Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 4:1

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

1 20. The Kohathites and their duties.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

CHAPTER IV

Moses is commanded to take the sum of the sons of Kohath from

thirty years old and upward, 1-4.

The service which they had to perform, 5-15.

The office of Eleazar, 16.

The family of Kohath to be continued among the Levites, 17-19.

They are not to go into the holy of holies, 20.

The sum of the sons of Gershon, 21-23.

The service they had to perform, 24-27.

They are to be under Ithamar, 28.

The sum of the sons of Merari, 29, 30.

The service they had to perform, 31-33.

The sum of all the families of Kohath, 2,750, ver. 34-37.

The sum of the families of Gershon, 2,630, ver. 38-41.

The sum of the families of Merari, 3,200, ver. 42-45.

The sum total of the families of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari,

8,580, ver. 46-49.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,…. After they had taken the number of the Levites, and made an exchange of the firstborn of Israel for them; and now they are ordered to number them a second time, and take out from them such as were fit for service:

saying; as follows.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Rules of Service, and Numbering of the Levites Qualified for Service. – After the adoption of the Levites for service at the sanctuary, in the place of the first-born of Israel, Moses and Aaron mustered the three families of the Levites by the command of God for the service to be performed by those who were between the ages of 30 and 50. The particulars of the service are first of all described in detail (vv. 4-33); and then the men in each family are taken, of the specified age for service (vv. 34-49). The three families are not arranged according to the relative ages of their founders, but according to the importance or sacredness of their service. The Kohathites take the lead, because the holiest parts of the tabernacle were to be carried and kept by this family, which included the priests, Aaron and his sons. The service to be performed by each of the three Levitical families is introduced in every case by a command from God to take the sum of the men from 30 years old to 50 (see Num 4:1-3, Num 4:21-23, Num 4:29 and Num 4:30).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Office of the Levites.

B. C. 1490.

      1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,   3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.   4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:   5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:   6 And shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.   7 And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:   8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.   9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:   10 And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put it upon a bar.   11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:   12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar:   13 And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:   14 And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it.   15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.   16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.   17 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:   19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:   20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

      We have here a second muster of the tribe of Levi. As that tribe was taken out of all Israel to be God’s peculiar, so the middle-aged men of that tribe were taken from among the rest to be actually employed in the service of the tabernacle. Now observe,

      I. Who were to be taken into this number. All the males from thirty years old to fifty. Of the other tribes, those that were numbered to go forth to war were from twenty years old and upward, but of the Levites only from thirty to fifty; for the service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of him who is the first and best. And a man may make a good soldier much sooner than a good minister. Now,

      1. They were not to be employed till they were thirty years old, because till then they were in danger of retaining something childish and youthful and had not gravity enough to do the service, and wear the honour, of a Levite. They were entered as probationers at twenty-five years old, (ch. viii. 24), and in David’s time, when there was more work to be done, at twenty (1 Chron. xxiii. 24, and so Ezra iii. 8); but they must be five years learning and waiting, and so fitting themselves for service; nay, in David’s time they were ten years in preparation, from twenty to thirty. John Baptist began his public ministry, and Christ his, at thirty years old. This is not in the letter of it obligatory on gospel ministers now, as if they must either not begin their work till thirty years old or must leave off at fifty; but it gives us two good rules:– (1.) That ministers must not be novices, 1 Tim. iii. 6. It is a work that requires ripeness of judgment and great steadiness, and therefore those are very unfit for it who are but babes in knowledge and have not put away childish things. (2.) That they must learn before they teach, serve before they rule, and must first be proved, 1 Tim. iii. 10.

      2. They were discharged at fifty years old from the toilsome part of the service, particularly that of carrying the tabernacle; for that is the special service to which they are here ordained, and which there was most occasion for while they were in the wilderness. When they began to enter upon old age, they were dismissed, (1.) In favour to them, that they might no be over-toiled when their strength began to decay. Twenty years’ good service was thought pretty well for one man. (2.) In honour to the work, that it might not be done by those who, through the infirmities of age, were slow and heavy. The service of God should be done when we are in the most lively active frame. Those do not consider this who put off their repentance to old age, and so leave the best work to be done in the worst time.

      II. How their work is described. They are said to enter into the host, or warfare, to do the work in the tabernacle. The ministry is a good work (1 Tim. iii. 1): ministers are not ordained to the honour only, but to the labour, not only to have the wages, but to do the work. It is also a good warfare, 1 Tim. i. 18. Those that enter into the ministry must look upon themselves as entered into the host, and approve themselves good soldiers, 2 Tim. ii. 3. Now, as to the sons of Kohath in particular, here is,

      1. Their service appointed them, in the removes of the tabernacle. Afterwards, when the tabernacle was fixed, they had other work assigned them; but this was the work of the day, which was to be done in its day. Observe, Wherever the camp of Israel went, the tabernacle of the Lord went with them, and care must be taken for the carriage of it. Note, Wherever we go, we must see to it that we take our religion along with us, and not forget that or any part of it. Now the Kohathites were to carry all the holy things of the tabernacle. They were charged with those things before (ch. iii. 31), but here they have more particular instructions given them. (1.) Aaron, and his sons the priests, must pack up the things which the Kohathites were to carry, as here directed, v. 5, c. God had before appointed that none should come into the most holy place, but only Aaron once a year with a cloud of incense (Lev. xvi. 2) and yet, the necessity of their unsettled state requiring it, that law is here dispensed with; for every time they removed Aaron and his sons went in to take down the ark, and make it up for carriage; for (as the learned bishop Patrick suggests) the shechinah, or display of the divine majesty, which was over the mercy-seat, removed for the present in the pillar of cloud, which was taken up, and then the ark was not dangerous to be approached. (2.) All the holy things must be covered, the ark and table with three coverings, all the rest with two. Even the ashes of the altar, in which the holy fire was carefully preserved and raked up, must have a purple cloth spread over them, v. 13. Even the brazen altar, though in the court of the sanctuary it stood open to the view of all, yet was covered in the carriage of it. All these coverings were designed, [1.] For safety, that these holy things might not be ruffled with the wind, sullied with the rain, nor tarnished with the sun, but that they might be preserved in their beauty; for on all the glory shall be a defence. The coverings of badgers’ skins, being thick and strong, would keep out wet; and, while we are in our passage through the wilderness of this world, it concerns us to be fenced for all weathers,Isa 4:5; Isa 4:6. [2.] For decency and ornament. Most of these things had a cloth of blue, or purple, or scarlet, spread outmost; and the ark was covered with a cloth wholly of blue (v. 6), an emblem (say some) of the azure skies, which are spread like a curtain between us and the Majesty on high, Job xxvi. 9. Those that are faithful to God should endeavour likewise to appear beautiful before men, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. [3.] For concealment. It signified the darkness of that dispensation. That which is now brought to light by the gospel, and revealed to babes, was then hidden from the wise and prudent. They saw only the coverings, not the holy things themselves (Heb. x. 1); but now Christ has destroyed the face of the covering, Isa. xxv. 7. (3.) When all the holy things were covered, then the Kohathites were to carry them on their shoulders. These things that had staves were carried by their staves (Num 4:6; Num 4:8; Num 4:11; Num 4:14); those that had not were carried upon a bar, or bier, or bearing barrow, Num 4:10; Num 4:12. See how the tokens of God’s presence in this world are movable things; but we look for a kingdom that cannot be moved.

      2. Eleazar, now the eldest son of Aaron, is appointed overseer of the Kohathites in this service (v. 16); he must take care that nothing was forgotten, left behind, or displaced. As a priest he had more honour than the Levites, but then he had more care; and that care was a heavier burden, no doubt, upon his heart, than all the burdens that were laid upon their shoulders. It is much easier to do the work of the tabernacle than to discharge the trusts of it, to obey than to rule.

      3. Great care must be taken to preserve the lives of these Levites, by preventing their unseasonable irreverent approach to the most holy things: Cut you not off the Kohathites, v. 18. Note, Those who do not what they can to keep others from sin do what they can to cut them off. [1.] The Kohathites must not see the holy things till the priests had covered them, v. 20. Even those that bore the vessels of the Lord saw not what they bore, so much were even those in the dark concerning the gospel whose office it was to expound the law. And, [2.] When the holy things were covered, they might not touch them, at least not the ark, called here the holy thing, upon pain of death, v. 15. Uzza was struck dead for the breach of this law. Thus were the Lord’s ministers themselves then kept in fear, and that was a dispensation of terror, as well as darkness; but now, through Christ, the case is altered; we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handles, the word of life (1 John i. 1), and we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

NUMBERS=CHAPTER FOUR

Verses 1-4:

Chapter three outlines the general service for each of the three Levitical families. Chapter four gives specific details of this service.

Thirty years was the age at which the Levites became liable for the service of the Tabernacle. This age was soon lowered to twenty-five, see Nu 8:24. Scripture offers no explanation for his. During the reign of David, he lowered the age still further to twenty, 1Ch 23:27.

This text is likely the basis for the Jews’ custom that thirty years was the age at which a man attained to full maturity. It was at this age that Jesus began His personal ministry, Lu 3:23.

“Into the host” does not refer to military service, but to the service of the Lord.

“To do the work,” literally, “to war the warfare.”

The “most holy things” refer to the articles of furniture in the Tabernacle itself: the Ark of the Covenant, the golden incense altar, the table of shewbread, and the gold lampstand. These were to be the responsibility of the Kohathites.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron This census had a different object from the former one, which we have just been considering, viz., that an equal distribution of the charges should be made in proportion to the number of the individuals. First, as regarded age, a distinction must be observed between this tribe and the others; for we have already seen that all the Israelites above twenty years of age were numbered, because they were then fit to bear arms. But it was not without reason that a more mature age was required in the case of the Levites, so that they should not begin to discharge their ministry before their thirtieth year. For not only is strength and rigor of body requisite for spiritual warfare, but seriousness and gravity also. If they had been admitted in their youth, their levity might have detracted from the reverence due to sacred things, since the young are often led to act intemperately by their fervor and licentiousness. Access to the sanctuary, therefore, was not permitted them till they had grown up to be men; for by their thirtieth year men ought to have become so staid, as that it shall be base and inexcusable for them to give way to the wantonness of youth.

From their fiftieth year they were released from their duties; since sloth and inactivity generally accompany old age. The case is different as to war, because we find many who are vigorous after their fiftieth year. Furthermore, since religion is more precious than all earthly affairs, diligent care was to be taken lest it should fall into disesteem on account of the idleness and somnolency of its ministers.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

MARCHING AND MURMURING

Numbers, Chapters 1-19.

THE Book of Leviticus is hard to outline and to interpret. It is lengthy, and introduces so much of detail of law and ceremony that its analysis is accomplished with difficulty. And yet Leviticus took but thirty days to declare and put its every precept into actual practice. In that respect the Book of Numbers quite contrasts its predecessor. It covers a period of not less than thirty-eight years, and the plan of the volume is simple. Four keywords compass the nineteen chapters proposed for this mornings study. They are words necessitated by the wilderness experience. Leviticus sets up a sanctuary and a form of service; but in Numbers, we read of men of war, of armies, of standards, of camps, and trumpets sounding aloud. Through all of this, these key-words keep their way, and the mere mention of them will aid us in an orderly study of the first half of the volume; while we will not be able to dispense with them when we come to the analysis and study of the latter half. I refer to the terms mustering, marching, murmuring, and mercy.

MUSTERING

The first nine chapters of Numbers have to do almost entirely with the mustering. Chapters one and two are given to arranging the regiment, as we saw in our former study:

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the Children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;

From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers. * *

As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. * *

Every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war. * *

And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the Children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard (Num 1:1-4; Num 1:19-20; Num 2:1-2).

After all the centuries and even the millenniums that have come in between the day of Numbers and our day, wherein have men improved upon Gods plan of mustering armies and arranging regiments? True, we permit our boys to enter the service younger than twenty, but we make a mistake, as many a war-wrecked youth has illustrated. True, we make up our regiments of men who are strangers to each other, and in whose veins no kindred blood is flowing. But such an aggregation will never represent the strength, nor exhibit the courage that the tribal regiment evinces in fight. The almost successful rebellion of our Southern States demonstrated this. Our standard speaks of the nation, and appeals to the patriotic in men. Their standard represented the family and addressed itself to domestic pride and passion. It is well to remember, however, that the primary purpose of these Old Testament symbols is the impression of spiritual truths. And the lesson in this arranging of regiments is the one of being able to declare our spiritual genealogy, and our religious standard.

Every Israelite, when he was polled, was put in position to declare his paternity and point unmistakably to his standard; and no Christians should be satisfied until they can say with John, Now are we the sons of God, because we have discovered that the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. And no standard should ever be accepted as sufficient other than that which has been set up for us in the Word. Long ago God said, Behold I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people, and in Christ Jesus He has accomplished that; and every one of us ought to be able to say with C. H. M., Our theology is the Bible; our church organization is the one Body, formed by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and united to the living and exalted Head in the Heavens. To contend for anything less than this is entirely below the mark of a true spiritual warrior.

Chapters three and four contain the appointment of the Priests. When Moses numbered the people, the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered (Num 1:47). God had for them a particular place in the army, and a peculiar part to take in this onward march. Their place was roundabout the tabernacle, at the center of the host, and their office was the charge of all the vessels thereof, and over all the things that belonged to it. They were to bear the tabernacle, to minister in the tabernacle, to encamp roundabout it; to take it down when they were ready to set forth; and when the army halted in a new place, they were to set it up (chap. 2). In one sense they were not soldiers; in another they were the very captains and leaders of Jehovahs army. Their men from twenty to fifty were not armed and made ready for the shedding of blood, but they were set in charge of that symbol of Jehovahs presence without which Israels overthrow would have been instantaneous, and Israels defeat effectual. The worlds most holy men have always been, will always remain, its best warriors. The Sunday School teachers of the land fight the battles that make for peace more effectually than the nations constabulary; while the ministers of the Gospel, together with all their confederatesconscientious laymenput more things to rights and keep the peace better than the police force of all towns and cities. Every believer is a priest unto God. We should be profoundly impressed with the position we occupy in the great army which is fighting for a better civilization, and with the responsibility that rests upon us in the bringing in of a reign of righteousness.

Chapters five to nine, we have said, relate themselves to the establishment of army regulations. They impose purity of life upon every member who remains in the camp; they require restitution of any property falsely appropriated; they insist upon the strictest integrity of the home-life, and they declare the vows, offerings, and ceremonies suited to impress the necessity of the keeping of all these commands. In this there are two suggestions for the present time, namely, the place that discipline has in a well-organized army and the prominence it ought to be given in the true Church of God. That modern custom of making a hero of every man who smells the smoke of battle, and the complimentary one of excoriating every moral teacher who insists that even men of war are amenable to the civilities of life and ought to be compelled to regard them, has filled the ranks of too many standing armies with immoral men and swung public opinion too far into line with that servile press which indulges the habit of condoning, yea, even of commending, an army code that makes for criminal culture.

Sometime ago I went, in company with a veteran of 61 to 66, to hold a little service at the grave of two of his comrades. On our way we met another veteran of that bloody war, and as we looked into his bloated face, and listened to his drunken words, this clean, sober, Christian ex-soldier uttered some things about the necessity of better discipline in the army that were worthy of repetition, and ought to be heard by those officials who have it in their power to aid the young men of our present army to keep the commandments of God; but who too often lead them by example and precept to an utter repudiation of the same.

But the Church of God is Jehovahs army, and if we expect civilities from the unregenerate, we have a right to demand righteousness of the professedly redeemed. Much as discipline did for the purity and power of Israel, if rightly employed, it would accomplish even more for the purity and power of the present organized body of believers. Baron Stowe, a long time Bostons model pastor, in his Memoirs says, touching the importance of strict discipline, A church cannot prosper that connives at sin in its members; and that charity which shrinks from plain, faithful dealing with offenders, is false charity, and deeply injurious. A straightforward course in discipline, in accordance with the rules laid down by the Saviour, is the only one that will insure His approbation. Any serious student of the Scriptures must be often and profoundly impressed with the parallelisms, and even perfect agreements, of the Old Testament teachings with those of the New. Touching discipline, the Lord said unto Joshua,

Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant, which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

Therefore the Children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you (Jos 7:11-12).

When Paul found in the Corinthian Church a similar condition of transgression, he wrote,

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. * * Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person (1Co 5:11 f).

MARCH

The tenth chapter and thirty-third verse sets our organized army into motion. And they departed from the mount of the Lord, three days journey. Touching this march there are three things suggested by the Scripture, each of which is of the utmost importance.

First of all it was begun at Gods signal.

And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony.

And the Children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.

And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of Moses (Num 10:11-13).

Going back to the beginning of this tenth chapter you will find that the priests were to assemble the armies with the silver trumpets. A single blast called together the princesheads of the thousands of Israel. When they blew an alarm, the camps that lay on the East went forward. A second alarm summoned the camps from the South, and an additional blast brought the congregation together. The same God at whose signal Israel was to march, speaks in trumpet tones by His Spirit, and through the Word, to the present Church militant. When whole congregations go sadly wrong, much of the trouble will be found with the men whose business it is to. use the silver trumpet, and thereby voice the mind of God. Too many preachers have been snubbed into silence or cowed to uncertain sounds. The silver trumpets through which they ought to call the people to battle have been plugged up with gold pieces, and in all too many instances they are afraid to blow an alarm, calling to the camps that lie on the East, lest when they sound the second, those that lie on the South should refuse to respond.

Joseph Parker suggests that when ministers become the trumpeters of society again, there will be a mighty awakening in the whole nation. In Italy they have a saying to this effect, There has never been a revolution in Europe without a Monk at the bottom of it. And when the ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully fill up their offices, there will never be a division of Gods army, marching Canaan-ward, without a preacher at the head of it; and he will not be a man who has accommodated himself to the cry of the times in which we live Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits, but rather one who will sound the alarm of Divine command, and whose word will be to the people, Gods signal. Every element of success enters into that assurance which comes from a conviction that one is marching according to the Divine command. The reason why public opinion, almost insuperable obstacles, and even royal counsellors, could not turn Joan of Arc from her purpose, existed in the fact that she kept hearing a voice saying, Daughter of God, go on, go on! And if we will listen, there is a voice behind us saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.

In this march Gods leadership was sought.

And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.

And when it rested he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel (Num 10:33).

There is a simplicity and a sincerity in that prayer which is truly refreshing. There are plenty of men who consult their circumstances; who take into account all the factors that can affect the march of life, and who try to keep as their constant guide a well-balanced intellect; but Moses preferred God. He esteemed His presence above all favorable conditions, and above the highest human judgment. And the man who rises up in the morning, offering his prayer to God to be guided for that day, and who, when he lies down at night, prays again, Return, O Lord, unto me, and watch over my slumber, is the man who has no occasion to fear because even the fiercest foe will fall before him.

Lewis Albert Banks says that about the year 1600 a man by the name of Heddinger was chaplain to the Duke of Wartenberg. The Duke was a wayward, wicked man. Heddinger was one of these genuine, faithful souls like John the Baptist who would stand for the right and God. He rebuked the Duke for his great sins. This terribly enraged his Honor, and he sent for the brave chaplain thinking to punish him. Heddinger came from his closet of prayer with his face beaming. The Duke, seeing the shine in every feature, realized that he was enjoying the actual presence of the Lord, and after putting to him the question, Why did you not come alone? sent him away unharmed. Ah, beloved, whether we be on the march or at rest; whether we be fighting the battles of life or enjoying its victories; whether we be proclaiming the truth or are on trial for having taught it, we have no business being alone, for we seek the Divine presence. The Lord will lead us in the march and lift over us His banner when we lie down to rest.

Nor can one follow this march without being impressed with the fact that God was guiding His people Canaan-ward. By consulting a good map you will see that the line from Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea was as direct as the lay of the land made possible. God never takes men by circuitous routes. These come in consequence of leaving the straight and narrow way for the more attractive but uncertain one of by-path meadow. Had they remained faithful to Divine leadership, forty days would have brought the whole company into Canaan. But when, through the discouragement of false reporters, they turned southward, putting their backs to God, they plunged into the wilderness fox a wandering of forty years, and even worse, to perish there without ever seeing the Land of Promise. What a lesson here for us! There is a sense in which every man determines his own destiny. It is within our power to trust to Divine leadership and enjoy it, and it is equally within our power to mistrust it, and lose it. One commenting upon this says, Israel declared that God had brought them into the wilderness to die there; and He took them at their word. Joshua and Caleb declared that He was able to bring them into the land, and He took them at their word. According to your faith be it unto you.

MURMURING

The eleventh chapter sounds for us a sad note. There the people fall to petty complaints and criticisms. And when the people complained. There are those who can complain without occasion. Criticism is the cheapest of intellectual commodities. And yet the critic always has a reason for his complaint, and however he may seek to hide the real cause, God is an expert in uncovering it. Here He lays it to the mixed multitude that was among themthey fell a lusting. That mixed multitude (or great mixture is the word in the original) consisted of Egyptians and others who had come out of Egypt with Israel, and whose Egyptian tastes were not being satisfied by enforced marches, holy services and manna from on High. It is a good thing to get Israel out of Egypt, to get the Church of God out of the world; but it is an essential thing also to get Egypt out of Israel, the unregenerate out of the Church of God, for if you do not they will fall a lusting, and the first complaint they will make is touching the food divinely provided for them. The Gospel of Jesus ChristGods provided mannanever did satisfy an unregenerate man, and it never will. What he wants is the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick. Yes, even the garlick of the world; and when you set before him manna, he insists that his soul is dried away.

I went to talk with a mother about her little daughters uniting with the church. She told me that she was opposed to it; and when I asked her why, she boldly replied that she united with the church herself when she was young, and thereby denied herself all the pleasures of the world. She had never ceased to regret it, and she proposed to save her girl from a similar experience. A lusting for the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick! If such is ones feeling, just as well go back to the world! It does not make an Egyptian an Israelite to go over into that camp, and it does not make an unregenerate man a Christian because you write his name on the church book.

This spirit of criticism spread to the officials and leaders. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. Their complaint was slightly different from that of the mixed multitude, but directed against the same man.

From the complaint of these leading officials the trouble spread, and when the ten spies rendered their report of the land which God had promised, the whole congregation broke into revolt. That was the opportunity that Korah and Dathan and Abiram and On took advantage of.

And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the Children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown.

And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? (Num 16:2-3).

Here is the new complaint of the critics! Moses is domineering; his administration is that of a one-man power. He has not given sufficient attention to the princes of the assembly, and to the chief members of the congregation.

This is no ancient story. From that hour until this, the Church of God, whether in the form of Israel or that of the body of baptized believers, has experienced the same rebellion with the same reasons assigned. In Pauls day the Church at Corinth had to be counselled by the great Apostle and the members thereof reminded that they were of one body. The feet are enjoined not to complain of the hands, and the ear not to criticise the eye, and the eye not to envy the hand, nor yet the head the feet, that there should be no schism in the body, since when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and when one member is honored all the members should rejoice with it. In our own day the chief men have sometimes set aside the servant of God. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, once a man of the highest education and personal culture, honored by the members of his profession for his spirituality, and for the success that had attended his ministry, was set aside because he interfered with the Egyptian desires of the children of certain chief men of his congregation. Years ago, in New York, Americas most famous pastor and preacher, after passing through a series of sicknesses and bereavements in his family, came to the thirtieth anniversary of his pastorate to find himself retired from office by a few of the officials of the church who were influential. His reinstatement by the body at large came too late to save him from the collapse that attended this severe experience. A New York correspondent, writing of this, said, Such action makes every pastor in New York City feel sick at heart.

Attend to the way Moses met this! If the ministers of the present time learned his way, their course would be a more courageous one and their burdens better borne. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Children of Israel (Num 14:5). That is the way he met the first rebellion. When the rebellion of Korah came, it is written, And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the Lord will show who are His (Num 16:4-5). We may suggest here, prayer to God, the best possible reply to complaints and criticisms. If one has been guilty of that charged against him, such prayer will bring him to a knowledge of his guilt and give him an opportunity to correct it; and if he has not been guilty, such prayer will cause God to lift him up and establish his going, and put into his mouth a song.

Constantine the Great was one day looking at some statues of famed persons, and noting that they were all in standing position, he said, When mine is made Id like it in kneeling posture, for it is by going down before God I have risen to any eminence. Moses has taught us how to conquer all complaint, and all criticism, and come off victorious by falling on our faces and waiting until God shows who are His.

MERCY

The conclusion of this study presents a precious thought; in the midst of judgment, mercy appears.

At Moses intercession, God removes His hand. Every time there is a rebellion, and judgment is visited upon the people, Moses appears as intercessor, and when the people fell to lusting for the leeks, and the onions of Egypt, Moses cried unto God, Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in Thy sight, that Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Their cries were the anguish of his soul! When Miriam and Aaron were in sedition against their brother, it was Moses who interceded, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech Thee. And when the whole congregation lifted up their voices of murmuring at the report of the spies, Moses was on his face again in such an intercessory prayer as you could scarce find on another page of sacred Scripture. He was ready to die himself, if they could not be delivered and when Korah and his company attempted his overthrow, he plead with God until the plague was stayed. Therein is an example for every true Christian man.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord;

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. * *

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is what Christ said,

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite fully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven (Mat 5:44-45).

