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Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

The patriarchs, the firstborn and the Levites

In the second year after the exodus, camped at Sinai, God told Moses who would serve at His tabernacle. He named one tribe, and He gave the reason:

✝️ Numbers 3:12-13 (ESV)

12 "Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD."

"Instead of" raises a question the rest of Scripture answers: before Aaron and the Levites, who offered sacrifice to God, and was any of them a priest?

In one sentence: Before Sinai the heads of families offered sacrifice for their households, yet Scripture calls none of them a priest; the title belongs to outsiders such as Melchizedek until God appoints Aaron's sons and gives the Levites to serve them in place of Israel's firstborn, because priesthood is always God's appointment (Hebrews 5:4), and He appointed His Son Jesus, who "holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever" (Hebrews 7:24, ESV).

This study grew out of Jesus, Priest in the Order of Melchizedek, and traces the history that study's argument assumes.

Key Takeaways

(This section follows the Key Takeaways format — see that page for what each part is for.)

Lessons about Jesus

  • God appointed Jesus. "Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you'" (Hebrews 5:5, ESV). Before Aaron, no one in Abraham's family was called a priest; the office waited for God's call, and so did Jesus.
  • Jesus is the last holder of the office. Numbers 3 opens with two of Aaron's sons dead, and "the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office" (Hebrews 7:23, ESV). Jesus lives, so His priesthood passes to no one.
  • Jesus makes His people priests. He "made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father" (Revelation 1:6, ESV), and Peter calls the church "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9, ESV).

Memory verses

✝️ Hebrews 7:24-25 (ESV)

24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

✝️ Hebrews 5:4 (ESV)

4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

Be Transformed

  • Think. Your access to God rests on a priest God appointed, who lives forever and keeps His charge perfectly.
  • Attitude. Draw near with confidence. Jesus "always lives to make intercession" for you (Hebrews 7:25, ESV).
  • Do. Bring one person to God in prayer by name each day this week, as one of the "royal priesthood" Jesus has made (1 Peter 2:9, ESV).

Prayer

Father, You have always chosen who may come near You, and You chose Your Son Jesus to be our great High Priest. Thank You that He lives forever and never hands His office to another. We have failed at every charge You gave us; keep us near You through Him, and make us faithful priests who bring others to You.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Study outline

Numbers 3 in its setting

Numbers opens at Sinai, "on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt" (Numbers 1:1, ESV). Chapters 1-4 order the camp before it moves: a census of the fighting men, the tribes arranged around the tabernacle, and then two censuses of Levi. The ESV Study Bible notes that the first Levite census counts every male from a month old so that their number can be matched against Israel's firstborn males.1

Chapter 3 begins with a death. "Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children" (Numbers 3:4, ESV). Aaron's two eldest sons held the priesthood and lost it. The chapter about God's chosen servants opens by recording that the chosen can fail.

Then come the Levites' duties (Numbers 3:5-10). They are given to Aaron and his sons (Numbers 3:9), guard the tent of meeting and its furnishings, and serve at the tabernacle. The priesthood itself stays with Aaron's family: Aaron and his sons "shall guard their priesthood," and "if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death" (Numbers 3:10, ESV). The ESV Study Bible sums up the Levites' two tasks as guarding the tabernacle from intruders and ministering at it.2 Two offices stand side by side, then: priests who serve at the altar, and Levites who serve the priests (Numbers 18:7).

The count closes the substitution. The firstborn males numbered 22,273 (Numbers 3:43) against 22,000 Levites (Numbers 3:39). The 273 left over had no Levite to stand in for them, so each was redeemed for "five shekels per head" (Numbers 3:46-47, ESV). God matched His servants to the people they served one for one, and had the remainder redeemed in silver.

This shows that God decides who draws near to Him and on what terms. He says "mine" three times in two verses and seals it with His name: "They shall be mine: I am the LORD."

Before Sinai: fathers at the altar

Before Sinai, the man who offers sacrifice is the head of the family, acting for his household:

  • Noah "built an altar to the LORD... and offered burnt offerings on the altar" after the flood (Genesis 8:20, ESV).
  • Abraham builds altars where God appears to him (Genesis 12:7-8), and on Mount Moriah "took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son" (Genesis 22:13, ESV).
  • Isaac builds an altar at Beersheba and calls on the name of the LORD (Genesis 26:25).
  • Jacob "offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread" (Genesis 31:54, ESV), and on the way to Egypt "offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac" (Genesis 46:1, ESV).
  • Job, "a man in the land of Uz" with no place in Israel's line (Job 1:1, ESV), rose early to "offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all," one for each of his children (Job 1:5, ESV).

