Leviticus 8

Division 2. (Leviticus 8:1-36; Leviticus 9:1-24; Leviticus 10:1-20; Leviticus 11:1-47; Leviticus 12:1-8; Leviticus 13:1-59; Leviticus 14:1-57; Leviticus 15:1-33.) Association with Christ (the priests with the Priest) and fellowship resulting. We have now had in the five offerings that commence the book that which is the basis and type of true sanctification. Is it a fancy that in this number five we are to read of “God with man?” At any rate we now certainly come to that fellowship with God which is implied in this; none-the-less so that it is fellowship with Christ, and through Christ, the priests with the Priest, association positional and practical with Him who has, nevertheless, His own peculiar place and glory, as is fully maintained at the beginning of what is here before us. Although we have already had in Exodus (Exodus 29:1-46) the instructions as to the anointing and consecration of the priesthood which are here carried out, and looked at them there, yet as the repetition is neither purposeless nor mere repetition, we shall not be hindered from again considering, if briefly, what the Spirit of God here leads afresh to contemplate. A grand and inspiring scene it is, which may He who only can interpret to us! The two subdivisions are clear enough: in the first (Leviticus 8:1-36; Leviticus 9:1-24; Leviticus 10:1-20) we have in the main, positional association -though never disjoined from the other: “in Christ” unites inseparably life and standing; and in the second (Leviticus 11:1-47; Leviticus 12:1-8; Leviticus 13:1-59; Leviticus 14:1-57; Leviticus 15:1-33) that practical discernment which is fellowship with the Holy One.

Leviticus 8:1-10

Subdivision 1. (Leviticus 8:1-36; Leviticus 9:1-24; Leviticus 10:1-20.)Positional association.

