Rules for Levitical Priests

 

Ezekiel 44:15-31

 

February 20, 2024

 

Rules for Levitical Priests

“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God.  They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.  When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within.  They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.  And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments.  They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.  No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.  They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.  They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.  In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.  They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister, they may defile themselves.  After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him.  And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.  They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.  And the first of all the first fruits, of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house.  The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

When reading this Scripture, a few things you will see have changed. The priest no longer owns anything, but they have all they need, for they have God’s present; they are there to serve, not to be served.  They are only to wear linen garments while ministering before God.  And those clothes were not to be worn in the outer courts around the people.

 

I often wonder if into days place where the church assembles, we call that place the church, but it's not a temple where God resides, you are that temple, if you believe by faith that God has given you have asked Jesus to come and live in you.  And when we, the church, come together, it only requires two or three to have this promise.  ^“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”  (Matthew 18:20) Once more, Scripture confronts us with a question: how often do we as the church meet?  Jan and I often have church in the morning and evening, and even during the day when we meet with a brother or sister in Christ, and share what Jesus is or has done for us.  But often we, the Church, ignore this truth, only thinking it happen on a time we are in the building we wrongly call the church.

That brought my mind to things God has told us to do, and we act as if we do not have the ability, such things as Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  You have been given the ability to set your mind on anything you choose.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice