The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 360

which both classes are only distantly striving after. The yriests, by conforming to certain regulations, were r~lly s~o~ng ,to the people what al ehou_ld eventually be 39 the people of God, Keepmg this LD view, we may profitably notice three requisites of the priesthood. I. PHYSICAL PERFECTION. God ordained that he should be served only by men phy- sically perfect. A physical blemish disqualified a man from office, though not from support. This was surely to show that it is the perfect whom God purposes to gather around him. It is not descent nor connection, but personal perfection, which qualifies for Divine service. Now, in this present life, the ideal was only once realized, viz. in the person of the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. He was physically and he was spiritually perfect. He was" holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." In him, therefore, God secured a perfect servant. And although God's servants do not 39 yet realize this idea of personal perfection, they are on the way to realize it. This constitutes the kernel of our Christian hope. The will of God is our sanctification; that is, our perfect adaptation in body, soul, and spirit for his service. Through the grace of God we are "going on to perfection," and a time is coming when we shall be presented "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" before God. Hence we take this physical perfection required of the priests 39 a promise of perfection through grace in God's own time, that we may all serve him as priests in the sanctuary on high. II. DoMESTIO PURITY. The Jewish priesthood were educated in the family for their work in the Church of God. Celibacy and isolation were not deemed conducive to sanctity of service. The priest was to be the head of a household, particular in selecting a pure and suitable wife, and ruling his household well. It may bo safely asserted that it is only in such circumstances that a full experience of human nature antl society can ordinarily be secured. The family is the Divine unit, the training- school for the larger society, the Church. Unless the priests, therefore, had a proper position at home, and governed properly their own households, they were not likely to rule well in the Church of God. Ell's case is surely one in point. A slack hand at home, he showed similar slackness in hie public administration, and the interests of religion Sllfi'ered. And just as in the former case physical perfection betokened the personal perfection of the future life which the Lord's servants are to secure, so the domestic purity of the priesthood betokens the perfect society into which the Lord's people are to come. We see a similar adumbration of this in the New Testament direction about bishops and deacons being the husbands of proper wives and ruling their households well. The government in families is the preparation for the government in the Church of God. The reason is that the Church is the larger family. And so is the completed Church above to be a perfect family. We are on the way to a family circle and a family life of which the home circle on earth is the shadow. God will give his people the oppor- tunity of serving him amid perfect social conditions. It is in following up this thought that the Church collectively is likened to a pure and perfect bride-the Lamb's wife. It is the same thought which likens heaven to an everlasting home. And, indeed, society, as thus constituted and secured, is but the outcome of that Divine nature which, as a Trinity in unity, secured for itself perfect society from everlasting, and creates the same in the glorious purposes of gmce.1 III. PunLio SPIBIT. We mention this as a third characteristic of the priesthood. Thia was illustrated in perfection by the high priest,. who was to allow no private sorrow to interfere with his public service. The other priests were allowed more liberty in this regard, although th~irs also had v_ery ~~finite limi_ts; but the one great princip)e reinforced by these regulations was pubhc spmt. The pnest was to feel that, as a public officer, a representative man, it was his duty to sacrifice the personal and private to the common weal. Now it is instructive to observe that it was this principle which Jesus carried out all thr~ugh. Hie life and death were the sacrifice of the private and the personal to the public need. The same spirit is imparted by the grace of God, and is more or less 1 Of. Preeeeneee admirable volume, 'La Famille Ohretienne,' paaaim. OH.UL 1-24.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 825