“Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel’” (Numbers 25:12-13 NKJV)

Although the incident that elevated the Aaronic priest, Phinehas, seems brutal to modern eyes, it resulted in a special covenant that God made with the tribe of Levi. This seems to be what Malachi 2:4 and 2:8 refer to as the “covenant of Levi.” God turned the curse that Jacob spoke over Levi (Gen. 49:5-7) on his deathbed, into a blessing. True, Levi would still be “scattered” in Israel as Jacob prophesied, but God made the tribe His special possession. The covenant with Levi was one of “peace” and of an “everlasting priesthood.” Depending on one’s eschatology, some would say that this covenant was inherited by the Church. While others would say that God still has a future for Israel and the Levites in a Millennial Temple.