Priests Had To Remain Put or Die during their Ordination

Leviticus 8:31-36

³¹ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, “Boil the flesh at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and eat it there together with the bread which is in the basket of the ordination offering, just as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’ ³² The remainder of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn in the fire. ³³ You shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day that the period of your ordination is fulfilled; for he will ordain you through seven days. ³⁴ The Lord has commanded to do as has been done this day, to make atonement on your behalf. ³⁵ At the doorway of the tent of meeting, moreover, you shall remain day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the Lord, so that you will not die, for so I have been commanded.” ³⁶ Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses.

Thoughts on the Passage

Once the various consecration steps had been carried out as God commanded Moses to undertake with respect to the ordination of the priests of the tabernacle, they had to stay inside the tent (tabernacle) for seven days. Only then was the ordination complete. Failure to do so meant death for the priests.

Robert Jamieson calls this a “probationary” period. Stay put and do the same thing over and over again.  Jamieson writes:

“During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives [ Lev 8:35 ].”

And here’s Matthew Henry’s take on the passage:

“Gospel ministers are compared to those who served at the altar, for they minister about holy things (1 Co. 9:13), they are God's mouth to the people and the people's to God, the pastors and teachers Christ has appointed to continue in the church to the end of the world: they seem to be meant in that promise which points at gospel times (Isa. 66:21), I will take of them for priests and for Levites. No man may take this honour to himself, but he who upon trial is found to be clothed and anointed by the Spirit of God with gifts and graces to qualify him for it, and who with purpose of heart devotes himself entirely to the service, and is then by the word and prayer (for so every thing is sanctified), and the imposition of the hands of those that give themselves to the word and prayer, set apart to the office, and recommended to Christ as a servant and to the church as a steward and guide. And those that are thus solemnly dedicated to God ought not to depart from his service, but faithfully to abide in it all their days; and those that do so, and continue laboring in the word and doctrine, are to be accounted worthy of double honor, double to that of the Old-Testament priests.”

Our job is to make sure that no matter what our role is in Christian service, we approach it with the same dedication and commitment and “stick-to-it-ness” that God expected of His priests who served the Israelites.  How are we doing?

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