Holy?

So it’s been a few days since I’ve posted but my encounter in Numbers is continuing. I’ve been thinking a lot about the priests, their helpers, and their involvement in the early history of Israel. Like the Christian today the priest in that time was to reflect God to the people and the people back to God. I’ve been thinking about this a great deal, (see earlier posts.) The life of the priest was intense and busy, the sacrifice, the inheritance, the duty, the privilege, it’s really a huge topic.

Today I’ve been dwelling on some of the dangers of the priesthood.

I have been focusing on a specific group of Levites. They are called the Kohathites. It seems that ole Levi had three sons, Gershon, Merari, and Kohath. By the time of Moses these three had become clans of Levites. Each of them had a specific job to do in relation to the tabernacle and the things of God. They were to be holy. They were to be set apart. They represented the redemption of all of the first born of Israel. These were heavy important duties. The Levites did get some help. In chapter seven of numbers we’re told that several carts and oxen were donated so that the Levites could carry the load of the Lord’s work. This was important since they were moving about the desert and there were lots of items to carry. Any how Moses gave these carts to the Levites.

So Moses took the carts and oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites, as their work required, and he gave four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, as their work required. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest. But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible.

Numbers 7:6-9

Did you catch that? The Kohathites got nothing! No cart to ease the load. Now we could make a case for their items being less heavy. When you look at the duties of the clans the Gershonites and Merarites it just makes since that they should have carts but the scripture in several places points out that the Kohathites carry the holiest stuff – they carry it because it was holy. Special care had to be taken with these holy items. They had to carry them by hand without touching them. Check out the details listed on carrying the ark of the covenant to learn more. Or for a truly scary story go look at what happens when some folks screw this up in David’s time. (2 Samuel 6)

For now:

⁴ "This is the work of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting: the care of the most holy things. Numbers 4:4

So that had to be tricky. Tough stuff…big load, heavy responsibility this most holy stuff. Btw, the way the stuff got holy the way it received it’s holiness was from being up close with God. Israel was called to holiness, the Levites were called to holiness, the Kohathites were called to holiness, and the way they encountered holiness was by being up close to God.

The same is true today. God with us. Emmanuel. God up close. It is the only way to find this holiness that we are called to but it also comes with a bit of danger.

Sometimes folks can be tempted to think that because they are up close to this God they are better than others. The age old danger of self righteousness is all around us. When we deal with the divine, when we are called to be part of God sized work, it is easy to look down on others.

“You fish for fish buddy, I’ll fish for men. I carry the most holy things, you?”

This has been the case from the earliest days of people assembling for God. The world recognizes it and they know that it is one of our ugliest wounds.

In chapter 16 we see a Kohathite dude named Korah try to lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. He becomes sure that he’s “holier” than Moses and he accuses Moses and Aaron of being self-righteous, after all he’s up close to the holiest items. It doesn’t end well for Korah and his followers. That’s the sad truth, Korah had followers—a bunch of them. In one place Korah’s followers were called “well known community leaders” (Numbers 16:2) and yet they drove the religious train off track. Happens all the time; and I have to be willing to recognize the danger.

Being close to God rocks, it comes with special tasks, heavy loads, important duties, and scary responsibilities, but it doesn’t make me special. God is special, I’m a dough head.