The richest symbol of Gods mercy is seen in this nineteenth chapterthe red heifer! She was preeminently the type of Gods provision against the defilement of the wilderness experience. She prefigured the death of Christ as the purification for sin and contained the promise of Gods mercy toward all men, however dreadful their rebellion or deep their stains. Who can read this nineteenth chapter and remember how this offering of the red heifer covers the most grievous sin of man without seeing how great is Gods mercy, and how Divine is His example. Henry Van Dyke says, When we see God forgiving all men who have sinned against Him, sparing them in his mercy, * * let us take the gracious lesson of forgiveness to our hearts. Why should we hate like Satan when we may forgive like God? Why should we cherish malice, envy, and all uncharitableness in our breasts? I know that some people use us despitefully and show themselves our enemies, but why should we fill our hearts with their bitterness and inflame our wounds with their poison? This world is too sweet and fair to darken it with the clouds of anger. This life is too short and precious to waste it in bearing that heaviest of all burdens, a grudge.

And you will see in this nineteenth chapter, also, a new emphasis laid upon the necessity of personal purity. The red heifer was provided for cleansing, and God imposed it upon the cleansed to keep themselves unspotted from the world. That is the major part of true religion to this day, to keep onesself unspotted from the world. This whole chapter is Gods attempt to so provide us with the blood of the slain, and surround us with the cleansing ceremonies, that we may be able to resist the floods of defilement that flow on every side. Realizing, as we must realize, the beauty and blessedness of a holy life, we can enter into a keen appreciation of that most beautiful beatitude, and sing with John Keble:

Blest are the pure in heart,

For they shall see their God:

The secret of the Lord is theirs;

Their soul is Christs abode.

The Lord, who left the heavens,

Our life and peace to bring,

To dwell in lowliness with men,

Their pattern and their King.

Still to the lowly soul

He doth Himself impart,

And for His dwelling and His throne

Chooseth the pure in heart.

Lord, we Thy presence seek;

May ours this blessing be;

Oh, give the pure and lowly heart,

A temple meet for Thee.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

Critical Notes.Num. 4:3. , host, signifies military service, and is used here with special reference to the service of the Levites as the militia sacra of Jehovah.Keil and Del.

Num. 4:4. Omit the word about, which is unnecessarily supplied. The sense is, this is the charge of the sons of Kohath, the most holy things: i.e., the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Shewbread, the Candlestick, and the Golden Altar, as appears from the verses following, together with the furniture pertaining thereto.Speakers Comm.

Num. 4:6. Put in the staves. Rather probably, put the staves thereof in order. These were never taken out of the golden rings by which the Ark was to be borne (see Exo. 25:14-15), but would need adjustment after the process described in Num. 4:5-6, which would be likely to disturb them.Ibid.

Num. 4:10; Num. 4:12. , a bar, a bearing frame, or as in ch. Num. 13:23, a pole for bearing on the shoulder.

Num. 4:20. When the holy things are covered Literally, Keballa, when they are swallowed down; which shows the promptitude with which everything belonging to the holy of holies was put out of sight, for these mysteries must ever be treated with the deepest reverence.A. Clarke. Render: to see the holy things for an instant. The expression means literally, as a gulp, i.e., for the instant it takes to swallow.Speakers Comm.

The numbering in this chapter differs from that recorded in the preceding chapter. In that every male from a month old and upward of the tribe of Levi was numbered, in order that they might take the place of the firstborn of all the tribes. In this only those who were fitted by their age for the service of the tabernacle, from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, were numbered for that service.

The first main division of this chapter (Num. 4:1-20) we shall take as suggesting for homiletic treatment the following subject:

ASPECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY

(Num. 4:1-20)

Looking at these verses in this light, the following points are suggested. The Christian ministry is,

I. An arduous service.

The Levites were here numbered from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. The men selected for service were in the full maturity of their physical powers. Such men were needed, for the labour of the Levites was very severe during the journeyings of the Israelites. When we consider, says A. Clarke, that there was not less than 10 tons 13 cwt. 24 lbs. 14 oz., i.e., almost ten tons and fourteen hundred pounds weight of metal employed in the tabernacle, besides the immense weight of the skins, hangings, cords, boards, and posts, we shall find it was no very easy matter to transport this moveable temple from place to place. The work of the ministry, says Trapp, is not an idle mans occupation, but a labouring even to lassitude; compared therefore to harvest work, and to that of cleaving wood, digging in mine-pits, rowing with oars, etc. All the comfort is, that God that helped the Levites to bear the Ark of the Covenant (1Ch. 15:26), will not be wanting to His weak, but willing servants, that labour in the Word and doctrine (1Ti. 5:17).

II. A Holy Warfare.

The service of the Levites is regarded in this aspect in the third verse, where all who engage in it are said to enter into the host. This is expressed more fully and clearly in Num. 4:23 : all that enter in to perform the service. Margin: to war the warfare. Fuerst: to do military service. In the New Testament the ministry of the Word is called a warfare, and faithful ministers of the Gospel good soldiers of Christ, and their doctrines weapons of war. Compare 2Co. 10:3-4; 1Ti. 1:18; 2Ti. 2:3; 2Ti. 4:7. Every faithful minister, says Burkitt, is a spiritual soldier, warring under Jesus Christ, his captain and chief commander: must the soldier be called and do all by commission? So must the minister. Must the soldier be armed, trained up, and disciplined, and made fit for service? So must the minister. Must the soldier shun no dangers, stick at no difficulties, pass through thick and thin? must he use allowed weapons, approved armour of his generals directing, not of his own inventing? All this must the minister be and do. He must also please his Captain, not please himself, his appetite, his pride, his covetousness, much less must be please the enemies he is to fight againstthe devil, the world, and the flesh.

III. A Sacred Charge.

The Levites had to do with consecrated things; the Kohathites with the most holy things. They are most solemnly enjoined to exercise the most reverent care in the performance of their duties. They were to carry the most holy things, but not to touch them or curiously pry into them upon pain of death (Num. 4:15; Num. 4:17-20). The ministry of the Gospel is a charge still more sacred. He who is called to its high and holy duties is under the most solemn obligations to expound the revealed will of God, to break the bread of life to men, to labour diligently for the salvation of souls, and to seek in all things the glory of God. He is solemnly charged to preach the word, convict, rebuke, exhort in all long suffering and teaching; to feed the flock of God, being ensamples to the flock. They watch for souls, as they that must give account.

Our text suggests further, that the Christian ministry,

IV. Demands the exercise of the highest faculties of those who are called to it.
It demands

1. Their mature powers. Of the Levites numbered for active service none were to be under thirty or over fifty years old: they were to be in the very zenith of physical strength. And the duties of the Christian ministry challenge the utmost energies of those who undertake them. The design of this arrangement was probably twofold:

(1) That the service might be satisfactorily performed. The Levitical duties in the wilderness could be properly discharged only by strong men. It is noteworthy that Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, and David when he began to reign, and John the Baptist when he entered upon his mission, and Jesus Christ when He commenced His ministry. But is this a rule binding the Church of Christ? Certainly not; for a man may be young in years, yet old in gifts, and in the graces of character which are necessary to this calling. And, on the other hand, a man may be old in years, yet a mere babe as regards the gifts and graces requisite for this sacred office. Such as execute this holy calling, says Attersoll, ought to be qualified with judgment, gravity, sobriety, integrity, diligence, yea with power, courage, strength, and to have agility and ability in mind and body, that they may do all things wisely, exactly, studiously, and constantly. (a)

2. That the servants might not be overburdened. That this end was contemplated in this arrangement appears from this, that the young men were taken into training when they were twenty-five years of age, and into laborious service when they were thirty, and the aged did not cease from service at fifty, but only from severe labours (see ch. Num. 8:23-26). And it is important that the energies of the young Christian minister be not over-taxed, lest both the quality and duration of his service be diminished thereby. And as for the aged, as M. Henry remarks, twenty years good service was thought pretty well for one man.

2. Their acquaintance with their duties. The duties of the priests and of the Levites of each division are particularly set forth in this chapter. Each one must become acquainted with his own. The Christian minister must learn his Masters will, study his Masters Word, thoughtfully consider the needs of those amongst whom he labours, etc.

3. A reverent spirit. Reverently were the sacred vessels to be borne and regarded. Prying curiosity was utterly and sternly prohibited. Note the great care, says Babington, God hath to maintain reverence of holy things in mens hearts, knowing the corruption of man in soon despising that which is common. And when He so wisheth reverence, shall man be careless of it? And Attersoll: We must do nothing that may make our ministry fruitless and bring it into contempt, but seek to adorn it and beautify it by all reverent carriage of ourselves in it, and in the discharge of the duties of it. (b)

4. A faithful and dutiful spirit. Each one was required to do his own duty, not meddling with those of others. Their well-being, and even their very life, depended upon the faithful performance by each one of his own service (Num. 4:15; Num. 4:17-20). The progress, health, even the stability of human society are inseparable from a faithful discharge of the duties of the Christian ministry. Upon this point the testimony of history is unequivocal. (See remarks on this point on ch. Num. 1:47; Num. 1:54.)

ILLUSTRATIONS

(a) We all see and must confess, that an aged man, ripe in judgment and experience, is more fit for government than a younger, destitute of such mature wisdom and knowledge, be the place ecclesiastical or civil. Whereupon Silla said of Marius the younger, Debere juvenem prius remo quam gubernaculo admoveri. That a young man was first to be appointed to the oar and then to the stern. Fruit that is not ripe will serve so well neither for use nor store as ripe fruit will. The untimely fruit of a woman is a cause of grief, and not of comfort. The young fowls that are not fledged cannot fly, and green walls of any building should have no weight laid upon them till they were settled and sound. Non difficulter delectabit oratio magis ornata quam solida, etc. Sed difficillime ute oportet, docebit, etc. Easily may a speech that hath more beauty than substance please, but never so well teach as that which hath matter and substance in it. The one usually is the speech of young men, the other of elder. Look, saith Plutarch, how a dart differeth in his piercing, according to the strength of the arm that cast it, so differeth the word of a young and old man. The one cometh from a weaker strength, and so pierceth less; the other from a strong ability, and so entereth even through and through. The old mans speech, saith the same author again, is like to a strong and sweet ointment, that filleth all the room with his sweetness.Bishop Babington.

Ministers have oftentimes given unto them in the Scripture the name of Elders. Many titles are given unto them, and every one of them carrieth some instruction and admonition with it unto the conscience. They have not their names in vain, they are not idle sounds of vain words, but they offer the signification of some duty to be performed, and lead to the consideration of something to be practiced, as shepherds call to their remembrance to be busied in feeding; watchmen, to prove to them that they ought to have a vigilant care of the City of God; messengers, that they must not do their own business, but His that sent them. So they are called Elders. 1Ti. 5:17; 1Ti. 5:19; 1Pe. 5:1; Act. 14:23; Act. 15:2; Act. 16:4; Act. 20:17, to imprint and engrave in their hearts, the cogitation and consideration of the care, wisdom, sobriety, and stayedness that ought to be in men of that calling; all which gifts are for the most part proper to men of that age, for days shall speak, and the multitude of years teach wisdom, Job. 32:7. And therefore they are resembled unto them, not because they are so always in age, but because they should be like unto them, and have the properties and qualities of them.W. Attersoll.

(b) Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,

Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own
Paul should himself direct me. I would trace
His master strokes, and draw from his design.
I would express him simple, grave, sincere;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste
And natural in gesture; much impressed
Himself, as conscious of His awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too; affectionate in look
And tender in address, as well becomes
A messenger of grace to guilty men.Cowper.

DIVINE SECRETS AND HUMAN CURIOSITY

(Num. 4:20)

I. There are certain things in the universe which are hidden from man.

The vessels of the sanctuary were concealed from the Levites. To the priests them elves the Holy of holies was a secret place, into which they dare not enter. And even the high priest might enter therein only once a year, and that after careful and significant preparation. In these arrangements we have an illustration of the truths that there are certain realms in the universe which are accessible only to God, and certain things which are concealed from man. This is the case.

1. In the material universe. Nature has secrets the existence of which is not even conjectured by her most enthusiastic students, and mysterious provinces into which neither the most daring nor the most reverent enquirer can enter. (a)

2. In the arrangements of Providence. In the dealings of God with nations and with the race as a whole, there are inscrutable mysteries to us. In His dealings with us as families and as individuals, there are things the wisdom and love and righteousness of which we cannot discoverthings which perplex, and sometimes confound and distress us. Clouds and darkness are round about Him. Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known. How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!

3. In the economy of redemption. There are deepest, closest secrets here. We ask question after question, to which, at present, we receive no reply. Great is the mystery of godliness, etc., Which things the angels desire to look into.

4. In the character and contents of the future. Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. Let us notice concerning these secrets that,

First: They are inevitable. We are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon the earth are as a shadow. It is utterly unreasonable in suppose that we, with our limited faculties and brief existence, should comprehend the works and ways, the thoughts and utterances of the Infinite and Eternal. Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? Comp. Job 38-41.

Second: They are merciful. The intense light of a fuller and clearer revelation might, were it given, smite us with spiritual blindness. As cloud and shadow and darkness in nature are good for us, so the Divine reserve is good for us spiritually. What man is there of us who could bear the revelation of the scenes and events which await him and his dear friends in the future? (b)

Third: They are educational. Mysteries provoke enquiry; and reverent enquiry conduces to intellectual and spiritual growth. Wonderful are the discoveries of wisdom, and power, of righteousness, and love which God will make to His children in the endless hereafter. Let us be thankful for the Divine reserve. We do amiss, says Dr. Parker, to stand before these sublime mysteries as we would stand before a vizored army of bloodthirsty foes. We should stand before them as before the veiled images of Love. They are Wisdom in disguise. They are Affection in shadow. They are Royalty in its royalest pomp.

II. Men are prone to curiously pry into hidden things.

This is clearly implied in the careful and minute directions for covering the sacred furniture of the sanctuary, in the prohibition of the text, and in the stern penalty annexed to any breach of this prohibition. There is a sad tendency in human nature, as it now is, to curious enquiry concerning forbidden things. It has been well said by Monro: Curiosity is a languid principle, where access is easy, and gratification immediate; remoteness and difficulty are powerful incentives to its vigorous and lasting operations. In proportion as the secret things are regarded as mysterious, important, or sacred, will the strength of curiosity be in relation to them.

III. Irreverent prying into hidden things may lead to the most terrible results.

They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered (or, for an instant, see Critical Notes), lest they die.

The curiosity of Eve concerning the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil led to the spiritual death of our first parents and their countless posterity. All curious enquiries as to sacred things, and irreverent pryings into Divine mysteries, tend to utterly destroy spirituality of mind and faith in the great Christian verities. Curiosity, says Fuller, is a kernel of the forbidden fruit, which still sticketh in the throat of a natural man, sometimes to the danger of his choking. Nor is it less perilous to the spiritually renewed man, leading, as it does, to the death of some of the highest and divinest things of the spirit. (c)

Conclusion:

1. Guard against curiously enquiring into Divine secrets. It may be that some of these secrets are part of that ineffable glory into which no man can enter and live.

2. Be humble, seeing that we are surrounded by mysteries, countless and deep. Humility becometh the ignorant.

3. Be reverent in all our enquiries into Divine things. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, &c. The meek will He guide in judgment, &c. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

4. Let us be diligent in the performance of our manifest duty. If any man will do His will, He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, etc.

ILLUSTRATIONS

(a) The eye can alight on no spot free from the presence of mystery. Questions may be asked concerning; a grass-blade or an insect, which no intellect could answer. Men know much about the outside of things, but of the interior organism of the universe, its fine balances, adaptations, springs, impulses, relationships, and purposes, they understand little or nothing. No intelligent being can observe the universe without knowing that it is a magnificent mystery. God has imposed silence upon it. In the thunder-road of the ocean we never hear the revelation of its mysteries. The whirlwind gives no account of its hidden way and unknown tabernacle. The glorious stars, in their nocturnal vigils ever shine, but never speak the mystery of their birth. Mysterious, indeed, are all things. Worlds suspended upon nothing, the calm, majestic roll of countless orbs, the dew of the morning, the glare of the lightning, the riven strata of the earth, the pulsation of unnumbered millions upon millions of hearts, the chequered history of life, the complicated workings and evolutions of intellect, all bespeak the power of a Mysterious, Dread Being, whose ways are unsearchable.Joseph Parker, D.D.

(b) O heaven! that one might read the book of fate;

And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent
(Weary of solid firmness) melt itself
Into the sea! and, other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the ocean,
Too wide for Neptunes hips; how chances mock
And changes fill the cup of alteration
With divers liquors! O if this were seen,
The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.

Shakespeare. Second part of King Henry IV. III., I.

Were the time of our death foreseen, what a melancholy character would it impart to the pursuits and occupations of the human race! If every man saw the moment of his death continually before him, how would his thoughts be fixed to the fatal spot; and, upon its near approach, the consideration of it would probably absorb every other. With respect to our fellow-creatures, how would it poison the springs of enjoyment, were parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, able to calculate with certainty the period of each others lives! We should seem to be walking among the victims of death; the scenes of human existence would lose all cheerfulness, animation, and beauty. The interests of society would also sustain most serious injury. Many great and noble enterprises would never have been begun could the persons who, in the hope of life, engaged in them have foreseen that before they could be concluded, they themselves would be snatched away by the hand of death. Many discoveries, by which great benefit has been conferred on the world would not have been elicited. Few efforts probably would be made to attain any object, the consequences of which terminate with the life of the party, if he foresaw that they would be intercepted by death Who would venture to engage in any lucrative employment if he certainly knew that the benefit would not be even partially realized during the time of his mortal existence? But, happily for mankind, events are concealedduties only are made known.Rob. Hall, A.M.

(c) How notably again doth this commandment of hiding and folding them up, teach us to beware of curiosity in things not revealed. What God is pleased we should know, that safely we may search for and seek to know, but further we may not go. We must not have an ear to hear when God hath not a mouth to speak. To eat much honey, saith Solomon, is not good; and to search out curiously Gods Majesty is to endanger myself to be oppressed with His glory. Seek not out things which are too hard for thee, neither search the things rashly which are too mighty for thee, saith wise Sirach. But what God hath commanded thee, think of that with reverence, be not curious in many of His works: for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that be secret. Be not curious in superfluous things, for many things are showed unto thee above the capacity of men. The meddling with such hath beguiled many, and an evil opinion hath deceived their judgment, Thou canst not see without eyes, profess not therefore the knowledge that thou hast not. Thales the philosopher gazed so upon the stars, that he fell into the ditch before him, and his maid mocked him. Seneca wisely complained, that a great part of our life was spent in doing nothing, a greater part in doing ill, and the greatest part of all in doing that which appertains not to us. This is curiosity in other mens business, and foolish meddling with needless things. Socrates was wise, and said it wisely: Qu super nos, nihil ad nos; Matters that are above us belong not to us. David, a man indeed with another light than Socrates had, professeth we know, as he was not high minded, neither had any proud looks; so he did not exercise himself in matters that were too high for him. But he did wean his soul, and keep it under even as a young child, &c. Bernard taxeth this foul fault in these words, Multi student magis alta quam apta proferre: Many study to utter rather high matters than fit matters. Let us avoid this fault.Bishop Babington.

THE BURDENS OF LIFE

(Num. 4:21-33)

In these verses we have the Divine directions as to the service of the Ger-shonites and the Merarities. They present an instructive illustration of the burdens of human life. Regarding them in this light, they suggest concerning these burdens that they are

I. Distributed to all men.

The Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites each had their service and burden. (See Num. 4:19; Num. 4:27; Num. 4:32.) And from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old no man of either of these families was exempted from duty. Aaron and his sons shall appoint them every one to his service and to his burden. And now there is no human life in this would without its burden of some kind and degree. It is not simply those who are manifestly oppressed, or afflicted, or sorely tried, that have a burden to bear. Could we read the inner history of those whose life seems most pleasant and prosperous and favoured, we should doubtless find some secret sorrow, or wearing anxiety, or life-long disappointment. There is no sunshine without its shadow, no happy family without its trial or sorrow, and no individual life without its burden of some kind or other. Every individual experience, says Dr. Huntington, has, soon or late, its painful side, its crucial hours, when there is darkness over all the land, and we cry out to know if God has forsaken us. For the time, longer or shorter, we taste only the bitter, and feel only the thorns. The separations of death, the distance between our aspiration and performance, unsatisfied ambition, labouring year after year in vain, affection returned by indifference, the symptoms of fatal disease, formerenergy prostrate, a friend alienated, a child depraved, an effort to do good construed into an impertinence,unconquerable obstacles that we cannot measure and can scarcely speak of, heaped up against our best designsthese are some of the most frequent shapes of the misery; but no list is full. The one essential thing is that the will is crossed, crucified. Character is everywhere put into this school of suffering. (a)

II. Distributed variously.

All men are burdened, but all are not alike burdened. The burdens of human life

1. Differ in kind.The burden of the Kohathites consisted of the most holy things, the furniture of the sanctuary; that of the Gershonites, of the hanging, curtains, and coverings of the tabernacle, with their cords, and all the instruments of their service; and that of the Merarites, of the pillars, boards, bars, sockets, and the more solid parts of the tabernacle. So the burdens of human life are of various kinds. Some labour under a great load of temporal poverty, others suffer more or less throughout their entire life by reason of bodily afflictions, the burden of others is some crushing family trial, of others some sore and secret sorrow, and of others some profound and painful longing which finds no satisfaction, &c.

2. Differ in degree. The burden of the Merarites was much heavier than that of either the Kohathites or Gershonites. And the burdens of men now are Dot alike in weight. Some are much more heavily laden than others. All good men are not tried so severely as Job was. The Lord Jesus Himself bore the heaviest burden of all. As compared with His, our heaviest load is light. And comparing the burdens of men one with another, some appear almost free, while others labour under a heavy load.

III.Distributed Divinely.

By Divine direction Aaron and his sons were to appoint to each one his burden. (See Num. 4:19; Num. 4:27; Num. 4:32.) In the case of the Merarites the direction as to this appointment was very explicit: By name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. This direction, which occurs only in reference to the charge of the Merarites, imports apparently that the instruments were to be assigned, no doubt, by Ithamar and his immediate assistants, to their bearers singly, and nominatim. These instruments comprised the heavier parts of the Tabernacle; and the order seems intended to prevent individual Merarites choosing their own burden, and so throwing more than the proper share on others.Speakers Comm. The burdens of human life do not fall by chance or accident. God is not the Author of the burdens which oppress human life. Pain and poverty, sorrow and trial, are the offspring of sin. But God regulates the burdens of men. No trial befalls us without His permission, and He determines the extent and severity of every trial. (Comp. Job. 1:12; Job. 2:6.) Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. He shall choose our inheritance for us. The Divine regulation of trial affords a guarantee that no man shall be overburdened; for the Lord knoweth how much we can bear; He knoweth us altogether, and He has promised to bestow grace adequate to our need. As thy days so shall thy strength be. My grace is sufficient for thee, &c. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, &c.

God will keep his own anointed;

Nought shall harm them, none condemn;

All their trials are appointed;

All must work for good to them:

All shall help them

To their heavenly diadem.Lyte.

Our text further suggests that the Burdens of Life should be

IV. Patiently borne.

We do not read of any murmuring amongst the Levites because of the duties assigned to any of them. Each one appears to have accepted his allotted service, and performed its duties. Let each one of us learn to bear his life-burden without murmuring, to accept his lot in life cheerfully, to do his duty faithfully.

1. God regulates our burden, let us therefore be content under it. (b)

2. God sanctifies our burden to most blessed ends let us therefore be thankful. We glory in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience, &c. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, etc. (c)

3. God will soon deliver us from our burden, let us therefore be hopeful. The time will come, says Babington, that our God will free us, and then we shall receive an eternal reward. Remember what you read: The Lord God of Israel, saith David, hath given rest unto His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever, and the Levites shall no more bear the Tabernacle, and all the vessels for the service thereof. So shall it be said one day of you, of me, of all the members of the Lords body. The Lord hath given rest, and we shall no more carry our burdens and portions of woe in this world, but live in the heavenly Jerusalem for ever. O, wished rest, and ten thousand times welcome when God is pleased! Do men fear a safe harbour in a mighty storm? Do men grieve to come home to their own houses after a long and painful journey? No, no, we know; and no more should we shrink to find heavenly rest.

ILLUSTRATIONS

(a) What is included in the term burden? Whatever makes right living, according to the law of God, difficult to a sincere man that is a burden. Whatever thing within or without a man, in his nature, in his habits, or in his circumstances, makes it hard for him to live purely and rightlythat is included in this term burden. It may be in his mental constitution; it may be in his bodily health; it may be in the habits of his education; it may be in his relation to worldly affairs; it may be in his domestic circumstances; it may be in his peculiar liabilities to temptation and sin. It includes the whole catalogue of conditions, and influences, and causes, that weigh men down, and hinder them, when they are endeavouring to live lives of rectitudeH. W. Beecher.

To-day I had a long and strange interview with a lady who has recently become a member of the congregation. She asked me if I had ever known a case of trial so severe as hers. Yes, I replied, numbers; it is the case of all. Suffering is very common, so is disappointment. Are our affections to be all withered? Very often, I believe. Then why were they given me? I am sore I cannot tell you that, but I suppose it would not have been very good for you to have bad it all your own way? Then do you think I am better for this blighting succession of griefs? I do not know, but I know you ought to be. Wordsworth was lying open on the table, and I pointed to her these lines:Then was the truth received into my heart, That under heaviest sorrow earth can bring, If from the affliction somewhere do not grow, Honour, which could not else have been a faith, An elevation and a sanctity; If new strength be not given nor old restored, The blame is ours, not natures. The deep undertone of this world is sadness a solemn bass occurring at measured intervals, and heard through all other tones. Ultimately, all the strains of this worlds music resolve themselves into that tone; and I believe that, rightly felt, the Cross, and the Cross alone, interprets the mournful mystery of lifethe sorrow of the Highest, the Lord of Life; the result of error and sin, but ultimately remedial, purifying, and exalting.F. W. Robertson, M.A., Life and Letters.

(b) Contentation (i.e. contentment) is a ready and approved medicine for all miseries and maladies whatsoever. No man is troubled with any grief or disease, but he is most willing to hear of a salve for it. This is sovereign for this purpose. It easieth the burden of all afflictions, it taketh away the smart of all sores; it poureth oil and wine into our wounds, and of half dead it maketh us alive again; it maketh a rough way plain and crooked things straight. It casteth down high hills, and maketh the path easy before us. It turneth outward wants into inward comforts. It maketh the bond to be free, the poor to be rich, the sick to be whole, the miserable to be happy, and such as are owners of nothing to be lords of all things. Give an hearty draught of this strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and a cup of this wine to him that hath an heavy heart, it will make him forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. This we see in the Apostle Paul, he had drunk of the wine of contentation, (2Co. 6:9-10) and therefore saith, As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.W. Attersoll.

(c) I know, is all the mourner saith,

Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death;
I am content to touch the brink
Of pains dark goblet, and I think
My bitter drink a wholesome drink.
I am content to be so weak;
Put strength into the words I speak,
For I am strong in what I seek.
I am content to be so bare
Before the archers; everywhere
My wounds being stroked by heavenly air.
Glory to Godto God. he saith;
Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death.

Burdens are not pleasant; yet they are profitable. They develop strength. The only way to make strong men is to impose burdens that require strength; then if they have the substance in them, it will come out. We know a man who has been struggling for years to escape from business cares, yet they have accumulated upon him. Every measure of relief has brought additional work and sometimes extreme trial. But he has risen in power as the load was increased, and he has grown to be a man of might. Those who run flinch, dodge, faint, as crushing cares increase, are broken and suffer loss; but those who stand, fight, tug, hold on and cry to God, grow strong. It is a misfortune always to have an easy time, a blessing to have work to do which taxes all our powers and then taxes more and more.The Study.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS

(Num. 4:31-32)

In the charge of Merari we find not only the heaviest things and most cumbersome, but also some little things which are specially mentioned. Their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service; and by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. It is upon these little things that we would fix attention. From the fact that we have here Divine directions concerning such small things as pins and cords, we infer the importance of little things. The following considerations will help us to realise this.

I. The completeness and perfection of great things is impossible apart from due attention to little things.

These pins and cords were essential to the completeness of the tabernacle. By tiny and delicate touches the enchanting beauty of the painting is achieved. By scrupulous attention to details the greatest inventions have been brought to successful issues. A wise economy in small expenses has had no little to do in many instances in the accumulation of great wealth. An onlooker, observing the slight taps given to a statue by Canova, spoke as if he thought the artist to be trifling, but was rebuked by this reply: The touches which you ignorantly hold in such small esteem are the very things which make the difference between the failure of a bungler and the chef duvre of a master.

II. The most important issues sometimes depend upon what seem to us slight circumstances.

Trivial incidents sometimes appear to constitute the great turning points in life. How often in the life of Joseph, as we view it to-day, events of incalculable importance depended upon what men call the merest chance, or the most trivial incident! What stupendous issues depend upon the preservation of the imperilled life of that goodly child in his frail ark of bulrushes on the Nile! A remarkable illustration of our point occurs in the life of the distinguished F. W. Robertson. He had a passionate enthusiasm for military life, had chosen the army as his profession, and was studying for it, and application had been made to the Horse Guards for a commission for him. To two great objects, says his biographerthe profession of arms which he had chosen, and the service of Christ in that professionhe now devoted himself wholly. The circumstances which led him to abandon that profession for the calling of the Christian minister are remarkable. This result was brought about by the influence of the Rev. Mr. Davies, who thus relates the origin of their friendship:The daughter of Lady French, at whose house I met my friend, had been seriously ill. She was prevented from sleeping by the barking of a dog in one of the adjoining houses. This house was Captain Robertsons. A letter was written to ask that the dog might be removed; and so kind and acquiescent a reply was returned, that Lady French called to express her thanks. She was muck struck at that visit by the manner and bearing of the eldest son, and, in consequence an intimacy grew up between the families. Mr. Robertson himself thus refers to this matter:If I bad not met a certain person, I should not have changed my profession; if I had not known a certain lady, I should not probably have met this person; if that lady had not had a delicate daughter who was disturbed by the barking of my dog; if my dog had not barked that night, I should now have been in the dragoons, or fertilising the soil of India. Who can say that these things were not ordered, and that, apparently, the merest trifle did not produce failure and a marred existence? (Failure and a marred existenceso it seemed to him then. But how very different it really was! How different must it appear to him now!) Such slight circumstances, apparently, led to his entering upon the career of a Christian ministera career so rich in the highest results. (a)

III. Life itself is composed almost entirely of little things.

Great events and noteworthy experiences are very rare things in life. Day after day we live in the performance of small duties, amidst ordinary circumstances and events. With the exception of a very few remarkable events, our life is made up of the most ordinary and common-place, and apparently, unimportant things. And yet life itself, as a whole, is a thing of utterly unspeakable importance, most momentous in its character, its influence, its capabilities, &c.

IV. Character, which to each of us is the most important thing, is formed almost entirely of littles.

Character, says Beecher, is no a massive unit; it is a fabric rather. It is an artificial whole made up by the interply of ten thousand threads. Every faculty is a spinner, spinning every day its threads, and almost every day threads of a different colour. Myriads and myriads of webbed products proceed from the many active faculties of the human soul, and character is made up by the weaving together of all these innumerable threads of daily life. Its strength is not merely in the strength of some simple unit, but in the strength of numerous elements. The great Williams of Wern, when preaching at Bala, where many women are employed in knitting stockings, inquired, How is character formed? Gradually, he replied, just as you Bala women knit stockingsa stitch at a time. (b)

Conclusion:

1. Be careful as to the little things of personal character and conduct. Let us not neglect little duties, let us not allow ourselves in little faults. What ever we may like to think, nothing is really of small importance that affects the soul. All diseases are small at the beginning. Many a death-bed begins with a little cold. Nothing that can grow is large all at once; the greatest sin must have a beginning. Nothing that is great comes to perfection in a day; characters and habits are all the result of little actions. Little strokes made the ark which saved Noah. Little pins held firm the tabernacle which was the glory of Israel. We, too, are travelling through a wilderness. Let us be like the family of Merari, and be careful not to leave the pins behind.

Let us beware of small sins, (c)

Let us be faithful in small duties, (d)

2. Be careful as to the little things of church life and work. Let the most feeble member of the Church do the work for which he is fitted faithfully. Let not the least or lowliest duty be neglected, or the welfare and prosperity of the whole will be thereby injured. When all the members of the Churchthe least gifted and the most giftedare faithful in life and work; and when every dutythe least as well as the greatestis faithfully performed, great will be her prosperity and her power.

ILLUSTRATIONS

(a) Where God in generous fulness dwells,

Nor small nor great is known;

He paints the tiniest floweret-cells

Oer emerald meadows strewn;

And sees, but not with kinder eyes,
The heavens grow rich with sunset dyes;
Both ministrant to beautys sense,
Both signs of one Omnipotence.
He comes not forth with pageant grand

His marvels to perform.

A cloud the bigness of a hand

Can blacken heaven with storm.

A grain of dust, if he arrange,
The fortunes of a planet change.
An insect reef can overwhelm

The stately navies of a realm.

There are no trifles. Arks as frail

As bore Gods prince of old,

On many a buoyant Nils stream sail

The ages heirs to hold.

From Jacobs love on Joseph shed,
Came Egypts wealth and Israels bread;
From Ruths chance gleaning in the corn,
The Psalmist sang,the Christ was born.

W. M. Punshon.

(b) Have you ever watched an icicle as it formed? You noticed how it froze one drop at a time, until it was a foot long or more. If the water was clear, the icicle remained clear, and sparkled brightly in the sun; but if the water was but slightly muddy, the icicle looked foul, and its beauty was spoiled. Just so our characters are forming: one little thought or feeling at a time adds its influence. If each thought be pure and right, the soul will be lovely, and sparkle with happiness; but if impure and wrong, there will be deformity and wretchedness.Temperance Anecdotes, in Dict. of lllust.

(c) Little things are seeds of great ones. Little cruelties are gems of great ones. Little treacheries are, like small holes in raiment, the beginning of large ones. Little dishonesties are like the drops that work through the bank of the river; a drop is an engineer: it tunnels a way for its fellows, and they, rusting, prepare for all behind them. A worm in a ships plank proves, in time, wores than a cannon-ball.H. W. Beecher.

(d) Let us be content to work,

To do the thing we can, and not presume
To fret because its little. Twill employ
Seven men, they say, to make a perfect pin.
Who makes the head consents to miss the point;
Who makes the point agrees to leave the head;
And if a man should cry, I want a pin,
And I must make it straightway, head and point,
His wisdom is not worth the pin he wants.

Elizabeth B. Browning.

PROPORTION BETWEEN NUMBER AND SERVICE

(Num. 4:34-49)

In these verses we have the account of the numbering of the Levites for active service, according to the command given unto Moses and Aaron in Num. 4:1-3. The result here recorded is this: Of males from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, there were of Kohathites 2,750; of Gershonites, 2,630; and of Merarites, 3,200, making a total of 8,580. This number bears a just proportion to that of all the males of the Levites from a month old and upward, which was 22,000. But the number of Merarites available for the sacred service bears an unusually large proportion to the total number of males of that family, which is (Num. 3:34) 6,200. Looking at the relation of the numbers to the service required of them we discover illustrations of

I. The Wisdom of God.

By this diversity of numbers among the Levite families, saith Trapp, God showeth His wisdom, saith an interpreter, in fitting men for the work, whereunto He hath appointed them, whether it requireth multitude or gifts. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, etc. (1Co. 12:8-12). It is reported that in Luthers house was found written, Res et verba Phillipus, res sine verbis Lutherus, verba sine re Erasmus, Melancthon hath both matter and words; Luther hath matter but wants words; Erasmus hath words, but wants matter. Every one hath his own share; all are not alike gifted. M. Henry: The Merarites were but 6,200 in all, and yet of these there were 3,200 serviceable men, that is, more than half. The greatest burden lay upon that family, the boards and pillars and sockets; and God so ordered it that, though they were the fewest in number, yet they should have the most able men among them; for whatever service God calls men to He will furnish them for it, and give strength in proportion to the work, grace sufficient. Gods appointments to service are ever made in perfect wisdom. There are ever a fitness and proportion between the workers and the work. (a)

II. The reasonableness of the Divine requirements.

Though the sum total of effective Levites, says Greenfield, was very small compared with that of the other tribes; yet they would be far more than could be employed at once in this service. But they might carry by turns and ease one another, and thus do the whole expeditiously and cheerfully. They would also have their own tents to remove, and their own families to take care of. There was an ample number for the performance of the work; and its distribution amongst so many would render it comparatively easy to everyone. Gods claims upon us and our service are in the highest degree reasonable. He is a kind and gracious Master. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And if He summon us to difficult tasks, He will increase our wisdom and strength, so we shall not be overmatched. As thy days so shall thy strength be. My grace is sufficient for thee. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (b)

We have also in this section of the history an illustration of

III. The exemplary obedience of the servants of the Lord.

We see how carefully and faithfully Moses and Aaron carried out the directions which they received from Him. In this they are an example to us. (See notes and illustrations bearing on this point given on chaps. Num. 2:34; Num. 3:16.)

ILLUSTRATIONS

(a) Gods wisdom appears in the various inclinations and conditions of men. As there is a distinction of several creatures, and several qualities in them, for the common good of the world, so among men there are several inclinations and several abilities, as donatives from God, for the common advantage of human society; as several channels cut out from the same river run several ways, and refresh several soils, one man is qualified for one employment, another marked out by God for a different work, yet all of them fruitful to bring in a revenue of glory to God, and a harvest of profit to the rest of mankind. How unuseful would the body be if it had but one member (1Co. 12:19)! How unprovided would a house be if it had not vessels of dishonour as well as of honour! The corporation of mankind would be as much a chaos as the matter of the heavens and the earth was before it was distinguished by several forms breathed into it at the creation. Some are inspired with a particular genius for one art, some for another; every man hath a distinct talent. If all were husbandmen where would be the instruments to plough and reap? If all were artificers where would they have corn to nourish themselves? All men are like vessels, and parts in the body, designed for distinct offices and functions for the good of the whole. As the variety of gifts in the Church is a fruit of the wisdom of God for the preservation and increase of the Church, so the variety of inclinations and employments in the world is a fruit of the wisdom of God for the preservation and subsistence of the world by mutual commerce.Charnocke.

(b) Power is the measure of obligation. It is the circumference that bounds every line, starting from the centre of duty. What we cannot do, we are not bound to attempt. The command that outstrips our capacity is no law to us. Why is religion not binding on brutes? God is as truly their Creator and Sustainer as He is oursthey have not the power. Our faculties are adequate to the Divine will respecting us. They are made for itmade to it. The sun is not more nicely adjusted to the work of lighting the planetsthe rolling atmosphere to the purposes of lifethese bodies to all the laws, influences, and sceneries of this material universethan are all the powers of the soul adjusted to the work of worship. To trace effects to causes, to discern moral distinctions, to reverence greatness, to love excellence, to praise goodnessthese are the sacred functions of religion; and whilst that seraph, glowing with rapture in the full sunlight of the Eternal, can perform nothing higher, that human babe, gazing for the first time with wonder at the stars, has ample powers to do the same.D. Thomas, D.D.

The whole relation of discipleship is a relation of liberty. No one goes to his duty because he must, but only because his heart is in it. His inclinations are that way, for his heart is in the Masters love, and he follows Him gladly. It, no doubt, seems to you when you look on, only as strangers to Christ, that this must be a hard and dry service, for you see no attraction in it. But the reason is that your heart is not in it. With a new heart, quickened by the grace of Christ, all this would be changed. It will then seem wholly attractive. All the currents of your love will run that way, and the freest freedom of your nature will be to go after Christ. No sacrifice will be hardno service a burden. The wonder now will be that all men do not rush in after Christ to be His eager followers.H. Bushnell, D.D.

In service which Thy love appoints,

There are no bonds for me;

My secret heart is taught the truth

That makes Thy children free.

A life of self-renouncing love

Is one of liberty.Waring.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

VI. MARCHING DUTIES ASSIGNED TO THE LEVITE FAMILIES (Numbers 4)

A. THE KOHATHITES vv. 120
TEXT

Num. 4:1. And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, saying, 2. Take the sum of the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers, 3. From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. 4. This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things.

5. And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it: 6. And shall put thereon the covering of badgers skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. 7. And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: 8. And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: 10. And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers skins, and shall put it upon a bar. 11. And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: 12. And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers skins, and shall put them on a bar. 13. And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: 14. And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers skins, and put to the staves of it. 15. And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
16. And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that thereon is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.
17. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, 18. Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levitts: 19. But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: 20. But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

PARAPHRASE

Num. 4:1. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2. Count the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers houses, 3. from thirty years of age, all who enter into the service to do the duties of the Tent of Meeting. 4. this shall be the service of the descendants of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting among the holy things:

5. When the camp moves out, Aaron and his sons shall enter in and take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the covenant with it; 6. and they shall lay a covering of goatskin on it, and shall spread a cloth of pure blue over it, and insert its poles. 7. And they shall spread a cloth of blue over the table of showbread, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls and the jars for pouring; and the continual bread shall be upon it. 8. And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of goatskin, and insert its poles. 9. Then they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of light, along with its lamps, its snuffers and its pans, and all its oil vessels used in serving it: 10. and they shall put it and all its vessels inside a cover of goatskin, and they shall put it upon the carrying staves. 11. And they shall spread a blue cloth over the golden altar and cover it with a covering of goatskin, and insert its poles. 12. And they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of dolphin skin, and put them on the carrying staves. 13. Then they shall remove the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth upon it. 14. They also shall put on it all the vessels by which they serve, the pans, the forks, the shovels and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of goatskin, and insert the poles. 15. And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all of the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to move out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it; but they must not touch any holy things, lest they should die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting. And the duty of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, is the oil of the light, the sweet incense, the daily meal offering, the anointing oilthe responsibility for all the Tabernacle and everything in it, along with the sanctuary and its vessels.
17. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 18. Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites, 19. but do this to them that they may live and not die when they come unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall enter, and designate each man to his duty and his burden; 20. but they must not enter in to see when the holy things are covered lest they die.

COMMENTARY

To the Kohathites was given the most responsible chores. The family included Moses, Aaron and his sons; that is, the priests. Their service is said to have begun at age 30 here (Num. 4:3), whereas Num. 8:24 gives the age as 25, the LXX adopts the lower age in this verse. It has been suggested that the age might have been first established at the earlier figure, then lowered, as more men were to be served, due to the population growth.

The Kohathites have been referred to as the militia sacra, or sacred army. A military term is used to describe their service, (Num. 4:3). Their obligations are as clear and regimented as those of an army; and their commitments are total, demanding unquestioning allegiance to their Commander. To them is assigned the most holy things in the Tabernacle: the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, the lampstand (candlestick), the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offerings, as well as all the articles pertaining to them.

When the call came for the Israelites to move, the priests first carefully followed a set procedure. Aaron and his sons took down the curtain between the holy place and the holy of holies, using it to wrap up the ark of the covenant (Num. 4:5-6); and they covered the entire bundle with skins variously identified as those of the badger or sea-cow. The Hebrew word tachash is currently translated goatskins in the RSV. It is a very probable correction, since the quantity of badgerskins required for the coverings would have been excessive. Furthermore, the availability of either the badgers or the sea-cows in sufficient quantity is subject to reasonable question. Finally, staves were inserted into the rings of the ark, and it was ready for carrying.

Preparations for the other items was somewhat less complicated. The table of showbread was wrapped inside a blue cloth (Num. 4:7-8), and on this were placed all the dishes, spoons, bowls, pitchers, and the bread itself. Great care must be taken in the process to see that none of these things were touched directly, under pain of death (Num. 4:15), even while wrapping them with the cloths of covering. The lampstand was wrapped with blue cloth, together with its small pots, its snuffers, trays, and oil vessels. Again, it was carried by means of a pole inserted through the covering, Num. 4:9-10.

Similarly, the altar of incense should be wrapped, with its many utensils, and carried upon poles. The cloth encompassing the golden altar was blue, Num. 4:11

The large altar of sacrifice, or burnt-offering, was wrapped in purple, after its ashes had been carefully removed, Num. 4:13, along with the numerous items required for its usefirepans, forks, shovels, basins, and miscellaneous articles. The removal of the ashes was not done to clean the altar: it was hollow, with a filling of earth or stones. Rather, the ashes were most carefully tended as living embers. The sacred fire was never permitted to go out.

There is a surprising omission here, the great laver. Both the Septuagint and the Samaritan text add, after Num. 4:14, And they shall take a purple cloth, and cover the laver and its foot, and they shall put it into a hyacinthine cover of skin, and put it on bars. Although this is a spurious interpolation, it is certain that the Kohathites were required to carry the laver. The suggestion in PC (p. 25) is unsatisfactorythat the laver was not regarded as of equal sanctity with the rest will not suffice to explain the omission; there simply is no satisfactory explanation.

Upon completion of the wrapping of all articles, the Kohathites came to carry them. It is evident from the order in which the account is related that the Kohathites and their burdens marched at the forefront of the nation when on the move.
Special tribute, along with special duty, fell upon Eleazar. His responsibility included oversight of the oil for the lampstand, incense for the golden altar, the continual meal-offering, the anointing oil, and the vessels for their care. He further directed the entire process of gathering and preparing the Tabernacle and all the sacred objects for transportation. We may infer that the Kohathites worked directly under his supervision. The Kohathites are recognized to be especially significant among the tribes. Lest they be guilty of any degree of negligence or carelessness which others might prevent, Moses and Aaron are strictly admonished to supervise their duties most carefully. Should they fail, they are to be held accountable directly to God. Any carelessness or irreverence in the conduct of the priests functions would induce similar attitudes and serious mistakes among the Levites; death then must be the inevitable consequence. Every phase of the service of Jehovah is of gravest importance, and Gods instructions are to be carried out to the letter.

The final note of caution (Num. 4:20) summarizes all that has been said. Wrapping the furnishings is the task of the priests; the Kohathites must be cautious not even so much as to look upon the vessels for an instant, under pain of death.

QUESTIONS AND RESEARCH ITEMS

78.

How do you reconcile the differences given for the time of the priestly service, as stated in Num. 4:3; Num. 8:24?

79.

In what sense might the Kohathites be called the militia sacra?

80.

Give in full detail the step-by-step measure which must be followed when the Tabernacle and its various articles were to be moved.

81.

Why is it more likely that goatskins is the proper word in this passage, rather than porpoises or sea-cows?

82.

Why should there be such a severe penalty for the unauthorized sight of the various items of furniture before they are completely wrapped?

83.

Why was it unnecessary to clean ashes from the altar of sacrifice?

84.

What possible explanations are offered for the omission of the laver from the list of the Tabernacles furniture?

85.

Why was Eleazar given special responsibility over the process of packing and moving all the articles of the Tabernacle?

86.

In what manner might clumsiness, carelessness or indifference in performing their duties as priests affect the general attitude of the Levites? of the people as a whole?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

THE AGE-LIMITS TO LEVITICAL SERVICE, Num 4:1-3.

The Lord in this chapter defines the term of acceptable service to be rendered by the Levites. This was necessary to secure the highest efficiency in service, and as a safeguard against failure through the immaturity of youth and the imbecility of old age.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Chapter 4 The Tasks of the Levites.

In this chapter the special tasks allotted to the priests and to each of the sub-tribes of Levi are described, and the number of Levites between thirty and fifty (those special numbers again) who were available for the tasks.

The Priests’ Responsibility for the Dwellingplace ( Num 4:1-15 ).

Num 4:1

‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,’

It is stressed that what we have are the words of Yahweh as given to Moses and Aaron. Aaron was included here (and in Num 4:17, contrast Num 4:21) because he has a special responsibility in respect of this particular section of what is being described.

Num 4:2-3

“ Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter upon the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.”

The command is now given to obtain the sum of ‘the sons of Kohath’, which includes the priests who were ‘sons of Kohath’. The sum is of those who are between thirty and fifty years old. The priests would have overall responsibility for the Dwellingplace and perform the priestly service with respect to it. The remainder of the Kohathites, and the other Levites were the ones who would do the heavy work with regard to the bearing of the Dwellingplace. Again it is by their families (clans) by their father’s houses (wider families) Numbering seems always to be done in terms of these.

This in this context would seem to suggest that priesthood also began at thirty years old. That was not, however, true for the High Priesthood which began on the death of the previous High Priest and lasted until death (Num 35:25-28).

Num 4:4

“ This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.”

The service of the sons of Kohath with respect to the holy things of the Sanctuary was now to be described. The priests were themselves sons of Kohath. Their responsibility for packing the holy things ready for going forward is described first, and then the responsibility of the remainder of the sons of Kohath.

Num 4:5-6

“ When the camp sets forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it, and shall put on it a covering of dolphin skin, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its staves.”

When preparations were to be made for the camp to go forward Aaron and his sons were to go into the Sanctuary. They were to take down the screen and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it. This may suggest that the veil was taken down and laid on it in such a way that they ensured that their eyes did not fix themselves on the uncovered Ark, ever being held between them and the Ark. The High Priest would know exactly where it was. But it is not necessarily so. Then a further covering of dolphin skins was to be put on it, after which it was covered with a further cloth of blue. Its staves were then to be put through the rings so that it could be carried.

The covering with the veil was the reminder that Yahweh was always behind the veil, His throne unseeable by naked eye. The cloth of blue was a reminder that they were dealing with things which were beyond the blue heavens (compare Exo 24:10; 1Ki 8:27). Or it may be that the purpley blue was a representation of royalty (compare Est 8:15). Indeed both may have been in mind, heavenly royalty. The staves were a reminder that it could not be touched, while enabling it to be carried. It should be noted that this is the only item where the blue cloth is put outside the dolphin skin. This is probably because it was intended to make a declaration of heavenliness and royalty even as it was carried forward. We can see this as confirmation of the fact that the Ark was not carried with the other items of furniture but led the way before the advancing tribes (Num 10:33-36). It was not just carried, but carried where it would be looked on as the symbol of Yahweh’s presence.

Num 4:7

“ And on the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups with which to pour out, and the continual bread shall be on it.”

Next came the table of showbread. This was then covered with a blue cloth, again with heavenly or royal connections. After that all its accoutrements were placed on the cloth, including the twelve loaves of bread that represented all the tribes before Yahweh. It may be that they were wrapped up for safety in the blue cloth, but we are not told so.

Num 4:8

“ And they shall spread on them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of dolphin skin, and shall put in its staves.”

The whole was then covered with a scarlet cloth. This may well have represented the blood of atonement. These cloths would demonstrate that God’s people were both heavenly or royal and in reception of atonement. The whole was then to be covered with a (weatherproof) covering of dolphin skin, after which the staves for carrying it were to be slotted in.

Num 4:9-10

“ And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its fireholders, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it, and they shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of dolphin skin, and shall put it on the frame.”

The lampstand and its accoutrements came next. They were all covered with a cloth of blue, followed by a covering of dolphin skin. This was then put on a frame for carrying.

Num 4:11

“ And on the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of dolphin skin, and shall put in its staves.”

