In the Law of Moses, the
Lord provided for the priests to have a portion of certain sacrifices:
The
priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be
eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. (Lev. 6:26)
7 As the
sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the
priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it.
8 And
the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have
to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.
9 And
all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the
fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it.
10 And
every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron
have, one as much as another. (Lev. 7:7-10)
I think this portion for the
priests was for the time they spent ministering for the Israelites in the
temple. They would still be able
to live though they sacrificed time that would otherwise go to other profit-making
business. If you remember, they didn’t
have land to raise crops on, only cities to live in.
It is likely that some
unbelievers viewed this portion the priests took as unjustified and parasitic. In the Book of Mormon we find the
anti-Christ Korihor accusing the priests:
And
thus ye lead away this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and
according to your own desires; and ye keep them down, even as it were in
bondage, that ye may glut yourselves with the labors of their hands.. (Alma 30:27)
He may have seen those
portions and decided the priests had quite a racket going.
However, Alma, the high
priest, set him straight:
32 Now
Alma said unto him: Thou knowest that we do not glut ourselves upon the labors
of this people; for behold I have labored even from the commencement of the
reign of the judges until now, with mine own hands for my support,
notwithstanding my many travels round about the land to declare the word of God
unto my people.
33 And
notwithstanding the many labors which I have performed in the church, I have
never received so much as even one senine for my labor; neither has any of my
brethren, save it were in the judgment-seat; and then we have received only
according to law for our time. (Alma 30:32-33)
Alma can point to the
fact that he has not received any money for laboring in the church as proof
that he is not glutting himself. Any
wages he received were for working as a judge and only according to the time he
worked. Of the sacrifices, he and his fellow priests can only eat so much and
there is an additional commandment in the Law of Moses that the offerings can’t
be stored or kept more than two days (see Lev 7:15-18). This means they are
only a temporary source of food. Thus
sacrificial offerings could not be a source of personal gain or wealth to the
priests.
0 comments:
Post a Comment