{"id":79779,"date":"2020-09-10T12:08:55","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T09:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79779"},"modified":"2020-09-10T12:08:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T09:08:55","slug":"for-the-lips-of-a-priest-guard-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/for-the-lips-of-a-priest-guard-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"For The Lips Of A Priest Guard Knowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"79779","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"566","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"All of God\u2019s messengers must strive to be angelic in purity\r\n\r\n","content":"

The bulk of this chapter is addressed to the priests (<\/span>kohanim<\/span><\/em>), about whom God made the following striking declaration:<\/span><\/p>\n

I had with him [Levi] a covenant of life and well-being, which I gave to him, and of reverence, which he showed Me, for he stood in awe of My name. Proper rulings (<\/span>torat<\/span> emet<\/span><\/em>) were in his mouth, and nothing perverse was on his lips; he served Me with complete loyalty and held the many back from iniquity. For the lips of a priest guard knowledge, and men seek rulings from his mouth; for he is a messenger (<\/span>mal’akh<\/span><\/em>) of the LORD of Hosts. (5-7)<\/span><\/p>\n

This covenant of \u201cwell-being\u201d (or peace, <\/span>shalom<\/span><\/em>) is reminiscent of God\u2019s reward to Phineas for his zealous defense of God\u2019s name: \u201cBehold, I hereby grant him My covenant of peace\u201d (Numbers 25:12).\u00a0 The <\/span>kohen\u2019s<\/em> <\/span>Torah teaching also resonates with the Mishnaic invocation: \u201cBe of the disciples of Aaron the Kohen; a lover of peace and a pursuer of peace, a lover of mankind who brought them nearer to Torah\u201d (Avot 1:12).<\/span><\/p>\n

As an educator, however, it is the third verse that is most memorable, due to its use as the prooftext that Torah teachers, priests or not, have to live up to very high standards in both their personal and professional lives. In the following Talmudic passage, the propriety of Rabbi Meir having learned Torah from \u201cAcher,\u201d Elisha ben Abuya, an infamous heretic, is questioned.<\/span><\/p>\n

How could Rabbi Meir study Torah from Acher? Did not Raba bar bar Hana say in the name of R. Yochanan, What is the sense of the verse: \u201cFor the lips of a priest guard knowledge, and men seek rulings from his mouth; for he is a messenger (<\/span>mal’akh<\/span><\/em>) of the LORD of Hosts\u201d? If he resembles an angel (<\/span>mal’akh<\/span><\/em>) of the Lord of Hosts, let Torah be sought from his mouth; otherwise, let it not be sought.<\/span><\/p>\n

The use of \u201cangel\u201d in this particular context complements its use as an epithet for prophets in Isaiah 44:26: \u201cHe fulfills the advice of His messengers (<\/span>mal\u2019akhav<\/span><\/em>),\u201d and 2 Chr. 36:15: \u201cThe Lord, God of their ancestors, summoned them by means of His messengers (<\/span>mal\u2019akhav<\/span><\/em>).\u201d Of course, it also puns on the name of the prophet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Rembrandt: Abraham and the Three Angels, 1646 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":79780,"id":79780,"title":"mal2-Rembrandt_Abraham_Serving_the_Three_Angels-1","filename":"mal2-Rembrandt_Abraham_Serving_the_Three_Angels-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/mal2-Rembrandt_Abraham_Serving_the_Three_Angels-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/for-the-lips-of-a-priest-guard-knowledge\/mal2-rembrandt_abraham_serving_the_three_angels-1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"mal2-rembrandt_abraham_serving_the_three_angels-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79779,"date":"2020-09-10 09:07:43","modified":"2020-09-10 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