Next came the golden altar of incense. On this was spread a cloth of blue, followed by a covering of dolphin skin. Then the carrying staves would be put in.

Num 4:12

“ And they shall take all the vessels of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of dolphin skin, and shall put them on the frame.”

All the vessels used in the inner Sanctuary would then be placed on a cloth of blue, probably wrapped over, covered with a dolphin skin. They were then placed on a carrying frame.

The fact that all these were covered with a cloth of blue appears to confirm that the idea is of heavenly connections. Day by day they gazed at a blue sky ‘beyond’ which was the heavenly dwellingplace of Yahweh. It was natural that a blue cloth would speak to them of that heavenly dwellingplace. While the purpley blue might by itself indicate royalty, royalty is indicated by other colours, and it must be considered unlikely that all the colours pointed to the exactly the same idea.

Num 4:13-14

“ And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it, and they shall put on it all its vessels, with which they minister about it, the firepans, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of dolphin skin, and put in its staves.”

Once the whole contents of the inner Sanctuary had been dealt with attention would turn to the bronze altar. The ashes were to be taken away and properly dealt with, and then a purple cloth laid on it. After this all its accoutrements and vessels would be placed on the cloth before it was covered in dolphin skin. Then the carrying staves would be put in. If we are to see this purple cloth as indicating royalty it might confirm more strongly that the blue cloth indicated the heavens.

The removal of the ashes demonstrates that it was expected that sacrifices would be carried out on the wilderness journey (there were ashes there). We are not told how the permanently lit fire was to be packed and carried (Lev 6:12-13). Later it was believed that it was covered with a large copper vessel. It may, however, be that it was allowed to go out while on the wilderness journey, just as the continual whole burnt offerings might sometimes not be offered.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Work of the Kohathites

v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

v. 2. Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, for they had charge of the most holy vessels, after their families, by the house of their fathers,

v. 3. from thirty years old and up ward even until fifty years old, for it was at that age that the Levites were in active service in the Sanctuary, all that enter into the host, as members of the holy army of Jehovah, to do the work in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, which was the special obligation resting upon them.

v. 4. This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, about the most holy things;

v. 5. and when the camp setteth. forward, the signal having been given to move on to the next station, Aaron shall come, and his sons, for only the priests were allowed to perform this particular service, and they shall take down the covering veil, the screen of the Most Holy Place, and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it, this curtain thus serving as a screen even during the journey, for the very looking at the ark in presumptuous curiosity was punished by the Lord, 1Sa 6:19;

v. 6. and shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, that of leather made from the skins of sea-cows, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, of costly hyacinth-colored material, and shall put in the staves thereof, in the rings applied to the corners for that purpose.

v. 7. And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, as in the case of the ark, to distinguish it in a similar manner, and put thereon the dishes, the large bowls, and the spoons, and the bowls, the jugs or cans for the drink-offerings, and covers to cover withal, the small saucer-like dishes for pouring the drink-offering; and the continual bread shall be thereon, for so the show-bread was called because it was always before the face of the Lord;

v. 8. and they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, the fine crimson-colored cloth of purple thus being shielded against the weather by the outer leather covering, and shall put in the staves thereof, as in the case of the ark.

v. 9. And they shall take a cloth of blue, of the same hyacinth-colored material, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuff-dishes, the various instruments used for snuffing and cleaning, and all the oil-vessels thereof, in which the oil for use in these lamps was stored, wherewith they minister unto it;

v. 10. and they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put it upon a bar, a stretcher-like conveyance.

v. 11. And upon the golden altar, that of incense, they shall spread a cloth of blue, as over the other appointments, for the hyacinth color was the color of Jehovah, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof;

v. 12. and they shall take all the instruments of ministry wherewith they minister in the Sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar, on a conveyance for carrying;

v. 13. and they shall take away the ashes from the altar of burnt offering, and spread a purple cloth thereon, one dyed with red purple, or of a crimson hue;

v. 14. and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the tongs, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basins, or smaller bowls, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it, fastening them in the rings intended for them.

v. 15. And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the Sanctuary and all the vessels of the Sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward, only the laver and his foot being omitted in the enumeration, very likely because they received no covering; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the things which they had to carry from one station of the journey to the next.

v. 16. And to the office of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat-offering accompanying the burnt offering in the morning and in the evening, and the anointing oil; he had to see that all these were provided as needed; and the oversight of all the Tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the Sanctuary and in the vessels thereof; he was responsible for all the appointments. And as superintendent of the entire Tabernacle and all its equipment he had charge of the work of the Kohathites. Since the ministry of the latter was so important, but since it was also essential that they did not come into contact with the sacred vessels, the Lord renews His words of caution with special emphasis.

v. 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

v. 18. Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; they should beware of giving them occasion to transgress the Lord’s command and thus bring upon themselves His destruction;

v. 19. but thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden, assign to each one his station, his place in the company of porters;

v. 20. but they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, not even for a moment, while this work is being done, lest they die. By enforcing this regulation with the greatest strictness, the priests would be doing their share in preserving the life of the Kohathites, and their indifference might become a sin of omission which would be charged against them. The same rule applies today, Jas 4:17.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE DUTIES OF THE LEVITES (Num 4:1-49).

Num 4:2

Take the sum of the sons of Kohath. The Levites having been separated from the other tribes, the Kohathites are now to be separated from amongst the other Levites for the most honourable and sacred duties. To them the preference was given presumably because the priests were Kohathites.

Num 4:3

From thirty years old and upward. The age at which they became liable for service was shortly after reduced to twenty-five (Num 8:24), and at a later period to twenty (1Ch 23:27). In the wilderness a larger number of the men might be required to attend to their own camps, and their own families; but the explanation may probably be found in the unusually large proportion who were at this time between the ages of thirty and fifty. The Septuagint has altered thirty into twenty-five to make it agree with Num 8:24. Thirty years became among the Jews the perfect age at which a man attained to full maturity, and entered upon all his fights and duties (cf. Luk 3:23). Into the host. Not the military ranks, but the militia sacra of the Lord. To do the work. Literally, “to war the warfare.”

Num 4:4

About the most holy things. Rather, “the most holy things:” they were the service of the Kohathites. So the Septuagint.

Num 4:5

The covering veil. The curtain which hung before the holy of holies, afterwards known as “the veil of the temple” (Luk 23:45).

Num 4:6

The covering of badgers’ skins. Probably of sea-cow skins (tachash), but see Exo 25:5. The Targum of Palestine, and the Septuagint, both render it “a covering of hyacinthine skin.” The later Jews would have no knowledge of the marine animals common on the shores of the Red Sea. A cloth wholly of blue. This was the distinctive outer, and therefore Visible, covering of the most sacred thing, the ark.

Num 4:7

The dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal. Rather, “the plates, the bowls, the wine pitchers, and the chalices for pouring out,” i.e; the drink offerings. The two first seem to have been used in the meat offering, the two last in the drink offering.

Num 4:8

Shall put in the staves thereof. This formula is repeated alike with reference to the ark, the table, and the two altars. It would therefore be natural to suppose that the staves had all been taken out while the various coverings were put on. On the other hand, it is expressly directed in Exo 25:15 that the staves of the ark shall “not be taken from it.” Two explanations are possible. Either the former command does not contemplate the necessity of wrapping up the ark, and only applies to all times when it was at rest, or in movement; or else the latter direction only means, in the ease of the ark, that the staves should be adjusted for the purpose of bearing.

Num 4:9

Snuff-dishes. Some render this word “extinguishers,” but it could hardly bear that meaning, since it also signifies censers in Num 16:6, and fire-pans in Exo 27:3. They were evidently shallow metal pans available for many different purposes.

Num 4:10

Upon a bari.e; a bearing-frame. , Septuagint; “upon a rest,” Targum of Palestine.

Num 4:12

All the instruments of ministry. These do not seem to be, at any rate exclusively, the vessels pertaining to the golden altar. They are not packed up with it, but separately, in a blue cloth and a skin covering of their own. Probably they include all the vessels and utensils used inside the tabernacle which have not been previously mentioned.

Num 4:13

Take away the ashes. This is omitted by the Septuagint. The Hebrew word for “ashes is of somewhat doubtful meaning, being only used here and in Exo 27:3; Psa 20:3. Being connected with the word “fat,” it may perhaps mean the grease or dripping from the burnt offerings. The Targum of Palestine renders it “cinders.” As the altar was hollow, and was filled with earth or stones when used, there would be no need to cleanse it from ashes; if this be the meaning of the word, the command would rather have been to collect the living embers before the altar was removed, in order to keep alive the sacred fire. That this fire was never allowed to go out may be looked upon as certain.

Num 4:15

These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath. One thing which the Kohathites almost certainly had to carry is omitted here, possibly because it was carried without any cover at all, and was not regarded as of equal sanctity with the rest. Anyhow, the omission is very remarkable, and may have been accidental. It is supplied by the Septuagint and the Samaritan text in the following addition to Num 4:14 : “And they shall take a purple cloth, and cover the laver and its foot, and they shall put it into a hyacinthine cover of skin, and put it on bars.” The burdens of the Kohathites were six, not counting the laver and its foot:

(1) the ark;

(2) the table of shewbread;

(3) the candelabrum;

(4) the golden altar;

(5) “instruments of ministry;”

(6) the frame of the brazen altar.

Num 4:16

To the office of Eleazar, oversight. Septuagint, : . On him was laid the oversight of and the responsibility for all the material appliances of Divine worship, and in especial it devolved upon him to see to the oil, the incense, and the chrism, and the materials for the daily meat offering. No doubt it is intended, although not precisely expressed, that the Kohathites were specially under his orders.

Num 4:18

Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites. The word tribe (shebet) is used in an unusual way here, not in the sense of tribus, but of stirps. Perhaps as Levi was himself a microcosm of all Israel, so his families ranked as tribes; and no doubt they remained more distinct than the families of any other tribe. The meaning of the command is plainly this, “Take care that the Kohathites are not cut off through any negligence or want of consideration on your part; and the form of the command, “cut ye not off,” conveyed most emphatically the warning, that if any mischief befell the Kohathites which the priests could have prevented, they would be responsible for it in the sight of God. No doubt, as a fact, the Kohathites would take their cue from the conduct of the priests: if they were irreverent and careless, the Levites would be the same, and would sooner or later presume, and, presuming, would die.

Num 4:19

Thus do unto them, i.e; exactly as commanded in Num 4:5-15.

Num 4:20

They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered. This translation is disputed. The word rendered “are covered” is the Piel infinitive from bala, to swallow, and so to destroy. It may signify the extreme rapidity with which the most holy things were hidden from sight and removed from touch, so as to become, as it were, non-existent for the time. So the Syriac, Arabic, Samaritan, and the Targums of Onkelos and Palestine. On the other hand, it may be a proverbial expression, “in a swallow, at a gulp,” i.e; “for an instant,” as in Job 7:19. And so the Septuagint, , and most modern scholars. Whichever way, however, we take it, the phrase, “they shall not go in to see,” seems to limit the prohibition under pain of death to the deliberate act of entering the tabernacle out of curiosity during the process of packing up the holy things. The case of the men of Bethshemesh, therefore (1Sa 6:19), does not fall within the letter of this law, although it does within its spirit. The command, thus limited, is no doubt an addition to the previous command not to touch, but it is altogether in keeping with it. If it was the will of God to hedge about these sacred symbols of his presence and his worship with an awful sanctity, it is obvious that he was as much bound to defend them against the irreverent prying of the eye as against the irreverent touch of the hand; and the prying here prohibited would have been distinctly willful and inexcusable.

Num 4:25

They shall bear the curtains, etc. For these four coverings, of tapestry, of goats’ hair, of rams’ skins, and of sea-cow skin respectively, see Exo 26:1-37. In addition to these, the Gershonites carried all the hangings belonging to the tabernacle and to the outer court, with the single exception of the “veil” which was wrapped round the ark.

Num 4:26

And their cords, and all the instruments of their service. Taking this verse in connection with Num 4:37, we must understand the word “their” as applying to the things mentioned in the previous verse. The Merarites carried the cords, &c. of the hangings of the court.

Num 4:28

Under the hand of Ithamar, as also were the Merarites. He had been already engaged in overseeing the construction of the tabernacle (Exo 38:21).

Num 4:31

This is the charge of their burden, viz; all the solid parts of the fabric of the tabernacle and its court; by far the heaviest burden, and so allotted to the largest number.

Num 4:32

By name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. This injunction only occurs here. The Septuagint has “number them by name, and all the articles borne by them.” Perhaps the solid parts of the fabric were numbered for convenience of setting up, and, therefore, were assigned each to its own bearer.

Num 4:48

Those that were numbered of them were eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore. The census of each family is described in the same form of words with much particularity. No doubt it was carried out with extreme solicitude, as made for a purpose especially sacred and important. The results are remarkable in more ways than one. The following table presents the numbers in each family above one month, and between the ages of thirty and fifty.

Kohath

8600

2750

percent

32

Gershon

7500

2630

“

35

Merari

6200

3200

“

51

Total

22,800

8580

“

38

The first conclusion which naturally arises from these figures is, that after all the numbering must have been made by tens, and not by individuals. As it was impossible that 3000 persons could be employed in carrying the various portions of the tabernacle, it may be that each group of ten undertook a unit of responsibility. The second consideration is, that the average of men between thirty and fifty in all Levi is higher than modern statistics show (it is said to be twenty-five per cent. now in the whole population), although not very materially. The third is, that this average is very unequally distributed, rising to a most remarkable proportion in the case of Merari. It is quite clear that something must have disturbed the relative numbers as between the Merarites and the other families. It has been suggested that the small number of male Levites generally, and the small number of male Kohathites, between thirty and fifty especially, may have been caused by heavy losses incurred in carrying out the Divine sentence upon the worshippers of the golden calf (Exo 32:1-35). But

1. The slow increase of Levi continued to be very observable down to the time of David; while the other tribes grew from 600,000 to 1,300,000, he only increased to 38,000 (1Ch 23:3).

2. The average of males over thirty is already higher among the Kohathites than might have been expected; it is the largeness of the number, not the smallness, which needs to be explained.

3. It is Merari, and not Kohath, that is markedly distinguished from the other two: there is little difference between Kohath and Gershon. It is evident that something must have happened to the tribe of Levi, and in especial to the family of Merari, to reduce very greatly the number of births within the last thirty years. We do not know what the causes were, or why they should have pressed much more heavily on one tribe, or one family, than on another; but it is easy to see that many such causes may have acted, and acted unequally, under the cruel tyranny of Pharaoh. The children may have been systematically slaughtered, or marriages may have largely ceased, while Moses was in the land of Midian. If this were generally the case, it would much diminish the estimated total of the nation, and still more the estimated difficulties of the march.

Num 4:49

Thus were they numbered of him. Literally, “and his mustering.” It may have the meaning given to it in the A.V., or it may be translated “mustered things,” i.e; things assigned to him in the mustering, and read with the previous words, “Every one to his service, and to his burden, and his mustered things.”

HOMILETICS

Num 4:1-49

DUTIES OF THE CHURCH MILITANT

In this chapter we have, spiritually, certain duties of the Church on the way to heaven in respect of faith and worship, and the spirit in which matters of religion ought to be conducted. Consider, therefore

I. THAT THE DIVINE RULE IN THE CARE OF THE SANCTUARY WAS ONE OF DISTRIBUTION. Each family within the tribe, each group within the family, perhaps each individual in the group, had his own allotted “burden.” Kohath did not interfere with Merari, nor did Merari come into collision with Gershon. Even so, in all religious and ecclesiastical labours, distribution is the rule of the gospel, the Holy Spirit dividing to each severally as he will (1Co 12:1-31, passim; Eph 4:11-13). And note that this distribution was not made according to any superiority that we know of, but rather the reverse. Levi himself was by far the smallest of the twelve tribes, and Merari was by far the largest (for the purpose in hand) of the three families. Even so under the gospel no rules of human pre-eminence restrict the Divine distribution of gifts and offices; rather, the first shall be last, and the last first.

II. THAT THE WHOLE FABRIC OF THE TABERNACLE HAD TO BE CONTINUALLY TAKEN TO PIECES AND RECONSTRUCTED, as the host moved on in its appointed path. Even so, in the onward progress of the Church of Christ, the outward form and frame of religion has to be constantly built up afresh with ceaseless labour. For each succeeding century, for each new generation that comes up, for each new nation added to the Church, the fabric of its faith and worship has to be built up from the beginning. If not, religion, like the tabernacle, would be left far behind, the empty monument of a forsaken faith.

III. THAT, ON THE OTHER HAND, THE FURNITURE OF THE TABERNACLE AND ITS CONSTITUENT PARTS, THOUGH PERPETUALLY BEING RECONSTRUCTED, YET REMAINED IDENTICALLY THE SAME. Nothing lost, nothing added. Even so the elements of our faith and worship must remain unchangeably the same from age to age; nothing really old cast away, nothing really new introduced. “The faith once (for all) delivered to the saints.” Worship primitive and apostolic. However fresh the putting together, the substance eternally the same.

IV. THAT WHILE THE WHOLE FABRIC WAS TO BE CARRIED WITH GREAT CARE AND REVERENCE, YET THE MOST SOLICITOUS CARE AND THE MOST PROFOUND REVERENCE WERE RESERVED FOR THOSE HOLY THINGS WHICH THE FABRIC ENSHRINED. Even so all that is any part of our religion, claiming any Divine authority, is to be handed down and carried on with care and with respect; but it is the few central facts and truths of revelation upon which the loving veneration and extreme solicitude of Christian teachers and people must be concentrated.

V. THAT AMONGST THESE THE ARK WAS FIRST AND FOREMOST, having three cover. tugs, and being distinguished outwardly also by its blue cloth. Even so it is the incarnation of God in Christthe doctrine of Emmanuel, God with uswhich is before all other things precious and holy, to be guarded with the most reverent and jealous care, to be distinguished openly with the most evident honour. And note

(1) that as the mercy-seat, resting on the ark, and forming its lid, was carried whithersoever the ark went, and shared in all its honour, so the doctrine of propitiation and of God reconciled to men, resting as it does essentially upon the doctrine of EmmanuelGod with usis carried ever with it, and honoured with it. And note

(2) that as blue is the colour of heaven, so the blue outer covering of the ark (alone) may signify that the greatest effort of the Church’s teachers should be so to present the doctrine of God in Christ before men that it may appear clad in heavenly love and beauty.

VI. THAT THE SHEW–BREAD WAS NOT ALLOWED TO FAIL FROM ITS TABLE EVEN DURING THE JOURNEY, but was carefully placed upon it and so carried, and thus answered to its name of “continual bread.” Even so it is certain that the “living Bread which came down from heaven” must be with the Church as her “continual Broad” in all her marches. But it is more commonly considered that the shewbread in its twelve loaves represents the whole people of God, in all its sections, as always present to the eye of God. and always remembered before him for good; in which case this would emphasize the truth that we must without any intermission be had in merciful remembrance before God, lest we die. And note

(1) that as the shew-bread on the table was covered with a cloth of scarlet, which is the colour of atoning blood, this may signify that it is as covered by and, so to speak, seen through the precious blood of Christ that the Church in all her travail is remembered before God for good. And note

(2) that as the ark and the table were more honoured in their coverings than the rest, though the ark most of all, this may intimate that the two doctrines of chiefest honour in the faith are those of Christ and of his Church, i.e; of God in Christ, and Christ in us; God present with us through Christ, and we present before God through Christ (Joh 17:20-23, Joh 17:26).

VII. THAT THE SONS OF KOHATH WERE TO CARRY THOSE HOLY THINGS, BUT NEITHER TO TOUCH THEM NOR TO GO IN TO SEE THEM FOR AN INSTANT, LEST THEY SHOULD DIE. Even so the holy mysteries of the gospel are ever to be borne onwards, but neither to be handled with irreverent carelessness nor pried into with irreverent curiosity, else they become the savour of death rather than of life. It is indeed true that in Christ “the veil is taken away,” and that now the gospel is openly declared to all nations; but it is also true, as to its central doctrines, that willful irreverence and idle curiosity are visited with severer punishments, because purely spiritual, now than then. It is not possible that any one be saved by faith if he handle the faith with rude familiarity, as having nothing sacred for him, or with cold curiosity, as a matter of mere intellectual interest (cf. Mat 21:44; Luk 2:34; 2Co 2:16. Cf. also 1Co 11:29, 1Co 11:30).

VIII. THAT THE PRIESTS WERE CHARGED NOT TO “CUT OFF” THE KOHATHITES, i.e; NOT TO CAUSE THEIR DEATH BY GIVING THEM EXAMPLE OR OPPORTUNITY OF IRREVERENCE IN THEIR NECESSARY WORK ABOUT THE SACRED THINGS WHICH WOULD BE FATAL TO THEM. Even so an enormous responsibility is laid upon all who are set over others in the Lord, especially with respect to those who are necessarily brought into outward contact with religion. Those who, being custodes of sacred treasures, set an example of irreverence to those associated with them, or give them the impression of secret unbelief in what they preach or minister (an impression how quickly caught!), will be held responsible for any souls that may perish thereby. How miserably true that, “the nearer the Church, the further from God;” that none are so hardened as those whose outward duties are concerned with the maintenance of public worship; that no families are so notoriously irreligious as those of Church dignitaries and other ministers of God! And this due not more to the subtle danger arising from familiarity with the forms of religion, than to the subtler danger arising from the irreverent and careless conduct and temper of the ministers of religion. How often do such, by their behaviour at home, or when off duty, leave an impression of unbelief or of indifference, which they do not really feel, upon their families, dependants, subordinates! How awful the responsibility of such an one! He has “cut off” souls which were most nearly in his charge from amongst the people of God. The poison-breath of his irreverence has blighted their eternal future. And this holds true, in its measure, of fathers, masters, all who lead the religion of others. And note that as Aaron and his sons could only escape responsibility for any catastrophe among the Kohathites by doing exactly as the Lord commanded in the matter (see Num 4:19), even so we can only escape responsibility for the loss of other souls by following exactly the Divine precepts; if we allow ourselves to deviate from them at all, others through our example will deviate from them more: we are our brothers’ keepers to the uttermost reach of our example.

HOMILIES BY W. BINNIE

Num 4:1-4

NONE MAY BEAR THE VESSELS OF THE LORD BUT LEVITES AT THEIR BEST

From the giving of the law till the building of Solomon’s temple, a space of about 500 years, the Lord at no time “dwelt in any house, but walked in a tent and in a tabernacle” (2Sa 7:6). The sanctuary was a moving tent, and one principal part of the business of the Levites, the most honourable function assigned to them, was the carriage of it from place to place. Moses, who regulated so exactly the order of all the tribes, both for the march and the encampment, did not omit to appoint to every division of the Levites its duty in relation to the tabernacle and its holy furniturewhat each was to carry, and in what order they were to pitch their tents. In this chapter of detailed regulations, special interest attaches to the law laid down regarding THE LEVITES‘ PERIOD OF SERVICE in carrying the tabernacle. It was from thirty years old till fifty (Num 4:3, Num 4:23, Num 4:30). This must be taken along with Num 8:24, where the age for entering on service is fixed at twenty-five. The explanation of the seeming discrepancy, no doubt, is that the first five years were a kind of apprenticeship. Certain other sorts of work about the tabernacle the Levites might do between twenty-five and thirty, and these they might continue to do, so far as their strength served, long after fifty; but except between thirty and fifty they might not bear the tabernacle and its vessels. When David gave to the ark a permanent abode at Jerusalem, and the service of the Levites was readjusted accordingly, the age for entering on duty was lowered to twenty, and at that point it thereafter stood (see 1Ch 23:27; Ezr 3:8). The principle underlying the law was still the same. The service of God, especially in its most sacred parts, requires and deserves the best of Our years, our strength, our affections. His soul desires the first ripe fruit. There are three errors men are apt to fall into in this matter of service; I refer more especially to official service.

1. Some enter on it too young. No hard and fast line can be drawn for all men and every service. One kind of service demands greater maturity than another, and one man ripens earlier than another. But the rule here prescribed to the Levites is a good one for the average of cases. To speak only of the Christian ministry: few men under twenty-five are ripe for it, and places of special trust would require a man of thirty. Undue baste is neither reverent nor safe. The first sermon of our blessed Lord was not preached till “he began to be about thirty years of age” (Luk 3:23); a touching and most suggestive example.

2. Some delay entering fill they are too old. This is most frequently seen in unofficial service. Many men, not destitute of piety, think it incumbent on them to give their prime so entirely to “business” that they have no time for anything else. Church work, home mission work, charity services, participation in these they look forward to as the employment of their leisure, after they shall have retired from business. That, at the best, is giving to the Lord not the first-fruits, but the gleanings. It will be found that, as a rule, it is not these tardy labourers whom God honours to be most useful. He honours those rather (thank God, they are many, and increasing in number) who consecrate to him a fair proportion of their strength when they are at their prime.

3. Some do not know when if is time for them to resign. The Levites’ period of active service, whether it began at thirty, or twenty-five, or twenty, always ended at fifty. Not that the law thrust them out of the sanctuary when their term expired; that would have been cruelty to men who loved the service. They might still frequent the sanctuary, and perform occasional offices (see Num 8:26). But after fifty they ceased to be on the regular staff. Here too the rule has to be applied to the Christian Church with discrimination. For services which are characteristically mental and spiritual, a man’s prime certainly does not cease at fifty. Nevertheless, the principle at the root of the rule is of undying validity and importance. The Levites’ maintenance did not cease at fifty; and any Church system which does not make such provision as enables its ministers to retire when their strength fails is unscriptural and defective. On the other part, it is the duty and will be the wisdom of the Church’s servants to seek retirement when they are no longer able to minister to the Lord with fresh vigour.B.

