Levi was one of the twelve sons of Jacob and his name became one of the tribes of Israel. When God gave Israel the Law God appointed Aaron as the priest and He said that the tribe that Aaron came from would be the tribe that always served as priests. That tribe was the tribe of Levi. In Malachi 2:5-7 God describes the good things the priests had done in the past when they were faithfully following God.
“My covenant with him [Aaron] was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:5–7, NASB)
Here God gives us a proper picture of who the priests were and what they were supposed to be doing.
Let’s pay attention to a few of the expectations of the priests. First, the priests were called to holy living. They were supposed to walk with God. God describes Aaron when He says, “he walked with me in peace and uprightness” (v. 6b). They taught the truth and they walked the truth personally. “To walk” is an idiom. As Bible commentator Allen Ross describes, “To walk with God is to go where he is going, to stay close to him, and to commune with him along the way.”[1] To walk with God means to live one’s life in accordance with the will of God.
Second, the priests behavior affected others as seen in verse six, “and he turned many back from iniquity.” The word for “turned” here is the Hebrew שׁוב which is often used for “repent” as in turning back to the Lord. It appears in Hebrew in what is called the “imperfect stem” of a “Hiphil” which is causative. In other words, the priests are the ones who are supposed to cause others to turn back from iniquity.[2] Their walk with God causes others to turn away from their sin, repent, and turn toward God. They were supposed to confront people with the truth and bring them back into a relationship with God.
In addition to those expectations, the priests were also supposed to perform specific tasks. They were supposed to worship God. “he [Aaron] revered Me and stood in awe of My name” (v. 5b). The word for “revered” here can mean “respect.” God chose the tribe of Levi to be priests but there was no specific reason God chose them. It was His decision. Life as priests was given to them as a gift and they needed to respect God for that.
They also were supposed to disciple others. “True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips” (v. 6a). This is what the priests were teaching. Notice the adjective, “true,” that describes “instruction.” These priests were teaching truth—God’s Word—and their teaching was faithful to God’s revelation. That teaching would guide people through life as the word “instruction” describes a point in the right direction. These priests took their calling seriously. They studied the Law and found ways to regularly teach the Word to the people.
This type of conduct should have positioned the priests as honorable members of their community. “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth” (v. 7a). This was the expected standard for the priests. They did this by studying, memorizing, and teaching God’s Word. Priests were to be righteous men that were models for others. People should see the way they lived and think, I have something to learn from them.
Priests were also supposed to evangelize others.“for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (v. 7b). The priests were God’s mouthpiece. They were supposed to be speaking for God by speaking God’s Word to the people. They were supposed to declare God’s truth so people who didn’t know about God could begin a relationship with Him.
That’s the proper picture of the priests in Malachi. But how does this job description for priests apply to us living right now?
I hope you can see that you and I are priests, so to speak, alive today. The apostle Peter writes to Christian believers telling them, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for god’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9–10, NASB). As priests we are supposed to pursue holy living by walking with God, worshipping God, discipling others, and evangelizing others just like the priests were supposed to do in Malachi’s day.
[1] Allen Ross, Malachi Then and Now (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), 88.
[2] Ibid., 80.