1. In the first subdivision there are also two sections, the first of which gives us the setting up of the priesthood; the second, a breach once more through sin, but which (God’s forbearance having been proclaimed) does not again break up what has been established under the second covenant. In the first section we have on the other hand a septenary series which naturally points to the fullness and perpetuity of what is contained in it, seven steps by which we rise into full blessedness. The type here manifestly has to do with those who are now God’s “holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5), and in following it out there should be a most lively interest on our part. We find in it the application of the sacrifice of Christ to the bringing us into settled relation with God, a place eternal, heavenly, and of communion in the fullest sense, for all this is implied in priesthood as here detailed to us. (1) Priesthood was what God proposed to Israel as what was in His mind connected with redemption. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself: now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice . . . ye shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” To this which is His original thought for them He had all through adhered, although it could not then be carried out; and in Christianity the redeemed are in fact priests, as the apostle of the circumcision shows. “I brought you to Myself,” fully realized, is priesthood in one at least of its essential characters, ability to draw near to God: “the priests which come near to the Lord" (Exodus 19:22), is one of the earliest titles descriptive of them. For this holiness was an absolute prerequisite: a “kingdom of priests” implies a “holy nation;” and thus in Israel the official nearness was only external, because the holiness was so largely external. God was, as we know, teaching spiritual truths by means of outward representation. In Christianity we have the substance of these shadows. In the type here “Aaron and his sons” appear together: the high-priest is head of the priestly family, who derive all their title to the priesthood from their relationship to him. How much this is insisted on all through these books is apparent at a glance: “the sons of Aaron, the priests,” is constantly their description. In Christ’s own case His High-Priesthood is founded on His Sonship: “so also Christ glorified not Himself to be made High-Priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son: today have I begotten Thee.” (Hebrews 5:5.) This Sonship, begun in time (or what could be called “today”) must be carefully distinguished from His eternal Sonship. It is as Man, as in the announcement to Mary (Luke 1:35), that He is thus addressed. The priest is the representative of men, “ordained for men,” and must for this be man; but the human race being defiled with sin, and no natural product of an unclean thing being clean (Job 14:4), there must be a new fountain opened, and Christ must be the “Second Man” by a new birth of humanity in the power of God. Thus a new race of men find in Him their new Adam Head, -a priestly race in accordance with their origin, children of God and priests, as He is Son of God and Priest. “Aaron and his sons” have here their antitype. This birth involves for us a new and a divine nature, essentially holy therefore, that which is born of the Spirit being Spirit (John 3:6.) There is a foundation of priesthood, the ability to draw nigh: in the type this is emphasized by that washing of water which, as the first necessity, Aaron and his sons first receive. It was not as afterward, when they went into the tabernacle, a washing simply of hands and feet, but of the whole body. To this the apostle refers as a necessary prerequisite to entering the sanctuary -“our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22): “the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5). This of course could not be applied to Christ, except as humanity might be said in Him (by the very fact of what He was) to be regenerate: within as without this child of a human mother was yet “that holy thing.” For a moment, then, we see “Him that sanctifieth and those who are sanctified” linked together here; but then the sons fall behind and Aaron himself is alone before us, and now we see in him that in Christ which is unique. He is indeed with the high-priestly dress which marks out the special service for others he has undertaken: “this was equivalent,” says Kurtz, “to an investiture with the office itself, the official dress being a visible expression of the official character.” The word “investiture,” is indeed a key to the meaning. After this comes the anointing, first of the tabernacle, the altar, and the laver, and then of Aaron alone, no blood yet sprinkled or shed, atonement, therefore, not the basis of anointing, none as yet needed, Christ being thus borne witness to in His own personal perfect acceptability to God. The anointing of the tabernacle in connection with Aaron has been taken as showing Christ’s personal claim to the universe, but for this the order must be reversed, and the reason for the anointing of the altar and laver does not appear. These last are certainly connected with the work of human recovery, while the tabernacle itself, though an undoubted pattern of heavenly things, was in fact the dwelling-place of God in the midst of the people. May this anointing not rather show that those delights with the sons of men which the tabernacle expresses, (even though fallen, as altar and laver show,) find their justification in this wondrous Person who has become Man, and upon whom for the first time the Spirit of God can rest? This seems at least in perfect harmony with what is before us in this place. (2) But now the sons of Aaron are invested, and then immediately we find Aaron along with them, and their hands together upon the head of the sin-offering. That our High-Priest has for Himself no need we have been fully told; but now He is “bringing many sons unto glory,” and we may in these hands of Aaron put along with his sons’ hands see (together with Aaron’s personal need) that confession of the guilt of men and their need of redemption which, for the Lord, involved so much. Then follows the actual sacrifice, and the blood is put upon the horns of the altar, where the “power” of it is seen in its appeal as an offering to God. That the altar itself is thus also purified seems to carry on the thought of its anointing before. Looked at as typifying Christ personally -which we have seen it does -there could be no meaning in such purification; but taken as the expression simply of means needed for the restoration of fallen men, the blood of atonement justifies the employment of such on their behalf. The righteousness of God is thus in accordance with the love of God in their salvation. The altar in its true typical character we have seen not to be placed in the highest grade of the sin-offering, where as in this case, the victim is burned without the camp, except, indeed, for the burning of the fat upon it, which is never omitted, save in the case of the red heifer, -and which of course is not omitted here. The burnt-offering follows, a ram, the witness not merely of sin removed but of positive acceptance: atonement is thus emphasized now on both sides, and the link between Christ and His people is sustained. (3) We have now the consecration of the priesthood, or, as the Hebrew expresses it, the filling of their hands. Another ram is taken, and after hands have been laid upon it as before, is slain, and the blood put on the ear, the hand, and the foot of Aaron and His sons. The meaning of this can scarcely be mistaken: sanctification by the blood of Christ is here taught, of the ear to listen to the word of God, of the hand to do service, of the foot to walk in His ways; we can do no acceptable work, we can live no acceptable life, until the blood of atonement has set us apart for this as saved and purified. Thus saved, the apprehension of what has been done for us makes us His who has done the work: we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation." (Romans 5:11.) This joy in God is necessary devotedness to Him. Kurtz objects to this meaning of the application of the blood, that it inverts the order of the ritual, for the blood that anoints the ear and hand and foot of the priests has not yet been put upon the altar, and has thus not yet gained the power to atone. He refers, of course, to the passage in the seventeenth chapter, which we have already partially examined, “I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls;” but we have already seen that this cannot be intended to show that the blood of Christ had a value distinct from that of His death, or is indeed any thing else than the symbol of it. Nor can it mean that the blood itself receives power from any thing outside itself. The connection of the altar with the blood is this that it testifies to the blood as the blood of sacrifice, the symbol of a death which was not a martyr’s merely, but a vicarious offering to God. This is the simple and necessary truth, and will be seen as such as soon as we get the eye on Christ. Thus it is already atoning blood that is applied to the priests, although it is only atoning blood as connected with the altar: truth in Scripture is not seldom paradox. If Aaron still represent Christ here, as it would seem, we must take the application of the blood to him as speaking of His devotedness to all that His atoning work accomplishes and secures. It may thus have an easy and unstrained interpretation, which prepares the way for what we next find, the fat of the ram and the right shoulder, with some of the unleavened bread of the meal-offering, put upon the hands of Aaron and his sons and waved for a wave-offering before they are burned upon the altar. This is the “filling of the hands,” or practical consecration -that occupation with Christ, in which we have necessary communion with the Father and the Son. The oil and blood together are now sprinkled upon Aaron and his sons and their association with him is complete. (4) We have next the feeding upon the ram and the unleavened bread. The flesh of the ram is boiled, a thing forbidden as to the passover-lamb, which was to be roasted with fire. There evidently the endurance of wrath, and so removal of it, is that which is before the soul. Here this is not in the same way prominent; as we have seen in the case of the meal-offering, the sufferings here indicated seem to be those into which the word led Him, for the fulfillment of which He came. This would not, of course, exclude the bearing of wrath upon the cross, the special “cup” which He dreaded, but took obediently from the Father’s hand: it would only enlarge the scope of what here the priests of God have presented before them, not merely to behold, however, but to appropriate, which the “eating” in a striking manner expresses. It is the laying hold, not by mental apprehension simply, but in heart and conscience, prompted by the need and hunger of the soul.