Num 4:17-20

THE LORD IS TO BE SERVED WITH FEAR

“LEST THEY DIE: “that note of warning is often heard in the law. If any man or woman touched the flaming mount, it was death (Exo 19:12). It was death if the high priest entered into the holiest on any day but one, or on that day if he omitted to shroud the mercy-seat in a cloud of fragrant incense (Le Num 16:3-13). It was death if any son of Aaron transgressed the ritual, were it only by officiating in any other than the appointed garments (Exo 28:43). In the same strain, this law in Numbers makes it death for any common Levite to touch, or gaze upon, the holy things till the priest has packed them up in their thick wrappings (verses 19, 20; cf. Num 1:51; Num 3:10). The example first of Nadab and Abihu, and afterwards of Korah and his company, showed that these threats were spoken in earnest. We cannot marvel that, after hearing and seeing all this, the people were smitten with terror, and cried out to Moses, “We perish, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh anything near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die. Shall we be consumed with dying?” (Num 17:13).

I. THIS FEATURE OF THE LAW WILL HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE DEPRECIATORY TERMS IN WHICH IT IS SO OFTEN MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, especially by the Apostle Paul. The law was “the ministration of death and of condemnation” (2Co 3:7, 2Co 3:9); it “worketh wrath” (Rom 4:15); it breathed a “spirit of bondage” and fear (Rom 8:15); it “gendered to bondage” (Gal 4:24); it was “an intolerable yoke” (Act 15:10). Not that the whole contents of the Pentateuch fell under this description. Much of promise was spoken in presence of the mountain of the law. But let the law be taken by itself, and let the gospel verities foreshadowed by its ritual be shut out from view, and does it not answer to the disparaging descriptions? It was full of wrath, condemnation, fear. No doubt there was an element of grace even in the covenant of Sinai. It was a benefit done to Israel when the Lord delivered to them the commandments, pitched his tabernacle among them, and suffered them to draw near under the conditions of the ritual. Nevertheless, the conditions were hard and terrible; we may well thank God for abolishing them. They are utterly abolished. The veil is rent from top to bottom; the yoke is broken; we have received the spirit of adoption, not the spirit of bondage again to fear; we have boldness to enter into the holiest.

II. NOTHING THAT HAS BEEN SAID IMPLIES THAT THE LEVITICAL LAW WAS REALLY UNWORTHY OF THE WISDOM OR THE GRACE OF GOD. For the time then present it was the best thing that could be. Certain truths of primary importance men were everywhere forgetting: among others, the holy majesty of God; that communion with God is to the soul of man the very breath of life; that man is a sinner for whom there is no remission, no access, without atonement. These lessons the law was meant and fitted to teach. These lessons it did teach, burning them into the conscience of the nation. The law was not the gospel, but it led forward to the gospel. A service beyond all price.

III. NOR HAS THE BENEFICENT OFFICE OF THE LAW CEASED WITH THE ADVENT OF THE BETTER TIME. Men are ready to abuse the grace of God, to give harbour to licentiousness on pretext of Christian liberty. If you doubt it, search well your own heart. What is the remedy? It is found sometimes in the rod of God’s afflicting providence, sometimes in the searching discipline of the law. For the law, although in its letter abrogated, abides for ever in its substance. We are not boundwe are not at libertyto slay sin offerings or burn incense. But we are bound to ruminate on the law of sacrifice and intercession. The Levitical ritual belongs in this sense to us as much as it ever belonged to the Jews. It admonishes us of the reverence due to God. A certain filial boldness he will welcome, but presumptuous trifling with his majesty and holiness he will not suffer. If we would be accepted, we must worship God with reverence and godly fear, for our God is still a consuming fire (Heb 12:29).B.

HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT

Num 4:15-20

THE PERILS OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE

The sons of Kohath had the most honourable of the duties assigned to the Levites, in being permitted to carry the sacred vessels of the tabernacle. But they were thus exposed to temptations and perils from which their less favoured brethren were exempt. To touch or even to see the holy things was death. Similar temptations, to those intrusted with distinguished service in God’s Church, may arise from

I. CURIOSITY. Illustrate from the sin of the men of Bethshemesh (1Sa 6:1-21). Men brought by their duties into close contact with Divine mysteries may yield to the curiosity of unauthorized speculations to which ignorant and groveling minds are not exposed (cf. Col 2:18). Illustrate from speculations on the Trinity, the incarnation, or the profitless inquiries of some of the schoolmen as to angels, etc. Caution applicable to theological speculations of today (Deu 29:29).

II. THOUGHTLESSNESS. A thoughtless disregard of God’s strict injunctions, by either a priest (Num 4:18, Num 4:19) or a Kohathite, might have been fatal. So now those who have perpetually to deal with Divine things are in danger of irreverence from thoughtlessness. E.g; Christian ministers, who have to be constantly praying and preaching, as part of their service for God. Christians who have a reputation for saintliness above their brethren need special reverence, lest they should handle Divine things in a familiar, unauthorized manner. Apply to some habits of modern public worship tending to sad irreverence.

III. DISTRUST. Illustrate from the sin of Uzzah (2Sa 6:6, 2Sa 6:7). We are thus warned against using illegitimate means in support of the cause of God which we think to be in danger. Carnal methods must not be resorted to for the defense of spiritual truths. Some of the most devoted servants of Christ have profaned the ark of God, when they thought it in danger, by touching and propping it by supports God has never sanctioned. E.g; persecutions on behalf of the truth of God. Caution to those who now rely on worldly alliances and statesmanship on behalf of God’s Church. Front such perils we may be preserved by the spirit of

(1) profound humility, at the privilege of being allowed to come so near and to deal with the mysteries of God (Eph 3:8; Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29);

(2) reverential obedience to every item of the instructions God has given us (1Ch 15:12, 1Ch 15:13; Psa 119:128);

(3) fearless trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has guarded his Church hitherto, is saving us, and who will protect his people and his truth by his own power to the end (2Ti 4:18).P.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Num 4:1-49

THE LEVITES AND THE REGULATION OF THEIR DUTIES

One tribe has been set apart in lieu of the first-born of all Israel, and to this tribe is entrusted the service of the tabernacle. The nature and distribution of that service are now placed before us. Note

I. THE REGARD FOR THE PRINCIPLE OF INHERITANCE. As the tribes had their appointed place around the tabernacle, so the three great natural divisions of the tribe of Levi had their appointed place in it. So in the service of the Church of Christ there must ever be something corresponding to this natural division in Levi. The great Head has given some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. There are always some Christians rather than others who may be taken as spiritual children of certain in the spiritual generation before them, those on whom the prophet’s mantle may fall, as did that of Elijah on Elisha.

II. THE LIMITATIONS OF SERVICE. No Levite could do the work of an anointed priest. The Kohathites were to bear the things of the holy place, but they were not to see them or prepare them for removal. There was a gulf of difference between Aaron and the noblest of the Kohathites, though they belonged to the same tribe. So between Christ and even the best of his people. There is so much to link us to our Lord, so much to reveal him as walking about on the same level, that we cannot be too careful to remember the differences between our services, humble even the most honourable of them, and that glorious peculiar service where Christ is Priest and Atonement in one. The limitations of age. None under thirty, none over fifty. At twenty a man may have strength and courage for fighting (Num 1:3), but ten years more must pass over his head before he is judged to have the sobriety and sedateness needed for tabernacle service. Then at fifty he retires. God has consideration for failing strength. The burdens of the tabernacle must be carried, therefore God provides that the bearers shall be strong. There were constantly fresh and, we may suppose, often eager accessions at the younger limit of the service. Jesus was about thirty when he entered on his public life (Luk 3:23), and the Baptist would be about the same. Let these limitations of God be considered by all whom they concern. There are duties of manhood which youth has not the experience, nor age the strength, to perform.

III. THE SECURING OF PERSONAL SERVICE (Num 4:19, Num 4:49). Only certain persons were fit to do the work, but all who were fit had some work to do. In the Church of Christ fitness for anything, clearly seen, distinctly felt, has in it the nature of a command. We need not fear that there will ever be too many persons engaged in the service of the true tabernacle. There were between eight and nine thousand at this first appointment, but the Lord’s promise runs (Jer 33:22), “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the Levites that minister unto me.” We are all Levites now.

IV. THE WORK WAS ALL NECESSARY WORK. No doubt a certain honour attached to the Kohathites, but great risk went with it; and after all, the honour was more in the eyes of men than of God. All that is needful to be done for him is honourable. The least peg or cord was not to be left behind, any more than the ark itself. There should be a spirit of humble joy and gratitude in us that we are counted worthy to do anything for God. All are needed to make up the perfection of service. To the complete body the little finger is as needful as the complex and powerful brain. For the circulation of the blood the capillaries are as needful as the great arteries and veins. God calls for no superfluous work from us. He has no mere ornaments in the Church. If a thing is not of use, it is no ornament, however it be decorated.

Application:Find your work and burden. Every one has his own burden () to bear. No one else then can carry your burden than you. Seek your place. Take the lowest one, then assuredly you will come in time to the right one. The lowest place in the tabernacle service is better than the highest among the ungodly (Psa 84:10).Y.

INTERIOR SANCTITIES OF ISRAEL (Num 5:1-31, Num 6:1-27).

Num 5:1-4 : REMOVAL OF THE UNCLEAN.

Num 5:5-10 : RESTITUTION OF TRESPASS,

Num 5:11-31 : JEALOUSY PURGED.

Num 6:1-21 : NAZARITES DEDICATED.

Numbers 22-27: BLESSING OF THE PEOPLE.

Whether these portions of the Divine legislation are connected with the surrounding narrative

(1) by an order of time, as having been given at this point, or

(2) by a harmony of subject, as completing on its inward side the perfection of the camp, or whether

(3) their insertion here was in a sense accidental, and not now to be accounted for, must remain uncertain.

Against

(1) it must be observed that there is a decided break in the order of time at the beginning of Num 7:1-89; against

(2) that a large part of the Levitical enactments might have been added here with an equal propriety.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Order of Service and Order of March for the Levites

Num 4:1-49

1And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, 1after their families, by 2the house of their fathers, 3From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the 3tabernacle of the congregation. 4This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the ctabernacle of the congregation, 4 about the most holy things.

5And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the 5covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it: 6And shall put thereon the covering of 6badgers skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of 7blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. 7And upon the table of shew-bread they shall spread a cloth of gblue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and 8covers to9 10cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: 8And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of fbadgers skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9And they shall take a cloth of gblue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: 10And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of fbadgers skins, and shall put it upon 11a bar. 11And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of gblue, and cover it with a covering of fbadgers skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: 12And they shall take all the 12instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of gblue, and cover them with a covering of fbadgers skins, and shall put them on ja bar. 13And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: 14And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the 13censers, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the 14basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of fbadgers skins, and put to the staves of it. 15And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch 15 any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the ctabernacle of the congregation.

16And 16to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the 17daily meat-offering, and the anointing oil, and the noversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.

17And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 18Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: 19But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: 20But they shall not go in to see 18when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

21And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 22Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, athroughout bthe houses of their fathers, by their families; 23From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou 19number them; all that enter in 20to perform the service, to do the work in the ctabernacle of the congregation. 24This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for 2122burden: 25And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the ctabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the bbadgers skins that is above upon it, and the 23hanging for the door of the ctabernacle of the congregation, 26And the hangings of the court, and the rhanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the kinstruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. 27At the 24appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall xappoint 28unto them in charge all their burdens. This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the ctabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt xnumber them aafter their families, by bthe house of their fathers; 30From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou xnumber them, every one that entereth into the 25service, to do the work 31of the ctabernacle of the congregation. And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the ctabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof, 32And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their kinstruments, and with all their service; and by name ye 33shall xreckon the kinstruments of the charge of their burden. This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the ctabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

34And Moses and Aaron and the 26chief of the congregation xnumbered the sons of the Kohathites aafter their families, and aafter bthe house of their fathers, 35From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the ctabernacle of the congregation: 36And those that were xnumbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and 37fifty. These were they that were xnumbered of the families of the Kohathites, all that might do service in the ctabernacle of the congregation, which Moses and Aaron did xnumber according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 38And those that were xnumbered of the sons of Gershon, athroughout their families, and by bthe house of their fathers, 39From thirty years old and upward, even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the ctabernacle of the congregation, 40Even those that were xnumbered of them, athroughout their families, by bthe house of their fathers, were two thousand and 41six hundred and thirty. These are they that were xnumbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all that might do service in the ctabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron did xnumber according to the commandment of the Lord.

42And those that were xnumbered of the families of the sons of Merari, athroughout their families, by bthe house of their fathers, 43From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the ctabernacle of the congregation. 44Even those that were xnumbered of them aafter their families, were three thousand and two hundred.

45These be those that were xnumbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron xnumbered according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 46All those that were xnumbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the schief of Israel xnumbered, aafter their families, and aafter bthe house of their fathers, 47From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the ctabernacle of the congregation, 48Even those that were xnumbered of them were eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore. 49According to the commandment of the Lord they were xnumbered by the hand of Moses, every one according to his service, and according to his burden: 27thus were they numbered of him, as the Lord commanded Moses.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Num 4:1 sq. Next come the particular acts to be done at the breaking up of the camp and on the march by the different divisions of the Levites, and for whose discharge the priestly age, 80 years, is requisite.

(a) The Ark and the Holy Things of the Sanctuary.The taking up of the tent for the march is performed in perfect accordance with the idea of a tent, beginning in the inside and working outward. Only Aaron and his son are called to this guardianship of the Holy of Holies. The care of the Ark of Testimony takes precedence. In order to prepare it for the march, Aaron and his sons must even go into the Holy of Holies; for the rule which forbids even the high priest to enter the Holy of Holies but once a year is suspended. From the eyes of the people, however, the Ark must be strictly concealed; it must be not only unapproachable, but also invisible. It is first enwrapped in the veil of the screen, then in a covering of tachash skins (see on Exodus 26), and over that is spread a cloth of hyacinth purple (distinguished by this color of Jehovah); and thereto the staves are again set, which had to be taken away during the covering. The second object of highest veneration is the Table of Shewbread. Upon its purple cover are laid the utensils belonging to it, the shewbread as well; and these in turn are covered with a scarlet cloth and with a cover of tachash skins; the staves are then set. After this comes the candlestick, enveloped in like manner; likewise the golden altar, or incense altar. The Altar of burnt offerings, however, is not covered with a purple cloth, but, together with its utensils, with a cloth of scarlet. [It is remarkable that Moses says nothing in this connection respecting the Laver, which was one of the principal vessels. The omission is supplied by the LXX. at the end of this verse, and reads: And they shall take a purple cloth and cover the Laver and its base (foot), and they shall put it into a blue cover of skin, and put it on bars. Capellus, Grotius, Houbigant suppose that this clause has slipped out of the Hebrew text, and with them Rosenmueller is disposed to agree. Ainsworth suggests that the Laver is not mentioned because it was not to be covered. Bush in loc.; where see also Ainsworths allegorical interpretation of his conjectured fact.Tr.] This packing is all done by the priests; but the transportation is performed by the Kohathites, who at the same time are most strictly forbidden to touch the holy things themselves. Here the authority of the Aaronitic Kohathite to attend to the Sanctuary (Num 4:16) and the competency of the Kohathites in general are sharply distinguished. Since they were the immediate assistants of Eleazar, they might most easily as Levites incur death by touching or beholding the Holy of Holies. [Instances of the actual infliction of this penalty are 1Sa 6:19; 2Sa 6:6-7.Tr.]

(b) The employment of the Gershonites(Num 4:22-28). the Kohathites stand under the special superintendence of Eleazar, so do the Gershonites under that of Ithamar, second son of Aaron, who is also special supervisor of the services of the Merarites (Num 4:33). [Ithamar superintended the construction of the Tabernacle (Exo 38:21). Thus the permanent offices of the leaders spring out of the duties that devolved on them during the first year of the Exodus. Num 4:23. To war the warfare.This is military language. Ministerial service is a warfare for God, Num 8:24-25.Tr.]

(c) The employment of the Merarites (Num 4:29-33). These have the heaviest portion of the Tabernacle to bear, while the Gershonites have the most difficult part to do; and the charge of the Kohathites is seen to be honorable, but in a special degree dangerous and full of care. These Merarites also stand under the direction of Ithamar.

(d) By the official count of the Levites capable of service there were numbered: of the Kohathites, 2,750; of the Gershonites, 2,630; of the Merarites, 3,200. [By this account it appears that out of the whole number of Levites, viz., 22,300, only 8,580 were fit for service. Moreover the family of Merari, though numerically the smallest family of Levi, had 3,200 fit for service, or more than half their number above a month old, and more than either of the two other families. The most natural inference from these data is, not that these numbers give the number of able-bodied men, but that they give only the number detailed for duty, and that this number was proportioned to the service to be performed. This explanation accords with the fact that the service of each family is first described and then the detail of men to do it is given. It seems also to be the plain meaning of Num 4:48-49 : they were numbered according to their service and according to their burden. It agrees also with what we have found to be the proper meaning of ; see on Num 1:3. It applies to the marshalling and enrolling for duty.Tr.]

[Num 4:31-32. The practical importance of detailing the burdens and bearers of all this variety of stuff may be illustrated by the feature common to all Arab decampment as thus described by E. H. Palmer, The Desert of Exodus, Chap. III. The task of apportioning the loads is always a difficult one. The Arabs scream and struggle as though about to engage in a sanguinary fight; and each one, as he gets the opportunity, will seize upon the lightest things which he can find, and, if not immediately repressed, will hasten off to his camel with about a quarter of his proper load, leaving his comrades to fight over the heavier burdens.

Of course there was a higher importance. God took the Tabernacle as His peculiar charge, and the Levites as His soldiers. Had the strictly military part of the expedition been administered with the same care, the host had been irresistible. Gods care in sacred things was an example to the princes in secular things.
Another higher importance was that all this precise arrangement was typical. It reveals Gods nature and ways. What He did in these matters He will do in others when like interests are involved. He will not overlook any of the details of salvation. The very tongs and ashes, the tent-pins and cords, will be attended to. See M. Henry on Num 4:21-23. But in tracing this typical import, one must avoid attaching special significance to each minor detail. A variety of details was necessary to express one simple truth. The simple idea expressed by such regulations, leaving no part or arrangement, however minute, to be formed according to the taste or judgment of human artificers, was that no human devices must mix in the service of God or in anything typical of the way of salvation. Macdonald, Introd. to the Pentateuch, Vol. II. p. 463.Tr.]

HOMILETICAL HINTS

[Num 4:4. Enter into the hostdo the work in the Tent of Meeting. The ministry is: 1. A good work, 1Ti 3:1. Ministers are not ordained to honor only, but to labor; not to have the wages, but to do the work. 2. A good warfare, 1Ti 1:18. They that enter the ministry must look upon themselves as entered into the host, and approve themselves good soldiers, 2Ti 2:3. M. Henry.

Num 4:5-15. The covering of the holy things. The proper care of sacred things. 1. For safety. 2. For decency and ornament; adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, Tit 2:10. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary, Psa 96:6. 3. For concealment. It signifies the darkness of that dispensation. They saw only the coverings, not the holy things themselves (Heb 10:1); but now Christ has destroyed the face of the covering, Isa 25:7. M. Henry. And now, too, we see through a glass darkly, 1Co 13:12.

Num 4:18. Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites. What, might have happened by Moses fault he would be said to do, and would bear the guilt. So God holds ministers accountable. This lays a charge on pastors in relation to all elders, deacons, Sabbath School teachers, leaders of prayer-meetings, who under their superintendence minister in the sacred things of the gospel.Tr.]

Footnotes:

[1]by.

[2]their fathers-houses.

[3]Tent of Meeting.

[4]omit about.

[5]veil of the screen.

[6]sealskin.

[7]blue purple.

[8]mugs.

[9]Or, pour out withal.

[10]of the drink-offering.

[11]the bier.

[12]utensils.

[13]fire-pans.

[14]Or, bowls.

[15]the sanctuary.

[16]the charge of Eleazar, etc. is oil, etc.

[17]continual meal offering.

[18]even for an instant, om. are covered.

[19]muster, mustered.

[20]Heb. to war the warfare.

[21]Or, carriage.

[22]to carry.

[23]screen.

[24]Heb. mouth.

[25]Heb. warfare.

[26]chiefs.

[27]And this is his numbering (or mustering).

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The same subject as occupied the former chapter, is continued through this. The numbering and ordering the several branches of the Levites, the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites; together with the number and particular service of each.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Let the reader observe upon the particular age of the Levites, appointed to minister in holy things, that this service did not begin till after the thirtieth year. And surely the Reader will not forget that the blessed JESUS opened not his special ministry until his thirtieth year. Luk 3:23 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

II

INTRODUCTION

Numbers 1-4

We now commence the introduction to the book of Numbers. The first thing is the name. In the Hebrew there are two names. One takes the first word and the other takes the first most important word. In the Septuagint the name is Arithmoi; in the Vulgate, Numeri, both meaning the same as our word Numbers. These names are derived from the numbering recorded in Num 1 and the second numbering thirty-eight years later in Num 26 ; the first, prior to the first start on the great march, and the second, at the second start.

Next is the period of time covered by the book of Numbers. We will notice the following points: Num 1:1 , “Second year, second month, first day.” One year and one month after leaving Rameses in Egypt, they leave Sinai. You have another date, viz.: The death of Aaron, Num 20:22 ; Num 33:38 . Aaron’s death is in the fortieth year, and fifth month, the first day, from the time they left Egypt and thirty-ninth year from the time they left Sinai.

Next, Deuteronomy I, which commences the fortieth year and the eleventh month, making exactly six months after Aaron’s death before Deuteronomy commences. If you add these periods together, they make thirty-eight years and nine months. It takes them a little over a year at Sinai and then nearly thirty-nine years to close up this book. Deuteronomy occupies not over a month, bringing us to the death of Moses forty years from the time they left Egypt. I will give you a brief outline and then a more extended outline of this book. The brief outline consists of only four points:

1. Preparation for the march, extending from Num 1:1-10:10 . The preparation will include not only the census and some legislation which follows it, but also some other things necessary to the start.

2. The march from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, close to the border of the Holy Land Num 10:11-14 a brief period of time. They had only three stopping places of any length, recorded again in Num 33 . That chapter gives the entire itinerary, or order of the march, from the day they left Rameses in Egypt to the time they reached the Jordan River.

3. Period of aimless wandering, Num 15:19 , the longest part of the book of Moses as to time, including the wanderings and the legislation during that time. It covers more space than any other part.

4. From Kadesh-barnea to the camp opposite Jericho and the events on the plains of Moab Numbers 20-36. In this book are some of the most interesting incidents in the history of the Jewish people, some of the most thrilling themes for the preacher, new laws of a particular kind, especially concerning those about the red heifer, which have a deep significance in the New Testament. In this book you have an account of the sins committed by the people that excluded every grown man from entering the Promised Land with the exception of two, including the special sin of Moses and Aaron.

Now follows the more elaborate analysis:

Sec. I. Preparation for the great march (Numbers 1-4). In these chapters we have the first census, the order in which the tribes shall camp and march, the special numbering of the firstborn and the exchange of the firstborn males of all the people for the tribe of Levi, the special duties that the Levites are to perform and their order of march.

Sec. II. Some legislation (Numbers 5-6), divided into five parts:

(1) The exclusion of the unclean; (2) the law of recompense and of offerings; (3) the trial of jealousy, a strange and horrible thing (I imagine it would scare any woman to death to be put to that test) ; (4) the Nazarite vow; (5) the words that the priest shall use in his benediction, one of the most beautiful benedictions.

Sec. III. Further preparation for the march (Num 7:1-10:10 ), consisting of the following items: Offerings of the princes at the dedication, the voice in the sanctuary, the lamps lighted in the tabernacle, the consecration of the Levites, the second passover and the supplemental passover, the cloud on the tabernacle, and the silver trumpet for governing the march. So the preparation consists of two parts between which comes that special legislation, and so these three sections correspond to the first part of the short outline.

Sec. IV. (Which corresponds to the second in the short outline.) The march from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, with the following incidents (Num 10:11-14:45 ): The start and the order of the march, the invitation to Hobab, the journey, sin and chastisement at Kibroth, the sedition of Miriam and Aaron and the sending of the spies and the rejection of the people. That ends that probation. They had violated the covenant. They have to make a new start. In answer to the prayer of Moses God gives them another probation, on the condition that every grown man that left Egypt shall perish and that they must wander until that generation has died. The period of that wandering is divided into the three following sections:

Sec. V. Num 15 only: Legislation on offerings, firstfruits, trespass offering, the presumptuous sin, with the incident of the sabbath breaker and the law of fringes.

Sec. VI. Numbers 16-17. An account of the rebellion of Korah and his confederates against the Aaronic priesthood, and the memorial that follows.

Sec. VII. Further legislation, charge and emoluments of priest, the law of the red heifer and the pollution of death Numbers 18-19). All of the other sections will come in the fourth item of the short outline.

Sec. VIII. This includes the water of Menbah, the brazen serpent, the last marches and the first victories.

Sec. IX. Numbers 22-24. The coming of Balaam and the prophecies of Balaam.

Sec. X. Gives an account of the events that took place on the plains of Moab on the banks of the Jordan (Numbers 25-27). Those events were as follows. The second census of Israel, with a view to allotment of land, the petition of Zelophehad’s daughters and finally the supersession of Moses by Joshua.

