Priests and pastors: a contrast

More about the Levites than you wanted to know

I’ve been slowly reading through the Pentateuch and I just finished Numbers. As I’ve read chapter after chapter about the priest and the Levites, I’ve been reminded how many people think that a male priesthood means that only men should be pastors and/or elders now.¹ I do understand this argument, but I have come to the conclusions that these are not parallel assignments in Scripture. 

The priesthood was a very narrow group of men: Aaron and his sons and then their descendants (Numbers 3:3). The Levites were one specific tribe of the nation of Israel, the ones descending from Levi, that helped the priests and took care of the tabernacle (Numbers 1:49-53, 3:10). The Levites were actually selected for this job in the place of the firstborn of all families (Numbers 3:11-13, 8:16-19). No one else was allowed to come near the sanctuary; they would be put to death (3:10). 

No one decided that they felt called to work in God’s house, or the tabernacle, and went and did that work. It did not matter how badly you wanted to be involved, you did not get to be. “Being a man” was not the qualification. I’m very interested in what happened when someone was unhappy being assigned one of these roles. We have no stories to tell us.

The Levites were assigned duties according to family and there were three sons of Levi: Kohath, Gershon, and Merari.

Kohathites: Numbers 4:4-20
Served from ages of 30-50 (4:3)²
The Kohathites’ service concerned “the most holy objects” (Numbers 4:-420). Even though they were assigned the transportation of these items, they could not look at them (4:20) or touch them (4:15) or they would die. 
Supervised by Aaron’s son Eleazar, and Aaron and his other son

Gershonites: Numbers 4:21-28
Served from ages of 30-50 (4:23)
The Gershonites transported the pieces of the tabernacle, the curtains, the coverings, the screens (4:21-28). 
Supervised by Ithamar, one of Aaron’s sons

Merarites: Numbers 4:29-33
Served from ages of 30-50 (4:30)
The Merarites carried the rest of the supports: crossbars, pillars, tent pegs, ropes (4:29-33) 
Supervised by Ithamar, one of Aaron’s sons

There was a sort of exchange system for the privileges of working with the temple. The Levites were not given a land inheritance as all the other tribes were because they had received the service of the tabernacle (Numbers 18:20), instead the other tribes provided cities for them to inhabit (Numbers 35:1-8). Earlier in the chapter God told Aaron that the work of the priesthood was a gift and the Levites were given them as a gift to help them. In exchange they had differing standards according to the law than the rest of the people (Leviticus 21:1-13). 

Even men who were from the correct family were sometimes not allowed to serve as priests. Physical defects would disqualify someone from the priesthood (Leviticus 21:16-24).³

Women were not priests. No reason is given for that, probably because the audience of the author did not need a reason. William Witt gives two likely reasons for this.⁴ The first is that women’s economic activities (and there were many ways that women contributed to the economy of the household) were typically activities that could be done while pregnant/nursing and work at the tabernacle would have been outside that scope. The second is that the bleeding of menstruation/postpartum would have rendered women “unclean” and unable to be in the tabernacle.⁵ These practical reasons would have needed no explanation in that time period. It is hard to justify the reasoning that men are more "spiritual" by any definition or more suited to the work of God when it was such a small group of men who were qualified for this work.

I’ve gone on about the priests for over 600 words for a couple reasons. One, I think most of us do not spend much time in Numbers and don’t know a lot of details about the priests. We know only that the priests were men. Two, I think these details give us a way to make a chart, paralleling pastor/elders and the OT priests. 

When we turn to the New Testament and church leadership, we do not a requirement for being part of a certain family or losing other “privileges” for being a pastor.⁶ We find that aspiring to the office of an elder is a noble task (1 Timothy 3:1).⁷ We find elders are qualified by character and not ethnic purity or lack of physical defects. There are far fewer similarities between the Levites and priests and pastors or elders today than one might imagine. 

One of the main markers of the Protestant Reformation is the belief in the priesthood of all believers. Instead of having priests in churches that interceded with God, all believers could do that because Jesus was the ultimate high priest.⁸ He stood in that role with finality and we all do that in smaller ways with one another. 

I find the story of God fascinating, and these lists and comparisons are ways that help me understand and make better sense of that story.  I hope this has been helpful and thought-provoking as you consider the full scope of God’s work in the world.

1. I said “pastors and/or elders” because there are a wide variety of church structures and these terms are used differently in different places.

2. Numbers 8:23-26 gives further details allowing a man to enter into service from the age of 25 or more to retirement at 50 when he could assist his brothers but not do the work. (There is no clarification on what the difference is.)

3. This is a place for great disability theology work, but outside the scope of what we are discussing today. However, I’m sure no one would consider physical defects a disqualification from ministry now.

4. See Icons of Christ by William Witt, page 177.

5. For a better understanding of “clean” and “unclean,” watch Bible Project’s video on Leviticus.

6. Privileges such as the land inheritances received by the other tribes.

7. Regardless of how 1 Timothy 3:1 reads in your Bible translation, the Greek has no male pronoun. It says “anyone.”

8. Jesus was also the ultimate sacrifice but that’s also another story.