Numbers
18:1 ¶ And the LORD said unto Aaron,
Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of
the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your
priesthood. 2 And thy brethren also of the
tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be
joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall
minister before the tabernacle of witness. 3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the
charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the
sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die. 4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep
the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the
tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. 5 And ye shall keep the charge of the
sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon
the children of Israel. 6 And I, behold,
I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to
you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of
the tabernacle of the congregation. 7
Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office
for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have
given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the
stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
Here is discussed the charge for Aaron and his sons and the help
they were to have from the Levites. No foreigner who was not a Hebrew or who
worshipped the God of Creation was to come near to their work, lest they be put
to death. There were to be no Baal worshippers or servants of any other God.
The disobedience to this would be part of Israel’s downfall. Eventually, the
heathen sexually perverted religious practices of Baal and others would pollute
the temple and God would condemn it.
Deuteronomy
23:17 There shall be no whore of the
daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or
the price of a dog [slang for a homosexual male prostitute even today], into the
house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto
the LORD thy God.
Men
would enter a pagan temple in the Ancient Near East and toss a coin into a
temple prostitute’s lap to have sex with them as part of their worship of Baal
and Ishtar. Greek writers, Herodotus and Lucian, tell us of this practice as a
symbol of Ishtar’s union with Tammuz. It is evident from the Bible that this
was the form of worship that God abhorred and wanted erased along with human
sacrifice. Not permitting someone who was not of the faith of the Israelites to
minister in God’s service was important.
This
clears up the fear that closed the last chapter about who was to come near to
God. Not everyone who comes to the tabernacle will die, not the least of which
are those who are to serve in it.
Aaron
and his sons are accountable if they neglect or fail in their duties.
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