As we continue to unwind the distortions we have been told, whether accidentally or intentionally, we realize that we have to practice the corrected thinking in our mind over and over to put the true historical facts in place. By learning Biblical history we can eliminate the misconceptions and make sense of our Lord, Jesus Messiah. Why is Jesus a priest in the order of Melchizedek? Why aren’t the Levites ministering in the millennial temple? David and Solomon both merged two priesthoods. Elijah’s lineage was from these two priesthoods. One priesthood continued as Assideans/Essenes, while the other faded away. The Levitical priesthood is a priesthood of blood. Lets Explore.
Jacob blesses six sons but chastises six sons.
Gen 49:1 (Brenton) And Jacob called his sons, and said to them,
Gen 49:2 Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear me, sons of Jacob; hear Israel, hear your father.
Gen 49:3 Ruben, thou art my first-born, thou my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, hard and self-willed.
Gen 49:4 Thou wast insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for thou wentest up to the bed of thy father; then thou defiledst the couch, whereupon thou wentest up.
Gen 49:5 Symeon and Levi, brethren, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.
Gen 49:6 Let not my soul come into their counsel, and let not mine inward parts contend in their conspiracy, for in their wrath they slew men, and in their passion they houghed a bull.
Gen 49:7 Cursed be their wrath, for it was willful, and their anger, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Levi is the third son of Leah and Jacob. Jacob bought a field in Shechem and put up an altar. The king of Shechem was Emmor, an Evite. His son Sychem slept with Dina, the daughter of Leah and wanted to marry her. Symeon and Levi told Emmor they would have to all be circumcised to marry Dina. They agreed, and the men of Shechem were circumcised. On the third day of the circumcision Simeon and Levi killed all the men of the city. Houghed means to hamstring, as in Shechem was a bull they hamstrung. Because of this, the chastisement was that both Simeon and Levi would be divided and they would be scattered. As far as Levi was concerned he was scattered as the Levites ended up without any land but lived in every tribe.
After the exodus Moses receives the commands from Yahweh, goes down the mountain to tell everyone what Yahweh Elohim said and then returns. As we studied, the people agreed to what Yahweh told them but within a week they were making a golden calf. Yahweh’s promise was rescinded by their breaking of the first command he gave them, and now they would never receive the entire portion of land. They would in fact have hostile neighbors.
Exo 32:25 (Brenton) And when Moses saw that the people was scattered, —for Aaron had scattered them so as to be a rejoicing to their enemies, —
Exo 32:26 then stood Moses at the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come to me. Then all the sons of Levi came to him.
Exo 32:27 And he says to them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every one his sword on his thigh, and go through and return from gate to gate through the camp, and slay every one his brother, and every one his neighbour, and every one him that is nearest to him.
Exo 32:28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses spoke to them, and there fell of the people in that day to the number of three thousand men.
Exo 32:29 And Moses said to them, Ye have filled your hands this day to the Lord each one on his son or on his brother, so that blessing should be given to you.
Levi’s curse is now a blessing. The tribe of Levi killed three thousand men. The tribe of Levi seems to have a continued history in blood.
Exo 37:19 (Brenton) And this was the construction of the tabernacle of witness, accordingly as it was appointed to Moses; so that the public service should belong to the Levites, through Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
Moses and Aaron were both from the tribe of Levi. The Levites were not priests before this time. They were simply heirs of Jacob’s son who killed the men of Shechem. After killing three thousand men in the exodus, the tribe of Levi, through Ithamar, would continue to handle blood, by being priests and making sacrifices. Ithamar was the fourth son of Aaron. His brothers Nadab and Abihu were the two that brought strange fire and died. So the priestly line came from Eleazar and Ithamar.
Num 3:1 (Brenton) And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day in which the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sina.
Num 3:2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the first-born; and Abiud, Eleazar and Ithamar.
Num 3:3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests whom they consecrated to the priesthood.
Num 3:4 And Nadab and Abiud died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the wilderness of Sina; and they had no children; and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priests' office with Aaron their father.
Nadab and Abiud were not counted as priests. We see that there are specific instructions for these priests from Levi.
