Rules for Priests : as we read this chapter the rules and
regulations for the Israelite priesthood seem hugely complicated, strict and
demanding, and maybe we think “how can this be relevant to us today…”
Verses 16 – 23 seem particularly hard about anyone with a
defect or disfigurement, but perhaps this is a further reminder that the priest
had to match as closely as possible the perfect God he served.
This surely leads us on to Jesus – the one perfect sacrifice,
made once and for all upon the cross.
Paul reminds us that the old covenant is just that – the old
covenant, and quoting from Jeremiah, we read in Hebrews 8:8 “the time is
coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant … and it will not be
like the covenant I made with their forefathers.” Hebrews 4:14 goes on to say, “therefore,
since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God.”
One of the great riches of reading some of the harder parts
of the Old Testament is knowing its fulfilment in Christ in the New Testament This is one such passage!
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