Daily Devotional • June 15
A Reading from Numbers 3:1-13
3 This is the lineage of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. 2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar; 3 these are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. 4 Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unholy fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, so that they may assist him. 7 They shall perform duties for him and for the whole congregation in front of the tent of meeting, doing service at the tabernacle; 8 they shall be in charge of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and attend to the duties for the Israelites as they do service at the tabernacle. 9 You shall give the Levites to Aaron and his descendants; they are unreservedly given to him from among the Israelites. 10 But you shall enroll Aaron and his descendants; it is they who shall attend to the priesthood, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I hereby take the Levites from among the Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn that open the womb among the Israelites. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine; when I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both human and animal; they shall be mine. I am the Lord.”
Meditation
When Israel was in Egypt, plagues struck the house of Pharaoh and all Egypt because they refused to let the Israelite slaves free. Ten plagues — God refers to them as “wonders” — culminate in the last, the death of the firstborn. The plague was for everyone, but those with the blood of the lamb on the door were saved.
The substitutionary lamb is how God sees the Aaronic priesthood. The firstborn, all who open the womb, are God’s. The priests stand in the place of the firstborn.
If the fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of wisdom, this passage at least begins to make wise the simple. The terrible act of justice that warranted an outcry in Egypt that has never before been heard and will never again be heard, that act of terrible power and majesty instituted God’s eternal priesthood.
Levites were not particularly faithful people (see Aaron, Judges, etc.). Levites were, rather, called people. People whom God chose, sanctified, and ordained to be substitutes and servants, people to whom God was an inheritance. We are, by grace, the sons of Levi. Purified, set apart, a whole kingdom of priests. We are those who serve God and our neighbor because the Great High Priest was substituted for us. We look to God, whom we both love and fear, and offer our selves, souls, and bodies, knowing He is our inheritance.
Chase Benefiel is a friend, Tennesseean, preacher, and student (in that order) currently finishing his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School.
♱
Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Freetown – The Church of the Province of West Africa
Christ Episcopal Church, San Antonio