Priests and Levites

[charlesj]

Someone made a statement on the Debate Forum that "a priest had to be a Levite." This is a true statement, but not a complete truth. In this short writing I will show you that it is true that a priest is a Levite.

But I will also show you NOT all Levites are priests.

God offered to make the entire nation of Israel a "nation of priests," initially. (Exodus 19:5-6)
From this holy nation, the first born were to be given to God in His service. (Exodus 13:2, 11-13)

From among all these servants of God, God chose Aaron and his descendants to serve as priests for the nation. (Exodus 28:1) (Exodus 29:9)


Unfortunately, the Israelites rebelled and made a golden calf to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai. Only the tribe of Levi stood faithful with Moses. (Exodus 32:25-26)

God blessed their dedication. (Exodus 32:29) In reward for their dedication, God replaced the first born with the tribe of Levi. (Numbers 3:12-13) The Levites then took on the duty of serving God. (Deuteronomy 10:8)

That service included serving the priests. (Numbers 8:19)

What causes the confusion is that Aaron also descended from Levi. Since all priests descend from Aaron, all priests are Levites. Yet all Levites are not priests, but they do serve the priests. Hence, you find mention of the priests and the Levites together, such as (1 Chronicles 23:2)

This is also why the Hebrew writer speaks of the Levitical priesthood -- all priests came from a subset of the tribe of Levi. (Hebrews 7:11)

Make sense??

May the Lord bless us as we study His Word, serve and honor Him,

charlesj

..............................LEVI
................................|
.............................KOBATH
................................|
............................AMRAM
................................|
_____________________________________________________
|...............................|.........................................|
Miriam................Aaron.................................Moses
................................| (Aaron sons, priests)
................................|
_____________________________________________________________________
.....|...................|.....................................|..................................|
Nadab.............Abihu.........................Ithamar....................Eleazar

Remeber, Nadab & Abihu were killed my God in Leviticus 10, so the bloodline of the priests continued throuh Ithamar and Eleazar.
(Notice all the bloodline down from Levi were Levites, but ONLY those from Aaron were Levitical priests.)


I hope you see how the Levitical priesthood was set up.

(Please excuse the way I made this chart. I am not familiar with the format on this site yet so I had to use the periods to seperate the names etc.)

 

[Tehilah BaAretz]

Yup.
However, two other priests were recognized as such without objection in other places. They would be Malki Tzedek and Jethro (Moses' father in law). Makes me wonder why God let that go without explanation.

 

[veteran]

Exod 3:1
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
(KJV)

Moses' father-in-law was already a priest, a priest of Midian. In Exod.18 Jethro made sacrifices to God; then Aaron and the elders came to eat bread with Moses before God. Then Jethro helped Moses in administrations with the people, and then went back to his own land.

So I don't think Jethro really had that much a hand in the Levitical priesthood.

In Hebrews 7, (Apostle Paul) explains Melchizedek (King of Righteousness) was about Christ Himself.



Not ALL later priests were of Aaron, or Levi.

Ezra 2:61-62
61 And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name:
62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
(KJV)

Per the Jewish historian Josephus, some of Idumea (Esau) crept into the office of chief priest in Jerusalem just prior to Christ's first coming. So when reading Scripture about the priests AFTER the return of Judah from Babylon, one has to be careful, for that's when some non-Israelites crept into the priesthood.

 

[charlesj]

Yup.
However, two other priests were recognized as such without objection in other places. They would be Malki Tzedek and Jethro (Moses' father in law). Makes me wonder why God let that go without explanation.

Hello Tehilsh BsAetz:
Both, Malki Tzedek (Shem, Noah's son) and Jethro were before the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. The Levitical priesthood had not started at this time of Jethro and for sure with Malki-Tzedek.

I am sure you are aware that others offered the "worship" sacrifices before Sinai. Only after Mt Sinai do you see the Sin and Trespass offering. These two offerings, sin & trespass, were COMMANDED while the worship sacrifices (burnt offering, meal offering & peace offering) were of a volunteer nature. In the case of Jethro he is referred to as a "priest," but could have been translated "prince."

I wonder why he is called "Jethro" in Ex 3:1, but "Reuel" in Ex 2:16,18?? You have any ideas?

May the Lord be with you,

charlesj


p.s. thanks for your posts.

 

[charlesj]

Someone made a statement on the Debate Forum that "a priest had to be a Levite." This is a true statement, but not a complete truth. In this short writing I will show you that it is true that a priest is a Levite.

But I will also show you NOT all Levites are priests.

God offered to make the entire nation of Israel a "nation of priests," initially. (Exodus 19:5-6)
From this holy nation, the first born were to be given to God in His service. (Exodus 13:2, 11-13)

From among all these servants of God, God chose Aaron and his descendants to serve as priests for the nation. (Exodus 28:1) (Exodus 29:9)


Unfortunately, the Israelites rebelled and made a golden calf to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai. Only the tribe of Levi stood faithful with Moses. (Exodus 32:25-26)

God blessed their dedication. (Exodus 32:29) In reward for their dedication, God replaced the first born with the tribe of Levi. (Numbers 3:12-13) The Levites then took on the duty of serving God. (Deuteronomy 10:8)

That service included serving the priests. (Numbers 8:19)

What causes the confusion is that Aaron also descended from Levi. Since all priests descend from Aaron, all priests are Levites. Yet all Levites are not priests, but they do serve the priests. Hence, you find mention of the priests and the Levites together, such as (1 Chronicles 23:2)

This is also why the Hebrew writer speaks of the Levitical priesthood -- all priests came from a subset of the tribe of Levi. (Hebrews 7:11)

Make sense??

May the Lord bless us as we study His Word, serve and honor Him,

charlesj

..............................LEVI
................................|
.............................KOBATH
................................|
............................AMRAM
................................|
_____________________________________________________
|...............................|.........................................|
Miriam................Aaron.................................Moses
................................| (Aaron sons, priests)
................................|
_____________________________________________________________________
.....|...................|.....................................|..................................|
Nadab.............Abihu.........................Ithamar....................Eleazar

Remeber, Nadab & Abihu were killed my God in Leviticus 10, so the bloodline of the priests continued throuh Ithamar and Eleazar.
(Notice all the bloodline down from Levi were Levites, but ONLY those from Aaron were Levitical priests.)


I hope you see how the Levitical priesthood was set up.

(Please excuse the way I made this chart. I am not familiar with the format on this site yet so I had to use the periods to seperate the names etc.)

I am going to attach a DIAGRAM showing that a Priest was a Levite, but NOT ALL Levites were priests. This diagram is about the same as I did with my computer, but is easier to see when it is hand drawn. Notice that the "priests" came out of Aaron ONLY. Aaron had 4 sons, all priests. God killed the first two (Lev 10, Nadab and Abihu)

See my writing on "why" God killed Nadab and Abihu at: http://www.christianityboard.com/topic/13855-why-god-killed-two-priests/

charlesj