“And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts; and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord of hosts. “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; so he feared Me and was reverent before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept My ways but have shown partiality in the law.” verses 1-9
The book of Malachi was recorded at the time when the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets were drawing to a close, and it was one of the last of the thirty-nine Old Testament books to be written. In this passage, we need to examine the problem that the prophet Malachi had with the Israelites.
In verse one, it says, “O priests,” thus making it clear precisely to whom these words are addressed. Then from verse 7, it says,
“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts. verses 7-8
It may be that those who are not well familiar with the Bible, and in particular the Old Testament and historical events in Old Testament times, may not know who Levi was or what a priest was.
Simeon and Levi were two of Jacob’s twelve sons, and were both born to the same mother. They had a younger sister called Dinah, but one of the princes of the land of Canaan fell deeply in love with her and took her by force. Then he went with his father to Jacob and offered to give him whatever he asked in return for the young girl’s hand in marriage.
At that time, Jacob’s sons said they could not give their sister to a person who was uncircumcised and they demanded that the whole tribe be circumcised. They agreed to these terms and all the men in the city were circumcised. Then, when the men were in pain, Simeon and Levi entered the city and killed them all with the edge of the sword.
Then Jacob rebuked Simeon and Levi, saying, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land. . . . They will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed my household and I.” (see Genesis chapter 34)
Time passed, and then, through Joseph, Jacob’s family went down to Egypt. Just before Jacob died there, he prophesied about the fate of his twelve sons and their descendants. We read this in Genesis chapter 49. Let’s read the prophecies he made about Simeon and Levi.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. verses 5-7
It is very difficult to understand the prophecies that Jacob made regarding his twelve sons. To understand them properly, you need to know all about the nation by the name of Israel. It would be very difficult to understand this with only a superficial knowledge of the Bible. If you look into the geographical features of the land of Israel, which agricultural products grow well in which regions, and which animals inhabit which areas, you will find Genesis chapter 49 to be very interesting. You will find it fascinating, and find yourself wondering how these prophecies that were made in the land of Egypt could have been so precise. This is not a passage to be taken lightly.
When Jacob spoke about each one of them individually, except for Simeon and Levi about whom he prophesied together. What is more, he cursed them rather than giving them a blessing. When Jacob said, “instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place,” it indicates that he had not forgotten the sin of murder they had committed when they repaid their sister’s enemy. His words applied to their lives, but also to their descendants.
Yet in the passage we read above from the book of Malachi, it says, “My covenant with Levi” (2:4). Later, the tribe of the Levites were made the priests in Israel. The chief priests in particular were the direct descendants of Moses’ elder brother Aaron.
From that time until Jesus came to this world—a period of about 1,450 years—the people of the tribe of Levi were entrusted with the duty of carrying out all the sacrifices that the Israelites offered to God. They became what might be referred to as religious leaders, guiding the thinking of the people. They had definitely been cursed along with Simeon with the words, “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel,” so how did things change like this?
There was an incident that occurred after the Israelites had come out of Egypt and were in the wilderness of Sinai. At that time, God had called Moses to come up Mount Sinai, and for the first time in the history of mankind, He gave His word in writing. God Himself gave His word—the ten commandments—written on tablets of stone, and the Bible tells us it was “written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18). You shall not worship idols, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not murder, and so on.
The Israelites were waiting at the foot of the mountain while Moses was receiving God’s word, but when they had waited almost forty days and he had not come down, they became restless. So they turned to Aaron, Moses’ elder brother, and said that since they did not know what had become of Moses on the mountain, Aaron should make a golden calf for them to follow, and they brought their golden earrings to him to be used for the task. Aaron made a golden calf and they ate, drank, and played before it. In other words, pandemonium broke out in the camp.
Having received the two tablets of stone, Moses was making his way down the mountain when he heard the sound of singing in the distance. As he drew nearer to the camp he saw that the Israelites had made a golden calf and were dancing and bowing down before it. Moses was furious. He cast down the tablets of stone on which the ten commandments were written, and they broke into pieces. Then he said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” At that time, it was the members of the tribe of Levi who stood on Moses’ side. Then, at Moses’ command, the Levites drew their swords and massacred their brethren. There was a huge slaughter.
After that, Moses went up Mount Sinai again. This time, he took with him two tablets of stone that he had cut out by his own hand, and he received the ten commandments from the Lord once more. He received them two times. When the woman caught in the act of adultery was brought before Jesus, He stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger. When He raised Himself up, He said to the Jews, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,” and then He stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger again. Those who heard this, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.” (see John 8:1-11)
The law that Israel received was a shadow of God’s perfect righteousness, but the tablets of stone that God first gave to them were broken. This was because they had set up a golden calf and were worshiping it as an idol. Similarly, God’s word in the Old Testament includes a tremendous number of laws, but the Israelites disregarded God and turned to worshiping idols. Israel appears in the Old Testament as the wife of God, but the Bible tells us that they completely ignored God’s word. In the book of Jeremiah it says, “‘Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,’ says the Lord.” (3:20).
In the letter to the Romans it says, “For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin” (3:9). Simeon and Levi, present images of the Jews and the Gentiles. Both these sons were cursed together, but when the tablets of stone containing the law were broken, the tribe of Levi stood on the side of Moses and slaughtered their brethren with the sword. As a result, God made a covenant with them.
