seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Numbers 18:1 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. 2 Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law. 3 They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die. 4 They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.
5 “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. 6 I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting. 7 But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”
5 “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. 6 I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting. 7 But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”
This is from the easy English commentary.
God had already provided protection for the people. They could not go near to God’s Tent by accident. Levi’s tribe guarded God’s Tent so that this should not happen (Numbers 8:19).
God spoke to Aaron about this. It was unusual for God to speak to Aaron alone. Usually, Moses gave Aaron instructions from God. But Aaron had special responsibilities as the High Priest. God reminded Aaron about the duties of the priests and also the duties of Levi’s tribe.
God did not allow Levi’s tribe to do any of the priests’ duties. If anyone from Levi’s tribe came too near to the sacred objects, God would punish both the priests and the people from Levi’s tribe. It was the priests’ fault if this happened. They had to check that Levi’s tribe did only their own jobs.
God spoke to Aaron about this. It was unusual for God to speak to Aaron alone. Usually, Moses gave Aaron instructions from God. But Aaron had special responsibilities as the High Priest. God reminded Aaron about the duties of the priests and also the duties of Levi’s tribe.
God did not allow Levi’s tribe to do any of the priests’ duties. If anyone from Levi’s tribe came too near to the sacred objects, God would punish both the priests and the people from Levi’s tribe. It was the priests’ fault if this happened. They had to check that Levi’s tribe did only their own jobs.
The people had just watched as Korah and his cohorts had been swallowed up by the earth. Then the 250 followers of Korah had been incinerated. On top of that, 14,700 people just died by plague. More would have died if Aaron and Moses hadn't intervened on their behalf. The Israelites were petrified.
I found an explanation at the biblestudytools.com site.
Security is here given to the people from the fears expressed ( Numbers 17:12 ), by the responsibility of attending to all sacred things being devolved upon the priesthood, together with the penalties incurred through neglect; and thus the solemn responsibilities annexed to their high dignity, of having to answer not only for their own sins, but also for the sins of the people, were calculated in a great measure to remove all feeling of envy at the elevation of Aaron's family, when the honor was weighed in the balance with its burdens and dangers.
There are a couple of issues here that, however boring, might be important in the rest of the book. When Jesus comes the priests will be making the accusations. They will be "guarding" against Him. So the more I know about these priests and their responsibilities, the more sense the New Testament will make.
Besides.... I left out the portion about the Tassels because I figured it was boring.... and it came back up in future verses.... so I'm not leaving out the boring parts...
