Leviticus 9-10 "The Coming of the New Creation"

"On the eighth day"

It is remarkable how important the eighth day was to Israel.

You might think that the seventh day would be the most important.

After all, God blessed and sanctified the seventh day in Genesis 2.

We heard in chapter 8 of the ordination offerings,

the preparation for entrance into the priestly service of God.

Now in chapter 9, we hear of the commencement of that service.

This day-this eighth day-was the dawn of a new creation.

Or from our perspective (on this side of the cross),

the dawn of the shadow of the new creation.

But for Aaron and his sons-and for all Israel-this day was the dawning of a new creation.

The eighth day had come.

First Israel brought its sacrifices to the Lord (1-7):

a sin offering, a burnt offering, and a fellowship offering, together with a grain offering.

Why this special offering?

So that Yahweh would appear to them.

First they offered the sacrifices for the priests (9:8-14)

The priests must be in a right relation to God before they can mediate for the people.

Even after seven days of consecration,

they must continue to offer sin offerings and burnt offerings.

Then they offered the sacrifices for the people (9:15-21)

After being purified themselves, the priests could now procure atonement for the people.

The sin offering, burnt offering, and peace offering.

After offering the sacrifices, Aaron blessed the people (9:22)

Having received God's blessing, he now mediates that to the people.

Then for the first time, Aaron joins Moses in the Tabernacle,

and when they came out they blessed the people (9:23-24).

And then the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people.

Fire came out from the presence of the Lord, and it consumed the burnt offering

and the fat of the peace offering.

God had accepted the sacrifices.

More precisely, God had accepted Aaron's priesthood.

A new day had dawned.

The new creation had come-at least in a picture.

But with the blessings of the new creation also came the warnings.

God is a holy God.

You cannot treat the new creation as a trivial thing.

Nadab and Abihu found that out the hard way.

Nadab and Abihu had stood on Mt Sinai

with Moses, Aaron, and the 70 elders of Israel in Exodus 24.

They had partaken of the covenant meal with God on the mountain.

Yet they did not regard Yahweh as holy.

They did not honor him or obey his Word.

They offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command.

What did they do?

They offered incense before the LORD,

which was something that only the High Priest was allowed to do.

Exodus 30:7-9 specified that the High Priest was to offer incense

every morning and every evening,

on the altar of incense;

and that "you shall not offer unauthorized incense on it."

Nadab and Abihu had no business offering incense before Yahweh.

And so fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them.

Fire had come from the presence of the LORD in a sign of approval that morning.

But now, it came a sign of divine displeasure.

Moses then said to Aaron (verse 3).

Those who dwell near the LORD are in a perilous position.

The higher office involves a greater degree of responsibility,

"for the danger of falling short and experiencing the Lord's punishment on sin

is proportionate to the grace that one has received."

(See Amos 3:12, Luke 12:48, and 1 Peter 4:17)

Aaron's response is a powerful silence.

He acknowledged God's right to do this.

He knew that he had no just claim against God.

His sons had sinned.

They had violated the holiness of God.

And so he remained silent.

Since the priests were engaged in the worship of God,

Aaron and his sons were not allowed to mourn.

(Verses 4-7)

Their cousins were chosen to bear the bodies of Nadab and Abihu

out of the courtyard of the sanctuary.

The priests could not be defiled by touching a corpse.

They could not even go to the funeral.

Moses assures them that the rest of the family may mourn,

but they have had the holy oil of anointing poured upon them.

If they leave the temple service, then they too will die.

Do you remember Jesus' words?

When one disciple said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father," Jesus replied,

"Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." (Matthew 8:21-22)

You have the holy anointing upon you.

You must not be distracted from your service to Christ.

God then gives Aaron certain regulations for the priesthood:

First, when engaged in the priestly service, they were not to drink any alcoholic beverage.

There is no hint that Nadab and Abihu were drunk,

this is rather a prohibition of the use of alcohol

while the priests were on duty at the temple.

Alcohol was used in pagan rituals in attempts to make contact with the spirit world.

This is forbidden to Israel's priests.

They could drink when they were off duty, but not when they were in the tabernacle.

Second, they were to distinguish between the holy and the profane, the unclean and the clean.

The priests were the judges of religious matters in Israel.

They had to understand the distinction between the holy and the profane,

the unclean and the clean.

This will be the focus of the second half of Leviticus.

And finally, they were to teach the Israelites all the decrees of the LORD.

Not only were the priests the judges of religious matters,

they were also to be the teachers of Israel.

Having received this instruction, Moses then reminds Aaron and his remaining sons

of their responsibilities to partake of the grain and fellowship offerings (10:12-15).

Then he inquired after the goat of the sin offering,

which had been offered for the people (10:16-20).

When he discovered that Aaron and his sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, had not eaten the meat,

but had burned it in the fire, he was very angry-and no doubt afraid.

God had already struck down two of Aaron's sons-would the whole priesthood be destroyed?

But Aaron explained that in the light of the events of the day,

they believed that God would not be pleased if the priests had eaten the sin offering.

And Moses was satisfied with this explanation.

Perhaps they should have eaten it anyway,

but they did not disobey out of rebellion.

Rather, they believed that their somewhat unorthodox practice was justified

by the unusual events of the day.

When the priests sin, it creates a real conundrum.

What do you do when the mediator is unworthy?

This is why Hebrews delights in Jesus.

Hebrews 7:11-28

If the eighth day of Aaron's consecration brought the glory of the new creation in a shadow,

then the eighth day of Jesus' consecration-the resurrection on the first day of the new creation,

indeed brings the new and better covenant.