And there I will meet, &c.— Some are for rendering this, and there I will be manifested to the children of Israel; and will be sanctified in my glory; or, they shall be sanctified by my glory: the Samaritan has it, there will I be sought for by the children of Israel, &c. God, in this and the following verses, promises, that he will dwell peculiarly among the Israelites; the Shechinah, or his Divine Presence, being always in the midst of them, watching over them, and protecting them, as their tutelar God and King. Compare Leviticus 26:11-12 with 2 Corinthians 6:16 and Revelation 21:3.
Further reflections on the ordinance of the Priesthood.
As the sun paints the clouds with a variety of glorious colours, which, in their own nature, are but dark and lowering vapours exhaled from the earth; so when the Sun of righteousness arises, even the carnal ordinances and commandments of the law, dark and earthly as they seem, are gilded by his beams, and wear a smiling appearance. By his kindly influence, who is the Light of the world, the most barren places of the Scripture rejoice, and blossom as the rose. What portion of sacred writ is more apt to be perused without edification and delight, than what relates to the Levitical priesthood; the qualifications of their persons, their apparel, their consecration, and different parts of their function? And indeed it must be confessed a very hard task to reconcile with the wisdom of God the enjoining such numberless rites, purely for their own sake. But when we consider that Aaron and his successors were figures of our great High-Priest, we must acknowledge that these injunctions are neither unworthy of God, nor useless to man, but are profitable for doctrine and instruction in righteousness. We shall instance in a few things:
First, Whoever he was that approached God in the character of a High-Priest, he ought, according to the law of Moses, to be of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Levi, the family of Aaron, having his genealogy well attested.—It must certainly be acknowledged, that our High-Priest was neither of the family of Aaron, nor of the tribe of Levi; "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah: of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood," Hebrews 7:14. In this respect he certainly differs from them in a very essential point; which, however it might disqualify him from administering in the tabernacle or temple ("for if he were on earth he should not be a priest"), yet does not in the least infer his incapacity to be a priest of a higher order than the order of Aaron, that is, of the order of Melchizedec, who joined in one person the priest and the king. The character and office of a Levitical priest he never assumed when he was upon earth. What shall we say then? That he is inferior to Aaron and his successors on this account? Nay, the difference of his tribe is the most convincing proof of the supereminence of his order. Like Aaron, he was taken from among men, and was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; and never any priest of them all could boast of such an illustrious pedigree as Jesus Christ. Which of them all was born of a virgin? and "to which of them said God at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" Hebrews 1:5.—The genealogy of the ancient priests behoved to be firmly documented: but they had no such illustrious proofs of their being the sons of Levi, as Christ had of his being the Son of God, which the Father attested, both by the voice from heaven, and by the mighty works he enabled him to do.
Secondly, The laws about their priestly garments are both significant and highly instructive. The curious materials of the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, might represent the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the lustre of those divine graces which adorned his sacred humanity.—The names of the twelve tribes which the high-priest bore first upon his shoulders, and then upon his breast-plate, as a memorial before the Lord continually, engraven on precious stones, and disposed in comely order, make no obscure emblem of the saints, whom our High-Priest carries both on the shoulders of his almighty power, and on the breast of cordial love, according to the most pathetic prayer of the spouse, "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm," Song of Solomon 8:6.—These names were engraven on precious stones: for such are all his saints, though disallowed of men, and trampled under foot as worthless pebbles; yet are they chosen of God, and precious, and they shall be his in the day that he makes up his jewels.—They were arranged in comely order: for "he is not the God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints," 1 Corinthians 14:33.—Shall we notice next the Urim and the Thummim which Moses was commanded to put into the breast-plate of Aaron? Thus in Jesus Christ we have that priest who stands up with Urim and Thummim, and bears the judgment of Israel before the Lord continually. In him are found the clearest light of wisdom and the greatest perfection of holiness. In him that prayer is fully answered, "Give the King thy judgments, O Lord, and thy righteousness unto the King's Son."—The curious girdle may signify the alacrity wherewith our High-Priest discharged every part of his office. Aaron's girdle was indeed of costly texture, gold and purple, blue and scarlet. But of Jesus Christ it was prophesied, "Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins," Isaiah 11:5. The beloved apostle John beheld him equipped with this priestly ornament, when he saw him in the visions of God walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, clothed with a long white garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.—The golden bells, suspended around the hem of Aaron's under-robe, may signify the sweet sound of the Gospel which is gone into all the earth. O greatly blessed are the people who hear this joyful sound, sweeter to the ear of faith, than music in its softest strains to the ear of the body; and an undoubted sign that our High-Priest is alive, though we see him not, and lives for ever in the presence of JEHOVAH, to make intercession for us.