None of these men is called a priest. The noun כֹּהֵן (kohen, H3548, "priest") occurs seven times in Genesis, and every one names someone outside Abraham's family: Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18), Potiphera "priest of On" (Genesis 41:45, 50; 46:20), and the priests of Egypt, whose land Joseph did not buy (Genesis 47:22, 26). Exodus continues the pattern until Sinai. Jethro is "the priest of Midian" (Exodus 2:16; 3:1; 18:1), and he too offers sacrifice: he "brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God," and Aaron and the elders came "to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God" (Exodus 18:12, ESV).

That is settled on the text. What it means is a matter of inference, held here with moderate confidence: the fathers of Genesis offer for their own households, while the title kohen belongs to men who hold a standing office for a city or a nation. Melchizedek is both king and priest of Salem; Potiphera is priest of On, an Egyptian city. Among God's own people, the title waits for Sinai.

At Sinai: priests before Aaron?

Two verses at Sinai complicate the picture. Before Aaron is appointed (Exodus 28:1), God tells Moses, "let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves" (Exodus 19:22, ESV), and warns, "do not let the priests and the people break through" (Exodus 19:24, ESV). A few chapters later, Moses "sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings" (Exodus 24:5, ESV).

Who were these priests? The text does not say, and interpreters divide.

  • Already serving. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible allows that they were "arguably" men who already functioned as priests before God instituted the Aaronic priesthood, and links them to the young men of 24:5.3 The Mishnah assigns all sacrificial service before the tabernacle to the firstborn (see What later tradition added).
  • Anticipating Aaron's sons. The same note judges it "more likely" that the verse looks ahead to Aaron and his sons, and to Nadab and Abihu in particular.3 The ESV Study Bible observes that the priests are mentioned before God assigns the role to Aaron's family, and that if Aaron's sons are meant, they are grouped with the people as those restricted from the mountain.4

Either reading leaves the conclusion above standing. If these were household or tribal priests, they served briefly and without a recorded appointment; if they were Aaron's sons, the narrator is using the title they were about to receive. What Exodus does record is the calling of the whole nation: "you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6, ESV). Peter applies the same words to the church: "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9, ESV), "a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5, ESV).

From the firstborn to the Levites

Between the exodus and Sinai, God makes two claims on Israel's sons.

The firstborn claimed. After the tenth plague spared Israel's firstborn, God claims them: "Sanctify to me all the firstborn... It is mine" (Exodus 13:2, WEB). The ESV Study Bible's note on Numbers 3:11-13 draws the implication: Israel's firstborn sons, spared when Egypt's firstborn died, should have served God in the sanctuary.5 Exodus says they were claimed; what their service would have been, Exodus does not describe.

The Levites in their place. When Moses called "whoever is on Yahweh's side" after the golden calf, "all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him", and no other tribe is named. They carried out the judgment that followed, and were told, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh... that he may give you a blessing today" (Exodus 32:26-29, WEB). The ESV Study Bible reads the Levites' replacing of the firstborn as following from this incident.5

Numbers 3:12 then narrates the transfer. The key word is תַּחַת (tachat, H8478, "instead of"): God took the Levites "instead of" every firstborn. It is restated at Numbers 8:16: "instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me" (WEB).

So the service God claimed from every firstborn son passed to one tribe. Within that tribe God had already named Aaron's family to the priesthood proper (Exodus 28:1, given before the golden calf). The Levites serve at the tabernacle; Aaron's sons alone serve as priests at the altar (Numbers 3:10; 18:7), and the two eldest of them die in Numbers 3:4.

What later tradition added

Scripture never calls the firstborn, Adam or Enoch a priest. Later Jewish writings do, and those readings are widespread enough that a reader will meet them. Each is set out here with the text it grows from and how much weight it bears.

