Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 33:23-25
YHWH Affirms That He Has Not Cast Off The Two Families Whom He Has Chosen, And Guarantees The Rule Of The Seed of David Over The Seed Of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Jeremiah 33:23).
In this final affirmation YHWH gives the assurance, either that He has not cast off either the family of David, nor the family of Aaron, despite what others are saying, so that both have a part in His future purposes, or that He has not cast off the family of David and the family of Jacob, whom He had chosen. The latter is the more likely as it will be noted that in what He goes on to say it is only to the family of David and the family of Jacob that he gives an assurance of eternal permanence. At no stage, in fact, in these verses has YHWH guaranteed the eternal permanence of the Levitical priesthood. All that He has promised was that while the ministry that they had been chosen to perform was there to be done, it would be they alone as His chosen priests who would do it. They are not, however, specifically mentioned in this final word from YHWH at all, while the families of David and Jacob are.
‘And the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah, saying,'
Once again we are assured that this is the word of YHWH speaking through Jeremiah.
“Do you not consider what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which YHWH chose, he has cast them off?' Thus do they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.”
The reference to ‘this people' is always a reference to unbelieving Israel/Judah. Thus this is a comment being made by unbelieving Israel/Judah as they claim that YHWH has broken His promises and has cast off the two families whom He chose. Some see the two families as referring to those of David and Aaron, whom He has chosen. And as a consequence unbelieving Israel are seen as rejecting the idea that Israel can ever again be a true nation because its two recognised pillars, its king and its priesthood, have been removed. In their circumstances of despair it was understandable that they should feel this, but YHWH wants them to know that their words are not true. However He goes on to say that He has neither cast off the seed of David, nor has He cast off the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the true Israel. Both continue before Him. Thus the inference would appear to be that they are the two families now being spoken of, so that the Levitical priesthood is no longer in mind. Either way the important fact is that Israel have not been cast off, they are only being chastened.
‘Thus do they despise my people.' This may refer to unbelieving Israel seen as despising Israel as a nation because YHWH has cast them off, or may indicate that the foreign nations despise Israel because of their unbelief, seeing them as no more a true nation because they have deserted their roots. The former appears more likely as the nations have not been in mind in the context.
“Thus says YHWH, If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Once again YHWH uses His covenant with day and night (compare Jeremiah 33:20), and adds His appointment of the ordinances of Heaven and earth, as a guarantee of permanence. And what are to be permanent are ‘the seed of Jacob' (then expanded to ‘the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob') and ‘the seed of David my servant', with the latter ruling over the former.
The ‘seed of Jacob' and ‘the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob' were technical terms indicating all who subscribed to the covenant of YHWH, for by this time (and even from the beginning) it included more than Jacob's direct blood descendants. Through the centuries many ‘foreigners' had been incorporated into Israel in accordance with Exodus 12:48 and all were seen as ‘the seed of Jacob', as were the mixed multitude of Exodus 12:38 which had been incorporated into ‘the seed of Jacob' at Sinai. Their descent was by adoption. The process would continue after Christ's resurrection when the early Jewish church, the true remnant, the ‘holy seed' of Isaiah 6:13, opened its doors to Gentiles who became believers and were thus incorporated into the new Israel, ‘the Israel of God' (Matthew 21:43; Galatians 6:16) becoming ‘Abraham's seed' (Galatians 3:29) and circumcised though the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11). Today ‘the seed of Jacob' continues in the whole body of true believers in Christ.
Jesus Christ was ‘the seed of David' because He was adopted by Joseph, who was of the seed of David, as his eldest son and heir (demonstrated by his naming Him - Matthew 1:25), being born through Mary, who was probably also a Davidide, by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35).
“For I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.”
And all this would occur because YHWH would ‘cause their captivity to return', that is, would deliver them from exile, as a result of His compassion and mercy.
Note On The Permanence Of The Levitical Priesthood.
The appointment of Aaron and his sons to minister in the priest's office is described in Exodus 28, see also Leviticus 8-10, although there is no actual mention in those passages of a covenant. It could on the other hand be assumed that there was an incipient covenant, as it is constantly made clear that Aaron and his sons were alone appointed to minister in the Sanctuary.
However, a covenant with relation to the Levitical priests is mentioned in Numbers 25:12, when in his zeal for YHWH, Phinehas slew Zimri, the prominent Simeonite, who had consorted with a Midianite woman and her gods, and brazenly brought her into the camp, displaying his disloyalty to YHWH for all to see. In response to Phinehas' action YHWH promised, ‘Behold I give to him my covenant of peace, and it will be to him and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel'. In other words, as a result of his action YHWH covenanted peace to His wayward people, and as long as the priesthood was required in Israel (for the purpose of obtaining atonement), Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, and his descendants would have a part in it. They were thus given an everlasting right to have a part in the Levitical priesthood.
So whether we see the covenant as made with Aaron, or with Phinehas, the outcome is the same, and that was that the rights to serve the Tabernacle (and then the Temple) as priests lay with the Levitical priests. This would, of course, depend on there being a need for such priests, and there being a central altar where legitimate sacrifices could be offered. It was not, however, until the prophets that the concept would arise, although even then not fully thought through, of a time when God's people would be truly holy, and would therefore presumably no longer require such priests (e.g. Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 6:13; Obadiah 1:17).
