Focus Passage: Numbers 3:1-51
Sharing A Ministry
The priestly heritage is clearly delineated in verses 1-4, in which the sons of Aaron" are equated with "the anointed priests, whom he ordained to minister in the priest's office." It is apparent that the writer intends to comment on more than Nadab and Abihu, who forfeited the priesthood, and Eleazar and Ithamar, who faithfully "served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father." In discussing these two sons the writer treats them as prototypes of all priests who later were to serve in Israel.
This passage may strike some modern reader as meaningless. However, one might remember that the most common task can be transformed into a noble responsibility if one carries to the task an appropriate commitment to fulfill one's role. These were common tasks; yet even they have their place within the shared ministry of those who serve the sanctuary.
The chapter closes with an emphasis on the unique relationship of the Levites to G-d. Every firstborn, human and animal, belonged to G-d. A firstborn animal might be sacrificed, but Israel had rejected the practice of sacrificing the firstborn person. Human sacrifice was abominable to G-d, which is a testimony that G-d certainly would not "sacrifice" a human being. Still, the firstborn did belong to G-d. In order to resolve the issue, verses 40-51 propose that the Levites and the firstborn of their cattle shall uniquely belong to G-d rather than all firstborn persons. Although the chapter does reject the idea of human sacrifice (somehow the writers of the Christian NT, missed this part of the Torah), this is not the primary thrust of the narrative. For the writer's principal concern is to say that there is a unique relationship between the Levites and G-d, one that can be explained in terms of the substitution of the Levite for the firstborn person. So theirs was a unique relationship that the tedium of common tasks could not erode. The joy of their service grew out of the nature of their relationship with G-d, not the level at which some might rate the importance of what they did.
Contemporary persons need to recapture the emphasis on the shared ministry that undergirds this chapter. There is a continuing need to discover the dynamic quality of one's relationship with G-d the validation of one's vocation.
Shalom U'Vracha, Thomas and Greta
