Show THE PRIESTS OF THE MOSAIC LAW has been made to the sacrifices which constituted the main part of the divine services of the mosaic economy the d duty city of presenting nR these sacrifices before the lord of keeping the fire burning and of administering in ID the sacred places belonged to the priesthood which had been conferred upon the tribe of levi the presidency of this priesthood was first conferred upon aaron ana he was to be ablated by his four sons bons nadae abihu eleazar and ithamar ex 1 these were solemnly consecrated for their holy calling by washings and as described lev viii according to the law the presidency WAS to go from the father tto to the first horn son BOD but aarons first two sons nadae and abihu transgressed and were burnt to death a short abort time after they had been set apart wherefore the presidency went over to aarons third son eleazar in his family it remained for about three hundred years when through the sins of the sons of ell it was entrusted to the descendants of Tt hamar As the jewish policy deceli ed the right of succession was altogether disregarded andlar and at the time of our lord an infidel appointed by the romans held the sacred office the duties of this functionary was to enter once a year the holy of hollos holies and present the sacrifice of atonement before the lord he was the medium through which god gave revelations to the people being the mediator in his official robes his position as such was ty typified piped over his white tunic he wore a woolen robe of blue having on its hem small golden bells belle ex 81 84 over this was a short garment without sleeves an ephod of fine linen inwrought with gold and purple and having on each shoulder strap a precious stone engrav en with the names of the twelve tribes six on each shoulder ex 6 5 12 in front was the breastplate breast plate of judgment composed of twelve precious stones on each of which was the name of one of the twelve tribes en graven his head was aswed with a kind of mitre at the fronti of which was a gold plate bearing the inscription holiness to the lord 21 connected with the breastplate breast plate was the arim and the sacred instrument by which this ecclesiastical dignitary wan enabled to read the mind and will of the lord all the descendants of levi were priests some of them were engaged in slaying the daily sacrifices they could decide what was clean or unclean etc some were merely assistants to the priests or were engaged as singers in the choir porters guards etc I 1 chron xiv 25 26 and when not engaged in actual temple service they would serve as the instructors of the people they were in fact the lawyers doctors and professors of the people the maintenance of these them men was amply provided for As they were the servants of the people they were to be supported by the people forty eight cities were set apart for their exclusive use each with a tract of land for pasture thirteen of these were inhabited by the priests in actual service and thirty five were for the rest of the tribe of bevi 1 8 A tenth part of the produce of the land and a tenth part of the cattle were also to be given to the levites the priests were entitled to a tenth part of this tithing besides the people were supposed to expend a certain amount each year in feast offe Dge and of these the levites were to have their share further the ski as the breast the shoulder of o offerings and of pin fin offer ings inge as well as bread und and wine and oil of certain offerings belonged to them and they were to share it with the poor deut beut xiv 12 1 it will be seen that the mosaic law enjoined continual offerings for ecclesiastical sias purposes the first of the fruit of the earth was given as a sign of gratitude for the safe entrance into canaan dent xiv 2 everything firstborn first born both of man and animal was to be consecrated d because the first born was spared at the time of the exodus from egypt ex xiii 2 A tenth abenth parth of all produce whether of ef the land or of the flocks and herds was the lords the law was and all the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree is the lords it is holy unto the lord and if a man will at all redeem aught of his ti thesbe eshe shall add thereunto a fifth part thereof lev 30 0 81 that is to say may suppose he had grown a hundred bushels of wheat at 50 cents ft a bushel he owed then ton ten bushels equal to 5 if he now lor for some reason or other wished to keep the wheat be could do so provided he paid the 6 and added 1 a fifth part to it thelah the law concerning the tithing of animals was that every tenth animal that basseth under the rod JI 9 I when counted was to be turned in as tithing the owner was not allowed to select the animals but every tenth as they chanced to pus pass out through the door one by huep one was to be given whether it be good or bad he could not change it and if he change it at all then both it and the change thereof the beof shall be holy it hall ahall not be redeemed lev besides this tithing the law provides that another tenth part of tho the increase of the produce of the land should be spent in feast offerings this fact is ie not commonly known but the passage relating thereto is plain thou truly tithe all the increase of thy seed that the field bri ngeth forth year by year and thou feat eat before the lord thy god in the place which he be shall choose to place his name there the tithe of thy corn of thy wine and of aile thine oil a and the firstlings first lings of thy berds herds and of thy flocks 11 the rule regarding this tithing shows plainly that it is something separate frome the tithing to which has been previously referred for it says and if the way be too long for thee so that thou art not able to carry it or if the place be too tar far from thee which the lord thy god shall choose to set his name dame there then shall thou turn torn it into money and bind up op the money in thy hand and nd go into the place which the lord boord thy god shall choose and thou halt ahalt bestow that money for whatever y soul listeth after for oxen or for beep or f fr for r wine and thou ahalt it eat there before the lord thy god and thou shall rejoice rejoice thou and thy household and d the levite levato that is within thy hy gates thou shall not forsake him for lae he has no V part rt nor inheritance with thee aut xiv A two sets of ti things were required then one was paid into the common treasury for the maintenance of the religious services and for the poor the other was to be spent by the people in social gatherings of a religious nature and finally devoted jews were expected to give special donations on various occasions all voluntary volu neary property of various kinds was continually tit lUally consecrated to the lord all these burdens might be considered heavy but it is a fact that the jews as long as they conscientiously kept these laws prospered in a remarkable degree the country yielded abundantly bun dantly cities surrounded with luxuriant orchards and fields sprang UP p on every little hill the enemy was kept at bay it is also a fact that poverty came as a result of deviation from the laws of god well might the last prophet of that dispensation say aay return unto me and I 1 will return unto yon vou saith the hordof lord of hosts 76 beare are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation bring ye all all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in in my house and prove me now herewith saith the we urd lord of hosts if I 1 will not open you the he windows of heaven and pour you out a II blessing essing that there shall not be room enough to receive it and I 1 will rebuke the ue devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground neither shall the vine cast her fruit before toe the time in the field saith the lord of nosta hosts and au all nations shall call au you yon b 1171 blessed 8 d for ye shall be a delightsome d 1 mal iii 7 12 to understand the principle involved in this law it to is necessary to remember that one of the apostles of the new testament paul incidentally refers to it asene as one of the doctrines that leads to perfection repentance faith baptisms laying on of hands resurrection and judgment he refers to as the rudiments or first principles of christianity and he says let us leave these and go on unto perfection na in so doing he proceeds to consider abrahams abraham meeting with Melch isedee to whom the patriarch gave a tenth part of all ally thereby indicating one of the stepehn steps on the real way towards perfection selfishness is a common sin of human nature like all sins it must be overcome by repentance but repentance must take a practical form and not be confined to a more mere mental process hence this wonderful law of sacrifice he who has been so trained that he finds pleasure in laying his all upon the altar of thy the lord according to lelis his directions may indeed be said to have reached a state of perfection far in advance of that which can be obtained by him who never knew by actual experience peri ence enoe that it is more blessed to give than to re receive redelle |