Where was the priesthood when God gave the covenant to Abraham? There are a number of covenants, beginning with Noah. Some are conditional, such as the covenant with Moses and Israel, some are unconditional, such as God's covenant with Abraham. You don't get to pick and choose which covenant to apply in any given situation. God's promise to Abraham was everlasting. There was no priesthood, no temple, no law and no Levites.
Read Romans chapter 11; first take your blinkers off. You might learn something.
Dude. I wish you would have just asked the question and then waited for the answer.
Did you forget Melchizedek? He represented the eternal priesthood.
And here were more priests of that order at Sinai before the law was given:
Exodus 19:22
“Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.”
Exodus 19:24
"Then the LORD said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.”
The administration of the priests was simple: "Hear the Lord and do what He says". This was the condition at Sinai:
This was before God spoke on Sinai:
"‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine."
This is the exact administration Jesus restored as the High Priest of the order of Melchizedek:
"“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel."
And also:
"But He answered and said, “It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
This order was actually seen at the beginning of creation: God said, the Son responded, and the Spirit ordered creation.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."
But here is the kicker, this is very important:
by believing God, Abram was administrating like a priest according to Melchizedek.
This should not be a surprise, the promise of priesthood was available at Sinai. The people only had to do what God said:
This is Exodus 19:5 (with my comments in ( ):
"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant (administration of the priesthood)
, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests (there it is) and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Did Israel become a holy nation? No.
Who did?
This is Peter speaking to Gentiles about the New Covenant in His blood:
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
Some might say "Peter was speaking to Jews." No. The next verse is this:
"Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
The Jews were made a specific people in the Old Testament. Besides, Peter is writing to the saints in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. It is widely understood that these were primarily Gentile believers.
The point:
The priesthood existed in Christ from the foundation of the world. Melchizedek and others represented that priesthood in their day. The Law was added 430 years after the promises were given to Abraham and then the Levites, only 1 tribe in 12, became the priests. Yet, it was always God's plan to have a kingdom of priests and a holy nation in the earth.
Paul addresses this:
"Now to Abraham and his Seed (remember this is Christ)
were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
The cost of that covenant,
the covenant that the priests of Melchizedek and Jesus administered, was Christ's death,
which was paid in eternity from the foundation of the world.
The priesthood of Melchizedek has been active from the foundation of the world. The Law, given in time and space and added because of transgressions, cannot annul the eternal priesthood, nor the covenant they administrate, secured by the sacrifice of Christ.
