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    The Priestly Line
    The Priestly Line
    The Priestly Line
    Ebook190 pages7 hours

    The Priestly Line

    By F. Wayne Mac Leod

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    About this ebook

    The role of priest was a vital one. The priest stood between God and His people interceding for them and seeking God's favour on their behalf. The priests themselves were ordinary people, prone to all the temptations of the people they served.

    The priesthood of Old Testament Israel saw many changes in its lifespan. There were times of revival and times when the priesthood was completely abandoned. Like the people they served, these priests often fell short of the purpose of God for their lives. Those who themselves were prone to sin could not ultimately give victory over humankind's greatest enemy.

    The Lord Jesus did what no Old Testament priest could. He provided a means of forgiveness and an answer to the separation between God and humankind. This study shows how the priesthood of the Old Testament pointed to Christ as its ultimate fulfilment.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherF. Wayne Mac Leod
    Release dateJul 6, 2017
    ISBN9781370210848
    The Priestly Line
    Author

    F. Wayne Mac Leod

    F. Wayne Mac Leod was born in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, Canada and received his education at Ontario Bible College, University of Waterloo and Ontario Theological Seminary. He was ordained at Hespeler Baptist Church, Cambridge, Ontario in 1991. He and his wife, Diane served as missionaries with the Africa Evangelical Fellowship (now merged with SIM) on the islands of Mauritius and Reunion in the Indian Ocean from 1985-1993 where he was involved in church development and leadership training. He is presently involved in a writing ministry and is a member of Action International Ministries.

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      Book preview

      The Priestly Line - F. Wayne Mac Leod

      The Priestly Line

      A Survey of the Old Testament Priesthood from Adam to the Lord Jesus, the Great High Priest

      F. Wayne Mac Leod

      Light To My Path Book Distribution,

      Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, CANADA

      The Priestly Line

      Copyright © 2017 by F. Wayne Mac Leod

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

      Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

      Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press

      Special thanks to Diane Mac Leod for proof reading.

      Table of Contents

      Preface

      Chapter 1- Family Priests

      Chapter 2- The Priesthood of Moses in the Wilderness

      Chapter 3 - The Levites

      Chapter 4 - The Aaronic Priesthood Established

      Chapter 5 - The Responsibility of the Aaronic Priesthood

      Chapter 6 - The Priesthood in the Wilderness

      Chapter 7 - The Priesthood and the Conquest of Canaan

      Chapter 8 - The Decline of the Priesthood Under the Judges

      Chapter 9 - The Priesthood Under Saul, the First King of Israel

      Chapter 10 - The Reorganization of the Priesthood Under King David

      Chapter 11 - Kingdom Divided and the Priesthood of God Abandoned

      Chapter 12 - The Priesthood in the Southern Kingdom of Judah

      Chapter 13 - The Priesthood During the Exile

      Chapter 14 - The Priesthood and the Return from Exile

      Chapter 15 – The Priesthood in the Time of Jesus

      Chapter 16 - The Need of a New Priesthood

      Chapter 17 - The Order of Melchizedek

      Chapter 18 - Jesus the High Priest

      Chapter 19 - Jesus' Qualification as High Priest

      Chapter 20 - The Desire of Our High Priest for Us

      Light To My Path Book Distribution

      Preface

      This is a study of the priesthood of the Old and New Testaments. The purpose of the study is two-fold. First, to provide, in summary form, an overall picture of the priesthood of God from its early beginnings to the time of the Lord Jesus. Second, to show what the priesthood in the Old Testament reveals about our need of new priest in the person of the Lord Jesus.

      As you read you will see how the Old Testament priesthood developed over time, moving from being the responsibility of the family head to an established role in the tabernacle. As the nation matured, the priesthood grew with it. The changes that took place were not always accepted by the people. In fact, lives would be lost as people rejected the purpose of God for the priesthood. The northern kingdom of Israel would completely abandon the Levitical and Aaronic priesthood and establish their own order of contrary to the purpose of God.

      The priests struggled in their role. There were times when the worship of God and the role of priest was abandoned for years. While many priests sought to honour the Lord God, there were others who fell into deep sin and immorality. Some were struck dead for their blasphemous ways. Ultimately, the priesthood would turn their back on the Lord God and crucify His Son on a cross.

      Hebrews reminds us that these priests were themselves sinners who fell short of God’s standard. They could not remove the guilt of sin from the nation. For the guilt of sin to be removed, a new priesthood would be required. This priesthood was not from the Old Testament tribe of Levi or the family of Aaron but a totally new priesthood from the order of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus would ultimately do what no priest before Him could do – provide complete forgiveness and remove the penalty of sin. He did so by offering His own life on the cross. He now stands as our perfect High Priest having broken the barrier between us and the Father.

      My prayer for this study is that it would point people to the Lord Jesus and help the reader to understand the need of the Priesthood of Jesus. I trust that it will give the reader a new appreciation of the work of Christ on our behalf. May the Spirit of God be pleased to use this study to elevate the name of Christ and exalt His work as High Priest for us.

