"And the wave breast and the heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy due, and thy sons' due, which are _given_ out of the sacrifices of peace-offerings of the children of Israel ... by _a statute forever, as the Lord hath commanded_." (Ver. 14, 15.) What strength and stability we have here! All the members of the priestly family, "daughters" as well as "sons"--all, whatever be the measure of energy or capacity, are to feed upon "the breast" and "the shoulder"--the affections and the strength of the true Peace-offering, as raised from the dead, and presented, in resurrection, before God. This precious privilege is theirs as "given by a statute forever, as the Lord hath commanded." This makes all "sure and steadfast," come what may. Men may fail and come short, strange fire may be offered, but God's priestly family must never be deprived of the rich and gracious portion which divine love has provided and divine faithfulness secured "by a statute forever." However, we must distinguish between those privileges which belonged to all the members of Aaron's family, "daughters" as well as "sons," and those which could only be enjoyed by the male portion of the family. This point has already been referred to in the notes on the offerings. There are certain blessings which are the common portion of all believers, simply as such; and there are those which demand a higher measure of spiritual attainment and priestly energy to apprehend and enjoy. Now, it is worse than vain, yea, it is impious, to set up for the enjoyment of this higher measure when we really have it not. It is one thing to hold fast the privileges which are "given" of God, and can never be taken away, and quite another to assume a measure of spiritual capacity to which we have never attained. No doubt, we ought to desire earnestly the very highest measure of priestly communion--the most elevated order of priestly privilege; but then desiring a thing, and assuming to have it, are very different. This thought will throw light upon the closing paragraph of our chapter. "And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin-offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left, saying, 'Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded.' And Aaron said unto Moses, 'Behold, this day have they offered their sin-offering and their burnt-offering before the Lord; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin-offering to-day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord?' And when Moses heard that, he was content."