Sec. XI. Further legislation. The annual routine of sacrifices Numbers 28-29. The thirtieth chapter tells us about vows like that last section of Leviticus giving us the exception of vows made by women.

Sec. XII. Further events in the plains of Moab, (Numbers 31-32) extirpation of Midian and the settlement of the tribes east of the Jordan.

Sec. XIII. Num 33:1-49 . The great itinerary, showing every stopping place of any length from the time they left Egypt to the river Jordan a remarkable historical document.

Sec. XIV. Num 33:50 , to the end of the book, Final instruction with a view to the conquest of Canaan, as follows: Clearance of the Holy Land, boundaries of the Holy Land, allotment of the Holy Land, reservation of cities for the Levites, cities of refuge and the law of homicides, law of the marriage of heiresses, which relates back to Zeiophehad’s daughters.

Just here you need to read Trumbull’s Kadesh-Barnea. The central place of the book of Numbers is Kadesh-bamea. This is the great camping place they reached after they left Sinai and just before they made their attempt to enter the Holy Land. There occurred the sin of the people, the rejection of the report of the spies, the condemnation to wander thirty eight years, revolving around Kadesh-barnea. Hence explorers have tried harder to locate Kadesh-barnea than any other one place except Sinai.

The census discussed in the first chapter is dated the second year, second month and first day, after they left Egypt. The second census was with reference to the allotment, for they expected in a few days to get to the Holy Land. Of course when they forfeited their right and all those men died of the first census, they had to take a new census, and that is why the name of the book is plural. The census applies to eleven of the tribes, Levi not included, and takes account of the males from twenty years upwards who are able to go to war. That census amounted to 603,550. They took the census of Levi separately and took it twice. First, every male in the tribe of Levi, from one month old up, amounted to 22,000, which was less than any other tribe had from twenty years old up, showing that the tribe of Levi was by all odds the smallest of the tribes. When they took the next census of Levi, they took it of the men from thirty to fifty, to get the men capable of service around the sanctuary. That census amounted to 8,580 males. It seems to me that if there were 8,580 from thirty to fifty, there ought to have been more than 22,000 from one month up.

The next item is the order of camp. The enclosure around the tabernacle faced the east. The whole tribe of Levi, including Moses and Aaron, would occupy the space around the tabernacle just outside of the enclosure. Then on the east of them were Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Judah carrying the banner and leading off. On the west, the tribes descended from Rachel: Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, Ephraim carrying the banner. The other six tribes occupied the north and south sides. Whenever the pillar of cloud would stop, the Levites would advance and set up the tabernacle just beneath it. I got my first ideas of real organization from the book of Numbers. Moses was a great general, tactician, and strategist. He had commanded the armies of Egypt and knew that one could not move three millions of people without interminable confusion if there was not organization to the smallest detail. All of these details are set forth in the second chapter so far as the tribes are concerned.

The only other item apart from the numbering of the Levites, which I have already given you, is the special direction to number them so that an exchange could be made. All the males of the firstborn belonged to God. When they took the list of all the firstborn of the eleven tribes, they amounted to 22,273, whereas the males from one month old up in Levi, amounted to 22,000. To make the exchange complete, so as to take the tribe of Levi over instead of the firstborn of all the tribes, a compensation had to be paid for the surplus. Levi lacked 273 of coming up to the measure. That compensation was paid to the children of Levi, five shekels for each one of the 273. That covers the third and fourth chapters.

QUESTIONS

1. Give origin of the name “Numbers.”

2. What period of time is covered by the book? (Work out answer from dates given in book.)

3. Give a brief outline of the book.

4. Give a more elaborate analysis of the book.

5. What is the central place of the book of Numbers, and why locate it.

6. Why is the name of the book plural?

7. Why more than one census?

8. Give result of the first census of the twelve secular tribes, comparing it with the second census many years later.

9. Why a separate census of Levi?

10. Why double census of Levi, first, from one month old upward, and second, from thirty years old to fifty?

11. How was the exchange of the firstborn males of Israel for the tribe of Levi made?

12. Describe the order of the entire encampment. (See your Atlas.)

13. What were the duties of the Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites, respectively?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

spake. See note on Num 1:1.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 4

Now in chapter four we find that from the tribe of Kohath the men that were to actually do the service of carrying and all, of course they numbered them from a month old upwards. It’s obvious that little kids couldn’t carry these heavy boards and these things, so the men who were in charge and the older men without difficulty. So they chose those men from thirty years of age to begin the ministry at thirty years and they retired at fifty years and so the time of service was from thirty to fifty.

And when the camp is ready to move forward, Aaron and his sons are to come in, and they are to take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of the covenant with that covering veil. And then they are to put over it the badger skins, and shall spread over it a cloth of blue, and they’ll put the golden staves and the rings that were on the ark of the covenant. And then they were to take the table of shewbread and put over it a cloth of blue, and put the dishes; and the spoons, and the bowls, and the covers on it: and the continual bread was to be left upon it: And they shall spread on them a cloth of scarlet, and then they are to cover that with badgers’ skins ( Num 4:5-8 ).

So over the table of shewbread there was to be a blue cloth, a red cloth, the badgers’ skin of the little dishes and the bread was to remain upon it. And they were to put the golden staves through it so that when the men from the tribe of Kohath came in, they would not see the Ark of the Covenant; they would not see the table of shewbread, they would not see the lamps, lest if they see them they die. Aaron and his sons were to cover all these things, wrap them up, get them ready to carry and then these fellas would come in and just pick up the sticks and would carry them as porters with these staves and not even touch the instruments themselves but carry them between the sticks. They weren’t even to touch the Ark of the Covenant though it was covered and all with these skins, nor were they to look upon it.

And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick, the light and the lamps, and the tongs, the snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels. And they should put all of the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skin, and put it on a bar. And the golden altar they shall spread over it a cloth of blue, and cover it with badgers’ skins, and put it the staves: And all of the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, put them in a cloth of blue, cover them with covering for badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar: And shall take away the ashes from the altar and so forth. And Kohath shall bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. [Verse fifteen, the latter portion] The things are the burden of the sons of Kohath the tabernacle of the congregation ( Num 4:9-13 , Num 4:15 ).

So, when they got up in the morning and the cloud had lifted and was moving, Aaron’s son would have to hustle in. And they start taking the veil apart and with the veil they cover the Ark of the Covenant. And then they put over it the cloth of blue and then the badgers’ skin and they wrap up all of these instruments that were there within the tabernacle, put the golden staves through and then the sons of Kohath would come in, take the staves and begin to carry them. That was the duty of the sons of Kohath whenever the call came to move.

Now in verse sixteen,

Eleazar who was the son of Aaron the priest concerning the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of the tabernacle, and all that is in it, in the sanctuary, and the vessels of it. And the LORD spake to Moses and Aaron, saying, Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die ( Num 4:16-20 ).

So, they were not to look upon them but Eleazar was to take them in and say okay, you get on that, you get on that, and Eleazar was to direct them to pick up the staves and how to do it so that those men who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant would not die.

Now, we have an interesting case later on in history when the Ark of the Covenant had been taken by the Philistines, and of course, it created a problem in every city where the Philistines took it. The men were breaking out with boils and horrible things and all wherever they’d take the Ark of the Covenant. So when they started bringing it to another city, the men met them at the gate and said no way you bringing that thing in here. Whatta you got against us? And so they decided that they would send it back to the children of Israel. Now they thought well, maybe it’s just coincidence. So we’ll put it on a cart and we’ll let these oxen go and we’ll see what direction they go. If they just roam around we know the whole thing is coincidence, but if they head back for Israel then we’ll realize that this is what our problem is; that we’ve got this, this spiritual thing here and we don’t know how to handle it.

So they put the ark on this cart and they put these oxen to it and the oxen headed right towards the camp of Israel just lowing all the way. They’d go moo, you know, as they’re going along carrying the ark back towards Israel. Of course, when the Israelites saw the ark coming there was a great rejoicing and so David was extremely happy he’s bringing the ark back to Israel. And so they were having this great ceremony and they were out there rejoicing and bringing the ark and they went over a bump and the ark started to fall and one of the fellas reached forth his hands to steady the ark and in touching it he was smitten dead.

Now this upset David. Wow, all of this happiness and rejoicing, all of sudden it’s very somber and David said, “turn that thing in” and he went on home. He said, “I don’t want anything to do with that”. And, and he was really sort of angry with God for breaking up this happy celebration. But God then dealt with David and told him “Look, there’s the right way to do the right thing. And you could be doing the right thing in a wrong way”. And David was doing the right thing in a wrong way. And so, rather than on an ox cart like they had it, they were to carry it. And so after a time David went out, brought the priest, they did sacrifices before the Lord, they had the staves, they carried the thing in the way it should have been done and it was brought back and placed again there in the tabernacle in Jerusalem at the time of David.

And so, God was serious when he said, “Hey, don’t let these guys look on it and don’t let them touch it lest they die”. And so it was a protection for those of the tribe of Kohath that had to handle these holy things that Aaron’s sons do it up right so that it would protect the lives of these men who would be bearing these sacred instruments that had been created for the worship of God.

And now the tribe of Gershon in verse twenty-four,

This was the service of the family [not the tribe of Gershon but the family] of Gershon, [the tribe of Levi]; They shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and of the tabernacle of the congregation, the coverings, the coverings of the badgers’ skins that are above it, the hangings of the door of the tabernacle. And the hangings of the court, and the hangings of the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and the altar that is round about it, and their cords, and the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. And at the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall appoint unto them the charge of their burdens. And this is the service of the family of the sons of Gershon ( Num 4:24-28 )

And so all of these curtains, and you remember there were actually four curtains over the top of the tabernacle, and the hangings over the door and this curtain that went all the way around the tabernacle; these were to be carried by the family of Gershon.

And then finally the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them from thirty years old and it is their charge to carry the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars, and the sockets, And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, their pins, and, and the silver sockets that they went into and all. And this was to be the burden of Merari ( Num 4:29-32 ).

So, actually this whole thing was quite portable. These guys can move in, collapse the whole thing and carry it off and then they could set the thing up again. When they came to the place where the cloud was resting, they would go ahead and set up the tabernacle where the cloud rested. And when the cloud moved, they moved, when the cloud set, they set. And so the family of Levi, the tribe of Levi by these families, each one had their own duty in the carrying of the tabernacle. And the number of the men that were involved in this task was eight thousand five hundred and eighty. So they had a pretty good crew working on the setting up of the tabernacle and the taking down of it and carrying it and so forth, whatever the case may be.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Num 4:1-2. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,

There were three families, those of Kohath, Gershon, and Merari, and to each of these families a different service was allotted. First, they were to be numbered. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and he takes count of all his people.

Num 4:3. From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

They were to take up this work as a warfare; for, though it was a peaceful work, yet it is described as being a warfare: and he who serves the Lord, though that service be perfect peace, will not serve him without finding it to be also a warfare.

Num 4:4. This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:

They were to have to do with the most holy place, to carry it, and to carry the vessels of it, a very honourable position.

Num 4:5-6. And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it: and shall put thereon the covering of badgers skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.

These Kohathites might not so take the ark as to handle it, much less might they ever look at it. But the priests, and the sons of Aaron, went in first, and after carefully covering the holy place, they covered up the sacred ark with a cloth of blue. Blue was the token of holiness, of separation. Hence, every Israelite wore a border of blue upon his garment, but this, which was the symbol of the divine presence, was all of blue. It is all holiness. We wear, alas! but a border of blue, but this holy thing was all of blue.

Num 4:7. And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:

When they moved the sacred table, the bread was always there; twelve cakes for the twelve tribes, for the bread of Gods house is never lacking.

Num 4:8-10. And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuff dishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: and they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers skins and shall put it upon a bar.

There were means for handling these vessels without touching them. I mean, the ark had staves, and the vessels were put upon a bar for carrying them.

Num 4:11. And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:

A type of the holiness veiled in our Lords humanity, the badger skin made apparent the simplicity, the poverty, the humility of our Lord, covering evermore that wondrous cloth of blue.

Num 4:12-13. And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers skins and shall put them on a bar: and they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:

A royal altar is this, always grand and glorious in our eyes, covered with a purple cloth.

Num 4:14-20. And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers skins, and put to the staves of it. And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: but thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and anoint them every one to his service and to his burden: but they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

This is a very awful thing; I mean, something which should produce a great awe and solemnity in our hearts. These men were chosen to carry the vessels of the most holy place, yet they must never see them. They must be covered up by the hands of the priest, and they must never touch them. They must bear them by their staves, or upon the bar upon which they were placed. Oh, how terrible a thing it is to draw near to God. The Lord our God is a jealous God. He will be served with holy reverence; or not at all. Hence he says to Moses and Aaron, Take care that you do not lead these men into any mistake. You go in first, and point out to each man what he is to carry. See that all is covered up, for if you do not, they may die in their work. Do not be accessories to their act, and bring upon them this terrible judgment. I often wish that Gods people would be careful not to cause sin in any of his servants when they are engaged in the divine ministry. Perhaps in preaching, or otherwise, there may be something done which vexes the Holy Spirit, and causes trouble and sin. And, oh! he who stands in the holy place, and bears the holiest of the vessels, needs to fear and tremble before God; and he needs to ask his brethren to see that they do nothing which might inadvertently cause him to sin.

Num 4:21-24. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families, from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens:

They were to bear the external coverings of the holy place. The most holy place was in the custody of the Kohathites; but the Gershonites were to carry as follows,

Num 4:25-28. And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. At the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens. This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

There was a wise decision of labour. I wish we had the same kind of thing in every church, and that every member occupied himself in that to which God has appointed him. But there are some who want to do what they cannot do, and who do not care to do what they can do.

Num 4:29-32. As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them after their families, by the house of their fathers; from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation, the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden.

They had the heaviest load to carry, but they were the more numerous. They carried the solid columns upon which the covering of the tabernacle rested. And notice that they had also to carry the pins. Sometimes, Gods servants dislike carrying pins. They feel themselves too big, but blessed is that servant who, in his place, can be content to carry their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments.

Num 4:33. This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Continuing the instructions concerning the Levites, we have a minute account of their work in connection with the movement and marching of the people. The family of Kohath were made responsible for carrying the holy furniture. This furniture they were not allowed to see or touch. Aaron and his sons first entered the Holy Place and covered each sacred piece, affixing the staves which were to rest on the shoulders of the Levites. On the march these were in charge of Eleazar, who also carried the anointing oil and the sweet incense.

The duty of carrying the curtains and the tents which constituted the Tabernacle itself devolved on the Gershonites.

The boards and bars and pillars and all other things which formed the foundations on which the sacred hangings rested were committed to the care of the Merarites.

All this is technical, and yet it cannot be studied without realizing how it emphasized the importance of the relation of the people to Jehovah. The sacred symbols of that relationship were to be as carefully guarded on the forward march as when they stood in proper order at the center of the encamped people.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

CHAPTER 4

The Service of the Levites and their Numbering

1. The children of Kohath; their service (Num 4:1-20)

2. The sons of Gershon; their service (Num 4:21-28)

3. The sons of Merari; their service (Num 4:29-33)

4. Their numbering for service (Num 4:34-49)

This chapter enters more fully into the service of the Levites. They are mustered for service from thirty years old and upwards even unto fifty years old. As we saw in the previous chapter, their service was to carry the holy things of Jehovah through the wilderness. The wilderness is for us the type of the world through which we pass, and our business as Christians is to manifest Christ. We must guard the holy things of our faith as jealously as the Levites guarded the tabernacle and its sacred contents, and this must be done by us with the testimony of our lips and the testimony of our lives. The service of the Kohathites, Gershonites and Merarites is full of blessed instructions for us, at which we can but briefly hint. In the previous chapter Gershon stands first, as he is the first-born. Here the first-born has to take a secondary place and Kohath is put first. The lesson is that the divine appointment for service is not the matter of natural relation and endowment, but of grace. The sons of Kohath had to carry the most holy things. All of them typify Christ in His humanity as our Redeemer and Lord. This stands first. It is occupation with Christ, and therefore fellowship with God.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

redeemed

(See Scofield “Exo 38:27”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Reciprocal: Gen 46:11 – Levi Exo 31:6 – that they Num 1:47 – General Num 4:49 – as the Lord Num 7:66 – On the tenth day Num 8:1 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

In chapter 4 we have details as to the service of the Levites in connection with the sanctuary, and also details of the work of the priests, particularly when the camp was in movement. The Levites were divided into three groups under the leadership of Kohath, Gershon and Merari respectively, though the first of these groups was controlled by Aaron’s son Eleazar and the second and third by his son, Ithamar.

It was exclusively the work of the priests to prepare the contents of the tabernacle for transit. No eyes but theirs were to gaze upon the ark and the other holy objects and vessels that were there. No hands but theirs were to place upon them the suitable coverings. Only when covered by the priests were the Kohathites to lift them. If these objects, which were but the shadows of the good things to come in Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit, were only exposed to priestly eyes, we may take to heart the lesson that the far holier Reality, now revealed to us, is only apprehended as we take up our priestly privileges in the power of the Spirit. Apart from this we may attempt to scrutinize, but only to our own undoing.

As regards the coverings, the ark was alone in this respect, that the veil which divided the holiest from the holy place was placed immediately upon it. When the tabernacle was stationary the veil separated the ark from all beside; when in movement it completely covered it; and its significance is fixed for us in Heb 10:20 “the veil, that is to say, His flesh” Veiled in flesh, the true “Ark” moved amongst men.

But over this was to be placed a covering of badgers’ skins, and again over this a cloth of blue. Badger’s skins would present a rough surface but be very impervious and protective to the holy things beneath, while blue, the heavenly colour, was what met the eye. As a type this is significant, for in our Lord the protective element was essential to Himself – beneath the surface, so to speak – and hence nothing marred the heavenly beauty He displayed before men.

In the cases of other vessels the blue was inside and the badgers’ skins were on the surface to preserve from defilement. This was so even with the candlestick, typical of the seven-fold light of the Spirit, who is essentially holy even as Christ is, but who has never become incarnate, but now indwells redeemed men. There was a further difference since on the table of shewbread was to be spread a cloth of scarlet as well as one of blue, and on the brazen altar was to be no cloth of blue but one of purple. Scarlet is generally held to be indicative of human glory and purple of imperial dominion. The shewbread loaves spoke of God’s perfect administration for the earth, yet to be realized through the twelve tribes of Israel, and there human glory will most brightly shine.

How fitting also that the altar, which spoke of the sufferings and death of the Saviour, should be covered with purple under the badger skins, for His universal dominion will be acknowledged by all to rest for its foundation upon His death, as Rev 5:1-14 so clearly shows. The only One, who is worthy to receive the power, which is grasped at by the “beasts” of Rev 13:1-18, is “the Lamb that was slain.” To this we all add our worshipful “Amen” even today.

The Levites were to serve from the age of thirty to the age of fifty; that is, their years of maturity and physical strength were to be devoted to energetic service, for it was theirs to set up the tabernacle and take it down, as we saw at the end of Num 1:1-54, as well as carry it and its contents when the people journeyed. When we come to Num 8:1-26, we shall find further reference to this.

As we survey the whole of Num 4:1-49, we cannot but be struck by the way in which God ordered everything in connection with His wilderness house, leaving nothing to man’s preference or choice. It reminds us at once of 1Co 12:1-31; 1Co 14:1-40, where we learn that in God’s present house, which is “the Church of the living God” (1Ti 3:15), the Spirit of God is sovereign, acting under the lordship of Christ, and that He divides ” to every man severally as He will.” We are only right as we serve under the direction of the Spirit of God. It is not for us to pick and choose.

Num 5:1-31, which follows, instructs as to the removing of defilement from the camp which surrounded the tabernacle. The directions come under three heads.

First, the removal of persons who may be defiled by leprosy, or by bodily issue, or by contact with death. Leprosy is a type of that “sin in the flesh,” of which Rom 8:3 speaks. The “issue” reminds us of the words of our Lord, “that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man” (Mat 15:11). Man being corrupted by sin, everything that comes out of him is defiled and defiling; and then “sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death,” as the Apostle James tells us.

A second source of defilement meets us in verses Num 4:5-10. Trespass against the Lord and one’s neighbour is contemplated. This was to be met by confession and by restitution with a fifth part added. This regulation has a very definite voice for us today. Confession was the first thing, but by itself it was not enough. There is, we fear, today much defilement, even among the true saints of God, springing from trespass, in speech as well as in act, all of which is grieving to the Holy Spirit and a great hindrance to spiritual blessing. Not infrequently has a time of awakening and conversion amongst sinners been preceded by a time of revival amongst saints, when conviction of trespasses against their Lord and their fellow-Christians has seized them, followed by confession and restitution, as far as lay in their power.

Thirdly, we have, from verse Num 4:11 to the end of the chapter, what is spoken of as “the law of jealousies.” The camp was to be holy as the dwelling place of God, and if jealousy as to his wife entered the mind of a man, it was not to be left to rankle there but to be tested, whether based on fact or fancy. If true, judgment fell on the woman; if false, she was free, and demonstrated to be so. We may see here a type of that which marked Israel and Jerusalem, indicated for instance in Eze 16:1-63. Possibly too this was in the mind of the Apostle Paul when he wrote 2Co 11:2.

Israel had to learn that their Jehovah was “a jealous God,” and we Christians have to remember that the Lord Jesus, in whom our faith reposes, is jealous of the affections and devotions of His saints, and something of that righteous and holy jealousy was in the heart of the Apostle as he thought of the way in which the Corinthians were unequally yoking themselves with the men of the world, as to which he warned them in 1Co 6:1-20. It was the loss of “first love” for Christ that helped on all the evils that developed in the Churches of Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22.

In Num 4:1-49 then, we have the order of Levitical service, appointed of God, for the removing and setting up of the tabernacle; and in Num 5:1-31, the removal of that which would defile the camp in the midst of which God’s habitation was placed. Now, in Num 6:1-27, we have the very opposite, since he, who undertook the Nazarite’s vow, placed himself in the most holy, or separated, position open to an Israelite. The meaning of the name, Nazarite, is “a separated one.”

According to our chapter a man might make a vow to separate himself unto the Lord for a certain period, and if so, he placed himself under a threefold obligation, which he had to observe “all the days of his separation.” The only actual case, recorded in the Old Testament, is that of Samson, and he was to be a life-long Nazarite from his birth, as we see in Jdg 13:5. He did not take the vow upon him it was placed upon him by God, and his supernatural strength depended upon his faithful observance of it. The story of how he was seduced from it, we all know.

It would appear that John the Baptist was from birth under this or a similar vow. In Luk 1:15, abstinence from wine or strong drink is mentioned, but not the two other things. Here we have a contrast. The strength of Samson was physical; John’s strength was spiritual. The one lost his Nazariteship the other retained it until he died a martyr’s death.

In the first place the Nazarite undertook to abstain from the fruit of the vine in all its forms. In those regions the vine grew in abundance, and nothing was more common and ordinary as drink than wine. Under this vow of separation to God a man had to make himself quite peculiar by declining it in all its forms.

The second stipulation was that he must let the hair of his head grow without cutting it. This was something purely external. Only the friends and acquaintances of the man would know that he did not touch the fruit of the vine in any of its forms, but as he went about anyone could see the peculiar feature of his long hair.

Thirdly, he was to avoid all contact with a dead body. Much was made of death in those days, and great were the lamentations and the mournings. Not to come nigh even when father or mother, brother or sister died, was separation from life and its ordinary ways indeed! But the Nazarite was a separated man! Separated to his God.

These things clearly have a voice to us, though we are not under the law. We may make in the first place a general application. The Christian has been called out of the world system to be for God and to find his joy and exhilaration in heavenly things; setting his mind and affection “on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2). He does not drink of this world’s pleasures.

Again, the Christian does not seek the glory of the world. We are told in 1Co 11:14, 1Co 11:15, that while long hair is a glory to a woman, it is a shame to a man, since for him it betokened an absence of that virile push and assertion of leadership which is characteristic of the man as distinguished from the woman. Paul’s word to the Christian is, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand” (Php 4:5). The word translated “moderation” means simply, “yieldingness.” Knowing his Lord to be near, the Christian can yield to others the glory that men covet.

Lastly, we have to recognize how many things in the world there are which have about them the corruption of death, and, what is even worse, that we carry about in ourselves the flesh, which is like a dead body in its corruption. Hence that word of the Apostle in Rom 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” – or, “this body of death?” The answer to the question is, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Under His sweet and gracious power we are delivered from the dead body within, as well as the dead bodies in the world without.

But having made this general application we must remember that a special and particular one may also be made. Even today the Lord may call some of His servants to a path of special consecration, though not on the legal basis of a vow. The apostles were so called; pre-eminently so the Apostle Paul who was, “separated unto the gospel of God” (Rom 1:1). The same thing might be said, though in a lesser degree, of a servant like Timothy (see, 1Ti 4:14; 2Ti 1:6). Such a special call involves a more complete disentanglement from the ordinary and unsinful pleasures of life than is known by the average Christian. In saying this, we think of 2Ti 2:4. No man thus called in a special way to enter into the wars of the Lord, “entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.”

Num 6:1-27 details for us the offerings to be made; first, if the Nazarite failed in his vow; and second, when his vow was completed without failure. In the former case, the earlier days of his vow were lost, and he had to begin all over again. This was law, but thus it is not under grace. Personally we think that what is recorded in Act 21:20-26, indicates a lapse in his consecration to Christ on the part of Paul, but his years of separation and devotion to his Lord before that were not treated as a lost thing.