The firstborn

The Mishnah states it directly: "Before the Tabernacle was set up bamot (local altars) were permitted and the service was performed by the firstborn. After the Tabernacle was set up bamot were forbidden and the service was performed by priests."6 This is the source of the common claim that Israel's firstborn were its first priests. It is a rabbinic reading, compiled around AD 200, built on Exodus 13:2 and on the unnamed priests and young men of Exodus 19 and 24. Scripture itself records the firstborn being claimed and replaced, and never records one serving at an altar.

Adam in the garden

A typological reading, contested. God places the man in the garden "to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15, ESV): לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ, from עָבַד (avad, H5647, "work, serve") and שָׁמַר (shamar, H8104, "keep, guard"). The same two verbs recur together for the Levites' work: "they shall keep [שָׁמַר] his charge... to do the service [עָבַד] of the tabernacle" (Numbers 3:7-8, ASV), and again at Numbers 18:7. When the man is driven out, cherubim are placed at the east of the garden "to guard [שָׁמַר] the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24, ESV), and in Numbers 3 the tabernacle's east side is held by Moses, Aaron and his sons, "guarding the sanctuary itself" (Numbers 3:38, ESV).

On that evidence the ESV Study Bible concludes that Adam's role "is to be not only a gardener but also a guardian... As a priest, he is to maintain the sanctity of the garden as part of a temple complex", heading the section "the Sanctuary of Eden."7 The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible adds that when Adam fails, "the task of guarding the garden is given to cherubim,"8 and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible reads Genesis 2 as assigning the man his function in priestly terms.9

The case against is also textual. Genesis never calls Adam a priest, and Eden has no altar and no sacrifice. Inside Genesis, avad frames 2:15 on both sides with farming: before the garden "there was no man to work the ground" (Genesis 2:5, ESV), and afterward God sent him out "to work the ground from which he was taken" (Genesis 3:23, ESV). The priestly sense arrives only when Numbers is read back into Genesis. The verbal link is real, and the cherubim at the east make it hard to dismiss; calling Adam a priest is still an inference, and this study builds nothing on it.

Jubilees makes the inference explicit, in narrative form. On the day Adam left the garden, "he offered as a sweet savour an offering, frankincense, galbanum, and stacte, and spices in the morning with the rising of the sun."10 Incense of that kind is the priest's offering at the tabernacle (Exodus 30:7-8, 34). Genesis records no offering by Adam at all.

Enoch

Scripture says three things of Enoch. He "walked with God, and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24, ESV); "by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death" (Hebrews 11:5, ESV); and he "prophesied" of the Lord's coming (Jude 14, ESV). None of them is priestly. Jubilees, having placed Enoch in the Garden of Eden after he is taken, adds: "And he burnt the incense of the sanctuary, (even) sweet spices acceptable before the Lord on the Mount."10 That is Jubilees' own elaboration, with no footing in Genesis.

Melchizedek as Shem

Several rabbinic sources identify Melchizedek with Shem, Noah's son. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders Genesis 14:18 "Malka Zadika, who was Shem bar Noah, the king of Yerushalem."11 The Babylonian Talmud says God meant the priesthood to descend from Shem, and cites Genesis 14:18 as the proof, then transferred it to Abraham when Melchizedek blessed Abraham before blessing God.12 Genesis Rabbah has Shem name the city Shalem, citing "Melchizedek king of Salem" (Genesis 14:18) as the proof, which makes the two one man.13 The identification ties Melchizedek into the household line. Hebrews 7:3 builds its argument on Genesis giving him no recorded genealogy.

What this adds up to. Each tradition fills a silence in Genesis with a priest. Scripture keeps the silence. Among those who serve God Most High, Genesis gives the title kohen to one man, the figure Hebrews builds on.

What this sets up for Hebrews

Three things hold at every stage of this history, and Hebrews' case for Jesus depends on the same three holding of Him.

God appoints

The firstborn are claimed by God's own declaration ("It is mine," Exodus 13:2, WEB). The Levites are "taken" by God and "wholly given" to Him (Numbers 3:12; 8:16); they proved, at cost, which side they were on, and God did the choosing. Aaron's family is named by God before any of them had served (Exodus 28:1). Hebrews states the principle of Aaron and applies it to Jesus: "no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was" (Hebrews 5:4, ESV). "So also Christ... was appointed" (Hebrews 5:5, ESV).

