21:5), offer sacrifices (Exodus 29:38-42), assess impurity (Leviticus 13-15), burn incense (Exodus 30:7-8), bless the people (Numbers 6:22-27), bless God (Deuteronomy 10:8), keep the tabernacle (Numbers 3:38; 4;16), take care of the altar (Leviticus 6:8-13), the lamps, and the showbread (Leviticus 24:1-9), prepare the holy things for each day’s journey (Numbers 4:5-15), continue the sacred fire (Leviticus 6:12-13), and blow the trumpets (Numbers 10:1-10). As for the high priest, he was God’s leader over the priests. Aaron served as the first high priest (Exodus 40:12-13). Aaron’s son, Eleazer, replaced him as high priest when he died (Numbers 20:26-28). The position of high priests continued through the time of Christ (Matthew 26:3) until the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. Their duties included: direct the work of the priests and Levites (Numbers 3:4), inquire of the Lord (Judges 20:28), consecrate other priests (Exodus 29:1-37), maintain the golden candlestand with its fire (Leviticus 24:1-4), burn incense daily (Exodus 30:7-8), and offer sacrifices on the Day of Atonement (Hebrews 5:1, Leviticus 16, 23) the one day he could enter the Holy of Holies” extract from “Prophets of the Bible”.

We are still at Mount Sinai and having considered “Moses, the Law and the Covenant” (Chapter 4), “The Tabernacle – an introduction” (Chapter 5) and “The Tabernacle – the furniture” (Chapter 6) we turn our attention to priests whose main duty, at least at this time in Israel’s history, was to carry out various services inside the Tabernacle, doing all the duties required of them that God had instructed Moses concerning. As our quote reminds us, there were other functions that would develop, such as teaching the people that which was clean and unclean and the difference between holy and unholy. In Part 2, we consider the main named priests of the Bible and how they fared in these matters.

When it comes to priests of the Bible, there are several categories, as discussed in “Chapter 13:Categorising Priests of the Bible” but in this chapter our focus is on Aaron and his descendants. We are well aware of Aaron, ever since Moses had his “burning bush” encounter with God in Exodus 3 and being in effect Moses’ right-hand man from that point on and up to the end of the wilderness journey, playing some part (good and sometimes bad) in many of the adventures. As for a character and what they did etc. studies on Aaron and his four sons, this is taken up in Chapters 23, 24 and 25.

Our introduction to the Aaronic priesthood begins “And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons” Exodus 28:1. What was required of the priests, and particularly concerning the priest’s garments, presented in great detail, would be elaborated in Exodus 28,29 and 39. The ordination of priests and the start of the priest’s ministry is described in Leviticus 8 and 9. The sacredness of what priests were meant to do with respect to God’s holiness can be seen in God’s judgement over Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who offered unauthorized fire, in Leviticus 10. Leviticus 21 and 22 provides further rules for priests.

It should be re-emphasised that while it is only at the point, following instructions regarding the Tabernacle, that we are introduced to the Aaronic priesthood and all that went with it, as has already been discussed, there was a considerable amount of priestly activity. Nowhere is this more poignant that at the beginning of Israel’s encampment at Mount Sinai when God declared: “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel” Exodus 19:5,6. Whilst it might be rather stretching it to deduce the reason for the Aaronic priesthood was because Israel who God had wanted to be a “kingdom of priests” did not obey God’s voice and keep His covenant, it is nevertheless instructive of where the heart of God lay and is a theme picked up in the New Testament (1 Peter 2:9). We pick up on the theme of today’s believer priests in Chapter 41.

But the Tabernacle (where God chose to dwell) and Priests of the line of Aaron (that ministered in the place God chose to dwell) are two of the big ideas that God has put forward in order that He can dwell with His people and His people can enjoy fellowship with Him, just as was the case in the Garden of Eden and will be the case in the new heaven and the new earth. As we have already seen, what the priests had to do was a solemn undertaking as well as an enormous privilege.

The term priest (Hebrew kohen) means one who officiates. In the case of Aaron and the priests that followed that officiated in the Tabernacle and later the Temple, they were not or not meant to be self-appointed or appointed by men but rather they were appointed by God. While having unique access to God in that could offer sacrifices and tend to the duties that were required in the Holy Place, they were also mortal men and, like those they represented, were subject to the weakness of the flesh. But because of that they were expected to show compassion toward those they served.

As we will see in the next chapter, there were several pre-requisites that needed to be put in place before they were able to serve. Moreover, as we will consider in Chapter 19, all this pointed to Jesus, the Great High Priest and because He was perfect in every way and because He gave His own life as an atoning sacrifice, for US, is able to be the perfect intermediary on behalf of today’s believer priests, who repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.