Priests & Practices

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Provision for Priests and Levites

“The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s food offerings as their inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them. 3 And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4 The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time. 6 “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives—and he may come when he desires—to the place that the LORD will choose, 7 and ministers in the name of the LORD his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the LORD, 8 then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.

Text Explained

Provision for Priests and Levites

Who were the Levites?

The Levites were the descendants of the third son of Jacob and Leah whom Leah named Levi in the hope that her husband would become “attached”. This was actually an interesting wordplay b/c the Hebrew word for “attached” sounds similar to the name Levi. Later in Genesis 34, Levi and his brother Simeon brutally avenge their sister after she was assaulted. Genesis 49:5-7 would go on to describe them as “weapons of violence”. This is the father of the tribe of Levi and after 400 years in Egypt we will see that his descendants would inherit their father’s zeal.

What does today’s text say about them?

“The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s food offerings as their inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them. As we see in verses 1-2, the tribe of Levi were to live as sojourners in the land of Promise. While they were given a few cities, cities of refuge, they did not possess land or have land inheritances like the other tribes did. For the tribe of Levi, the privilege to serve the Lord their God was their inheritance. In Deuteronomy 33:9 Moses speaks of the tribe of Levi in this manner: “Who/Levites said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; Neither did he acknowledge his brethren, Nor knew his own children: For they have observed Thy/God’s word, And kept Thy/God’s covenant.” In other words, the Levites were so fully separated/attached to & in service to the Lord their God that their own biological relatives took second place to the Lord. This statement by Moses was not an idle statement about possibilities, but rather we see the Zeal of their Father Levi in carried out by his descendants in Exodus 32:25-29. Think back to Mt Sinai. Moses has been gone for a while and the Children of Israel have created a golden calf and worshiped it, Moses returns and...

Exodus 32:25–29 (ESV)

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that He might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

You see, when it came time to choose between their kin/family/relatives and being faithful to God, they stood on the Lord’s side and demonstrated loyalty/obedience to God rather than their family ties. We hear this theme repeated over and over in the New Testament in:

Luke 14:25–26 (ESV)

Now great crowds accompanied him, and He/Jesus turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

Acts 5:29 (ESV)

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

So we see that the Levites as a whole were a tribe that was set apart for the service of God and had demonstrated their zeal for Him. Now not every Levite was a Priest, but every Priest was a Levite.(Illustration: we might say that not every Christian is Pastor, but every Pastor is a Christian.) In addition, not all Levitical Priests were even allowed to do the same things b/c the family of Aaron had special responsibilities that other Levite families did not have. So for those Levites who were serving in the role of Priest, verses 3-5 inform us of the provisions that were to be given to the Levites who were ministering before the Lord. Those who were fulfilling the responsibilities of those serving before the Lord. 3 And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: and so the that portion that was their due would include: portions of sacrificial meat, corn, wine, as well as wool, from which they would make clothing. So in this way, God’s people supplied God’s Priests with what the Priests needed to live. That being said, the priests were due this payment, for while they did not have a land to their name, they did deserve share in the bounty of the promised land just as all the other tribes did. The tribe of Levi simply had a unique task: 5 For the LORD your God has chosen him/tribe of Levi out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time.

As we come to verses 6-8 we find some permissive legislation. Moses, through the inspiration of God, foresees a time when certain Levites, who perhaps live far away, may desire to go to the main sanctuary and minister in the name of the LORD his God. (vs7) The Levite who moves to the main sanctuary and ministers their is then entitled to equal portions, regardless of any wealth he may have brought with him on his journey to the main sanctuary. So, as one scholar puts it: “Levites who became full time ministers at the sanctuary were entitled to their maintenance/their portion even though they might have acquired some wealth from the sale of family possessions elsewhere.” So as we consider the tribe of Levi, we see that: 1) those who ministered before the Lord were entitled to their due, and 2) the tribe as a whole had no inheritance in the Land b/c the Lord was their inheritance.

Text Applied

Two Truths

1) Those who minister the word are worthy of their pay. As we considered the Levitical Priests, we must remember that a pastor is not a priest. The role for which God has called me is not the same as the role God had for them. However, while the roles are distinctly different, we do find in the NT that the Apostle Paul does draw some similarities. 1 Cor 4:13-14 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. 1Timothy 5:17-18 17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

Now, I want to make it clear that I am not hinting at anything here. This local body takes wonderful care of me in many ways including financially. I feel incredibly blessed by all of you. I am not gunning for a raise with this sermon. I bring this up because the text brings it up. A preacher who is faithful in ministering the Word of God is worthy of pay. I have heard of some churches that purposefully underpaid their pastor because they felt like it helped him “remain humble and dependent on God.” That is unbiblical. Having said the laborer is worthy of his wages, I would also contend that the reverse is true. There are some who claim to preach the gospel and they do little more than fleece the flock of God. We see an example of this in 1Samuel 2 with the sons of Eli. Verse 12 & 17 says “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD...17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.” The end of these Priests was judgment by God and death. James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Those who faithfully preach are worthy of their pay, those who abuse the flock of God will be judged by God and woe to that man.

2) The Lord is the Christian’s Inheritance. For the entirety of the Tribe of Levi, they had no inheritance in the land of Promise. It did not matter if they were ministering before the Lord or not. A Levite had no land inheritance save a few cities of Refuge, which were cities set apart for a specific purpose. Their entire tribe was set apart to the Lord. They were known for being Zealous in obedience to the Lord. They were seen to put the Lord first above all. Dear Christian, that is what God has called each of us to. 1Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We are that royal priesthood, we are that set-apart unto God people. Titus 2:11-14 “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” Dear Christian, this world is not your home as Peter says behave as sojourners and exiles from this world.

The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time.6 “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives—and he may come when he desires—to the place that the LORD will choose, 7 and ministers in the name of the LORD his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the LORD, 8 then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.