Observing wholehearted devotion and separation from earthly joys, such as was seen in Paul, an unspiritual believer might say, What a straitened and gloomy life! How like living in a monastery, but without monastery walls! Nothing would be more mistaken. It is a life of joy and blessing. Why, this very chapter in Numbers, which gives us the Nazarite vow, ends with the special blessing of Jehovah. It is not indeed a blessing confined to the Nazarite, though such would be included, but rather on the children of Israel, considered as a people upon whom the name of the Lord was to be placed.

What strikes us about the blessing is that, in a day when blessing was so largely connected with earthly and material things, it is so bound up with spiritual things. The shining of Jehovah’s face and the lifting up of His countenance surely signifies that Israel might be kept in the light of the revelation of God, as known in their midst. Then they would experience His grace though they were in the dispensation of law, and they would enjoy His peace. Such blessings may be ours today, but in a far larger and richer way, since God is now revealed in Christ.

Num 7:1-89, a lengthy one, records the offerings of the princes of Israel, representing the twelve tribes, when Moses had set up the tabernacle and anointed it. Coming in at this point, it reminds us that if it is God’s thought to bless His people richly – as at the end of chapter 6 – it is equally His thought that His people should respond by their offerings to Him, all of them in connection with the carrying and work of His sanctuary. Verses Num 4:2-9 give us the collective offering for the transport of the sanctuary, wagons and oxen, which were given to the sons of Gershon and of Merari. The holy vessels, including the ark, were to be borne on the shoulders of the sons of Kohath, so no wagons or oxen were needed for them. It was this that- David overlooked, when he went to bring back the ark after it had been in the hands of the Philistines, and hence the disaster with Uzzah. Later David recognized his mistake, as we find recorded in 1Ch 15:13. God had to be sought “after the due order.”

The rest of the chapter is occupied with the separate offering of the princes in connection with “the dedication of the altar.” Each offered separately on his day, but each offered the same things. Vessels were presented – chargers, bowls, spoons – but none of them were empty; they contained fine flour mingled with oil as a meat offering, or incense. But whether for a meat offering or for burnt or sin offering, all that they presented spoke in some way of Christ. Doubtless they did not know this, but it is our privilege to discern it.

The last verse tells us that these offerings made, Moses went into the tabernacle to speak with God, and then he heard God speaking to him from the mercy seat. Num 8:1-26 begins the recital of the further things that God had to say.

The first word was instruction to Aaron as to lighting the seven lamps on the candlestick, which had been made, as verse Num 4:4 tells us, according to the instructions recorded in Exo 25:1-40. Then, from verse Num 4:5 to the end of the chapter, is the record of the purifying and consecration of the Levites. It is worthy of note that of all the sacred furniture of the tabernacle the candlestick only is mentioned here, and the shining of its light has a typical significance.

Num 7:1-89 has shown us that God may be served by the offerings of His people, and that God takes notice of these offerings in an individual way. They were not all lumped together – a good many verses might have been saved had they been – each prince, each tribe is named, and full details of each offering given. Then, God may be served by the activities of His people. This is seen in the Levites, as recorded in Num 8:1-26. But all will be estimated by God in the light of the sanctuary; that is, the light of the Holy Spirit. And further, we must remember that the light of the Spirit is to shine through us, His people. The Spirit of Christ is to shine out in both what we offer and in the active service we are privileged to render. Only as this is so will the Lord’s words, in Mat 5:16, be fulfilled in us.

God’s claim on the Levites, inasmuch as they were substituted for the firstborn, is reiterated in our chapter. They were servants to Him, but first they had to be cleansed. They were not bathed all over, as were the priests, but only sprinkled with “water of purifying,” and then not only were they to wash their clothes but also “shave all their flesh.” This should teach us that we need not only the cleansing of the word before we engage actively in the Lord’s service but also the removal of the things that mark and distinguish us as men in the flesh. When this is observed we are cleansed from ourselves and fit for service.

Then the Levites had to present their offerings, the whole congregation of the people having identified themselves with them by laying on of hands. The force of this rite is clearly shown here, and by it the people identified themselves with the service, so that they were regarded as serving their God in the service of the Levites.

The closing verses show that Levitical service began at twenty-five years of age, and after five preliminary years, full service began at thirty and continued until fifty. After fifty their heavy labours ended but they still ministered and kept the charge. Old age did not end their privilege of service but only altered its character.

We have to recognize that today every saint is called to Levitical service as well as priestly service. Let us humbly confess how short – how very far short – we come in both directions.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Num 4:3. Thirty years old. We read in chap. 8., that the levites began to learn as is understood, at the age of twenty five. From 1 Chronicles 23., we learn that the census was taken at the age of twenty, and that they stood in the temple to sing praises. At fifty they retired from labour, and became overlookers. But what fallibility in certain popes, as Innocent 3., to make a canon to ordain priests at thirty, and then be compelled to reduce it to a minor age! Samuel and Jeremiah were prophets while children. Who is he that would limit the Holy One of Israel? Paul and John, among the apostles, are called young men.

Num 4:15. Lest they die. By the most holy things which the highpriest covered with a purple cloth, and which the levites were not to touch, nor to see, but only to carry, was meant the ark, the cherubim, the shewbread, the candlestick, the altar of incense, &c. God dwelleth in light to whom no man hath, or can approach. Sinners cannot draw near, but in the person of the great Mediator. In Bethshemesh, 570 men, as some critics would there read, died for looking into the ark, and Uzzah died for touching it. 1 Samuel 6 :2 Samuel 7.

REFLECTIONS.

The sanctuary of God was inviolably holy. The death of Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, for offering strange fire; the death of Uzzah, a levite, for touching the ark, and profanely carrying it on a cart instead of bearing it by hand, were alarming visitations for obtruding on the divine prohibitions. Therefore every one must do his own work, and no levite must enter on pain of death, while the priests veiled and covered the mysteries of the sanctuary. And if God so guarded the shadowy pavilion of his presence, let us learn to treat sacred things, and especially the adorable mysteries of our faith, with reverence and awe.

The priests and levites were not to enter on their sacred and laborious functions till thirty years of age. God would have his sanctuary surrounded by men of sober age, or venerable with hoary hairs. Remarkable it is, that this was the age when the Lord Jesus entered on his glorious work; and the age also when Joseph, David, and John, persons highly figurative of our blessed Lord, entered on the high duties of their vocation. But in the christian church, as well as in the prophetic ministry, age is no fixed rule of the divine conduct; for out of the mouth of babes and sucklings God has perfected praise. Among the scripture characters, and since that period, some very young men have held a rank next to the most venerable prophets. Let these examples console the youth of conscious modesty against the imputations of vanity.

The persons and their age for service being fixed, behold the tabernacle of the Lord in motion; and all the tribes following in order to the promised land. The eldest son of Aaron, bearing the holy fire, is highly honoured; but his life was answerable for its preservation, and the younger superintends the removal of the sanctuary. The sons of Kohath, privileged by birth, bear away the ark and all the sacred vessels. The sons of Gershon march next with all the splendid curtains; and the numerous men of Meraris house follow with the boards, the sockets and pins. Lord suffer me to follow too. I would not stay behind. I would follow the cloud. I would leave the desert, and claim my lot in the promised land.

We hear of no murmuring at the divine appointment. Though one bore vessels of gold, and another vessels of brass; though some bore the massy altar, and others the lighter curtains, yet no one murmured against his brother; but knowing themselves to be accountable for the smallest pin, they cheerfully performed their task. What an example of harmony to christian ministers! They who fill exalted stations in the church, and they who serve the humble village, if obedient to their call, shall all be accounted the good and faithful servants of the Lord, and shall enter into his joy. Let men of great gifts, and christians of high attainments tremble, lest self-love and pride should prevail; the weakest and humblest believer has at the same time cause to rejoice in the favours he has received of the Lord.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Numbers 3 – 4

What a marvellous spectacle was the camp of Israel, in that waste howling wilderness! What a spectacle to angels, to men, and to devils! God’s eye ever rested upon it. His presence was there. He dwelt in the midst of His militant people. It was there He found His habitation. He did not, He could not, find His abode amid the splendours of Egypt, of Assyria, or of Babylon. No doubt those nations presented much that was attractive to nature’s eye. The arts and sciences were cultivated amongst them. Civilization had reached a far loftier point amongst those ancient nations than we moderns are disposed to admit. Refinement and luxury were probably carried to as great an extent there as amongst those who put forth very lofty pretensions.

But, be it remembered, Jehovah was not known among those nations. His name had never been revealed to them. He did not dwell in their midst. True, there, were the ten thousand testimonies to His creative power. And moreover, His superintending providence was over them. He gave them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. The blessings and benefits of His liberal hand were showered upon them, from day to day, and year to year. His showers fertilized their fields, His sunbeams gladdened their hearts. But they knew Him not, and cared not for Him. His dwelling was not there. Not one of those nations could say, “Jehovah is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare will an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.” Exodus 15: 2.

Jehovah found His abode in the bosom of His redeemed people, and nowhere else. Redemption was the necessary basis of God’s habitation amongst men. Apart from redemption the divine presence could only prove the destruction of men; but, redemption being known, that presence secures man’s highest privilege and brightest glory.

God dwelt in the midst of His people Israel. He came down from heaven, not only to redeem them out of the land of Egypt, but to be their travelling companion through the wilderness. What a thought! The most High God taking up His abode on the sand of the desert, and in the very bosom of His redeemed congregation! Truly there was nothing like that throughout the wide, wide world. There was that host of six hundred thousand men, beside women and children, in a sterile desert, where there was not a blade of grass, not a drop of water – no visible source of subsistence. How were they to be fed? God was there! How were they to be kept in order God was there! How were they to track their way through a howling wilderness where there was no way? God was there!

In a word, God’s presence secured everything. Unbelief might say, “What! are three millions of people to be fed on air? Who has charge of the commissariat? Where are the military stores? Where is the baggage? Who is to attend to the clothing?” Faith alone could answer, and its answer brief, and conclusive:” God was there!” And that was quite sufficient. All is comprehended in that one sentence. In faith’s arithmetic, God is the only significant figure, and, having Him, you may add as many ciphers as you please. If all your springs are in the living God, it ceases to be a question of your need, and resolves itself into a question of His sufficiency.

What were six hundred thousand footmen to the Almighty God? What the varied necessities of their wives and children? In man’s estimation, these things might seem overwhelming. England has just sent out ten thousand troops to Abyssinia; but only think of the enormous expense and labour; think of the number of transports required to convey provisions and other necessaries for that small army. But imagine an army sixty times the size, together with the women and children. Conceive this enormous host entering upon a march that was to extend over the space of forty years, through “a great and terrible wilderness,” in which there was no corn, no grass, no water-spring. How were they to be sustained? No supplies with them – no arrangements entered into with friendly nations to forward supplies – no transports despatched to meet them at various points along their route – in short, not a single visible source of supply – nothing that nature would consider available.

All this is something worth pondering. But we must ponder it in the divine presence. It is of no possible use for reason to sit down and try to solve this mighty problem by human arithmetic. No, reader; it is only faith that can solve it, and that, moreover, by the word of the living God. Here lies the precious solution. Bring God in, and you want no other factors to work out your answer. Leave Him out, and the more powerful your reason, and the more profound your arithmetic, the more hopeless must be your perplexity.

Thus it is that faith settles the question. God was in the midst of His people. He was there in all the fullness of His grace and mercy – there in His perfect knowledge of His people’s wants, and of the difficulties of their path – there in His almighty power and boundless resources, to meet these difficulties and supply these wants. And so fully did He enter into all these things, that He was able, at the close of their long wilderness wanderings, to appeal to their hearts in the following touching accents, “for the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” And again, “Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” Deut. 2: 7; Deut. 8: 4.

Now, in all these things, the camp of Israel was a type – a vivid, striking type. A type of what? A type of the Church of God passing through this world. The testimony of scripture is so distinct on this point, as to leave no room and no demand for the exercise of imagination. “all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10: 11.

Hence, therefore, we may draw near and gaze, with intense interest upon that marvellous spectacle, and seek to gather up the precious lessons which it is so eminently fitted to teach. and, oh, what lessons! Who can duly estimate them? Look at that mysterious camp in the desert, composed, as we have said, of warriors, workers, and worshippers! what separation from all the nations of the world! What utter helplessness! What exposure! What absolute dependence upon God! They had nothing – could do nothing – could know nothing. They had not a morsel of food, nor a drop of water, but as they received it day by day from the immediate hand of God. When they retired to rest at night, there was not a single atom of provision for the morrow. There was no storehouse, no larder, no visible source of supply, nothing that nature could take any account of.

But God was there, and that, in the judgement of faith, was quite enough. They were shut up to God. This is the one grand reality. Faith owns nothing real, nothing solid, nothing true, but the one true, living, eternal God. Nature might cast a longing look at the granaries of Egypt, and see something tangible, something substantial there. Faith looks up to heaven and finds all its springs there.

Thus it was with the camp in the desert; and thus it is with the Church in the world. There was not a single exigency, not a single contingency, not a single need of any sort whatsoever, for which the Divine Presence was not an all-sufficient answer. The nations of the uncircumcised might look on and marvel. They might, in the bewilderment of blind unbelief, raise many a question as to how such a host could ever be fed, clothed, and kept in order. Most certainly they had no eyes to see how- it could be done. They knew not Jehovah, the Lord God of the Hebrews; and therefore to tell them that He was going to undertake for that vast assembly would indeed seem like idle tales.

And so it is now, in reference to the assembly of God, in this world, which may truly be termed a moral wilderness. Looked at from God’s point of view, that assembly is not of the world; it is in complete separation. It is as thoroughly apart from the world, as the camp of Israel was apart from Egypt. The waters of the Red Sea rolled between that camp and Egypt; and the deeper and darker waters of the death of Christ roll between the Church of God and this present evil world. It is impossible to conceive separation more complete. “They,” says our Lord Christ, “are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17.

Then, as to entire dependence; what can be more dependent than the church of God in this world? She has nothing in or of herself. She is set down in the midst of a moral desert, a dreary waste, a vast howling wilderness, in the which there is literally nothing on which she can live. There is not one drop of water, not a single morsel of suited food for the Church of God, throughout the entire compass of this world.

So also as to the matter of exposure to all sorts of hostile influences. Nothing can exceed it. There is not so much as one friendly influence. All is against her. She is in the midst of this world like an exotic plant belonging to a foreign clime, and set down in a sphere where both the soil and the atmosphere are uncongenial.

Such is the Church of God in the world – a separated – dependent – defenceless thing, wholly cast upon the living God. It is calculated to give great vividness, force, and clearness to our thoughts about the Church, to view it as the antitype of the camp in the desert; and that it is in no wise fanciful or far-fetched to view it thus, 1 Corinthians 10: 11 does most clearly show. We are fully warranted in saying that what the camp of Israel was literally, that the Church is morally and spiritually. And, farther, that what the wilderness was literally to Israel, that the world is, morally and spiritually, to the Church of God. The wilderness was the sphere of Israel’s toil and danger, not of their supplies or their enjoyment; and the world is the sphere of the Church’s toil and danger, not of its supplies or its enjoyment.

It is well to seize this fact, in all its moral power. The assembly of God in the world, like “the congregation in the wilderness,” is wholly cast upon the living God. we speak, be it remembered, from the divine standpoint – of what the Church is in God’s sight. Looked at from man’s point of view – looked at as she is, in her own actual practical state, it is, alas! another thing. We are now only occupied with the normal, the true, the divine idea of God’s assembly is this world.

And let it not be forgotten, for one moment, that, as truly as there was a camp in the desert, of old – a congregation in the wilderness – so truly is there the Church of God, the body of Christ, in the world now. Doubtless, the nations of the world knew little, and cared less, about that congregation of old; but that did not weaken or touch the great living fact. So now, the men of the world know little and care less about the assembly of God – the body of Christ; but that, in no wise, touches the grand living truth that there is such a thing actually existing in this world, and has been ever since the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost. True, the congregation, of old, had its trials, its conflicts, its sorrows, its temptations, its strifes, its controversies – its internal commotions – its numberless and nameless difficulties, calling for the varied resources that were in God – the precious ministrations of prophet, priest, and king which God had provided; for, as we know, Moses was there as “king in Jeshurun,” and as the prophet raised up of God; and Aaron was there to exercise all the priestly functions.

But, in spite of all these things that we have named – in spite of the weakness, the failure, the sin, the rebellion, the strife – still there was the striking fact, to be taken cognisance of by men, by devils, and by angels, namely, a vast congregation, amounting to something like three millions of people (according to the usual mode of computation) journeying through a wilderness, wholly dependent upon an unseen arm, guided and cared for by the eternal God, whose eye was never for one moment withdrawn from that mysterious typical host; yea, He dwelt in their midst, and never left them, in all their unbelief, their forgetfulness, their ingratitude, and rebellion. God was there to sustain and guide, to guard and keep them day and night. He fed them with bread from heaven, day by day; and He brought them forth water out of the flinty rock.

This, assuredly, was a stupendous fact – a profound mystery. God had a congregation in the wilderness – apart from the nations around, shut up to Himself. It may be the nations of the world knew nothing, cared nothing, thought nothing, about this assembly. It is certain the desert yielded nothing in the way of sustenance or refreshment. There were serpents and scorpions – there were snares and dangers – drought, barrenness, and desolation. But there was that wonderful assembly maintained in a manner that baffled and confounded human reason.

And, reader, remember this was a type. A type of what? a type of something that has been in existence for over eighteen centuries; is in existence still; and shall be in existence until the moment that our Lord Christ rises from His present position, and descends into the air. In one word, a type of the Church of God in the world. How important to recognise this fact! How sadly it has been lost sight of! How little understood even now! and yet every Christian is solemnly responsible to recognise, and practically to confess it. There is no escaping it. Is it true that there is something in this world, at this very moment, answering to the camp in the desert? Yes, verily; there is, in very truth, the Church in the wilderness. There is an assembly passing through this world, just as the literal Israel passed through the literal desert and, moreover, the world is, morally and spiritually, to that Church what the desert was, literally and practically, to Israel of old. Israel found no springs in the desert; and the Church of God should find no springs in the world. If she does, she proves false to her Lord. Israel was not of the desert, but passing through it; and the Church of God is not of the world, but passing through it.

If this be thoroughly entered into by the reader, it will show him the place of complete separation which belongs to the Church of God as a whole, and to each individual member thereof. The Church, in God’s view of her, is as thoroughly marked off from this present world, as the camp of Israel was marked off from. the surrounding desert. There is as little in common between the Church and the world, as there was between Israel and the sand of the desert. The most brilliant attractions and bewitching fascinations of the world are to the Church of God what the serpents and scorpions, and the ten thousand other dangers of the wilderness, were to Israel.

Such is the divine idea, of the Church; and it is with this idea that we are now occupied. Alas! alas! how different it is with that which calls itself the Church! But we want the reader to dwell, for the present, on the true thing. We want him to place himself, by faith, at God’s standpoint, and view the Church from thence. It is only by so doing that he can have anything like a true idea of what the Church is, or of his own personal responsibility with respect to it. God has a Church in the world. There is a body now on the earth, indwelt by God the Spirit, and united to Christ the Head. This Church – this body – is composed of all those who truly believe on the Son of God, and who are united by the grand fact of the presence of the Holy Ghost.

And, be it observed, this is not a matter of opinion – a certain thing which we may take up or lay down at pleasure. It is a divine fact. It is a grand truth, whether we will hear or whether we will forbear. The Church is an existing thing, and we, if believers, are members thereof. We cannot avoid this. We cannot ignore it. We are actually in the relationship – baptised into it by the Holy Ghost. It is as real and as positive a thing as the birth of a child into a family. The birth has taken place, the relationship is formed, and we have only to recognise it, and walk in the sense of it, from day to day. The very moment in the which a soul is born again – born from above, and sealed by the Holy Ghost – he is incorporated into the body of Christ. He can no longer view himself as a solitary individual – an independent person – an isolated atom; he is a member of a body, just as the hand or the foot is a member of the human body. He is a member of the Church of God, and cannot, properly or truly, be a member of anything else. How could my arm be a member of any other body? And, on the same principle, we may ask, how could a member of the body of Christ be a member of any other body?

What a glorious truth is this respecting the Church of God – the antitype of the camp in the desert, “the congregation in the wilderness!” What a fact to be governed by! There is such a thing as the Church of God, amid all the ruin and the wreck, the strife and the discord, the confusion and division, the sects and parties. This surely is a most precious truth. But not only is it most precious, it is also most practical and formative. We are as bound to recognise, by faith, this Church in the world, as the Israelite was bound to recognise, by sight, the camp in the desert. There was one camp, one congregation, and the true Israelite belonged thereto; there is one Church – one body, and the true Christian belongs to it.

But how is this body organised? By the Holy Ghost, as it is written, “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body.” (1 Cor. 12: 13.) How is it maintained? By its living Head, through the Spirit, and by the word, as it is written, “No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.” (Eph. 5: 29) Is not this enough? Is not the Lord Christ sufficient? Doth not the Holy Ghost suffice? Do we want anything more than the varied virtues that are lodged in the name of Jesus? Are not the gifts of the eternal Spirit quite sufficient for the growth and maintenance of the Church of God? Doth not the fact of the Divine presence in the Church secure all that the Church can possibly need? Is it not sufficient for the exigence of every hour!” Faith says, and says it with emphasis and decision – “Yes!” Unbelief – human reason, says, “No! we want a great many things as well.” What is our brief reply! Simply this, “If God be not sufficient, we know not whither to turn. If the name of Jesus doth not suffice, we know not what to do. If the Holy Ghost cannot meet all our need, in communion, in ministry, and in worship, we know not what to say.”

It may, however, be said that “Things are not as they were in apostolic times. the professing church has failed; Pentecostal gifts have ceased; the palmy days of the Church’s first love have passed away; and therefore we must adopt the best means in our power for the organisation and maintenance of our churches.” To all this we reply, “God has not failed. Christ the Head of the Church has not failed. The Holy Spirit has not failed. Not one jot or tittle of God’s word has failed.” This is the true ground of faith. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” He has said, “Lo, I am with you.” How long! During the days of first love? during apostolic times? so long as the Church shall continue faithful? No; “I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” (Matt. 28) So also, at an earlier moment when, for the first time in the whole canon of scripture, the Church, properly so called, is named, we have those memorable words,” On this rock [the Son of the living God] I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16.

Now, the question is,” Is that Church on the earth at this moment?” Most assuredly. It is as true that there is a Church now on this earth, as that there was a camp in the desert of old. Yes; and as truly as God was in that camp to meet every exigence, so truly is He, now, in the Church to order and guide in everything, as we read, “Ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” (Eph. 2) This is quite sufficient. All we want is to lay hold, by a simple faith, of this grand reality. The name of Jesus is as sufficient for all the exigencies of the Church of God as it is for the soul’s salvation. The one is as true as the other. “Where two or three are gathered together in (or, unto) my name, there am I in the midst.” (Matt. 18.) Has this ceased to be true? And if not, is not Christ’s presence quite enough for His Church? Do we need to set about planning or working for ourselves in church matters? No more than in the matter of the soul’s salvation. What do we say to the sinner? Trust Christ. ‘What do we say to the saint? Trust Christ. What do we say to an assembly of saints, few or many! Trust Christ. Is there anything that He cannot manage? “Is there a thing too hard for Him?” Has His treasury of gift and grace become exhausted? Is He not able to supply ministerial gifts? Can He not furnish evangelists, pastors, and teachers? Can He not perfectly meet all the manifold necessities of His Church in the wilderness? If not, where are we? What shall we do: Whither shall we turn? What had the congregation of old to do? To look to Jehovah. For everything? Yes, for everything; for food, for water, for clothing, for guidance, for protection, for all. All their springs were in Him. Must we turn to some one else? Never. Our Lord Christ is amply sufficient, in spite of all our failure and ruin, our sin and unfaithfulness. He has sent down the Holy Ghost, the blessed Paraclete, to dwell with and in His people – to form them into one body, and unite them to their living Head in heaven. He is the power of unity, of communion, of ministry, and of worship. He has not left us, and He never will. Only let as trust Him; let us use Him; let us give Him room to act. Let us carefully guard against everything that might tend to quench, to hinder, or to grieve Him. Let us acknowledge Him, in His own proper place in the assembly, and yield ourselves, in all things, to His guidance and authority.

Here, we are persuaded, lies the true secret of power and blessing. Do we deny the ruin? How could we? Alas! alas! it stands forth as a fact too palpable and glaring to admit of denial. Do we seek to deny our share in the ruin – our folly and sin? Would to God we felt it more deeply! But shall we add to our sin by denying our Lord’s grace and power to meet us in our folly and ruin? Shall we forsake Him, the fountain of living waters, and hew out for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water? Shall we turn from the Rock of Ages and lean upon the broken reeds of our own devising? God forbid! Rather let the language of our hearts be, as we think of the name of Jesus,

“Salvation in that name is found,

Cure for my grief and care;

A healing balm for every wound,

all, all I want is There.”

But let not the reader suppose that we want to lend the smallest countenance to ecclesiastical pretension. We perfectly abhor any such thing. We look upon it as utterly contemptible. We believe we cannot possibly take too low a place. A low place and a lowly spirit are what alone become us in view of our common sin and shame. All we seek to maintain is this, the all sufficiency of the name of Jesus for all the exigencies of the Church of God, at all times, and under all circumstances. There was all power in that name in apostolic times; and why not now? Has any change passed over that glorious name? No, blessed be God! Well then it is sufficient for us, at this moment, and all we want is to confide in it fully, and to show that we so confide by discarding thoroughly every other ground of confidence, and coming out, with bold decision, to that peerless and precious name. He has, blessed be His name, come down to the smallest congregation – the smallest plurality, inasmuch as He has said,” Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I.” Does this still hold good? Has it lost its power? Does it no longer apply? Where has it been repealed?