Num 3:5 (Brenton) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Num 3:6 Take the tribe of Levi, and thou shalt set them before Aaron the priest, and they shall minister to him,
Num 3:7 and shall keep his charges, and the charges of the children of Israel, before the tabernacle of witness, to do the works of the tabernacle.
The Levites were to minister to Aaron, the descendant of Levi, and Aaron would be in charge of them for the works of the tabernacle. Moses gives directions to the Israelites when they enter the promised land. Each tribe was to give a portion of land to the Levites.
Num 35:2 (Brenton) Give orders to the children of Israel, and they shall give to the Levites cities to dwell in from the lot of their possession, and they shall give to the Levites the suburbs of the cities round about them.
Num 35:3 And the cities shall be for them to dwell in, and their enclosures shall be for their cattle and all their beasts.
The Levites were to be given land in the suburbs for their animals. The Levites were not to own property or possessions. Today people claim the Levitical tithe for their own church and church leadership. But church leadership all own property and possessions as well as take a salary.
Deu 10:8 (Brenton) At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand near before the Lord, to minister and bless in his name to this day.
Deu 10:9 Therefore the Levites have no part nor inheritance among their brethren; the Lord himself is their inheritance, as he said to them.
The Levites were to be supported by the tribe they lived in.
Jos 21:3 (Brenton) So the children of Israel gave to the Levites in their inheritance by the command of the Lord the cities and the country round.
Yet it does not seem to have worked out because by the time of the judges there did not seem to be enough monetary and material support for Levites.
Jdg 17:7 (DRB) There was also another young man of Bethlehem Juda, of the kindred thereof: and he was a Levite, and dwelt there.
Jdg 17:8 Now he went out from the city of Bethlehem, and desired to sojourn wheresoever he should find it convenient for him. And when he was come to mount Ephraim, as he was on his journey, and had turned aside a little into the house of Michas,
Jdg 17:9 He was asked by him whence he came. And he answered: I am a Levite of Bethlehem Juda, and I am going to dwell where I can, and where I shall find a place to my advantage.
Jdg 17:10 And Michas said: Stay with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee every year ten pieces of silver, and a double suit of apparel, and thy victuals.
Jdg 17:11 He was content, and abode with the man, and was unto him as one of his sons.
Jdg 17:12 And Michas filled his hand, and had the young man with him for his priest, saying:
Jdg 17:13 Now I know God will do me good, since I have a priest of the race of the Levites.
This young Levite lived in a small cottage on a mans property and ministered to Yahweh Elohim from among the mans idols. Moses did not give the commands for the Levites to be sojourners, they were to dwell in each tribe. This young Levite was heard by the Danites, who were going to enter their land and they invited him to dwell with them. The Danites took Michas’ idols, and the Levite, and left.
Jdg 18:30 (DRB) And they set up to themselves the graven idol, and Jonathan the son of Gersam, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests in the tribe of Dan, until the day of their captivity.
As time goes on the Levitical order seems to be joined by another priesthood, the Zadok/Zedek priests. David merges them with the Levites for carrying the ark and tabernacle service, and Solomon also merges them into temple service.
Jasher 28:18 At that time Isaac sent his younger son Jacob to the house of Shem and Eber, and he learned the instructions of the Lord, and Jacob remained in the house of Shem and Eber for thirty-two years, and Esau his brother did not go, for he was not willing to go, and he remained in his father's house in the land of Canaan.
Jasher 28:24 And it came to pass in those days, in the hundred and tenth year of the life of Isaac, that is in the fiftieth year of the life of Jacob, in that year died Shem the son of Noah; Shem was six hundred years old at his death. 25 And when Shem died Jacob returned to his father to Hebron which is in the land of Canaan.
