The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 159

themselves. 2. It consisted in bestowing benedictions (see Numb. vi. 23-27, "Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel. ... And they shall put my Name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them"). 3. It consisted in mediating between God and man, as in the rebellion of Korah, Datban, and Abiram, when "Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them : for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people : and be put on incense, and made an atone- ment for the people. And he stood between the dead and the Ii ving; and the plague was stayed" (Numb. xvi. 46--48). 4. It consisted in their being the teachers of the people, "'!'hat ye may teach-the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord bath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses" (eh. x.11). "They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy Law" (Deut. xxxiii. 10). "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the Law at bis mouth" (Mal. ii. 7). Besides being teachers, they were judges of differences, "By their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried" (Deut. xxi. 5; see Deut. xvii. 8-12; 2 Chron. xiL 8-10). They were also leaders of the people's devotions : " Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, 0 Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?" (Joel ii. 17). 5. In addition," to the priests belonged the care of the sanctuary and sacred utensils, the preservation of the fire on the brazen altar, the burning of incense on the golden altar, the dressing and lighting of the lamps of the golden candlestick, the charge of the shew-bread and other like duties. They were necessarily concerned in all those multitudinous acts of the Israelites which were connected with sacrifices, such as the accomplishment of the Nazarite vow, the ordeal of jealousy, the expiation of an unknown murder, the deter- mination of the unclean and of the cleansed leprous persons, garments, and houses; the regulation of the calendar, the valuation of devoted property which was to be redeemed; -these and a multitude of other duties followed naturally from their priestly office. They were also to blow the silver trumpets on various occasions of their use, nnd, in connection with this, to exhort the soldiers about to engage in battle to boldness, because they went to fight under the Lord" (Gardiner). IV. THE EXERCISE OF THE PRIEST'S ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONBWABCONFINED EXCLUSIVELY TO THEm ORDER. It has been argued that the office of performing sacrifice was shared by p) the Jewish monarchs, (2) the rulers, (3) the Levites, (4) the people in general. I. 'lhe first hypothesis has been supported by an appeal to the following passages:- Solomon "came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all bis servants" (1 Kings iii. 15); "And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord" (1 Kings viii. 62, 63). They do not, however, moan more than that Solomon presented the offerings for sacrifice, the essential part of which ceremony wus no doubt performed, as always, by priests. Saul, indeed, sacrificed at Gilgul, on plea of necessity, but, in spite of even that plea, was reproved by Sllmuel as hllving "done foolishly" (1 Sam. xiii. 13); and Uzziah "went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense;" but Azariah the priest "withstood Uzzillh the king, and said unto him, It appcrtaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary ; for thou hast trespassed ; neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God. . . . And the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord" (2 Chron. xxvi. 16-20). These cases disprove the priestly power of the monarch. 2. The supposition that the nobles could perform priestly acts rests upon the fact that the name cohen is sometimes applied to them (2 Sllm. viii. 18; 1 Kings iv. 2, 6); but the word (the derivation of which is doubtful) appears to hllve a wider usage than that of "priest," and to moan also "officers" (cf. 1 Chron. xviii. 17). 3. The destruction of the company of Korab, because, being Levites, they "sought the priesthood also" (Numb. xvi. 10), disposes of the priestly rights of the tribe of Levi. 4. And the swallowing up of Dathan and Abiram, whose sin was that 190 THE BOOK OF LlllVlTIOUS. Coit. vi:n.1-38.