In Christian circles, we hear much about God’s covenant with King David. After all, Yeshua is called the King of Kings. However, there is little mention of God’s eternal covenant with Levi and his descendants through Aaron, the first High Priest of Israel after Moses. To further complicate things, Christology has adopted another form of supersessionism regarding the Levitical priesthood, presuming that, somehow, Christ has done away with Aaron’s priesthood, and replaced it with a new one for the church that follows a different order—called “the order of Melchizedek.”
God's Firstborn
The term firstborn is used extensively throughout the Bible, and God makes it clear that He holds a unique interest and affection for those who are His firstborn, whether of man, plant, or the animal kingdom. It is written, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the Lord’” (Numbers 3:11-13).
The Tabernacle of Moses
A number of years ago I was asked to prepare a teaching on the Tabernacle of Moses—the Mishkan. I had read the endless narratives in the Torah many times where each part of the Tabernacle, meticulously detailed by the Lord, commanded the Israelites to only build a copy of the heavenly image. I had visited several life-size displays, one recently in Pennsylvania, but none revealed anything of particular magnificence. Even its size looked rather underwhelming—a small tent perched in the desert surrounded by miles of barren wilderness. From a near distance the structure would have been hardly noticeable.