At the Crossroads 23

What is a Priestly People?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: God forms his people Israel. (63) Israel is the priestly people of God, "called by the name of the LORD", and "the first to hear the word of God", the people of "elder brethren" in the faith of Abraham.
Today, we comment on: what is a priestly people? What does “Israel is the priestly people of God” mean?

The Old Testament Priesthood functioned as mediator between God and the people, and offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. But this was possible only because God, by His own divine initiative, did choose, call, and separate people to be His priests whose seat of function was the Temple and the sanctuary of the Temple. There, the priests of Yahweh presided over the proclamation of Yahweh’s marvelous saving deeds, the offering of sacrifices and prayers and the ethical dimension of governing the people.

A Vatican article “Priesthood of the Old Covenant” says this: “During the Exodus crossing through the desert of Sinai, God build up the people of Israel as ‘a kingdom of priests and a consecrated nation" (Ex 19:6). Yet within this people, completely priestly in nature, God chose one of the twelve tribes, that of Levi, for liturgical service. Those priests were consecrated by means of unique rite (see Ex 29:1-30) and their functions, duties and rites were established in a detailed way, above all in the book of Leviticus. The members of this tribe, priestly by excellence, did not receive part in any inheritance when the people was able to settle down in the Promised Land. God Himself was the lot of their inheritance (see Jos 13:33). Having been appointed to proclaim the Word of God (see Ml 2:7-9) and to build up communion and peace with God by means of sacrifice and prayer, the priest was always a source of hope, of glory, of strength, and of liberation within the people of Israel which maintained its faith in the future Messiah.’” The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this: (1539) The chosen people was constituted by God as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." But within the people of Israel, God chose one of the twelve tribes, that of Levi, and set it apart for liturgical service; God himself is its inheritance. A special rite consecrated the beginnings of the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The priests are "appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."

This historical privileged place of Israel in the history of salvation makes us profoundly respectful of the Jewish roots of our Christian faith today, and deeply appreciative of the Old Testament as the deposit of God’s promises that would be fulfilled in the New Testament, in Jesus and in His Church.-Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC