7 Covenants - #5 Levitical/Priestly
This is the fifth of seven very important covenants in the Bible. Most Christians can only name a couple (before doing my research I have to admit that I could only think of 4), and many other people only focus on one covenant from the Old Testament as being the "ultimate" covenant.
We will be studying each covenant in detail.
The fifth covenant is the Levitical/Priestly.
Just to be very clear, we will again begin by defining the word:
Covenant - a solemn, binding agreement established by God with individuals or groups. It involves promises, blessings and stipulations that underscore the relationship between God and His people.
And then let's define two words from the definition of covenant above: solemn & binding.
Solemn- very serious; done with the utmost sincerity
Binding- imposing an obligation
This covenant is between God and a specific tribe - the Tribe of Levi. If you recall, we have been studying the "Tribes of Israel".
Levi was Jacob's third child (a detail of Jacob/Israel's children is detailed in this post link):
Moses and his brother Aaron were part of the Tribe of Levi. We learned in the post about the "Split Blessing" that the Tribe of Levi was given a special responsibility of taking care of the covenant law and the tabernacle (see Bible verses below):
Last week we studied the Mosaic (Moses) Covenant (click HERE to view "#4 The Mosaic Covenant"). We refreshed our memories about how Moses received the commandments from God. What we did not study last week was what Aaron (Moses' brother) was doing while Moses was receiving the 10 commandments. While Moses was on Mount Sinai, Aaron was the acting high priest and this is how horribly Aaron failed:
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Exodus 32:1-4
This false idol worship occurred after the Israelites had been protected from all of the plagues that happened to the Egyptians. Also, God provided a safe passage out of Egypt for the Israelites by parting the Red Sea and the Israelites were still complaining!!! Plus, Aaron encouraged this idol worship by using everyone's jewelry to melt down into a golden calf to worship!!!! Total failure and abomination on Aaron's part since he was the acting high priest at that time.
And when Moses came down from the mountain this was his response:
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Exodus 32:19-24
The covenant that we are studying today wasn't truly established until two generations after Aaron. It was through Aaron's grandson Phinehas (see Bible passage below):
I should have prefaced that Bible passage by explaining what had happened previously. The Israelites were following and interacting with the Moabites who were Baal worshipers and who were sexually immoral - it was Phinehas who was the only Israelite who stood up and stopped all of that evil.
You might be wondering by now what the Levitical/Priestly covenant has to do with our lives today. We find that answer in the Scripture below:
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16
All of God's covenants are important and valid today.
Other Covenant Posts:
Linked to:
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You might be interested in watching this video:
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