Now, this idea of God being particular about who ministers to Him for man, this precept is still in effect today. Only today those men are not called priests, but rather preachers. If you’re like me, you have heard snippets from those who call themselves preachers who have no business calling themselves preachers. Whether they're spewing the heretical Prosperity “gospel”, or they call themselves “progressive”, or they stand before their congregation wearing a rainbow-colored shawl, these are some who do not preach truth. And every time they stand to give their talks, they heap more and more of God’s wrath upon them. They are outsiders coming near, as our verse in Numbers says, and while they may not die today or tomorrow, they will die, like all humans. And when they do, they will stand before God, who will judge them rightly, that they have blasphemed the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, they have blasphemed the Father, and are deserving of eternal torment.
The question I always have is, “why do they do it”?
Why do they blaspheme the name of God—the very God they hate—why do they
preach, as they say, “in the name of Jesus”, teaching their audiences the very
opposite of what God has said, the very opposite of what Christ has said? I
fear that it may be their way of sticking their thumb in His eye, showing Him
their utter contempt. Making light of the things of God and His Christ. And
they will receive the reward for their unrighteousness. And it will be eternal.
2nd Peter 2:1-3
—1 But there were
also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers
among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the
Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many
will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be
blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a
long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not
slumber.
Now, this is not to say the Levites could not be corrupted.
In the book of Judges we see two episodes where they were not seen in the most
favorable light. Of course in Judges 19
we read of a Levite who was travelling with his concubine, she gets taken by a
bunch of men referred to as “sons of Belial” and has unspeakable things done to
her. She returns, dies on the threshold of the house, and he walks past her
with contempt. And also in Judges 17 we read of a Levite who worked as a priest
for an individual named Micah and served his graven images. Judges 17:6-13—6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did
what was right in his own eyes. (That is a phrase you find all
throughout the book of Judges. Judges, if you read it, may very well be the
most depressing book in the Bible. Moses has died, Joshua has died, and Israel
as a nation is still in its infancy, and many of their past behaviors return.) 7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of
the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there. 8 The man departed
from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place.
Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he
journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" So he
said to him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to
find a place to stay." 10 Micah said to him, "Dwell with me, and be a
father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year,
a suit of clothes, and your sustenance." So the Levite went in. 11 Then
the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one
of his sons to him. 12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man
became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said,
"Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as
priest!" This is the passage referred to by Paris Reidhead in his
famous sermon entitled “Ten Shekels and a Shirt”. This passage is a warning to all who would
come—whether Old Testament priests or New Testament preachers, but especially
those who would preach and teach in such a way to lead people into sin and away
from God—to examine why it is they preach, or “preach”. He says in his sermon—
The question comes then to this, what is the standard of success and by what are we going to judge our lives and our ministry? And the question that you are going to ask yourself, “Is God an end or is He a means?” Our generation is prepared to honor successful choices. As long as a person can get things done or get the job done then our generation is prepared to say well done.
And so we’ve got to ask ourselves at the very outset of our ministry, and our pilgrimage, and our walk, “Are we going to be Levites who serve God for ten shekels and a shirt?” serve men perhaps in the name of God, rather than God. For though he was a Levite and performed religious activities, he was looking for a place, which would give him recognition, a place which would give him acceptance, a place which would give him security, a place where he could shine in terms of those values which were important to him. His whole business was serving in religious activities, so it had to be a religious job. He was very happy when he found that Micah had an opening. But he had decided that he was worth ten shekels and a shirt, and he was prepared to sell himself to anyone that would give that much. If somebody came along and gave more, he would sell himself to them. But he put a value upon himself and he figured then his religious service and his activities were just a means to an end, and by the same token, God was a means to an end.
It’s why Paul tells us in 1st Timothy 3:2
that a pastor must be blameless, not covetous or a drunkard, etc. etc. Don’t
judge the effectiveness of your ministry by numbers, but rather by your
faithfulness to God.
Now, after these events, did God say “Eh, I’m done with you Levites. If anybody wants to be a priest and to minister in the Tabernacle, go ahead”? Did He cast off the tribe of Levi for these offenses? No. Paul lays out the qualifications for elders and deacons in his letters to Timothy and Titus. And, as the Levites did, some who have been elders and deacons have abused those positions. Does that mean God has said, “Well, okay, I’ll open up the doors and if anyone wants to be an elder or deacon, go right ahead”? Again, no. God does not adapt to the culture; the culture is to adapt to God and His Word. Unfortunately, many “churches” are run by men—and women—who do not fit the qualifications laid out in Scripture. And we wonder why society is running downhill at such an alarming rate. If the church doesn’t care about God’s Word and His commands, why should we expect those outside the church to respect them?
We would see later in Scripture that some unscrupulous kings
would appoint whomever they desired, regardless of ancestry, to be priests. For
example, we see Jeroboam do this very thing in 1st Kings 12:27-31—
27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the
house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to
their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to
Rehoboam king of Judah." 28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two
calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up
to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land
of Egypt!" 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30
Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as
far as Dan. 31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every
class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. He did it again in
the very next chapter, 1st Kings 13:33-34—33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil
way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places;
whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the
high places. 34 And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to
exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth. This becomes a
phrase used repeatedly in the books of Kings and Chronicles, “the sin of
Jeroboam”. His sons would be wiped out, his name dragged for so many years—so
many times the evil kings of Israel are described as “walking in the sin of
Jeroboam”. Not “sins”, but “sin”, singular. This sin here, where he sets up
idol worship and appoints priests from outside of Aaron’s bloodline—directly
against the edict from God. Simply because he wanted glory for himself, the
very glory which belongs to God and God alone! Robert Hawker, the Anglican
priest from the late 1700s and early 1800s, summarized the sinfulness and
wretchedness of these actions quite succinctly
What an awful example doth this man afford of an unreclaimed heart! oh, Reader! Learn from it the vast and infinite importance of the Spirit’s work upon the soul, without whose gracious influence every sinner’s heart would be more and more hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin.
Then of course we have the example of King Saul. 1st
Samuel 13:8-12—8 Then [Saul] waited seven days,
according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the
people were scattered from him. 9 So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering
and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering. 10 Now
it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that
Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11 And
Samuel said, "What have you done?"—you can almost hear the
anger and consternation in Samuel’s voice—Saul
said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did
not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together
at Michmash, 12 then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at
Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a
burnt offering." Saul of course was from the tribe of Benjamin, a
tribe which had no business with the things of the Tabernacle. But Saul
presumed to offer a Burnt Offering to God, and did so without waiting for the
man of God, Samuel, who was descended from Levi through his father Elkanah.
And just as Rehoboam suffered the loss of his kingdom, so
Samuel told Saul he would lose his kingdom as well. 1st Samuel
13:13-14—13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You
have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God,
which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom
over Israel forever. 14 But now your
kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own
heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because
you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." And of course we
know this came true, that King Saul died in battle and his kingdom was given to
the man he tried to kill many times, the man David, And while David is held in
high esteem by the Israelites, while King Saul is held in derision. Why?
Because he disobeyed God.
Part 3 next week
