Aaron Chosen as the High Priest

"The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." Numbers 17:8

God chose the high priest and his job was to offer sacrifices. The priest had to kill a lamb, goat or a bull by the altar and give it to God. This was before Jesus came. Jesus was the Son of God, and he died on the cross to take away our sin. Now that He has come and died, we don't sacrifice animals to God anymore. We remember Jesus' sacrifice when we take communion at church. 

The high priest had a beautiful tunic to wear. He wore a mitre on his head with a gold plate on it, and the words "Holiness unto the Lord". He wore a blue, red and white robe embroidered with gold and bells and pomegranates around the hem. He wore a scarf called an ephod and a breastplate made of twelve precious stones, each engraved with a name of a tribe of Israel. 

God said He would choose the high priest, so He told Moses to tell the chief man of each tribe to bring him a dry rod or staff and put them in the Holy Place of the tabernacle they built. The one whose rod would grow again, just as if it were still on a tree, would be the high priest. When the men returned the next morning, one of the rods had budded with green leaves and white flowers while the other eleven were still dry branches. It was Aaron's rod. This was God's way of letting the Israelites know that Aaron and his sons and grandsons after him were always to be priests. 

QUESTIONS

1. What was a priest?

2. What was his job?

3. What was a sacrifice?

4. How was it offered?

5. What creatures were killed ?

6. Where were they put ?

7. What was this to make the children of Israel think of?

8. Why don't we kill animals now?

9. Who has been sacrificed?

10. What did the high-priest wear on his head ?

11. What color was his dress?

12. How was it decorated?

13. What was on his chest?

14. What did God say He would show them?

15. What were the twelve men told to bring ?

16. Where were the rods put ?

17. What was to show who should be priest?

18. What were the eleven rods like in the morning?

19. But how did one look?

20. Whose was it?

21. What was Aaron chosen to be?

Only The Priests Could Offer Incense

"And seek ye the priesthood also." Numbers 16:10

God chose Aaron and his sons to be priests. A priest had a special job. He had to offer the sacrifices to God and burn incense to Him. Incense is made of dried plants and has a sweet smell when it's burnt. The priests had bronze urns with holes at the top and they carried the urns with a chain attached to it. The smoke of the incense would rise up to God as a reminder of our prayers rising to God. 

God also said that part of the Israelites, a family called the Levites (because they were descendants of Levi) should take care of the holy things used in God's service, but only the priests could offer sacrifices and incense.

One of the Levites was named Korah. He wanted to do more. He was angry because Aaron was over the priesthood. He forgot that God had set Aaron as a priest. But Korah persuaded two hundred and fifty men to come and get the urns used to burn incense and burn incense to God, just as if they were priests. Because they did it in pride and self-will, God was angry with them. The fire burst out of the urns and burned the men, and they died.

Their wives and children lived and promised to follow God. They would sing God's praises in the Psalms. But the people always remembered after this that only a priest could offer a sacrifice or burn incense before God.

QUESTIONS

1. What did a priest do?

2. What was a sacrifice?

3. What was incense ?

4. What was it burnt in ?

5. Who was the only people allowed to offer sacrifice and incense ?

6. Who was the right priest?

7. How did Aaron become a priest?

8. Who wanted to offer incense?

9. What did Korah say?

10. How many came with him?

11. What did they try to do?

12. What happened to the two hundred and fifty?

13. Why were they punished ?

14. What became of Korah's children ?