What is the meaning of Numbers 18:5? And you shall attend God speaks directly to Aaron, making the charge personal and continuous. • “Attend” calls for vigilant, hands-on oversight (Numbers 3:7-8). • Faithfulness, not delegation alone, is expected (1 Corinthians 4:2). • The call echoes Samuel’s boyhood ministry—“ministering before the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:1)—showing that service is both privilege and safeguard. to the duties of the sanctuary This covers everything inside the tent of meeting. • Lamp maintenance (Exodus 27:20-21), table of showbread (Exodus 25:30), daily incense (Exodus 30:7-8). • Regular priestly intercession keeps the nation in covenant fellowship (Hebrews 9:6). • Neglect here invited disaster, as when the lamp of God “had not yet gone out” but Eli’s sons treated holy things with contempt (1 Samuel 2:12-17, 3:3). and of the altar The bronze altar stood at the courtyard’s entrance; its ministry was nonstop. • Fires were never to go out (Leviticus 6:12-13). • Sacrifices had to be offered exactly as prescribed (Exodus 29:37; Leviticus 1:1-9). • When Nadab and Abihu ignored the pattern, “fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them” (Leviticus 10:1-2). Right handling of the altar protects the worshipers who draw near (Hebrews 13:10). so that wrath may not fall Holiness defended spares the people from divine judgment. • After Korah’s rebellion, a plague began; Aaron’s atoning act at the altar “made atonement… and the plague was halted” (Numbers 16:46-48). • God’s wrath is real and righteous, yet He graciously provides a way to avert it through ordained mediatorship (Romans 5:9). on the Israelites again The word “again” recalls recent memories of judgment—Nadab and Abihu’s death (Leviticus 10), the consuming fire at Taberah (Numbers 11:1-3), and the plague after Korah (Numbers 16). • Repetition warns that past discipline is not a one-time lesson (1 Corinthians 10:11). • God’s covenant mercy is steady, but so is His intolerance of casual worship (Hebrews 12:28-29). summary Numbers 18:5 charges Aaron and his sons to constant, careful ministry in the sanctuary and at the altar. Their obedience is the God-ordained barrier between a holy God and a sinful people. Faithful priestly service keeps the camp in fellowship and shields the nation from wrath. The principle endures: when God’s servants guard true worship, His people live under mercy rather than judgment. |
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