The Priest as Worship Leader In the Old Testament

In the directives of Moses, priests were specially commissioned for the role of representing the people before the Lord and thus occupied a central position in the worship life of the covenant people. The Role of the Priest The proper role of the priest in worship was to officiate in sacrifice and offering in order to to propitiate the Deity on behalf of the worshiper. Whereas the prophet was the spokesman of the Lord, the priest represented the people before God. The prophet was privy to the counsels of God in virtue of the word that came to him by the Spirit (Amos 3:78; Isa. 61:1; Ezek. 6:1; 2 Pet. 1:21). The Word of the Lord burned like a fire within him (Jer. 20:9). With the priest, access to the Deity was by a careful process of consecration (Lev. 89), wherein enough of the overpowering holiness of the Lord was communicated to him so that he could safely approach the divine and awesome presence; otherwise he would risk being struck down in wrath as a trespasser in forbidden te…