Let’s get the picture, Shem was a human lord (Adoni) living in the valley of Melech (king) of Salem (peace) or Jebu (Jebus/Jerusalem Judges 19:10) salem. In other words, Shem was a lord and king in a valley called “peace or peaceful”. Now let’s make our timeline as we did in elementary school so as not to confuse the first Adonizedek with the second Adonizedek from Joshua 10. The first Adonizedek, lord and king of salem died before Jacob went to Laban’s house. The second lord and king of salem died at the time of Joshua. Later, in David’s time, David overtook the Jebusite land and spared the Jebusites. David bought the threshing floor of a Jebusite and put the tabernacle on it, also having Solomon build the temple there. David had numbered the people and the people were dying until David set up an altar and Kurios/Yahweh accepted his offering. Zedek is tsedeq and means “the right, natural moral or legal, or righteous”. Zadok, tsadak, means “morally right, clean and righteous”, and it is the priesthood of Zadok that carried the Ark of the Covenant along with the Levites. So we see the emergence of a pure priesthood, the priesthood of Zadok/Zedek come out of the Jebusite land, where Shem and Eber had a school for learning to worship Theos/Elohim. Adoni-Zedek was lord of righteousness and the priests of Zedek/Zadok were priests of righteousness. Originally Zadok/Zedek was not the name of a person but a priesthood in Shem’s time. Later people took Zadok as a name which is a point of confusion if we think it is only a human name not a title. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/12/chastening-when-yahweh-chastens.html
During the second temple period contentions arose between the lineage of Zadok and the Levites. The Levites had gone astray and led the Israelites astray. The Zadok priesthood became known as the Essenes of which, John the Baptist was an Essene, a Qumran Essene. Jesus was also an Essene, a Nazarene Essene. The Qumran Essenes were desert dwellers who adhered to celibacy, while the Nazarene Essenes lived near Mount Carmel and were family oriented Essenes. We start to gain some insight here as to why Jesus primarily ministered in the north and why there are many contradictions regarding sacrifices between the Levites and the Essenes affecting certain books of the Bible. Incidentally, Elijah was an Essene from Mt Carmel where the school of the prophets was established. The Essenes had a particular set of religious practices that both John and Jesus adhered to. The Essenes were a third faction of religious people, in the time of the first century along with the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Essenes believed in Jesus’ Messiahship which caused later Jews, the Masorete’s, to attempt to erase the Essene history along with Jesus. This is why we see books like Jeremiah and Daniel chopped up by the Masorete’s, because they joined to Levitical ideologies and practices rather than Zadok and Essene ideologies and practices, even though they knew the Levites practiced idolatry and legalism. Notice all the other books the Masorete’s discarded as well. This is why Jesus was not accepted by the Pharisees, Sadducees, the Priests, and later the Masorete’s. Again, to be clear, on one side of the fence we have Levites, Pharisees, Sadducees, and later Masorete’s leading to the practice of Judaism. On the other side of the fence we have Zadok-ites, Essenes, John the Baptist, Jesus, leading to the practice of Christianity.
Notice this, vein one came from Enoch, Noah, and Shem then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, learned from Shem and Eber. Next, Jacob’s heirs (as told to Abraham) spent over 400 years in captivity, eventually moving back to the land where Shem, Eber, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived. In vein two we have Enoch, Noah, Shem, Eber, Jebusites, Zadok, and Essenes. These people had populated the land since Shem moved there and started a school of worship. They did not go into captivity in Egypt, they were not disposed, and in fact, David merged the Israelites into the Jebusite territory and culture, using the Jebusite threshing floor as a place for an altar and the eventual temple. This is the city of David. David, a man after God’s own heart, recognized who the Jebusites were and merged the people. Solomon also installed Zadok priests in the temple.
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-god-who-walks-with-man-melchizedek.html
David enters Jebus, he merges the priesthood of Jebus, delineated from Shem, and makes the region of Jebus, the City of David where the temple was to be built.
1Ch 15:1 (Brenton) And David made for himself houses in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and made a tent for it.
David makes a place in Gibeon for the tabernacle and has the Priests of Zadok/Zedek and the Levites carry it there.
1Ch 15:11 (Brenton) And David called Sadoc and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites, Uriel, Asaia, and Joel, and Semaia, and Eliel, and Aminadab,
1Ch 15:12 and said to them, Ye are the heads of the families of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, and ye shall carry up the ark of the God of Israel, to the place which I have prepared for it.