And it is expressly the “ram of consecration” that we thus feed upon as priests. Consecration without it would be but outward. For it the toil of the way, if it be the road with God we travel, gives but needed appetite; and thus we are reminded here that our consecration goes on for the whole seven days of our human life, while we abide but as it were at the tabernacle door, and keep Jehovah’s charge. With this, four of the seven sections of this series end, and we find that as usual, there is a distinct break here, and that the last three are connected together as occurrences of the eighth day, a number of which we have abundant proof that it indicates a new beginning. (5) We come now then to the eighth day and the appearance of the glory of Jehovah, and this as the fruit of the offering of the sacrifice for the people. Thus the time of the consecration of the heavenly priesthood being finished, the eighth day shows us the new covenant coming into effect for Israel, -the people being as in many other places, their own type -and then it is that the glory of the Lord will appear on the earth. We have first of all, however, a new offering for the priests, their seven days being complete, -a sin-offering and burnt-offering as before. Typically it is the completion of the earth watch -at the door of the tabernacle -of the heavenly people, and at the close of this they are found once more, as still needing it, under the shelter of the blood of atonement. Christ, first and last, is our only acceptance. The offerings show that this alone is what is in question here, there being no peace-offering any longer; and this the numerical stamp would impress upon us as the moral lesson -the summing up -the end as the beginning. (6) Then come the offerings for the people. Israel also find acceptance with God in the value of that which they had so long rejected. The meaning of the sacrifice is already clear to us, and need not be dwelt upon. The number attached may speak of the victory of divine grace at last. (7) Finally comes the blessing of the people, Aaron first giving it, for the priest must do His work before the king, but then Moses and Aaron together appear out of the tabernacle, the double type of Christ as King and Priest -Melchisedek: and then the glory of the Lord is manifested. In Christ, when He appears, all this will be found united together. The King, the Priest, and He in whom the divine glory shines, will be found one. 2. After this blessed picture, which carries us on to a time yet future, we are brought back sorrowfully to the reality in that day. In the first day of the establishment of the priesthood, it fails: Nadab and Abihu offer strange fire before God, and are cut off. (1) The sin is will-worship -“strange fire which He commanded them not” -the will of man dictating in spiritual things, a sin which is now thought little of. Nay, with some the exact prescriptions of the Levitical service would be considered only as a contrast with the liberty of Christianity. Liberty, however, is never found in following our own wills, but in obedience to that which as given us by God is in thorough conformity to a new nature which, having been begotten in us by the word of truth, cannot find submission to that word servitude. True, the Spirit of God is come: and that glorious fact alters the whole character of worship from what it was in Judaism. We have a living Guide, but this does not affect the need of complete surrender to the control of that which He has written for us, and which is able to furnish us thoroughly to every good work. To take from that Word under whatever pretext is disobedience, and to add to it (as if it were not enough) is, in fact, to take from it.

Alas! nowadays who can bear this? Yet in Nadab and Abihu the sin is not said to have been in doing what God had forbidden, but simply in doing what He had not commanded. (2) The prohibition of wine and strong drink when going into the tent of meeting connects itself, of course, with the sin of Aaron’s sons: and for us plainly covers all fleshly stimulus, which prevents clear discernment of what is or is not according to the mind and nature of God. For us also who are called to walk in the light of God’s presence continually, this is not a casual, but a constant rule. The impulse of nature needs the restraint of Christ’s yoke; even where, as the apostle says, things are lawful to us, we must still not be brought under the power of any (1 Corinthians 6:12). And how easily do they acquire power! (3) The injunction to eat the meal- and peace-offerings follows here because the entering into and enjoyment of our own portion is necessary to deliverance from what in nature would gain power over us. This is a lesson often given, but which cannot be too often or too emphatically enforced. What is the world to a heart that enjoys Christ? But on the other hand, no knowledge of the world will suffice to keep us out of it, if this enjoyment is not a present reality. Most fitly, therefore, does this come in here. (4) Lastly, the sin of the priest is seen as entailing feebleness upon others who have not sinned. It is not meant that this must necessarily be. There is surely power with God to avert whatever consequences of even general failure: and yet so it is that at such a time there are few perhaps who do not exhibit some of the consequences of it. Aaron acknowledges a lack of power which we easily excuse in him under the circumstances. May we never excuse ourselves, however; for to throw the blame of what we are upon our circumstances is really only a covert way of laying it upon God. How good on the other hand, is it to realize our accountability in every thing of this kind, when for all realized feebleness there is so sure a remedy in that strength which is perfect in weakness! Inability to eat the sin-offering is how common a case! It was for others that it was to be eaten: and to enter into the sin of others before God, while realizing the grace that has provided for it, a grace needed by ourselves as fully as by any, tests our spirituality. Only the males of Aaron’s house could eat the sin-offering, and that as a most holy thing in the holy place. May we know better how to do it!