In Chapter 17 the Lord performed a miracle to prove to the people that He has chosen only Aaron and Aaron's descendants to serve Him as priests and that He has chosen only the tribe of Levi to perform duties at the tabernacle. Because these particular men have been granted a great blessing, they bear great responsibility, so the Lord provides them with solemn instructions.
In our passage today He speaks directly to Aaron. We most frequently find the Lord issuing instructions to Aaron or to the people through Moses. But the instructions in today's text are so vitally important that it's imperative for Aaron to always know that the Lord spoke to him personally and that he received these instructions straight from the Lord's mouth. "The Lord said to Aaron, 'You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood.'" (Numbers 18:1) These men hold positions of high authority in Israel but that doesn't exempt them from being answerable to the Lord. At no time are they above the law or a law unto themselves; they are responsible for obeying the Lord and for living honorable lives that set good examples for others to follow.
The Lord continues, "Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of covenant law. They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar." (Numbers 18:2-3a) Earlier in Numbers the Lord outlined the duties of each division of the tribe of Levi. But He made it clear that no one but Aaron and his sons are to minister as priests.
If anyone other than Aaron and his sons attempts to perform the duties of priest, the penalty is death. Not only will the false priest be put to death, but any legitimate priest who allows this to happen on his watch will be sentenced to death along with the offender. "Otherwise both they and you will die." (Numbers 18:3b) The priests must have reverence for their holy office. It is a huge blessing and privilege to be called to serve the Lord in this way and they aren't to allow anyone to disrespect the Lord and desecrate His house by performing duties they cannot lawfully perform. If a priest willingly allows such things to take place, the Lord considers him just as guilty as the one unlawfully acting as priest because they have both displayed contempt for the Lord. The Lord issued a warning about contempt in Leviticus 22:9, saying, "The priests are to perform My service in such a way that they do not become guilty and die for treating it with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy."
Just as the priests are assigned certain duties that no one else can perform, the Levites are assigned duties no one else can perform. "They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting---all the work at the tent---and no one else may come near where you are." (Numbers 18:4) No one but the Levites can minister to the priests or take care of the tabernacle and its contents. Men from other tribes are not to be called into service at the tabernacle.
To put our passage from Numbers 18 into modern perspective, what would we think if, during a church service, a church member got up from their seat and pushed the pastor aside and began preaching to the congregation in his place? Would it be appropriate for someone whom the Lord has not called and ordained as a preacher to stand and address the people in this manner? No, and it would not be appropriate for anyone in the Bible who is not Aaron or of his direct family line to stand up and perform the duties of priest. Suppose our pastor just meekly stepped aside when someone unqualified to serve as pastor usurped his duties; how would that make us feel? We'd feel our pastor was in the wrong and we'd probably find a different church to attend. So we see why the Lord intends to hold the ordained priests accountable if they allow someone else to come into His house and desecrate it and profane His name by performing duties it is not lawful for them to perform.
We've seen why no one but an ordained priest can perform certain duties in the Lord's house. But why can't anyone other than the tribe of Levi assist the priests or take care of the tabernacle? We could, in a way, compare this situation to the way our modern churches are run. All the duties performed in our churches are done by people who attend our church. We don't have strangers coming in and handing out bulletins or cleaning the facilities or teaching Sunday school classes. We wouldn't consider non-attendees qualified to minister to our congregation or its guests. In this same way, no one but the tribe of Levi is to be considered qualified to minister at the tabernacle. The other tribes have their own duties to perform for their families and communities and nation. They are to concentrate on what the Lord has called them to do and they are to allow the Levites to concentrate on what the Lord has called them to do.
If the priests and Levites fail to honor the Lord by respecting His rules, they will bring His wrath upon themselves. "You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that My wrath will not fall upon the Israelites again. I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death." (Numbers 18:5-7)
I am reminded of something the Lord Jesus said: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48b) A huge blessing has been bestowed upon the priests and Levites. An enormous amount of responsibility has been entrusted to them. A great deal of power has been conferred upon them as the spiritual leaders of the people and as the caretakers of the Lord's house. They must approach their duties with the solemnity their positions call for. They are doing the Lord's work and must perform this work soberly and respectfully, setting a godly example for the entire congregation and bringing honor to the name of the Lord.
If the priests and Levites don't respect the Lord and His house, they will be sending a message to the congregation that they don't have to respect the Lord and His house either. When people stop letting God be the Lord of their lives, they make gods of other things or other people---or of themselves. They start doing what their carnal natures tell them to do and stop doing what the Lord tells them to do. They fall away from the Lord and fall into sin. This is why the priests and Levites bear the responsibility for setting a worthy example. If the priests and Levites do everything possible to live godly lives in the sight of the people, but the people go astray anyway, then the priests and Levites can be held harmless for the spiritual condition of the nation. But if the priests and Levites don't regard the Lord as holy and if they don't obey His commands, the community as a whole will begin to fall into the same wicked practices as their spiritual leaders, and the spiritual leaders will be held accountable by God for not adhering to the high standards He set for them.
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