1Ch 15:13 For because ye were not ready at the first, our God made a breach upon us, because we sought him not according to the ordinance.
1Ch 15:14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves, to bring up the ark of the God of Israel.
After this, David brings the ark to Gibeon. Gibeon is five miles from Jerusalem.
1 Chronicles 16:37-40 (KJV)
37 So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required:
38 And Obededom with their brethren, threescore and eight; Obededom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be porters:
39 And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon,
40 To offer burnt offerings unto the LORD upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the law of the LORD, which he commanded Israel;
The ark is now in Gibeon. The Priests of Zadok (Shem/Melchizedek) will minister before the Lord at Gibeon. It seems the Lord had a plan for the people who lived in Gibeon. Not only that, Solomon worships at Gibeon and receives a visit from the Lord.
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2019/08/goliath-david-giant-slayer-gibeons.html
At this point we realize that the stories we were all told about the domination of the Levites has been incorrect. David had the Zadok priests ministering at Gibeon, not the Levites. Notice the difference here, the priests ministered at the tabernacle to Yahweh. The Levites offered sacrifices from the people, to Yahweh, in their own land. Both David and Solomon worshipped at Gibeon/Gabaon.
1Ch 16:39 (Brenton) And they appointed Sadoc the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place in Gabaon,
1Ch 16:40 to offer up whole-burnt-offerings continually morning and evening, and according to all things written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded the children of Israel by Moses the servant of God.
The Levites were living among the people and making offerings in their tribes. The Zadok priests were making offerings at the tabernacle. They offered burnt offerings morning and evenings. There were no Levites ministering here.
1Ch 18:16 (Brenton) And Sadoc son of Achitob, and Achimelech son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Susa was the scribe;
The Zadok priests at Gibeon had a scribe. The Levites did not have a tabernacle scribe.
1Ch 28:2 (Brenton) And David stood in the midst of the assembly, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and a place for the feet of our Lord, and I prepared materials suitable for the building:
1Ch 28:3 but God said, Thou shalt not build me a house to call my name upon it, for thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood.
1Ch 28:6 And God said to me, Solomon thy son shall build my house and my court: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be to him a father.
1Ch 28:7 And I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he continue to keep my commandments, and my judgments, as at this day.
Solomon is now anointed king.
1Ki 1:37 (Brenton) As the Lord was with my lord the king, so let him be with Solomon, and let him exalt his throne beyond the throne of my lord king David.
1Ki 1:38 And Sadoc the priest went down, and Nathan the prophet, and Banaeas son of Jodae, and the Cherethite, and the Phelethite, and they mounted Solomon upon the mule of king David, and led him away to Gion.
1Ki 1:39 And Sadoc the priest took the horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon, and blew the trumpet; and all the people said, Let king Solomon live.
1Ki 1:40 And all the people went up after him, and they danced in choirs, and rejoiced with great joy, and the earth quaked with their voice.
The Zakok priests and prophets went from Gibeon to the Gihon springs to anoint Solomon. The Levites did not anoint Solomon.
1Ki 1:43 (Brenton) And Jonathan answered and said, Verily our lord king David has made Solomon king:
1Ki 1:44 and the king has sent with him Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Banaeas the son of Jodae, and the Cherethite, and the Phelethite, and they have mounted him on the king's mule;
1Ki 1:45 and Sadoc the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him in Gion, and have gone up thence rejoicing, and the city resounded: this is the sound which ye have heard.
1Ki 1:46 And Solomon is seated upon the throne of the kingdom.
Solomon was now reigning as King.
1Ki 2:35 (Brenton) And the king appointed Banaeas son of Jodae in his place over the host; and the kingdom was established in Jerusalem; and as for Sadoc the priest, the king appointed him to be high priest in the room of Abiathar. And Solomon son of David reigned over Israel and Juda in Jerusalem: and the Lord gave understanding to Solomon, and very much wisdom, and largeness of heart, as the sand by the sea-shore.
And the wisdom of Solomon abounded exceedingly beyond the wisdom of all the ancients, and beyond all the wise men of Egypt: and he took the daughter of Pharao, and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord first, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. In seven years he made and finished them.
