God’s Covenant with Levi
1“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. 2If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. 3Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. 4You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. 5“My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. 6The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. 7For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies. 8But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. 9“Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.
In life there are laws, duties, and tasks that all of us are expected to keep. Students must study, working people must be diligent in their jobs, parents must raise their children, and pastors and congregations must labor for salvation. We call this ordinary common sense.
When someone fails to do what most people think and do as a matter of course, we say they lack social skills. If a person neglects the most basic things and hopes only for good results, their life will collapse easily, like a castle built on sand. Knowledge and ability matter in life, but if we first build good faith and character, our knowledge and ability can be all the more recognized. What God wants to say to the priests and to his people is this: those who live out the six days according to the word are, in the end, the people of God.
We can live as God’s people in the world only when we revere God; the foundation of faith, then, is to honor and love him. Those who have been well trained in the word do not stumble, because when the world tempts them and Satan attacks, their faith responds before their reasoning does. Like an athlete who learns tricks without mastering the fundamentals, those who neglect the word and concentrate on deeds cannot receive the help of the Holy Spirit. Sound faith grows when we know the word and show it in our deeds. God was angry with the priests who did not teach the people the law and, worse, seized the offerings and defiled the sacrifices. Had the priests taught God’s law rightly, the people could have served God with mature faith; but the priests’ laziness, ignorance, and corruption led the people to death.
This kind of faith in the priests is a grave sin, a disregard of God. Only when priests teach the basics of faith, so that the people can live by God’s law, will the people stop worshiping idols and stop envying the abundance the nations enjoy. Envying the prosperity of Gentiles who do not know God is itself a sign that one has no right faith. Believers and the people of the world live for different reasons and arrive at different destinations, so worldly possessions cannot decide our sorrow or our joy.
The reason the church and its members stand so helpless before heresy today is that those who believe in God lack basic knowledge of the Bible. Because they have not learned the will of God they ought to know, they are deceived by the honeyed words of heretics and live with their faith stolen away by pleasure and lust. Those who have fallen into heresy may say they did not know because their pastor never taught them the word. But since they already hold the Bible in their hands, they have no excuse; and since the Holy Spirit causes those who read the Bible to understand, they cannot evade responsibility. We must grow mature in faith, reading the Bible for ourselves and coming to understand God’s will. For salvation belongs to each person individually. Just as a soldier needs weapons in war, we must take up the sword of the Spirit if we are to guard our souls against the forces of evil.
1 Chronicles 6:49
49But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
God gave Aaron and his sons the authority to offer sacrifices. Burning incense on the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense and serving in the most holy place: all this authority was given to them for the atonement of the people of Israel. When Aaron and his sons offered sacrifices, they were to set aside human reasoning and worldly knowledge and keep God’s law. To offer the sin offering, they had to know the law of sacrifice well and keep body and mind pure at all times, living without falsehood. This law of God applies to us as well: to offer pure worship, we must first live out the six days in faith. God is always watching our lives, so a life at odds with the word deceives him and treats him with contempt.
Malachi 2:5
5“My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.
God gave Levi the law for the sake of life and peace. Having received God’s command, Levi was to keep the law faithfully with his whole life and to show the people a faith that reveres God. Because the people who saw the faith of priests who revered and stood in awe of God would serve him as those priests did, they received the blessing of life and peace.
Aaron, a descendant of Levi, carried out the priesthood faithfully. He revered God and worked to keep the people from drifting away from him. But as time went on, the priests could not give up their greed; they did not revere God, and they did not teach the people the truth. Seeing these corrupt priests, God in his anger declared that he would make them a shameful thing that bears no fruit. He had chosen the priests especially, caused the truth to be proclaimed through their mouths, and made them free of unrighteousness, but they did not proclaim the truth, and they practiced unrighteousness. Since God himself said that he would send a curse on such priests, that curse is certain to come to pass. Good priests, by contrast, taught the truth and the law, set an example of godly faith, and helped the people live pure and upright lives. Simply doing as the word says brings blessing; but because people cannot give up the world and themselves, they live wicked lives that break the law, and so they are cursed.
If we too refrain from unrighteousness and live the six days with peace and an upright faith, we can offer glorious worship that God will accept. But if we live with a false faith and a life of pretense, we cannot enjoy the blessing even though God has promised to honor us. Unless we discipline ourselves in faith and bring ourselves into submission, we cannot be led by the Holy Spirit or share in the work of saving souls.
