The High Priest (Lev. 21:10-15)

10/19/2008 2:35 PM

SPIIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus:  The high priest

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Lev. 21:10-15

            Message of the verses:  “10 ¶  ‘The priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; 11  nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; 12  nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the LORD.  13  ‘He shall take a wife in her virginity.  14  ‘A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people, 15  so that he will not profane his offspring among his people; for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.’”

            The commands for the high priest are a bit different, or should I say enlarged, for the regular priests.  The high priest could only marry a virgin, and his wife should come from the tribe of Levi because that was the tribe which Aaron and his family came from and the first born son of the high priest would be the next high priest.  The high priest was to live near the Tabernacle or latter when the Temple was built, close to the temple, and he was not to get involved with the affairs of those who were not working in the Tabernacle or Temple.  “4  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”  (2Tim. 2:4)

            The high priest was the only one, who could wear the garment of the high priest, which was gone over in an earlier SD.  He was not to rip or tear his garments like some of the other priest would do when they were upset by sin.  “65  Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy.”  This passage is from Matthew 27:65, and has to do with the trial of Jesus Christ, and it seems to me that the high priest should not have even been there and that he certainly should not have tore his clothes. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that one of the things that I have learned from this section today is that I am to keep myself clean, by that I mean when I sin to confess it to the Lord right away, and do the things that God has called me to do for the cause of Christ. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust the Lord to guide my steps each day and to learn to be content in everything that God brings into my life each day.

Memory verses for the week:                                  Exodus 20:13-17

13.    You shall not murder.

14.    You shall not commit adultery.

15.    You shall not steal.

16.    You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17.    You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

10/19/2008 3:11 PM