When the rival Sanctuary was set up at Dan in the time of the Judges an attempt was made to give its priesthood legitimacy by appointing as priests descendants of Moses (Judges 18:30), and this presumably continued until the land was overrun by the Philistines (‘the time of the captivity of the land'). It must be seen as probable that no legitimate Aaronide would serve there because it contained a graven image. But we cannot see this as evidencing anything other than man's attempt to get round God's Law and make do with second best.
When rival Sanctuaries were set up by Jeroboam I of Israel at Dan and Bethel he made no attempt as far as we know to obtain legitimate priests, but appointed men of his own choosing. This was, however, clearly frowned on by YHWH and by the prophets. On the other hand there were altars in Israel that were looked on as legitimate and these presumably had legitimate priests (1 Kings 18:30; 1 Kings 19:10). As they were accepted as legitimate they were presumably seen as erected at places where YHWH had ‘recorded His Name' (Exodus 20:24). We need not doubt that this was the same in Judah, something which may be observed from Samuel's ministry (his sacrifices at Bethlehem). The actual situation is often disguised by the fact that regularly someone is said to have offered sacrifices, when in fact it may well have been done by a priest at their instigation. Thus when Solomon is said to have offered a thousand burnt offerings (1 Kings 3:4) he hardly did it on his own. His priests made the offerings on his behalf. This may well also have been the case e.g. with Gideon and his ten men (Judges 6:25) and David (1 Kings 24:25). Manoah made a sacrifice to YHWH, but it was in a place where He had recorded His Name as a result of the presence of the Angel of YHWH, and was thus legitimate (Judges 13:19). In none of these cases was the uniqueness of the Levitical priesthood called into account.
Alongside this in Isaiah 61:6 all Israel are at some time in the future to be named as ‘Priests of YHWH' and called ‘Ministers of our God', and this was presumably intended to indicate being legitimate Levitical priests by adoption, whilst Isaiah 66:21 indicates a time when many who were not of the family of Aaron (and some commentators see it as indicating Gentiles), would legitimately be taken by YHWH as priests and Levites. We may assume from all this that as with becoming a member of the other tribes, it was possible to become a Levitical priest by adoption (as happened to Samuel), and in these cases, by wholesale adoption.
It must, however, be emphasised that at no time is it ever said that Levitical priests would be required everlastingly, but only that when they were required to serve at the Sanctuary on earth they would need to be in one way or another of the house of Aaron, whether by descent or adoption.
The position of the Levitical priests is upheld by the writer to the Hebrews, who points out that Jesus could not act as a priest on earth because He was not of the Levitical priesthood. However, he stresses that He had a perfect right to do so at a heavenly altar because He was a priest after the order of Melchizedek (the Jerusalem and Davidic priesthood - Psalms 110:4). This, of course, for all practical purposes made the earthly Levitical priesthood redundant.
Meanwhile in the New Testament as a whole God's people are seen to have a priestly role in that they offer themselves as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1) and offer up the sacrifices of praise and generosity (Hebrews 13:15). For they are a holy priesthood who are to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus (1 Peter 2:5). Indeed they are a kingdom of priests (Revelation 5:10). But none of this impinges on the service of the Levitical priesthood, although it may be seen as superseding it. It is a priesthood of a different order, a spiritual priesthood.
The coming of the future kingdom is put in sacrificial terms because that was the main way of expressing worship known to the prophets and the people, and we may see the descriptions partly as depicting the worldwide worship of the church, as the Kingly Rule of God is being established, and partly as a pointer to the everlasting kingdom when it will be finally established. Thus in Isaiah 66 it is depicted in terms of a weekly visit by all nations to Jerusalem in order to worship YHWH, where the adopted priests and Levites of Isaiah 66:21 were presumably ministering (although no mention is made of sacrifices), and also to scan the rubbish dump where the bodies of presumably executed transgressors were burning continually. In contrast in Zechariah 14 the nations are only required to pay a yearly visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles where they are to worship YHWH by observing the Feast, and the sacrifices will be so many that all the pots in the whole of Judah will be required and will be made holy to YHWH (we can therefore see why all Israel will need to be priests). Meanwhile in every place among the Gentiles incense is being offered, along with a pure offering to YHWH (Malachi 1:11). If the aim in each case is to bring out total loyalty to YHWH in worship and a ministry to the whole world, rather than to indicate actual practise, the pictures make sense, but if we seek to take them literally we make them contradictory, and have the weekly keenites vying with the annual visitors, who again vie with the house churches. (Of course if we see them as a picture of the worship of the whole church, which in a sense they also are, such an idea becomes very realistic). One thing that they are not is the picture of a millennial kingdom, unless we see that as very divided and disorderly.
Thus Jeremiah's (and YHWH's) description of the Levitical priesthood as permanently established in Israel/Judah whilst earthly offerings were being offered at an earthly Sanctuary is valid, and the promise was never broken.