Every holder dies

The fathers who offered for their households died. The firstborn's claim passed to the Levites after the golden calf. Nadab and Abihu die, and Eleazar and Ithamar serve in their place (Numbers 3:4). Hebrews 7:11 argues that the Levitical priesthood could not bring perfection and had to be succeeded in turn. Hebrews names the problem in one line: "The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office" (Hebrews 7:23, ESV). And it names Jesus' answer in the next: "he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever" (Hebrews 7:24, ESV).

Melchizedek, the one priest in the patriarchs' time

In all of Genesis, one man serves God Most High and is called His priest: Melchizedek, "priest of God Most High" (Genesis 14:18, ESV). Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob offered sacrifice; he alone holds the title, and he blesses Abraham. That is why Hebrews reaches for him. Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 7 need a precedent for a lawful priest-king whom God recognises before Levi is born, and Melchizedek, met by Abraham before anything in Exodus 13-32 has happened, is that precedent. Hebrews 7:3 builds on Genesis' silence about his genealogy; the Shem tradition above fills that silence, and Hebrews leaves it empty.

The priest who continues forever

The history from the patriarchs to Sinai shows that God keeps to Himself the choice of who may come near Him. He chose, He took, and He gave. It also shows that every priest He gave was a sinner or a mortal, and usually both. Numbers 3 opens with two priests dead before the LORD and closes with 273 firstborn bought back for silver because there were not enough Levites to go round.

God's answer to both problems is His Son. Jesus is appointed by the Father (Hebrews 5:5), so His office carries God's own authority. Jesus lives forever (Hebrews 7:24), so His office never changes hands. "Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25, ESV). The succession that ran from the patriarchs' altars to Aaron ends in a High Priest who is never succeeded.

The firstborn language reaches the church too. Hebrews calls God's gathered people "the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23, ESV). "Firstborn" there is plural, πρωτοτόκων (prōtotokōn, G4416), "firstborn ones." The ESV Study Bible reads it as Jesus' followers granted an inheritance as though each were a firstborn son.14 God claimed Israel's firstborn at the exodus; in Jesus He claims His people the same way, and Jesus "made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father" (Revelation 1:6, ESV).

So you may come near to God today, and you come through a priest God appointed, who has never failed His charge and never will.

Discussion Questions

  1. The language. Genesis uses כֹּהֵן (kohen, "priest") only of men outside Abraham's family, though Noah and Abraham sacrifice (Genesis 8:20; 22:13). What does the title name that sacrifice does not?
  2. The text in its context. God took the Levites "instead of" the firstborn (Numbers 3:12) and redeemed the 273 extra with silver (Numbers 3:46-47). What does that exchange show about how God regards those He claims?
  3. Christ. Numbers 3 opens with Nadab and Abihu dead (Numbers 3:4). What does Jesus' permanent priesthood (Hebrews 7:23-24) answer in that history?
  4. The hard part. Exodus 19:22 speaks of "the priests who come near to the LORD" before Exodus 28:1 names Aaron's sons. Who were they?
  5. Be transformed. Jesus "always lives to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25, ESV), and Peter calls you "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9, ESV). How does His intercession change your prayers for others?
Group study sheet for a 40-minute group: two A4 sheets, or one with the guided path

The point, the passage, the questions and the response, from this study. Print on both sides of two A4 sheets, flipping on the long edge. While this block is open, printing the page prints the sheet; close it to print the study.

Group study · 40 minutes

Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

Numbers 3:5-13

The point Before Sinai the heads of families offered sacrifice for their households, yet Scripture calls none of them a priest; the title belongs to outsiders such as Melchizedek until God appoints Aaron's sons and gives the Levites to serve them in place of Israel's firstborn, because priesthood is always God's appointment (Hebrews 5:4), and He appointed His Son Jesus, who "holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever" (Hebrews 7:24, ESV).

0–5min

Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Before Aaron? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

5–12minRead it aloud BSB

Numbers 3:5-13 5Then the LORD said to Moses, 6“Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. 7They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle. 8They shall take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and fulfill obligations for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle. 9Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been given exclusively to him from among the Israelites. 10So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.” 11Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12“Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me, 13for all the firstborn are Mine. On the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They are Mine; I am the LORD.”