Zadok was anointed as High Priest. Both Zadok and Abiathar were co-High Priests but when David died Abiathar had supported Adonijah for the next King. Solomon removed Abiathar but was merciful not to kill him.
Solomon goes to Gibeon to worship.
2Ch 1:1 (Brenton) And Solomon the son of David was established over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and increased him exceedingly.
2Ch 1:2 And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands, and to the captains of hundreds, and to the judges, and to all the rulers over Israel, even the heads of the families;
2Ch 1:3 and Solomon and all the congregation went to the high place that was in Gabaon, where was God's tabernacle of witness, which Moses the servant of the Lord made in the wilderness.
2Ch 1:4 But David had brought up the ark of God out of the city of Cariathiarim; for David had prepared a place for it, for he had pitched a tabernacle for it in Jerusalem.
Solomon asks for wisdom. When Rehoboam takes over and the kingdom splits, defilements enter the temple. There were booths for male and female prostitutes, worship of stars, constellations, and the passing of babies through the fire.
1 Kings 14:21-24 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. KJV
The word sodomites does not mean “people from Sodom”, but implies “male prostitutes in temples”. Today, we don’t understand this particularly well as we don’t see prostitutes in temples in most countries today. It was already a common practice by the time of the exodus, and God commanded the children of Israel not to turn their sons and daughters into prostitutes. This is a shame as the Israelites strayed so far that their own children became prostitutes in temples to strange gods.
Deut 23:17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. KJV
What did Rehoboam do? They maintained male shrine prostitutes, but not only in one place, but throughout the land. This temple prostitution took place in surrounding nations, as well as among the descendants of the Nephilim. We don’t understand how Israel got entangled with this, but suffice to say not all the people were caught up in temple prostitution. The Israelites were supposed to keep the Passover in remembrance of their deliverance, yet there were many who didn’t care to remember the bondage in Egypt or the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and therefore didn’t keep the Passover.
1 Kings 14:24 They even maintained male shrine prostitutes throughout the land, and imitated every detestable practice that the nations practiced whom the Lord had expelled in front of the Israelis. ISV
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/03/passover-male-prostitution-in-temple.html
By the time Elijah was prophesying and killing the prophets of Baal there were no Levites ministering among the people. There was a city of priests on the border of Gad and Ruben. This was called Heshbon, the city Elijah came from. Elijah’s lineage was a Levite and a Zedek.
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-zadok-priest-no-rain-out-from.html
During the time of Manasseh the temple continued to be corrupted.
2Ki 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah.
2Ki 21:2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
2Ki 21:3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
2Ki 21:4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
2Ki 21:5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2Ki 21:6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
2Ki 21:7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
2Ki 21:8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
2Ki 21:9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
Even after Josiah took 14 years to clean up the southern kingdom, also holding a passover, people eventually went back to their multitude of sins.
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2020/09/glory-spirit-of-wisdom-holy-spirit.html
When Josiah was about 20 years old he started cleaning up temple prostitution. Now we might think that this prostitution took place in out of the way places, but it didn’t. By Josiah’s time Solomon’s Temple was turned into a place of prostitution with booths for the male prostitutes. It is hard to imagine; our Christianized and romanticized vision of Solomon’s Temple does not include idolatry and prostitution within its walls.
2 Kings 23:7 He tore out the rooms of the male sacred prostitutes that had been set up in The Temple of God; women also used these rooms for weavings for Asherah. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
2 Kings 23:7 He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating in the Lord’s Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah. ISV
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/03/passover-male-prostitution-in-temple.html
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2022/10/oola-ooliba-and-elders-sexual-rituals.html
After about 400 years of defilement in the temple the Spirit of the Elohim leaves. Ezekiel has to tell the people why they are in captivity.
The Holy Spirit came on Ezekiel and stood him up. Ezekiel is told that the Israelites would not listen to him and that they would bind him, but when Yahweh Elohim wants to say something, Ezekiel will speak. As we know, Judah does not listen.
