I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift

Numbers 18:1-7

The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the 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. Otherwise both they and you will die. 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.

You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on 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.”

Why?

This is a special duty in Israelites, only Aaron and his sons may serve the Lord as priests at the altar and inside the curtain. Other Levites can serve the Tent but can not close to the altar and inside the curtain.

Other Levites are responsible to Aaron and perform all the duties of the tent.

The Lord makes this regulation in order for Israelites not to be put to death. Because the Lord is Holy.

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16章有審判，17章亞倫是神揀選，審判為了煉淨以色列人，煉淨後要為百姓指出一條正確的路。指出祭司和利未人服事職務的差別，更多是他們恩典的不同。1-8節講責任。

「一同擔當」兩次，「聯合」兩次，「看守」出現三次

祭司要擔任本族人罪孽，擔當干犯聖所的罪孽。一同擔當：祭司要把百姓罪孽帶到神面前獻贖罪祭。祭司需要有肩膀來承擔，百姓的問題就是我的問題，百姓的事情就是我的事情。即以色列人就是我的家人。教會弟兄姊妹就是我的家人，即愛人如己。

聯合： 利未人要與祭司聯合，在做同一件事，保護會幕，祭司的榮耀也是和利未人一同分享，如同肢體一樣，只是分工不同。

看守會幕：靠近聖所很好要照著神定的方法，道路。不是用自己的方法或是不拘小節，卻不可失去敬畏的心。這也是謙卑的態度。所以會幕要看守，保護外面的人。不同於一般廟宇有鐵欄杆保護裏面金牌不會被偷。祭司保護利未人，利未人保護以色列人。

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How?

God is Holy so people who worship the Lord should be holy either.