Brothers and sisters,
I was lead to share on this passage today at the breaking of bread. The passage reads;
Ezra 2:61-63 (KJV)
61And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name: 62These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.[] 63And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.
The people had just returned to the Land and their numbers were being counted but when it came to these families of priestly decent, they were forbidden from partaking of the sacrifice because of their uncleanness by intermarriage with the heathen. And yet, their ability to share in the sacrifices was due to review upon asking the Lord through the Urim and Thuumin, lest we rely only on our own understanding.
I feel there is an application to taking of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. Today, we are of the priesthood under the New Covenant so likewise, we must be sure to be clean when partaking of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The potential sin of these priests was that they had intermarried with a mixed people. Gilead was located on the east side of the Jordan among the tribes that abandoned the Lord and prostituted themselves with the nations. We are called to repent from turning to the World.