Restricting access? Mediating knowledge?

Israel’s priestly role is found neither in the offering of rituals on behalf of the rest of the nations nor in servicing sacred space for them. Their role is to mediate knowledge of God, and their end goal is ultimately not to restrict access to the presence of God but to mediate access through instruction. The role of Adam and Eve in the garden, I would propose, has less to do with how the priests operated within Israel and more to do with Israel’s role (and later, that of believers, 1 Pet 2:9) as priests to the world. In such a view, we need not be concerned about the lack of women priests in Israel.—The Lost World of Adam and Eve, pp. 112–13