12–25minLook closer
What does it say?
What did it mean to them?
What does it mean for us?
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Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

The study in brief
  1. Numbers 3 in its setting. The camp at Sinai, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, the priesthood kept to Aaron's sons, and the Levites counted against the firstborn.
  2. Before Sinai: fathers at the altar. Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Job offer sacrifice for their households, and Genesis calls none of them a priest.
  3. At Sinai: priests before Aaron? The unnamed priests of Exodus 19 and the young men of Exodus 24, read two ways.
  4. From the firstborn to the Levites. God claims the firstborn and takes the Levites in their place.
  5. What later tradition added. Adam, Enoch, the firstborn and Shem made priests by Jubilees, the Mishnah and the Targum, and what Scripture itself says of each.
  6. What this sets up for Hebrews. God appoints, every holder dies, and Melchizedek is the one priest named in the patriarchs' time.
  7. The priest who continues forever. Jesus, the assembly of the firstborn, and a royal priesthood.
  8. Discussion Questions. Five, for a group or on your own.
Notes
Page 2 of 4 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission

Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

Step 1 · Numbers 3 in its setting
12–18minStep 2 · Before Sinai: fathers at the altar

1The language. Genesis uses כֹּהֵן (kohen, "priest") only of men outside Abraham's family, though Noah and Abraham sacrifice (Genesis 8:20; 22:13). What does the title name that sacrifice does not?

18–24minStep 3 · At Sinai: priests before Aaron?

2The hard part. Exodus 19:22 speaks of "the priests who come near to the LORD" before Exodus 28:1 names Aaron's sons. Who were they?

Step 4 · From the firstborn to the Levites
24–29minStep 5 · What later tradition added

3The text in its context. God took the Levites "instead of" the firstborn (Numbers 3:12) and redeemed the 273 extra with silver (Numbers 3:46-47). What does that exchange show about how God regards those He claims?

29–35minStep 6 · What this sets up for Hebrews

4Christ. Numbers 3 opens with Nadab and Abihu dead (Numbers 3:4). What does Jesus' permanent priesthood (Hebrews 7:23-24) answer in that history?

Step 7 · The priest who continues forever
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Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

35–40minBe transformed

5Be transformed. Jesus "always lives to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25, ESV), and Peter calls you "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9, ESV). How does His intercession change your prayers for others?

  • Think. Your access to God rests on a priest God appointed, who lives forever and keeps His charge perfectly.
  • Attitude. Draw near with confidence. Jesus "always lives to make intercession" for you (Hebrews 7:25, ESV).
  • Do. Bring one person to God in prayer by name each day this week, as one of the "royal priesthood" Jesus has made (1 Peter 2:9, ESV).
Memory verse

but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 7:24-25 (ESV)
Pray together

Father, You have always chosen who may come near You, and You chose Your Son Jesus to be our great High Priest. Thank You that He lives forever and never hands His office to another. We have failed at every charge You gave us; keep us near You through Him, and make us faithful priests who bring others to You.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Notes
The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/jesus/priesthood-before-sinai/
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Group study · step by step

Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

Numbers 3:5-13

Open Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Before Aaron? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

Read it aloud Numbers 3:5-13

Step 1Numbers 3 in its setting — The camp at Sinai, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, the priesthood kept to Aaron's sons, and the Levites counted against the firstborn.
Step 2Before Sinai: fathers at the altar — Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Job offer sacrifice for their households, and Genesis calls none of them a priest.

1The language. Genesis uses כֹּהֵן (kohen, "priest") only of men outside Abraham's family, though Noah and Abraham sacrifice (Genesis 8:20; 22:13). What does the title name that sacrifice does not?

Step 3At Sinai: priests before Aaron? — The unnamed priests of Exodus 19 and the young men of Exodus 24, read two ways.

2The hard part. Exodus 19:22 speaks of "the priests who come near to the LORD" before Exodus 28:1 names Aaron's sons. Who were they?

Step 4From the firstborn to the Levites — God claims the firstborn and takes the Levites in their place.
Step 5What later tradition added — Adam, Enoch, the firstborn and Shem made priests by Jubilees, the Mishnah and the Targum, and what Scripture itself says of each.

3The text in its context. God took the Levites "instead of" the firstborn (Numbers 3:12) and redeemed the 273 extra with silver (Numbers 3:46-47). What does that exchange show about how God regards those He claims?

