Bible Commentaries

Leviticus 8:1-2

I. The priesthood of the sons of Aaron belongs only to the past. In its place there is the one great High-priest of mankind, pleading for all and sacrificing for all, Himself the Sacrifice, holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners, entering within the veil, ever living to make intercession for us. In its place also there is the universal priesthood. What Israel refused to be, what kings and prophets desired to see and saw not, has been fulfilled in the Church of Christ. We are a kingdom of priests. Each of us may offer the living sacrifice of body, soul, and spirit, and the incense of prayer and adoration.

II. Yet not the less does that first ordination in the Church of the wilderness remain the type and pattern of all subsequent ordinations. Ordination is nothing less than the solemn dedication of men to be servants of the Most High, ministers of the Church of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God, not priests themselves, as the sons of Aaron were priests, with the old functions and the old prerogatives, but appointed witnesses of the priesthood of Christ, appointed witnesses also of the universal priesthood, called to be living representatives of all that belongs to the essence of the priestly character.

E. H. Plumptre, Theology and Life, p. 19.

References: 8:33-9:8.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 81. Lev 8-10.—J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 179. Leviticus 9:22.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 179. 9:22-10:7.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 89. Leviticus 9:23, Leviticus 9:24.—G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 37. Leviticus 10:1-20.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 274. Leviticus 10:3.—J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 397. Leviticus 10:12-20.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 97. Lev 10.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. viii., p. 346. Leviticus 11:2, Leviticus 11:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 499. Lev 11.—H. Macmillan, Sunday Magazine, 1872, p. 187; Parker, vol. iii., p. 104. Lev 11-15.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 23. Lev 11-22.—J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 201. Leviticus 13:12, Leviticus 13:13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 353. Leviticus 13:13.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 273; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 57. Leviticus 13:44.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 131. Leviticus 13:47-59 and Leviticus 14:33-57.—H. Macmillan, Sunday Magazine, 1867, p. 674. Lev 13-14.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 111. Leviticus 14:4-7.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 547. Leviticus 14:7.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 37. Leviticus 14:11.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 37. Leviticus 14:30.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 131. Leviticus 14:34.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 132. Leviticus 14:35.—G. Martin, Penny Pulpit, Nos. 277, 278; J. Reid Howatt, The Churchette, p. 200. Leviticus 14:53.—J. Vaughan, Sermons to Children, 4th series, p. 305. Leviticus 16:10.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 133.