Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. Isaiah 11:11

 An acquaintance tells of visiting a large, imposing church for the first time, and just off the entrance to the sanctuary, he noticed three doors marked, “Men,” “Women,” and “Clergy.” “I didn’t know there was a difference,” he remarked in jest.

Scientific research seems to indicate that among Jewish rabbis, there is a difference. In a recent edition of Nature magazine, scientists contend that a study of 188 unrelated rabbis from Israel, North America, and Britain demonstrate that “the composition of Y chromosomes—which are inherited from the father—in the samples taken from the rabbis was markedly different from the lay Jews.”

And what’s such a big deal about this? If the study is valid, and, at this point it seems there is no reason to question it, there is solid evidence which demonstrates that the Jewish priesthood has been passed down from generation to generation, and that among rabbis today, there are some common genetic traits.

What are the implications? Before I answer that question–and believe me, the implications are profound–let’s trace the Jewish priesthood of the Old Testament.   When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He wanted men who were undefiled and separated from the whole to serve as priests. God chose the tribe of Levi for this purpose, and of this tribe, one family, the descendants of Aaron, were to be priests who were consecrated to the work of serving the tabernacle and eventually the temple. The priests alone offered sacrifices while the rest of the Levites were responsible for the care of the tabernacle and later the temple. They were scribes, teachers, musicians, and even judges.

In 70 A.D. the temple was destroyed, and with its destruction the extensive records of families and genealogies were lost to posterity. Obviously, there were priests who survived that holocaust and learned trades. Certainly they passed their heritage on from generation to generation. But there were no written records proving that they were Levites indeed.

Synagogues were established all over the world following the fall of Israel to the Romans. Wherever there were 12 Jewish males, a synagogue could be established. No doubt, many of the priests who had served in the temple or in its care, served as rabbis in the synagogues scattered around the world.   But with the passing of centuries, how could you be sure who was a descendant of the tribe of Levi? If your name was Levi or Cohen, you could possibly be a descendent of Levi since those names are derived from Levi.

Purists have contended that if a Jewish temple should ever be established in the future, it would have to be served by Levites and no one could be sure who is a Levite.   But now scientists are saying that the genes of rabbis all over the world have some common genetic characteristics lacking in ordinary Jewish males, and they believe this common chromosome variation can be traced back for centuries to the appointment of Aaron, some 3300 years ago.

I suspect that your first reaction was the same as mine—skepticism and unbelief—but the more you think about the supernatural way that God has preserved His chosen people, the more you realize this may well be the hand of God in a design so grand and glorious that it defies human logic. After all, never before in history has a nation come back into existence after its disintegration 2000 years before. Never before in all history has a language—Hebrew—been dead for centuries and come into common use as the language of a nation.

God does things His way, and what scientists have stumbled across may well be part of His plan and purpose for the future. God performs His wonders in strange ways. This may well be one of them.

Resource reading: Ezekiel 37.