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Priestly Leadership: Deuteronomy 17:8-9

Old Testament priests provided leadership for God’s people in various ways. We’ll summarize these under three headings. First, worship was one of the more prominent areas in which priests provided leadership.

Worship was an important part of preparing and leading God’s people into his special holy presence. In Israel, priests and Levites presided over all the national worship events, such as the annual feasts of Israel. They also conducted worship in the tabernacle and temple on a daily basis, as well as special services on the weekly Sabbath. And they led participants in praise and singing. We find these kinds of details in places like 1 Chronicles 15; 2 Chronicles 7, 8, 29 and 30; and Nehemiah 12. 

Second, priests provided special guidance in the form of civil and ritual judgments. They did this primarily by applying God’s law to the circumstances they faced. This fact is mentioned in many places, such as Exodus 28:29-30, Numbers 21:27, Deuteronomy 21:5 and Ezekiel 44:24.

For example, consider the way Moses described the civil judgments priests could render in Deuteronomy 17:8-9:

If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge — whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults … Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict (Deuteronomy 17:8-9).

As this passage indicates, legal matters were normally solved in local courts. But in particularly difficult cases, the people could go to priests or special judges who would render judgments. In fact, in Exodus 18 Jethro the Midianite priest told Moses himself how to organize the courts and judges of Israel. Jethro’s priesthood had made him an authority in such matters.

Priestly decisions and guidance also included investigating, interpreting and judging matters related to health and holiness. Priests inspected the presence of mildew in houses, diagnosed diseases, and declared individuals or objects clean or unclean according to God’s laws. These kinds of priestly duties are listed in passages like Leviticus 11–15.

These were priestly matters because personal and public health problems entered the world as part of God’s curse against Adam’s sin, in which Adam was excluded from the special presence of God in the Garden of Eden. The universal curse of death was instituted in Genesis 3:19. And this general judgment incorporated other judgments related to health, as we see in passages like Leviticus 26:16 and Deuteronomy 28:21-28. For this reason, health issues played an important role in preparing the Israelites for approaching God for his blessings.