God’s Covenant with Levi

A priest works at the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense to make atonement for the people, and at the root of that office is the covenant of life and peace made with Levi. God said that the priest’s lips should keep knowledge and that the people should seek the law at his mouth. But the corrupt priests took bribes, offered sick sacrifices, and did not teach the people the truth.

Because the priest is the messenger of Yahweh, the word he delivers determines whether a soul goes to heaven or to hell. This is because the people do not meet God directly but learn the word through the priest. So God said he would spread the dung of the feast sacrifices on the priests’ faces and cast them away, as if thrown outside the tabernacle.

This judgment falls not on the priest alone but on his family and on all the people. Saying that everyone else does the same is no excuse, and because God does not change, sin is still sin. When the covenant is kept with a faith that says, “If I perish, I perish,” God supplies everything that is lacking.