The curse that falls on corrupt priests is eternal death. Though they may steal the healthy offerings and pile up wealth, the world they meet when they leave the body will be hell, where they suffer forever. That is why we must fear the God who cursed the corrupt priests.
Malachi 2:7
7For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.
God himself called the priest the messenger of Yahweh. For a human being to be called as the messenger of Yahweh and to take up the task of bringing the word to the people is a tremendous blessing, but it is also a fearful thing. So when priests deliver the word, they must not mix in their own ideas but must speak only the truth, honestly. For the people did not hear the word directly from God; they learned it through the priest.
If priests teach falsehood as truth, those who learn the word from them never hear the truth, and they cannot live according to God’s will. A single soul may go to heaven or to hell depending on what a priest proclaims, so priests must never forget that they are the messengers of Yahweh.
God has called you to be his people and has entrusted his word to you. Because he chose you in particular and entrusted the truth to you, you must save people’s souls with the truth, the highest knowledge there is. You are watchmen whom God has set in place; only if you stay alert and never let your eyes wander can you sound the trumpet when Satan attacks. If the watchman is asleep, no soul can be guarded, and a watchman who fails to protect life will be reproved by the king. Sadly, though, the priests were living in sin, so they could not rebuke the people even as they watched them fail to live by the law. Yahweh of Armies had given the covenant of life and peace, but through priests who did not treasure it, that covenant was broken.
Micah 3:11
11Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
The priests were not afraid to break the law in order to take bribes. God had commanded that the poor must not be treated unjustly when they came to judgment, but, bought by bribes, they did not judge with justice. When those in power sinned like this, the people too lost their fear of sin. Even people who have lived morally, once they see the powerful sin and still prosper, take the easy way as they do, though it be sin. Once such a climate takes hold, even God’s people slowly fall away, which is why the whole of Israel comes under judgment.
God gave Levi the law for the sake of harmony and peace, but because of rulers who disregarded him, the whole nation came under judgment. Even now, leaders in power fear the governor more than God and bend justice solely for their own comfort.
What these lawbreakers have in common is the claim that, since they still serve God, disaster surely will not come on them. They tell themselves that with the wealth and power they now hold, hardship could hardly touch them, and that healthy as they are, sickness is the last thing to fear. But God made the very thing they thought impossible come to pass: he caused the priests, who ought to have been honored by the people, to be despised and scorned, and stripped them of all they had.
Until then the priests had been honored by the people because God, by his own initiative, had given them spiritual authority. But when they claimed that authority as their own and grew proud, they were stripped of it, and of the people’s respect along with it. They knew that Yahweh gave and Yahweh has taken away; how sad it is that they did not live by the word while he was showing them grace. The priests were judged exactly according to what they had done.
Until now the world has not dared to treat the church lightly, because Christians strove to live honestly according to the word, and because God, of his own accord, gave them spiritual authority and protected them by his grace. Those who revered God set an example through good character and moral lives, and people outside the church trusted and respected it. But as the church’s faith has been corrupted, it has become a laughingstock. The saints of the past kept their faith at the cost of their lives; now those who attend church weigh God against the world and are not afraid to sin, and the world no longer praises the church. As a result, Christians who have fallen can no longer bring the truth to unbelievers. Because God’s people are forsaking the word and showing the unbelief of surrendering to the world of their own accord, not only the church but God himself is mocked. This is the reality: seeing the faith of the church and its people collapse, Satan is working all the harder to drag people to hell.
Malachi 2:3
3Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
God accepted every other part of the sacrifice, but the dung he commanded to be carried outside the tabernacle and thrown away. When he said he would spread that filthy dung on the priests’ faces, he meant that he would cast the priests away like refuse, like the dung of the sacrifices offered at the feasts. He pointed out their sins and kept calling them to return, but in the end they lost their priestly office and came under the curse. And yet, though the priests lived corrupt lives, they were also toiling every day to offer sacrifices for the work of God. They slaughtered cattle and sheep, cut them into pieces, sprinkled the blood, and burned them on the fire, hard labor all of it; and still, for the sin of breaking God’s law, they were treated like the dung thrown outside the tabernacle.
There are times when I look at pastors and feel for them. Once someone is ordained as a pastor, they must lay down their own life to care for the church and its people, and for the rest of their life they must write and deliver sermons from one Bible. Because they bear the weighty calling of being answerable for salvation, they must always stay watchful.
Just as priests had to offer sacrifices, those who become pastors must lead people, whether they preach only the truth or fill the sermon time with human talk that has nothing to do with the word; it is no easy thing. It is well if pastors recognize their calling and preach only the truth, but if they spend that precious time on worldly talk and jokes, the God who appointed them will one day hold them to account for not proclaiming the truth. As priests had to lead the people in the good way according to the law God gave them, pastors must lead their congregations in the good way by preaching only the truth. When I say this, you may think it is enough for the pastor to do well. But if God’s people, too, know the word only as knowledge and keep sinning because they cannot give up the pleasures of the flesh, their greed, and their habits, God will certainly rebuke them.
Just as the priests who stole the healthy offerings knew it was sin and did evil anyway, no one is unaware of their own sin. Christians, too, do not live wickedly because they fail to see that what they are doing is a sin God has forbidden. They know it, yet they sin anyway, for they enjoy keeping company with the world; and they make evil choices, unable to master their temper, their greed, and their love of pleasure. God will be greatly angered by people this wicked. As he said he would spread dung on the priests’ faces, he will spread dung on the faces of those who have learned the word yet have not been born again, and put them to shame. Just as the dung of the offerings was thrown outside the city, those who do not change despite many opportunities will be cast out of God’s grace and trampled underfoot.
People may live this way now out of ignorance of how fearful it is to leave the right path and break God’s covenant, but no one is more foolish than the one who regrets only after being rebuked. While God gives us the opportunity, we must throw off our evil habits and turn around. When judgment comes, it is not only the priest who sinned who suffers. Because of that priest’s evil deeds the people will suffer too, and the family the priest loved will also be put through the fire.
Priests’ wrong judgments and conduct drive not only themselves but others into suffering, so when we are tempted to choose sin, we must stop and think once more. The priests heard with their own ears the terrible word that God would send a curse, yet because judgment did not fall before their eyes then and there, they grew complacent. God told them to lead the people into the truth, but they took bribes to increase their wealth and took money for telling fortunes with God’s word. Even after such grievous sins, this is what they say: “It isn’t only me doing this; other priests take money too, and they offer sick animals as sacrifices.”
Our relationship with God is the relationship between God and all Israel, but it is also a relationship between God and each one of us. So rather than thinking we may sin on the grounds that everyone has gone rotten, we need a holy resolve not to sin ourselves.
These days everyone who sins calls it common practice, saying it is no great sin, since they are not the only ones and everyone does the same. But God does not change, and as long as his law does not change, sin can never be excused; it is only grounds for judgment. If the sins of others lead us to take sin lightly, we must know that not only they but we ourselves will be judged by God. We must not forget that, through wealth extorted and corrupt deeds done because they could not give up greed and pleasure, not only they but we too will fall into hell. Christians also say easily that everyone else does it, and that without doing the same no one can get by in the world. But even if others do it, each of us must not. So many drink and smoke without a second thought, speak evil words, withhold the tithe, and casually break the Lord’s Day, yet with one voice they claim that they go to church and believe in God. The problem is not alcohol or tobacco as such; it is that after doing such things they cannot bear witness to anyone, and so the very act shows that they do not believe in God. That is why God says such a person is no different from the corrupt priests. God has said that he will cast off such priests and such people forever.
God’s people are messengers of Yahweh who carry his word, so we must have a faith that holds to the truth whatever temptation or persecution comes. Had the corrupt priests and people kept their faith with the resolve if I perish, I perish, God would have filled every lack in them.
I hope you will never lightly cast aside God’s covenant. Whatever the reason, may you not fall into the sins of drinking, smoking, and taking bribes, of heeding those who lure you away from faith, or of harboring complaint and anger in your hearts. If you do not forget that God is greater and mightier than the world, you can overcome the world.
What kind of faith will you choose? When you find yourself torn, as the priests were, between the healthy offering owed to God and the sick one, may you resolve firmly in faith. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You have heard the word, learned it, and know it; I pray that you will make good choices in faith.