We must continue to examine the relationship between Christ and the priesthood by seeing the living of the priests. As far as their living is concerned, the priests need to eat that they might be strengthened, nourished, and filled within, and they need to be clothed that they might be covered without. Food and clothing are the two main items of the living of the priests. Of course, besides food and clothing, there is the matter of their dwelling, which will be covered in the next chapter.
For forty years the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. Day after day they ate manna as their food. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they had only one thing to eat—manna! But have you ever considered what the priests ate during all those years? Did they also eat manna day by day, or something else?
Let us first read Leviticus 2:3: “And the remnant of the meat (meal) offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.” The priests were to eat a portion of the meat or meal offering.
Then let us read Leviticus 7:14, 31-34: “And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for a heave offering unto the LORD, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings...And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for a heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for his part. For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons, by a statute for ever, from among the children of Israel.” Some parts of the peace offering were also a portion for the priests.
Furthermore, Leviticus 6:26 says, “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.” The sin offering was another portion for the priests.
Leviticus 7:6-7 says, “Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy. 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.” This is the trespass offering as a portion for the priests.
Leviticus 24:9 says, “And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.” The context of this passage shows that this is the showbread. The showbread was a portion for the priests.
These verses show us that nearly all the different kinds of offerings became the food for the priest to eat. In the last chapter we saw that the priests mainly take care of the things of Christ. They are not only the ones serving God or interceding for others, but they also take care of the different aspects of Christ, handle Christ, and minister Christ to others. Like the businessman who handles a certain kind of merchandise, so the priests handle Christ as their merchandise. They handle the all-inclusive Christ, the rich Christ, the infinite and unsearchable Christ! They are continually taking care of Christ and ministering Him to others.
Now we see that the living of the priests is also Christ. They not only handle Christ, but they also eat of Him. They must experience Him in a very inward and subjective way. They handle Christ not only as the merchandise for others, but also as the food for themselves!
The different offerings typify the different aspects of Christ to us. The priests were destined to live by these offerings, for they ate what they offered. And they ate it properly in a regulated way. At certain times, they ate certain offerings at a certain place. If we had the time, we would see where we should enjoy the various riches of Christ. It is very interesting and even marvelous.
In all my travels to so many places, I have noticed that Christians eat in different ways. Yet, how many of them know how to eat Christ? Christians today are very careless about Christ, and many real Christians do not even relate the word “enjoyment” to Christ. They know how to believe in Christ, follow Christ, know Christ, worship Christ, and preach Christ, but they have never heard about enjoying Christ by feeding upon Him.
In 1958, I ministered in a certain city that we should eat Christ. Following the message a young man told me, “Brother, your message is good, but you use a wild word. How can you say that we should eat the Lord Jesus?” I replied, “If my word is wild, then the Lord’s word is also wild. He says in John 6:57, ‘he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.’ We must eat Him. He also said, ‘I am the bread of life...’ (John 6:35). Bread is to be eaten!”