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.
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