      God bless,

      F. Wayne Mac Leod

      Chapter 1- Family Priests

      We begin our study of the Old Testament priesthood with an examination of its function in the book of Genesis. Before doing so, however, we need to understand the basic role of the priest and why he was necessary. This brings us back to the fall of humankind into sin and its entrance into the Garden of Eden. Sin became a barrier between God and His creation. The result was physical death and a loss of fellowship with God. From the moment sin entered the world, there was a need for someone to intercede on behalf of humankind before its Creator.

      A quick look at the Old Testament shows that God setup a system of sacrifices and offerings. These sacrifices provided for the forgiveness of sin and restoration of God’s people to fellowship with Him. The role of the priest was to bring these offerings and sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. The priest stood between God and the people seeking forgiveness and favour from God. With this basic starting point, let’s look at the book of Genesis to see what it tells us about this role of priest. We begin in Genesis 4, just after the fall of creation into sin.

      Cain and Abel

      In Genesis 4 we have the first record of an offering being made to the Lord.

      3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. (Genesis 4)

      Notice that there are two types of offerings brought to the Lord in this passage. The first is an offering from the ground—this was the offering of Cain as a tiller of the soil. The second offering was the sacrifice of the firstborn of the flock of Abel. Both types of offerings were commanded by the Lord in the Old Testament (see Numbers 18:13-17).

      It is not our purpose to enter a discussion on why one offering was accepted and the other was not. For the purpose of this study it is important that we notice several details. Notice, how Abel brought the firstborn of his flock as an offering. Notice also that he offered the fat portions to the Lord. It would not be until later, under the leadership of Moses, that the offering of the firstborn of the flock would become an established regulation (see Exodus 13:1). It was in commemoration of the fact that God spared the firstborn of the families of Israel when they left Egypt. This was not something Abel understood but practiced nonetheless. Also, the fact that he offered the fat portions to the Lord is significant. God would put this in writing later in the time of Moses but somehow Abel understood this to be the requirement of God even before it was regulated by Moses (Exodus 29:13).

      What we see here are the sons of Adam bringing their own offerings to the Lord. In the case of Abel, we see him sacrificing the offering and bringing the fat portions to the Lord. While Cain’s offering was rejected, there is good evidence that this had nothing to do with his offering but the attitude and manner in which he brought it. In this time, before the Law of Moses, it appears that individuals would offer their own burnt offerings or thanksgiving offerings to the Lord.

      Noah

      In Genesis 8 we read of the judgement of God on the earth in the form of a flood. Noah and his family alone were saved from this worldwide devastation because God told them to build an ark and to seek shelter there. When the waters subsided and the family was finally able to leave the ark and walk on dry ground, Noah gathered his family before him and on their behalf offered a great sacrifice to the Lord.

      18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8)

      Noah acted as a priest on behalf of his family. He had a sense of what animals were clean and acceptable to God and offered them on an alter as a burnt offering for forgiveness and the blessing of God on his family. God was pleased with Noah’s offering and promised His blessing by committing to never again destroy the earth with a flood.

      After Noah, we have no record of individuals like Cain and Abel offering sacrifices. We see, however, numerous occurrences of the head of the family taking on this responsibility for his family.

      Abraham

      Genesis 12 tells the story of how God called Abram out of the region of Ur and promised to make him a great nation. In obedience to the command of the Lord, Abram took his family and left his home in Ur to follow the leading of the Lord. As he travelled, he arrived in the region of Shechem. There in Shechem the Lord spoke to Abram:

      7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12)

      Abram’s response to the Lord was to build Him an altar.

      From Shechem, Abram moved toward the region of Bethel and appeared to settle for a time. Notice what he does when he arrived in Bethel.

      8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12)

      In both Shechem and in Bethel, Abram built an altar to the Lord. The altar was used for sacrifices and offerings. As the head of the family, he saw it as his responsibility to build these altars and to bring the necessary sacrifices to God on behalf of His family. Abram appears to act as a priest for his family.

      It seems that wherever Abram moved, he would build an altar. We read in Genesis 13:

      18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD. (Genesis 13)

      As time when by, the promise of God to make of his descendants a great nation seemed more and more impossible in the eyes of Abram. On one occasion, he asked God about this promise. God showed Abram the stars of the sky and told him that his descendants would be numerous like those stars. Abram believed the words of God but wanted some sort of sign from God as a guarantee of His promise. In response, God asked Abram to bring Him an offering:

      8 But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? 9 He said to him, Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. (Genesis 15)

      Abram was told to sacrifice a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon, cut them in half and lay them side by side. God would walk through these corpses saying something like this: If I do not fulfil my promise to you, may I be like these animals that lay dead on the ground. Through this great sacrifice, Abram is confirmed in the promise of God for His family.

      Abram, whose name was changed to Abraham by God was well accustomed to bringing sacrifices to God on behalf of his family. This becomes very evident when God called him in Genesis 22 to offer his son on an altar. In obedience to God, Abram took Isaac, his son, and left early in the morning for a mountain in the region of Moriah (Genesis 22:1-2).

      We are not told how old Abraham’s son Isaac was at that time

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