Eze 8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
Eze 8:2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
Eze 8:3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
Eze 8:4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
Eze 8:5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
Eze 8:6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.
Eze 8:7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
Eze 8:8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
Eze 8:9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
Eze 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
Eze 8:11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
Eze 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
Eze 8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
Eze 8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
Eze 8:15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
Eze 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Eze 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
Eze 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
As we see that the abominations continued even after Hezekiah and Josiah tried to rid Judah of all these practices. We know that people tend to worship evil beings for the immediate result, rather than the eternal result. What Yahweh did next was to mark those who mourned for all the evil the priests were doing. Those people were spared. The rest were killed.
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2020/09/glory-spirit-of-wisdom-holy-spirit.html
Because the occultic practices that continued in the temple for over 400 years, the Spirit of the Elohim left and Judah went into captivity. We know that some Levites and Zedeks mingled, as Elijah is a testament to that. We know some Levites stayed holy while the majority did not. While we do not know when the Zadok/Zedek priests left the service in the temple, we do know that they are the priests in the Millennial Temple. In captivity the Zedek/Zadok priests became the Assideans, the holy men, as there was no temple or tabernacle to minister in. Later the Assideans became known as the Essenes and formed the Damascus community. This took place during the Maccabean era. The Levites will be outside the millennial temple while the priests from Shem/Melchizedek will be ministering inside. By this we know who is of the preeminent priesthood because of their holiness.
Ezk 40:46 (Brenton) And the chamber that looks to the north is for the priests that keep the charge of the altar: they are the sons of Sadduc, those of the tribe of Levi who draw near to the Lord to serve him.
Ezk 42:13 (Brenton) And he said to me, The chambers toward the north, and the chambers toward the south, in front of the void spaces, these are the chambers of the sanctuary, wherein the priests the sons of Sadduc, who draw night to the Lord, shall eat the most holy things: and there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat-offering, and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings; because the place is holy.
Ezk 42:14 None shall go in thither except the priests, and they shall not go forth of the holy place into the outer court, that they that draw nigh to me may be continually holy, and may not touch their garments in which they minister, with defilement, for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments whenever they come in contact with the people.
Ezk 44:10 (Brenton) But as for the Levites who departed far from me when Israel went astray from me after their imaginations, they shall even bear their iniquity.
Ezk 44:11 yet they shall minister in my sanctuary, being porters at the gates of the house, and serving the house: they shall slay the victims and the whole-burnt-offerings for the people, and they shall stand before the people to minister to them.
Ezk 44:12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and it became to the house of Israel a punishment of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord God.
Ezk 44:13 And they shall not draw nigh to me to minister to me in the priests' office, nor to approach the holy things of the children of Israel, nor to approach my holy of holies: but they shall bear their reproach for the error wherein they erred.
Ezk 44:14 They shall bring them to keep the charges of the house, for all the service of it, and for all that they shall do.
Ezk 44:15 The priests the Levites, the sons of Sadduc, who kept the charges of my sanctuary when the house of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw night to me to minister to me, and shall stand before my face, to offer sacrifice to me, the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.
Ezk 44:16 These shall enter into my sanctuary, and these shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charges.
The Levites who went astray with the people will not be inside, they will be outside killing the offerings, a ministry of blood once again.
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2018/08/gog-and-magog-war-millennial-temple.html
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2018/08/supernatural-saints-overcomers-in.html
Ezekiel gave us the conclusion to the matter and the writer of Hebrews explains the Zedek priesthood’s High Priest.
Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Heb 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
Heb 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Jesus is our High Priest. Melchizedek is the High Priestly order, not Levi. Levi was a tribe of blood that was led astray with the people, as they killed the men of Shechem, and the three thousand men of the exodus, made sacrifices for the people within the tribes, and will sacrifice the animals in the millennial temple. There is no need to resurrect the Levitical order, or try and anoint people to make sacrifices until there is a temple. But the Levitical order does not bring salvation, only the Priest from the order of Melchizedek can do that. Those of us who are saved by Jesus Messiah will be made kings and priests under Melchizedek. We will be a royal priesthood not by heredity but by faith.
