DEFINITION OF TERMS

MELCHIZEDEK
MELCHIZEDEK
PRIEST
PRIESTS AND LEVITES
I. The biblical data
II. Wellhausen’s reconstruction
III. Some reactions to Wellhausen’s reconstruction
IV. Priesthood in the New Testament

Before the release of the Israelites from Egypt, in line with the other tribes, the eldest son of the family was set apart as a priest.

God changed this system at Sinai where, as we have seen, He appointed the line of Aaron to the priestly role.

But.....

As a reward the Levites as a tribe were set apart to the Lord instead of the oldest son of the family of all the people.

The Levites were commissioned to assist the priests in their priestly tasks.

Part of this commitment was that they weren’t allocated any land, in the distribution of the productive, income earning resource of the agricultural society of the time.

For the Lord was to be their inheritance.

They were however given 48 cities, including 6 cities of refuge, and a limited amount of communal land around them.

The tithes of the Israelites were also allocated to the Levites, in recognition of their work for the Lord and because they had no inheritance of land.

It did not take long for the priesthood get into strife. Aaron’s two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu were the first to experience God’s wrath for disobedience to His instructions.

Over time the very human trait of politics came into play. The functions of priesthood and the Levites became blurred and power struggles developed between competing groups.

During the time of Samuel, the elders thought it would be a good idea to remove the Ark (where God’s presence dwelled) and take it out of the Tabernacle, located at Shiloh, to support the Israelis in one of their ongoing battles against the Philistines. It didn’t work! The Philistines captured the Ark, an act they regretted when they put it into their temple. For their idol god Dagon, fell flat on his face before the Ark. They moved the Ark to Gath and Ekron with equally disastrous results. God brought great distress upon the Philistines, including disease, tumours and confusion.

With discretion being the better part of valour, they decided to return the Ark to the Jews.

The ark was returned across the border to Beth Shemesh. Inquisitiveness got the better of the men and 70 were struck down dead for looking inside the Ark!

So the people here too decided to get rid of the Ark. However, instead of returning it to its home in the Tabernacle at Shiloh, they called on the people of of Kiriath Jearim to take it away. It remained there for 20 years, at Eleazar’s house, all through the reign of King Saul and into the reign of David.

King David came and, after a mishap, took the Ark up to Jerusalem, where he placed it in a simple tent called the Tabernacle of David, where all could now worship God.

This was a political, as well as a religious act; for it reduced the power of the priests remaining in Shiloh to oppose him, as David now had the presence and authority of God with him.

The major point, in our context here, was that the priests and Levites in Shiloh continued with all their religious rituals, even though the Ark, the presence of God, and the sole reason for performing the rituals, had gone! The focus of the priests there had changed to power and politics rather than truly serving the Lord.

Time went on, the 10 tribes disappeared, and then Judea itself was overrun by the Babylonians and the people taken into captivity. But things didn’t change with the priesthood.

During the restoration to the Jerusalem area of some of the people after the captivity in Babylon, Nehemiah was forced to clean up the priesthood.

This was unsuccessful in the medium term, for a very few years later, the prophet Malachi received a word from the Lord.

...... as we commence our look at the priesthood of Jesus.

Falling away..... It happens to us all, to one degree or another, over our spiritual walk.

We can be eternally grateful for the grace of God, as revealed by Jesus, to enable us to get back onto the path again.

Thank you Lord.

BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY

Uzziah Tablet Inscription

The Bible mentions Uzziah or Azariah as the king of the southern kingdom of Judah in 2 Kings 15. The Uzziah Tablet Inscription is a stone tablet (35 cm high x 34 cm wide x 6 cm deep) with letters inscribed in ancient Hebrew text with an Aramaic style of writing, which dates to around 30-70 AD. The text reveals the burial site of Uzziah of Judah, who died in 747 BC. The inscription on the ossuary tombstone reads:

"The bones of Uzziah, King of Judah, rest here ... Do not open!"

The Uzziah Tablet Inscription was discovered in Jerusalem in 1931 by Professor. E. I. Sukenik of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Uzziah Tablet is an important discovery in the study of Biblical Archaeology because it mentions one of the kings of Judah, and the Jewish authorities would not have crafted such a piece unless there was an original work to draw from. It is interesting that the Tiglath-pileser inscription mentions Uzziah four times (Azariah the Judean). Tiglath-pileser was the Assyrian ruler who deported the Jews of the northern kingdom of Israel away into captivity.

Isaiah 6:1 "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple."