Exodus 28:1 – 2 “Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. Make holy garments for your brother Aaron, to give him glory and splendor.”
To avoid abuses of power and to ensure the priest’s behavior was in the service of God, the Torah provides extensive detailed laws governing the conduct of the priests. These laws include the following:
a. Priests were not allowed to have any contact with a dead body. In this important regard, they were fundamentally different from Egyptian priests, who were responsible for ministering to the dead. Egyptian religion and culture were focused on death. The Torah, on the other hand, wants its adherents to be preoccupied with sanctifying this life. Thus, an absolute barrier was erected between the Israelite priesthood and death.
b. Priests had to wash their hands and feet prior to entering the temple or approaching the altar. They also had to be dressed in a manner that radiated sanctity.
c. A priest could not marry a woman who had been a prostitute or who was divorced..Priests were expected to serve as models of holiness, and fairly or unfairly, if it became known the priest’s wife was a former prostitute, it could hinder his efforts to be regarded as a holy man… the priest’s stature would be compromised if there were another man – one, moreover, undoubtedly known in the community – who had sexual relations with the priest’s wife.
God instituted the priesthood to serve as an example of holiness for believers; however, His intention was that all of Israel would serve as an example of holiness. In Exodus 19:6 God tells the Israelites that they are to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God wanted the Jewish people to live holy lives and help bring humanity to God. (Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Exodus)
I have spent a lifetime as a surgeon in a field traditionally dominated by men. I was only the second woman in the history of my high school to take physics. I was the first female resident in one of my general surgery training programs. When I was heading our mission hospital, I was the only female Medical Superintendent in our region. I know God is not sexist; otherwise, He would not have placed me in these situations.
Prager explains the need for an exclusively male priesthood in an essay entitled, “The Priesthood as a Male Institution.” The priesthood is an exclusively male institution. The primary reason is the Torah was adamant about de – sexualizing religion; having priests and priestesses would have made that impossible. That is why, for example, the Torah commands priests to dress in modest clothing; priests were meant to be seen solely as vehicles to holiness.
The surrounding polytheistic religions all had male and female priests and ritual sexual activity was a a major feature of their religions. Few would argue women had a more elevated status in pagan society than in Israel. The Torah’s de – sexualization of God, religion, and the family played a fundamental and world – changing role from which both women and men immeasurably benefited.” Prager goes on to point out that there were a number of matriarchs, female heroes, and female prophets throughout the Old Testament.
APPLICATION: Today it is popular to try to ignore or wipe out any opinion with which you disagree; however, what if you are wrong? What if your knee jerk responses are off? What if the truth lies somewhere else? Radical feminists have criticized the Aaronic priesthood for being exclusively male; yet, had God allowed female priests, how long would it have taken before the worship of a holy God degenerated into a fertility cult? (Answer: very quickly! Just wait! We haven’t gotten to the incident of the golden calf yet.) God did not institute an exclusively male priesthood to exclude women from worship but to protect them from victimization by fertility cults.
Throughout the world today human trafficking, particularly sexual trafficking, is at an all – time high. Women and children are kidnapped, smuggled, and sold into slavery. When the family is no longer regarded as a sacred institution and when society no longer cares for its weakest members, anything can happen and does. Am I thankful that there are more opportunities for bright intelligent women than there were in my mother’s day? Absolutely! But we have thrown out the baby with the bath water. In our push to prove that women are capable of achieving in professions, we have lost sight of the fact that men do have a special role to play as protectors of their wives and children. Fractured families have left both men and women without a clue as to the true nature of fatherhood. Women who have suffered at the hands of abusive fathers, brothers, teachers, pastors, supervisors, etc., might be forgiven if they feel they are better off going it alone than to return to the abuses they have endured.
May God help us to realize His blueprint for our families! May we also realize that God’s will for all of us is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
PRAYER: Father God, some of us cringe at that very title! Having been abused by male authority figures, we are unsure what to call you and yet we long for someone to truly be our father. Lord, comfort all those who read this devotional. Heal the hurts. Help them to see that your blueprints bring life and not death. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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