Step 6What this sets up for Hebrews — God appoints, every holder dies, and Melchizedek is the one priest named in the patriarchs' time.

4Christ. Numbers 3 opens with Nadab and Abihu dead (Numbers 3:4). What does Jesus' permanent priesthood (Hebrews 7:23-24) answer in that history?

Step 7The priest who continues forever — Jesus, the assembly of the firstborn, and a royal priesthood.
Be transformed

5Be transformed. Jesus "always lives to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25, ESV), and Peter calls you "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9, ESV). How does His intercession change your prayers for others?

  • Think. Your access to God rests on a priest God appointed, who lives forever and keeps His charge perfectly.
  • Attitude. Draw near with confidence. Jesus "always lives to make intercession" for you (Hebrews 7:25, ESV).
  • Do. Bring one person to God in prayer by name each day this week, as one of the "royal priesthood" Jesus has made (1 Peter 2:9, ESV).
Page 1 of 2 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission

Before Aaron: Who Offered Sacrifice?

The point Before Sinai the heads of families offered sacrifice for their households, yet Scripture calls none of them a priest; the title belongs to outsiders such as Melchizedek until God appoints Aaron's sons and gives the Levites to serve them in place of Israel's firstborn, because priesthood is always God's appointment (Hebrews 5:4), and He appointed His Son Jesus, who "holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever" (Hebrews 7:24, ESV).

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/jesus/priesthood-before-sinai/
Page 2 of 2 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission
  • ESV Study Bible (Crossway, 2016) — notes on Genesis 2:4-25 and 2:15-16 (the "Sanctuary of Eden" reading), Exodus 19:22-24, Numbers 3:1-4:49, 3:5-10 and 3:11-13 (the Levites' duties and the golden-calf background to their replacing Israel's firstborn), and Hebrews 12:23. ESV verse text throughout. Quoted briefly with attribution.
  • NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Zondervan, 2018), gen. ed. D. A. Carson — notes on Genesis 2:15 (the "guarding" office passing to the cherubim of Genesis 3:24) and Exodus 19:22 (the priests before Aaron).
  • NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Zondervan, 2016), eds. Craig S. Keener and John H. Walton — note on Genesis 2:15 (priestly terms for the man's function).
  • Jubilees 3:27 and 4:25, trans. R. H. Charles (1913), public domain. Extra-biblical; cited as a witness to Second Temple interpretation, never as Scripture.
  • Mishnah Zevachim 14:4, trans. Joshua Kulp (Mishnah Yomit, CC-BY), via Sefaria.
  • Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 32b, consulted via Sefaria (paraphrased; not quoted).
  • Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 14:18, trans. J. W. Etheridge (1862), public domain, via Sefaria.
  • Genesis Rabbah 56:10, Sefaria Community Translation (CC0).
  • Original-language data from this project's bible-text.db — unfoldingWord interlinear (UHB/ULT) for Genesis 2:5, 2:15, 3:23-24, Numbers 3:7-8, 3:12, 3:38, 8:16 and 18:7; morphology concordance for כֹּהֵן in Genesis and Exodus; WEB and ASV verse text.

On this site

  1. ESV Study Bible, note on Numbers 3:1-4:49. ↩

  2. ESV Study Bible, note on Numbers 3:5-10. ↩

  3. NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Exodus 19:22. ↩↩

  4. ESV Study Bible, note on Exodus 19:22-24. ↩

  5. ESV Study Bible, note on Numbers 3:11-13. ↩↩

  6. Mishnah Zevachim 14:4, trans. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (CC-BY), via Sefaria. ↩

  7. ESV Study Bible, notes on Genesis 2:4-25 and 2:15-16. ↩

  8. NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Genesis 2:15. ↩

  9. NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Genesis 2:15. ↩

  10. Jubilees 3:27 (Adam) and 4:25 (Enoch), trans. R. H. Charles (1913). ↩↩

  11. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 14:18, trans. J. W. Etheridge (1862), via Sefaria. ↩

  12. Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 32b (Rabbi Zechariah in the name of Rabbi Ishmael). ↩

  13. Genesis Rabbah 56:10, Sefaria Community Translation. ↩

  14. ESV Study Bible, note on Hebrews 12:23. ↩