Numbers 18

THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES: THEIR OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS.

The miraculous confirmation of the priesthood to Aaron as just narrated is followed by a reiteration of the duties and privileges of the sacerdotal tribe and of the revenue appointed for their support. There have been isolated laws relating to these subjects, but up to this time there has been no complete code. Aaron, as the priestly head, is first addressed, Numbers 18:1; Numbers 18:8, then Moses, Numbers 18:25, as the representative of the theocratic head of Israel.

CONCLUDING NOTE.

While the middle books of the Pentateuch give special emphasis to the difference between the priests and the Levites, Deuteronomy, on the contrary, seems to obliterate this distinction by classing them together as a holy estate in contrast with the people. The two views do not contradict, but supplement, each other. In Deuteronomy the vocation of the Levites is subserved under the priestly calling in general, but without assigning to them any peculiar priestly function. Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 18:7. Hence it is a great mistake to assert that Deuteronomy does not at all acknowledge the difference between the Levites who were priests and those who were not; for where the term Levites stands, it is just the common Levites who are meant. See especially Numbers 18:6-8, compared with Numbers 18:3-5. It is true, however, that both are treated as essentially a single whole in Deuteronomy, while the middle books denote the priests as “the sons of Aaron.” Deuteronomy, on the contrary, makes prominent the Levitical character of the priesthood by styling the priests “the sons of Levi,” (Deuteronomy 21:5; Deuteronomy 31:9,) or “Levitical priests.” Deuteronomy 17:9; Deuteronomy 17:18; Joshua 3:3. Hence the vocation of the Levites is designated by terms which are elsewhere applied precisely to the priestly office, namely, “to minister in Jehovah’s name,” “to stand before Jehovah.”

Deuteronomy 18:5; Deuteronomy 18:7; Deuteronomy 21:5; Deuteronomy 17:12. And accordingly the ordinance of the priesthood is as in Malachi 2:5, a covenant with Levi. A mixture of the offices of the two classes does not at all follow from the fact that the priests and also the Levites were the designated bearers of the ark of the covenant, since the former bore the ark on all solemn occasions, (Joshua 3:3; 1 Kings 8:3,) and the latter bore it during the wanderings in the wilderness, (Numbers 4:15,) and subsequently in the hasty flight of King David from Absalom. 2 Samuel 15:24.