The pomegranates which were curiously wrought betwixt the bells, and equal to them in number, may be an emblem of those fruits of righteousness, with which the preaching of the Gospel is attended.—The fair mitre which adorned his head, with the venerable inscription on the plate of gold surrounding his temples, may put us in mind of Jesus Christ, who is the only crowned Priest; and not only holy, but holiness itself unto the Lord; yea, he is himself the holy JEHOVAH, and Fountain of holiness unto his people. For "this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS," Jeremiah 23:6.
Such were the garments for glory and beauty with which the typical priesthood was invested, and such their mystical signification. Let us come next to the manner of their consecration. The Hebrew lawgiver is directed to bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: there they were washed with water; arrayed with the priestly vestments; anointed with the costly oil, which it was death to counterfeit; and, lastly, sanctified by the offering up of peculiar sacrifices, whose blood was put upon the extreme parts of their bodies. Though every minute circumstance in these venerable rites may not be capable of application to the Lord Jesus, it is sufficient if we can observe a general analogy. Aaron was washed in water, to signify that he was before polluted; and Christ was baptized, not indeed because he was himself polluted, but as it became him to fulfil all righteousness. Aaron was arrayed with the appointed vestments; and Christ was clothed with the garment of our flesh. Aaron was anointed with oil, wherewith the inferior priests were but sprinkled; but Christ is anointed with the Holy Ghost, which God gives not by measure unto him. Aaron was consecrated with the blood of beasts; but Christ was sanctified by his own blood, and made perfect through sufferings, by which he learned obedience, though he was the Son of God.
The different parts of their function is the last thing which demands our attention. "Every high-priest taken from among men," in the manner above described, "is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, and to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin." Hebrews 5:1. This indeed was the most distinguishing part of their office, and fundamental to all other functions which are appropriated to them. However, they were also appointed to bless the people; to pray for them; to instruct them in the knowledge of the Divine will; to oversee the service of the tabernacle; to blow the trumpets both in peace and war; and to judge betwixt the clean and the unclean. But we see Jesus our High-Priest giving himself an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, more grateful unto God, and more appearing to his incensed justice, than all the victims that ever smoked in the worldly sanctuary, or than all the gifts that ever were presented there, or than all the incense that ever fumed from the golden censer. Put off your robes, ye legal priesthood, your work is finished, your office entirely superseded. What ye could not do by multiplied oblations, Jesus Christ has done by one sacrifice. The vail is now rent, and the temple now destroyed. The shadow has given place to the substance. Perhaps it was not without a mystic signification, that Zacharias, a priest of Aaron's order, and the father of John the harbinger of Christ, was struck dumb when officiating in the temple, so that he could not speak to the people when he came forth out of the holy place. Might it not be a silent omen, that a dispensation was now commencing in the days of the Messiah, wherein none of Aaron's order should open their mouths any more to bless the people, saying. "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace?" Numbers 6:24-25. Jesus is that Priest whom God has sent to bless us; who prays for his people; whose lips keep knowledge to instruct us in the will of God. Jesus is that Priest who oversees the service of the tabernacle, being Head over all things to the church, which is his body. Jesus is that Priest, who now blows the great trumpet of the Gospel, and who shall descend shortly from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, to gather the congregation of the righteous. Then all who have him not for their Priest to wash and sprinkle them with his hyssop and blood, shall have him for their Priest to pronounce them utterly unclean.