Sunday, September 20, 2020

Leviticus 10:8-20 comments: Moses has a problem with Eleazar and Ithamar

 

Leviticus 10:8 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 9  Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10  And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 11  And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

 

Herein is found a principle of the Bible that speaks to the modern Christian. Aaron and his sons were not to enter into the presence of God in the tabernacle having consumed fermented, “adult” beverages, that is alcohol. They did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we do. Are we not always in the presence of God, whose Spirit abides in us? Of course, only drunkenness is condemned in the New Testament.

Romans 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

 

Galatians 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

And Paul gives this admonition to Timothy.

 

1Timothy 5:23  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

 

Still, the priests not being permitted to drink alcohol should give us pause as Christians.

 

1Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

 

Leviticus 10:12 ¶  And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is most holy: 13  And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons’ due, of the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so I am commanded. 14  And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy due, and thy sons’ due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. 15  The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be thine, and thy sons’ with thee, by a statute for ever; as the LORD hath commanded. 16  And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying, 17  Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD? 18  Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded. 19  And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD? 20  And when Moses heard that, he was content.

 

Moses wanted the remaining sons of Aaron to continue with their service uninterrupted by the grief and shock. They were to eat the meat-offering and eat it beside the altar. The wave and heave offerings could be eaten by them and their families elsewhere. Here are two distinctions; one offering to the glory of the Lord and one offering to the needs of man.

However, Eleazar and Ithamar had not eaten the meat-offering, the sin-offering in the holy place as commanded and Moses chastised them for their failure to do so. In a type of Christ to come they were to bear the sin of the congregation and make atonement for them before the LORD.

But, Aaron satisfied Moses’ wrath by performing the offering himself in response to his own grief which must have been heavy on his heart. You might imagine the heart-felt sorrow of not only losing your children but losing them because they sinned against God and you know it. Parents would often rather die for their children. He offered the offering and bore the iniquity for his remaining children.

Job offered sacrifices for sin to God for his own children several centuries before this.

 

Job 1:5  And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

 

David will write some words that I think work well when applied to this feeling that Aaron must have known.

 

Psalm 39:2  I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

 

Even when one has accepted God’s will in those cases there is a deep sense of grief. If your child commits a willful act that results in their death you will experience it. God through Moses has shown mercy here in Aaron’s sorrow.

One possible application of this passage might be about God Himself performing the propitiation for sin to Himself that mankind could not, in the form of Jesus Christ.

No comments: