Told Special-Sometimes Arrogant
Numbers 3:5-13 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.” And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborns are mine.
Numbers 3:45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.
Number 8:16-19 “…..For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”
Deuteronomy 10:8-9 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless his name, to this day. Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God said to him.
Deuteronomy 18:1-4 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them. And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
Malachi 2:1-3, 7-9 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. . . . For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”
Matthew 23:5-7 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deed to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”
Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
John 11:47-52 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, sait to them, “You not nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
John 18:14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
Levites were told they were chosen by God to care for the temple and all the objects within. And there was only one day a year, the Day of Atonement, when one high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. That was a huge honor among the priests. Some of the priests were primarily teachers–teaching the torah to young boys, perhaps training them to become priests, while others would be responsible for caring for the items within the tent or Tabernacle once settled. Yet even with the tent to worship, there were a lot of duties. Keeping fires burning, cleansing utensils, keeping the priests garments and altars clean. This was a high honor God chose for the entire family of Levites. I often wonder why they were chosen; after all, Levi was one of the two who insisted all the men in Shechem be circumcised, then two days later when to the town and slaughtered all the people there. That is pretty gruesome to then several centuries later give them such an honorable and responsible job over the other Israelites.
But, God chooses whom He desires for this and that. I am blessed–still puzzled, although very thankful, why he ever thought I should be included as one of His chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond thankful, but I see so many others who are so much more obedient, loving, non-judgmental, and less crass than me. But, He did bountifully choose me–and I could not be more thankful. I also wondered why God allowed Aaron to live after he disobeyed and fashioned a gold calf as their “god” only forty days after his brother ascended the mountain to meet with God. He could not have had much fortitude to allow himself to be talked into making a “false god”. He had been Moses’ right hand and mouthpiece initially when they confronted Pharaoh. After experiencing all the plagues face to face with his brother, how could he so easily turn and agree to make a false god?
But over the centuries, 14-15 centuries (about 1500 years) many of the priests became self-righteous. They added to the rules and commands for the people these their commands did NOT come from God. They were dictated by the priests. They did not have their own land, but were given land, and part of their needs were covered by the people–they got the best pieces of meat, grain and wine offerings. They felt important and put more and more stringent loads on the people. They were mostly no longer servants–teaching and serving the people God’s words.
Eventually the priesthood separated into separate factions, the most commonly known are the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Although they held some separate beliefs, they both agreed that Jesus was due for punishment as He was saying He was the Son of God. And how could that be? Did they have trouble believing since 15 centuries had passed and they did not believe in their hearts that God would truly send a Savior? Were they just frightened of their own standing, money, power, and position so they felt justified pushing the possibility away?
I can imagine after centuries of believing you were ‘top dog’ within the church that you were entitled to all the bounty. But that is not what God intended. He wanted the Levites to be servants to Him and to the people. They were to serve and decide when someone had a serious illness that needed to be removed from within their camp/cities such as leprosy. They were to teach and help the people develop a stronger bond with the Creator. But instead, they became entitled to the blessings they got, and began to demand more.
By the time Jesus came, most of the Pharisees were critical, skeptical and too arrogant to believe that there was a Son of God. And they chose to let their arrogance, anger, and fear of losing the benefits they had by this “imposter” who declared He was God, and they decided to kill Him. After all, they were the chosen for many years, and they knew they were chosen by God and appointed by Moses. They had developed a disgust to their spirit–they did not like the poor, the diseased, the widows and having to care for widows and children–that would mean less for them. They enjoyed fancy robes, being treated with respect at least, and maybe at times, awe, and standing in front of people, knowing that they were envied and admired often.
But they were not serving the people. Most were enjoying the pleasures they took for themselves. They let those they were supposed to nurture and care for suffer. And they certainly resented Jesus when He confronted them with their arrogant, self-righteous behavior. So they decided Jesus had to die for His “lies and blasphemy–Son of God, indeed!” And how dare this poor upstart try to show them up with His preaching and healing. Who is He to teach? Who is He to have all these followers? Who is He who can heal? These men disdainfully asked one another.
So, the arrogant worked to grab Him and put Him on trial–fake trial of course. And with their arrogance, the deemed Him guilty and needed the Romans to declare Him worthy of crucifixion. Yay! Just what they wanted. No more of this upstart. Kill one to save the nation–not the nation, really, but their own standing and lifestyles.
So silly. This was God’s plan all along–and you scholarly, arrogant men did NOT get it. Yet, you had the Torah, the Old Testament with all the prophets telling of the Messiah–and you purposely shoved it away.
I am so thankful God had a plan that He used many men and prophets to share that there would be One who would save all. I am grateful for Easter, but it always squeezes my heart in pain knowing how very much this wonderful, loving, man suffered and gave up for me. Such agony. But such joy for those who believe in Him, repent of their sins, and become closer and closer to Him and the Holy Spirit.
I don’t think I could have stood there and been one of the disciples–men or women, who stood there watching His torture and suffering. But I am so thankful that He gave His life for those who want to follow Him and be set free from the slavery of sin. So, although I still hate the agony He suffered, I am so thankful He willing became our Sacrifice. Halleluiah!
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