In this respect, Levi is a shadow of the church. The second set of two tablets of stone that Moses brought down the mountain after this were kept in the ark of the covenant as long as the history of the Israelites continued. This is a shadow of the covenant that has been given to the church. This is precisely the order we find in the Bible.
Let’s turn to Deuteronomy chapter 33. As the representative of the law, Moses was not able to enter the land of Canaan. Just before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, Moses blessed them, but the tribe of Simeon was omitted from these blessings. Let’s take a look at what he said about the tribe of Levi.
And of Levi he said: “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, whom You tested at Massah, and with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah, who says of his father and mother, ‘I have not seen them’; nor did he acknowledge his brothers, or know his own children; for they have observed Your word and kept Your covenant. They shall teach Jacob Your judgments, and Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You, and a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar. Bless his substance, Lord, and accept the work of his hands; strike the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise not again.” verses 8-11
Is this a blessing, or a curse? Clearly, it is a blessing. First both Simeon and Levi were cursed, but here Simeon was nowhere to be seen, and the tribe of Levi was blessed.
Many metaphors and shadows appear in the Bible, but when the talk is of two brothers, we need to pay particularly close attention. The elder brother is always pushed to the back. This is not because God despised the firstborn; it is to present us with an image of Israel. The Bible talks constantly about Israel and the church which has received the tremendous blessing of becoming the bride of Christ in the place of Israel, because Israel had Jesus crucified.
This is a secret that is hidden away within the Old Testament. This is something that cannot possibly be understood merely by reading the Old Testament, but we are able to understand this because we know the New Testament. When we look at the Bible in this way, we can see that the tribe of Levi is a shadow of the church that God has granted through Jesus Christ.
The tribe of Levi was separated out from the twelve tribes. Originally, Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn, but he forfeited his birthright by committing adultery with his father’s concubine, and so the birthright was given to the tribe of Joseph. According to the law, the firstborn was to receive twice as much of his father’s inheritance than his other brothers. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and they each formed one tribe, making up the twelve tribes of Israel. Also, it was Ephraim, the younger of Joseph’s two sons, who received the birthright of the firstborn. The tribe of Levi were scattered throughout the twelve tribes, being distinguished as a special tribe, excising the authority of priests. This is an important lesson for us. This, too, is a shadow of the church.
There were statutes that the tribe of Levi had to follow in order to offer sacrifices in the tabernacle for the twelve tribes. Yet, at around the time when the book of Malachi was written—about four hundred years before Jesus Christ was born—the actions of the priests were evil in the sight of God. Within the history of Israel, there were kings who rebelled, there were prophets who bore false witness and rebelled, and now in the book of Malachi we find there were also priests who went astray and rebelled even though God had established a covenant with them. The kings, the prophets, and the priests were the people of authority who led the entire nation of Israel, but they became corrupt.
These three categories of people, the kings, the prophets, and the priests, were no more than shadows of Jesus Christ. As mere human beings, it was inevitable that they would fail. Jesus came to this world as King of the Israel, as Prophet, and has High Priest. It says this in the Bible.
Before Jesus was born in this world, however, at the time when the Old Testament prophecies came to an end, people would pay money and conspire with the ruling powers in order to secure a position as priest. God had lamented when He saw the kings of Israel building altars in high places and burning incense to idols; He had lamented when false prophets appeared amongst the Israelites and the prophets of Baal persecuted Elijah and the Israelites persecuted Jeremiah; and now the priests had gone astray and become corrupt. When God saw this happening, He had these words recorded through the prophet Malachi.
The Significance of the Tabernacle and the Temple
In Exodus chapter 25, we read the instructions that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai regarding the method by which the tabernacle was to be built. Around the tabernacle, there was a fence that was made of linen curtains hung between pillars. There was a gate on the east side, leading in towards the west. With the tabernacle at the center, the Israelites would set up their camp with three tribes on each side. From above, it would have appeared in the image of a cross.
The priests would pass from east to west, going from the gate on the east side through to the Holy Place. There was also an entrance to the Holy Place. It was a little different in size to the main gate, but it was made of the same materials and colors. Continuing westwards through the Holy Place, they came to the veil, and behind the veil there was the Most Holy Place. This was the place where God was.
Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans and traveled towards the west. Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden of Eden towards the east. In order to go back into the garden, they would have had to have gone towards the west, but at the east of the garden there were cherubim with flaming swords that turned every way, guarding the way to the tree of life (see Genesis 3:24). In this way, the Bible shows us repeatedly that in order to receive the blessing that comes from God, man must proceed from east to west.
The white linen curtains that surrounded the tabernacle represent the pure righteousness of God. In the book of Revelation, it says that the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints (see 19:8). Imagine this image. There was the court, there were the twelve tribes surrounding the court, and there was the Holy Place inside the court.
Where were the Gentiles at that time? The Gentiles were outside all of this. If a Gentile wanted to go into the Most Holy Place, he had to pass through the twelve tribes and enter the court of the tabernacle.
In the same way, we need to understand about Israel through the Bible, and learn about the sins the Israelites committed and the blessings they received when they kept God’s word. Then we can find Jesus Christ in the mist of all this. What we believe and know through the Bible is neither an ungrounded nor made-up story. God appeared in the world
| 정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다. |
 |
이전기사 :<2021.01> 성경을 가까이하시기 바랍니다
다음기사 :<2021.01> 십자가의 피로 화평을 이루신 예수님