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3 Leviticus

Leviticus matches into the first half of Isaiah chapter 3. The focus is on the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests and events surrounding.

Ordination

The first match between Leviticus and Isaiah 3 is the story of the ordination of Aaron and his sons. In fact, there are several matches that draw on this sole narrative in the book of Leviticus. Here's the first set of quotes.

Isaiah Leviticus

13 Isaiah 3:1-5
3 1For look, Yahvah, sovereign of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
2the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet and the diviner and the elder,
3the captain of 50 and the honorable man and the counsellor and the skilful carpenter and the expert counsellor.
4And I will appoint young men to be their princes, and mockers will rule over them.
5And the people will oppress each other, each his neighbor; and the young men will provoke the elders, and the base men the honorable.

3 Leviticus 8:1-4
1And Yahvah spoke to Moses saying,
2Take Aaron and his sons with him, and take the vestments and the anointing oil and a bull for the sin offering and 2 rams and a basket of unleavened bread,
3and gather all the congregation together at the door of the meeting tent.
4And Moses did as Yahvah commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together at the door of the meeting tent.

This first match was harder to see then those that follow. The problem was the tone sounds so harsh compared to the general excitement of the ordination as it reads in Leviticus. The background though is that up to the time Aaron and his sons were ordained all kinds of folks from all the tribes of Israel had access to the tent as they built the tent (Exodus 35). Now with the tent erected and the ordination of priests those gifted and skilled people are taken away from the place of leadership in deference to, well, some young upstarts. In general the ordination is an exciting time for the community, and God did want priests ordained from Levi, but those who had previously provided good leadership now had to step down for some youngsters who, as the story shows, would screw things up really well. I think this is why the wording in the first few verses of Isaiah are mournful or communicate a sense of loss. God is the agent whose taking these leaders away beause he's the one who chose to ordain priests from Aaron's family.

As a side note that helps with the pattern, there are 13 types of people in the list that are being "taken" away. These map to the 13 tribes. People from each tribe were likely involved in the work of the tent originally, as per the open invitation in Exodus 35, but with the ordination only Levi is left to do the work of the tent. The 13 are taken away and 1 is left.

Aaron

This match continues the ordination story. Read the following quotes and see if you can spot the correlations.

Isaiah Leviticus

13 Isaiah 3:6-7
6When a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, and say to him, You have clothing, be our ruler, and govern this ruin;
7in that day he will answer, and say, I will not be a leader; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing; do not make me a ruler over the people.

3 Leviticus 8:5-9
5And Moses said to the congregation, This is the commandment which Yahvah has commanded to be done.
6And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water;
7and put on him the coat and girded him with the belt and clothed him with the robe and bound the loin cloth on his loins and put the ephod on him and girded him with the embroidered belt of the ephod.
8And he put the breastplate on him; and he put on the breastplate the urim and the thummim.
9And he put the mitre on his head; and on the mitre on his forefront, he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as Yahvah commanded Moses.

Two details stand out to me. First, Isaiah says a man takes his brother and makes him a leader. In Leviticus Moses takes his brother, Aaron, and sets him as the high priest. The second detail in this match is the issue of the robe. In Isaiah's version of the story the man is made a leader because he has a robe. In the Leviticus version of the story Aaron is clothed with the special garb of the high priest to signify his office. In any case the two are a clear match.

Nadab and Abihu

Nadab and Abihu, newly ordained priests, offered incense to God when he came down in power in a manor other then how he had clearly prescribed, and they did it with the whole community of Israel watching.

Isaiah Leviticus

13 Isaiah 3:8-9
8For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their actions are against Yahvah, provoking god in the majesty of his glory.


9Their hypocrisy witnesses against them; and they declare their sins like Sodom, they do not hide them. Woe to their soul, for they have worked evil to themselves.

3 Leviticus 10:1-2
1And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahvah, not at its appointed time, and not as he had commanded them.
2And fire went out from before Yahvah and devoured them, and they died before Yahvah.

So God burned them in fire. This death matches Isaiah in several ways. First, Isaiah deals with provoking God when he's present with words and actions. This is what Nadab and Abihu did. Second, Isaiah mentions Sodom. Well, it was fire that God used to destroy Nadab and Abihu, just as it was fire that he used on Sodom and the surrounding cities. The Isaiah passage also adds that these guys brought this on themselves. It was not God's desire for them to be idiots in his presence and bring wrath on themselves.

Priest's Share

What happens next in the story is Aaron and his remaining two sons are given their share of the burnt offerings that were being offered when Nadab and Abihu checked out.

Isaiah Leviticus

13 Isaiah 3:10-11
10Say to the righteous that it will be well with them; for they will eat the fruit of their actions.
11Woe to the wicked. It will be ill with him, for the reward of his hands will be given him.

3 Leviticus 10:12-15
12And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of Yahvah made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar; for it is most holy:
13and you will eat it in the holy place because it is your due and your sons' due from the offerings of Yahvah made by fire; for so I was commanded.
14And the wave breast and shoulder offering you will eat in a clean place; you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons' due which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the sons of Israel.
15The shoulder offering and the wave breast they will bring with the offerings of the fat, made by fire, to wave it as a wave offering before Yahvah; and it will be yours and your sons with you by a statute forever; as Yahvah has commanded, that Aaron and his sons will eat it.

Isaiah says explicity to say to the righteous that they will eat the fruits of their actions. Moses does just this, he speaks to Aaron and his sons, telling them to take thier share for thier work at the altar. In the case of Aaron and the surviving sons their actions were righteous when they offered the offerings and the fruit of their actions was their share in the offerings. Then Isaiah says, in contrast, the wicked will receive the reward of his hands too, which we already saw play out with the two wicked sons of Aaron who offered incense by hand.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Wednesday, Gad 12, 13001

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