Oh! Christian reader, we call upon you, by every argument which ought to weigh with your heart, to give your cordial assent and consent to this one eternal truth, namely, The all-sufficiency of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the assembly of God, in every possible condition in which it can be found, throughout its entire history* We call upon you not merely to hold this as a true theory, but, to confess it practically and then, assuredly, you will taste the deep blessedness of the presence of Jesus in the outside place – a blessedness which must be tasted in order to be known; But, when once really tasted, it can never be forgotten or surrendered for anything beside.

{*In using the expression, “The all-sufficiency of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” we understand by it all that is secured to His people in that name – life; righteousness; acceptance; the presence of the Holy Ghost with all His varied gifts: a divine centre or gathering point. In a word, we believe that everything that the Church can possibly need, for time or eternity, is comprehended in that one glorious name, The Lord Jesus Christ.}

But we had no intention of pursuing the foregoing line of thought so far, or of penning such a lengthened introduction to the section of our book which lies open before us, and to which we shall now invite the reader’s particular attention.

On looking attentively at “the congregation in the wilderness” (Acts 7: 38), we find it composed of three distinct elements, namely, warriors, workers, and worshippers. There was a nation of warriors, a tribe of workers, a family of worshippers or priests. We have glanced at the first of these and seen each one according to his “pedigree,” taking up his position by his “standard,” according to the direct appointment of Jehovah; and we shall now dwell for a few moments on the second, and see each one at his work and service, according to the same appointment. we have considered the warriors; let us meditate on the workers.

The Levites were distinctly marked off from all the other tribes, and called to a very specific place and service. Thus we read of them, “But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying, Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel. But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. and the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts. But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.” (Num. 1: 47-53.) And again we read, “But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Num. 2: 33.

But why the Levites? why was this tribe specially marked off from all the others, and set apart for so holy and elevated a service? Was there any special sanctity or goodness about them to account for their being so distinguished? Not by nature, certainly, nor yet by practice, as we may see by the following words “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O, my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” Genesis 49.Such was Levi by nature and by practice – self-willed, fierce, and cruel. How remarkable that such an one should be singled out and brought into a place of such high and holy privilege! Surely we may say it was grace from first to last. It is the way of grace to take up the very worst cases. It stoops to the lowest depths and gathers up its brightest trophies from thence. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (2 Tim. 1: 16) “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Ephesians 3.

But how striking the language, “O, my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united.” God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity. God could not come into Levi’s secret, or be united unto his assembly. That was impossible. God could have nought to do with self-will, fierceness, and cruelty. But yet He could bring Levi into His secret, and unite him to His assembly. He could take him out of his habitation, wherein were instruments of cruelty, and bring him into the tabernacle to be occupied with the holy instruments and vessels that were there. This was grace – free, sovereign grace; and herein must be sought the basis of all Levi’s blessed and elevated service. So far as he was personally concerned there was an immeasurable distance between him and a holy God – a chasm which no human art or power could bridge. A holy God could have nothing to do with self-will fierceness, and cruelty; but a God of grace could have to do with Levi. He could visit such an one in sovereign mercy, and raise him up from the depths of his moral degradation, and bring him into a place of nearness to Himself.

And oh what a marvellous contrast between Levi’s position by nature, and his position by grace! between the instruments of cruelty and the vessels of the sanctuary! between Levi in Genesis 34 and Levi in Numbers 3 and 4.

But let us look at the mode of God’s dealing with Levi – the ground on which he was brought into such a place of blessing. In doing this, it will be needful for us to refer to Numbers 8, and there we are let into the secret of the whole matter. We shall see that there was, and could be, no allowance of anything that belonged to Levi, no sanction of any of his ways; and yet there was the most perfect display of grace – grace reigning through righteousness. We speak of the type and its significance. We do so in view of that statement already referred to: “Now all these things happened unto them for types.” It is not a question of how far the Levites saw through these things. This is not at all the point. We are not to ask, What did the Levites see in God’s dealings with them? But, What do we learn?

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.” Num. 8: 5-7.

Here we have, in type, the only divine principle of cleansing. It is the application of death to nature and all its habits. It is the word of God brought to bear upon the heart and conscience, in a living way. Nothing can be more expressive than the double action presented in the above passage. Moses was to sprinkle water of purifying upon them; and then they were to shave off all their hair, and wash their garments. There is great beauty and precision here. Moses, as representing the claims of God, cleanses the Levites according to those claims; and they, being cleansed, are able to bring the sharp razor to bear upon all that was the mere growth of nature, and to wash their garments, which expresses, in typical form, the cleansing their habits according to the word of God. This was God’s way of meeting all that appertained to Levi’s natural state – the self-will, the fierceness, and the cruelty. the pure water and the sharp razor were called into action-the washing and shaving had to go on, ere Levi was fit to approach the vessels of the sanctuary.

Thus it is in every case. There is, there can be, no allowance of nature among God’s workers. There never was a more fatal mistake than to attempt to enlist nature in the service of God. It matters not how you may endeavour to improve or regulate it. It is not improvement, but death that will avail. It is of the very last possible importance for the reader to lay hold, with clearness and force, of this great practical truth. Man has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. The plummet has been applied to him, and he has been found crooked. It is of no possible use seeking to reform. Nothing will do save the water and the razor. God has closed up man’s history. He has brought to an end in the death of Christ. The first grand fact that the Holy Ghost presses upon the human conscience is, that God has delivered His solemn verdict upon human nature, and that each one must accept that verdict against himself personally. It is not a matter of opinion, or a matter of feeling. A person may say, “I do not see, or I do not feel, that I am so bad as you seem to make out.” We reply, That does not affect the question in the least. God has declared His judgement about us, and it is man’s first duty to fall in with, and bow to that. Of what use would it have been for Levi to say that he did not agree with what God’s word had said about him Would that – could that, have altered the question as to him? In no wise. The divine record remained the same whether Levi felt it or not; but clearly, it was the first step in wisdom’s pathway to bow down under the weight of that record.

All this is expressed, in type, in the “water” and the “razor” the “washing” and the “shaving.” Nothing could be more significant or impressive. These acts set forth the solemn truth of the sentence of death upon nature, and the execution of judgement upon all that nature produces.

And what, let us ask, is the meaning of the initiatory act of Christianity – the act of baptism? Does it not set forth the blessed fact that “our old man” – our fallen nature – is completely set aside, and that we are introduced into an entirely new position Truly so. And how do we use the razor? By rigid self-judgment, day by day; by the stern disallowance of all that is of nature’s growth. This is the true path for all God’s workers in the wilderness. When we look at Levi’s conduct at Shechem, in Genesis 34, and the record concerning him in Genesis 49, we may ask, How can such an one ever be allowed to carry the vessels of the sanctuary? The answer is, Grace shines in Levi’s call; and holiness shines in Levi’s cleansing. He was called to the work, according to the riches of divine grace; but he was fitted for the work according to the claims of divine holiness.

Thus it must be with all God’s workers. We are most thoroughly convinced that we are fit for God’s work just so far as nature is brought under the power of the cross, and the sharp razor of self-judgment. Self-will can never be made available in the service of God; nay, it must be set aside, if we would know what true service is. There is, alas! A large amount of what which passes for service which, if judged in the light of the divine presence, would be seen to be but the fruit of a restless will. This is most solemn, and demands our most earnest attention. We cannot exercise too severe a censorship over ourselves, in this very thing. The heart is so deceitful that we may be led to imagine that we are doing the Lord’s work, when, in reality, we are only pleasing ourselves. But, if we would tread the path of true service, we must seek to be, more and more, apart from nature. The self-willed Levi must pass through the typical process of washing and shaving, ere he can be employed in that elevated service assigned him by the direct appointment of the God of Israel.

But, ere proceeding to examine particularly the work and service of the Levites, we must look for a moment at a scene in Exodus 32, in which they act a very prominent and a very remarkable part. We allude, as the reader will at once perceive, to the golden calf. During the absence of Moses, the people so completely lost sight of God and His claims as to set up a molten calf and bow down thereto. This terrible act called for summary judgement. “And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies:) then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. and he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.” Exodus 32: 25-29.

This was a testing moment. It could not be otherwise, when this great question was pressed home upon the heart and conscience, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” nothing could be more searching. The question was not, “Who is willing to work?’ No! it was a far deeper and more searching question. It was not who will go here or there – do this or that? There might be a vast amount of doing and going, and, all the while, it might be but the impulse of an unbroken will which, acting upon religious nature, gave an appearance of devotedness and piety imminently calculated to deceive oneself and others.

But to be “on the Lord’s side” implies the surrender of one’s own will – yea, the surrender of oneself, and this is essential to the true servant – the real workman. Saul of Tarsus was on this ground when he exclaimed, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” What words, from the self-willed, fierce, and cruel persecutor of the Church of God!

“Who is on the Lord’s side?” Reader, art thou? Search and see. Examine thyself closely. Remember, the question is not at all “What art thou doing?’ No; it is far deeper. If thou art on the Lord’s side, thou art ready for anything and everything. Thou art ready to stand still, or ready to go forward; ready to go to the right or to the left; ready to be active, and ready to be quiet; ready to stand on thy feet, and ready to lie on thy back. the grand point is this, namely, the surrender of thyself to the claims of another, and that other the Lord Christ.

This is an immense point. Indeed we know of nothing more important, at the present moment, than this searching question,” Who is on the Lord’s side?” We live in days of immense self-will. Man exults in his liberty. And this comes out, very prominently, in religious matters. Just as it was in the camp of Israel, in the days of the thirty-second of Exodus – the days of The golden calf. Moses was out of sight, and the human will was at work; the graving tool was called into operation. And what was the result? The molten calf; and when Moses returned, he found the people in idolatry and nakedness. Then came forth the solemn and testing question, “Who is on the Lord’s side” This brought things to an issue, or rather it put people to the test. Nor is it other wise now. Man’s will is rampant, and that too in matters of religion. Man boasts of his lights, of the freedom of his will, the freedom of his judgement. There is the denial of the Lordship of Christ; and therefore it behoves us to look well to it, and see that we really are taking sides with the Lord against ourselves; that we are in the attitude of simple subjection to His authority. Then we shall not be occupied with the amount or character of our service; it will be our one object to do the will of our Lord.

Now, to act thus under the Lord may often give an appearance of narrowness to our sphere of action; but with this we have nothing whatever to do. If a master tells his servant to stand in the hall, and not to stir until he rings the bell, what is the servant’s duty? Clearly to stand still; nor should he be moved from this position or this attitude, even though his fellow-servants should find fault with his apparent inactivity and good-for-nothingness; he may rest assured his Master will approve and vindicate. This is enough for any true-hearted servant, whose one desire will ever be not so much to do a great deal, as to do the will of his Lord.

In a word, then, the question for the camp of Israel, in the day of the golden calf, and the question for the Church, in this day of human will, is this, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” Momentous question! It is not, Who is on the side of religiousness, philanthropy, or moral reform? There may be a large amount of any or all of these things, and yet the will be thoroughly unbroken. Let us not forget this; nay, rather we should say, let us continually bear it in mind. We may be very zealous in promoting all the various schemes of philanthropy, religiousness, and moral reform, and, all the while, be ministering to self, and feeding self-will. This is a most solemn and weighty consideration; and it behoves us to give earnest heed to it. We are passing through a moment in the which man’s will is being pampered with unparalleled diligence. We believe, most assuredly, that the true remedy for this evil will be found wrapped up in this one weighty question, “Who is on the Lord’s side” There is immense practical power in this question. To be really on the Lord’s side is to be ready for anything to which He may see fit to call us, no matter what. If the soul is brought to say, in real truth, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,” then we are ready for everything. Hence, in the case of the Levites, they were called to “slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.” This was terrible work for flesh and blood. But the moment demanded it. God’s claims had been openly and grossly dishonoured. Human invention had been at work, with the graving tool, and a calf had been set up. The glory of God had been changed into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass; and therefore all who were on the Lord’s side were called to gird on the sword. Nature might say, “No; let us be tender, and gentle, and gracious. We shall accomplish more by kindness than by severity. It can do no good to wound people. There is far more power in love than in harshness. Let us love one another.” Thus might nature throw out its suggestions – thus it might reason and argue. But the command was distinct and decisive: “Put every man his sword by his side.” The sword was the only thing when the golden calf was there. To talk of love at such a moment, would be to fling over-board the just claims of the God of Israel. It belongs to the true spirit of obedience to render the very service which suits the occasion. A servant has no business to reason, he is simply to do as he is bid. To raise a question, or put forth a demur, is to abandon our place as a servant. It might seem most dreadful work to have to slay a brother, a companion, or a neighbour; but the word of the Lord was imperative. It left no room for evasion; and the Levites, through grace, yielded a full and ready obedience. “The children of Levi did according to the word of Moses.”

This is the only true path for those who will be God’s workers, and Christ’s servants in this world where self-will is dominant. It is immensely important to have the truth of the Lordship of Christ deeply engraved upon the heart. It is the only regulator of the course and conduct. It settles a thousand questions. If the heart be really subject to the authority of Christ, it is in readiness for anything and everything to which He calls us, be it to stand still or to go forward, to do little or much, to be active or passive. To a really obedient heart, the question is not at all,” What am I doing? or where am I going?” It is simply, “am I doing the will of my Lord?”

Such was the ground occupied by Levi. And mark: the divine comment on this, as given in Malachi. “And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.” (Mal. 2: 4-6.) Mark also the blessing pronounced by the lips of Moses, “And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children; for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thy judgements, and Israel thy law; they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.” (Deut 33: 8-11.)

It might have appeared unwarrantably harsh and severe in Levi not to have seen his parents or known or acknowledged his brethren. But God’s claims are paramount; and our Lord Christ hath declared these solemn words, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14: 26.

These are plain words; and they let us into the secret of what it is which lies at the bottom of all true service. Let no one imagine that we are to be without natural affection. Far be the thought. To be so would be to connect us, morally, with the apostasy of the last days. (See 2 Tim. 3: 3) But when the claims of natural affection are allowed to stand in the way of our whole-hearted service to Christ, and when the so-called love of our brethren receives a higher place than faithfulness to Christ, then are we unfit for His service and unworthy of the name of His servants. Let it be carefully noted that what formed the moral ground of Levi’s title to be employed in the Lord’s service was the fact that he did not see his parents, acknowledge his brethren, or know his children. In a word, he was enabled to set the claims of nature completely aside, and to give the claims of Jehovah the paramount place in his heart. This, we repeat, is the only true basis of the servant’s character.

This is a most weighty consideration, and one which demands the most serious attention of the Christian reader. There may be a vast amount of what looks like service – a great deal of activity, of coming and going, of doing and saying – and, all the while, there may not be a single atom of true Levite service, yea, it may, in God’s estimation, be only the restless activity of the will. “What,” it may be said, “can the will show itself in the service of God – in matters of religion?” Alas, alas, it can and does. And very often the apparent energy and fruitfulness in work and service is just in proportion to the energy of the will. This is peculiarly solemn. It calls for the most rigid self-judgment, in the light of the divine presence. True service doth not consist in great activity, but in profound subjection to the will of our Lord, and where this exists there will be the readiness to sink the claims of parents, brethren, and children, in order to carry out the will of Him whom we own as Lord. True, we should love our parents, our brethren, and our children. It is not that we should love these less, but we should love Christ more. He and His claims must ever have the paramount place in the heart, if we would be true workers for God, true servants of Christ, true Levites in the wilderness. It was this that marked the actings of Levi, on the occasion to which we are referring. God’s claims were in question, and hence the claims of nature were not to be entertained for a moment. Parents, brethren, and children, how dear soever these might be, were not to stand in the way when the glory of the God of Israel had been changed into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

Here lies the whole question, in all its weight and magnitude. The ties of natural relationship, with all the claims, duties, and responsibilities arising out of such ties, Will ever get their proper place, their due respect, from those whose hearts, and minds, and consciences have been brought under the adjusting power of the truth of God. Nought save what is really due to God and His Christ should ever be suffered to infringe those rights which are founded upon natural relationship. This is a most necessary and wholesome consideration, and one which we would particularly press upon the young Christian reader. We have ever to be on our guard against a spirit of self-will and self-pleasing which is never so dangerous as when it clothes itself in the garb of religious service, and work so called. It behoves us to be very sure indeed that we are directly and simply governed by the claims of God when we disregard the claims of natural relationship. In Levi’s case, the matter was as clear as a sunbeam, and hence the “sword” of judgement, not the kiss of affection, befitted the critical moment. So, also, in our history, there are moments in which it would be open disloyalty to our Lord Christ to hearken, for one instant, to the voice of natural relationship.

The above remarks may help the reader to understand the actings of the Levites to Exodus 32, and the words of our Lord in Luke 14: 26. May God’s Spirit enable us to realise and exhibit the adjusting power of truth!

We shall now dwell, for a few moments, on the consecration of the Levites, in Numbers 8, in order that we may have the whole subject before our minds. Truly it is a theme full of instruction for all who desire to be workers for God.

After the ceremonial acts of “washing” and “shaving” already referred to, we read, “Then let them (i.e., the Levites) take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly or the children of Israel together. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites. And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord. And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks; and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites.”

Here we have presented to us, in type, the two grand aspects of the death of Christ. The sin offering furnishes the one; the burnt offering furnishes the other. Into the details of those offerings we do not enter here, having sought to do so in the opening chapters of our “Notes on Leviticus.” We would merely observe here, that, in the sin offering, we see Christ bearing sin in His own body on the tree, and enduring the wrath of God against sin. In the burnt offering, we see Christ glorifying God even in the very matter of making atonement for sin. Atonement is made in both; but in the former, it is atonement according to the depth of the sinner’s need; in the latter, it is atonement according to the measure of Christ’s devotedness to God. In that, we see the hatefulness of sin; in this, the preciousness of Christ. It is, we need hardly say, the same atoning death of Christ, but presented in two distinct aspects.*

{*For further instruction on the doctrine of the sin offering and the burnt offering, the reader is referred to “Notes on Leviticus,” Lev. 1: 4. This little volume can be had of the publisher.}

Now, the Levites laid their hands on both the sin offering and the burnt offering; and this act of the imposition of hands expressed the simple fact of identification. But how different the result in each case When Levi laid his hands on the head of the sin offering, it involved the transfer of all his sins, of all his guilt, of all his fierceness, cruelty, and self-will to the victim. And on the other hand, when he laid his hands on the head of the burnt offering, it involved the transfer of all the acceptableness of the sacrifice, of all its perfectness, to Levi. Of course, we speak of what the type set forth. We do not undertake to state anything as to Levi’s intelligent entrance into these things; we merely seek to unfold the meaning of the ceremonial figure; and, most assuredly, no figure could be more expressive than the imposition of hands, whether we view it in the case of the sin offering, or in the case of the burnt offering. The doctrine of all this is embodied in that most weighty passage at the close of 2 Corinthians 5, “He hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” “And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the Lord. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine, and after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. For they are wholly given unto ME from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them For myself. And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary. And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.” Numbers 8: 13-20.

How forcibly are we reminded, by the foregoing lines, of the words of our Lord in John 17, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word…. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” Verses 6-10.

The Levites were a separated people – God’s special possession. They took the place of all the firstborn in Israel – of those who were saved from the sword of the destroyer by the blood of the lamb. They were, typically, a dead and risen people, set apart to God, and by Him presented as a gift to Aaron the high priest, to do the service of the tabernacle.

What a place for the self-willed, fierce, and cruel Levi! What a triumph of grace! What an illustration of the efficacy of the blood of atonement and the water of purification! ‘They were, by nature and by practice, far off from God; but the “blood” of atonement, and the” water” of cleansing, and the ”razor” of self-judgment had done their blessed work, and hence the Levites were in a condition to be presented as a gift to Aaron and to his sons, to be associated with them in the hallowed services of the tabernacle of the congregation.

In all this the Levites were a striking type of God’s people now. These latter have been lifted from the depths of their degradation and ruin as sinners. They are washed in the precious blood of Christ, purified by the application of the word, and called to the exercise of habitual and rigid self-judgment, Thus are they fitted for that holy service to the which they are called. God has given them to His Son in order that they may be His workers in this world. “Thine they were and thou gavest them me.” Wondrous thought! To think that such as we could be thus spoken of! To think of our being God’s property and God’s gift to His Son! Well may we say it surpasses all human thought. It is not merely that we are saved from hell; that is true. It is not, merely that we are pardoned, justified, and accepted; all this is true; but we are called to the high and holy work of bearing through this world the Name, the testimony, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our work as true Levites. As men of war, we are called to fight; as priests, we are privileged to worship; but as Levites, we are responsible to serve, and our service is to carry through this dreary desert scene the antitype of the tabernacle, and that tabernacle was the figure of Christ. This is our distinct line of service. To this we are called – to this we are set apart.

The reader will, we doubt not, notice, with interest, the fact that it is in this book of Numbers, and here alone, that we are furnished with all the precious and deeply instructive details respecting the Levites. In this we have a fresh illustration of the character of our book. It is from a wilderness standpoint that we get a full and proper view of God’s workers as well as of God’s warriors.

And, now, let us examine for a few moments, the service of the Levites, as detailed in Numbers 3 and 4. “and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.” Num. 3: 5-9.

The Levites represented the whole congregation of Israel, and acted on their behalf. This appears from the fact that the children of Israel laid their hands on the heads of the Levites, just as the Levites laid their hands on the heads of the sacrifices. (See Num. 8: 10) The act of imposition expressed identification, so that, according to this, the Levites furnish a distinct view of’ the people of God in the wilderness. They present them to us as a company of earnest workers, and that too, be it noted, not as mere desultory labourers, running to and fro, and doing each one what seemed right in his own eyes. Nothing of the sort. If the men of war had their pedigree to show and their standard to adhere to, so had the Levites their centre to gather round and their work to do. All was as clear, distinct, and defined as God could make it; and, moreover, all was under the immediate authority and direction of the high priest.

It is most needful for all who would be true Levites, proper workmen, intelligent servants, to weigh, with all seriousness, this point. Levite service was to be regulated by the appointment of the priest. There was no more room for the exercise of self-will in the service of the Levites, that there was the position of the men of war. All was divinely settled; and this was a signal mercy to all whose hearts were in a right condition. To one whose will was unbroken it might seem a hardship and a most irksome task to be obliged to occupy the same position, or to be engaged in precisely the same line of work. Such an one might sigh for something fresh – some variety in his work. But, on the contrary, where the will was subdued, and the heart adjusted, each one would say, “my path is perfectly plain; I have only to obey.” This is ever the business of the true servant. It was pre-eminently so with Him Who was the only perfect servant that ever trod the earth. He could say, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” And again, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

But there is another fact which claims our attention, in reference to the Levites; and that is, their service had exclusively to do with the tabernacle and its belongings. They had nothing else to do. For a Levite to think of putting his hand to anything beside would have been to deny his calling, to abandon his divinely appointed work, and to fly in the face of God’s commandments.

Just so is it with Christians now. Their exclusive business – their one grand work – their absorbing service, is Christ and His belongings. They have nothing else to do. For a Christian to think of putting his hand to anything beside is to deny his calling, to abandon his divinely-appointed work, and fly in the face of the divine commandments. A true Levite of old could say, “To me to live is the tabernacle;” and a true Christian, now, can say, “To me to live is Christ.” The grand question, in every matter which may present itself before the Christian, is this, “Can I connect Christ with it?” If not, I have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

This is the true way to look at things. It is not a question as to the right or wrong of this or that. No; it is simply a question as to how far it concerns the name and glory of Christ. This simplifies everything amazingly. It answers a thousand questions, solves a thousand difficulties, and makes the path of the true and earnest Christian as clear as a sunbeam. A Levite had no difficulty as to his work. It was all settled for him with divine precision. The burden that each had to carry, and the work that each had to do, was laid down with a clearness which left no room for the questionings of the heart. Each man could know his own work and do it; and let us add the work was done by each one discharging his own specific functions. It was not by running hither and thither, and doing this or that; but by each man sedulously adhering to his own particular calling, that the service of the tabernacle was duly discharged.

It is well to bear this in mind. We, as Christians, are very apt to jostle one another; indeed we are sure to do so if we do not each one pursue his own divinely appointed line of work. We say “divinely appointed,” and would press the word. We have no right to choose our own work. If the Lord has made one man an evangelist, another a teacher, another a pastor, and another an exhorter, how is the work to go on? surely it is not by the evangelist trying to teach, and the teacher to exhort, or one who is not fitted for either trying to do both. No; it is by each one exercising his own divinely-imparted gift. No doubt it may please the Lord to endow one individual with a variety of gifts; but this does not, in the smallest degree, touch the principle on which we are dwelling, which is simply this, every one of us is responsible to know his own special line and pursue it. If this be lost sight of we shall get into hopeless confusion. God has His quarrymen, His stone-squarers, and His masons. The work progresses by each man attending diligently to his own work. If all were quarry-men, where were the stone-squarers? if all were stone-squarers, where were the masons? The greatest possible damage is done to the cause of Christ, and to the cause of Christ, and to God’s work in the world, by one man aiming at another’s line of things, or seeking to imitate another’s gift. It is a grievous mistake, against which we would solemnly warn the reader. Nothing can be more senseless. God never repeats Himself. There are not two faces alike, not two leaves in the forest alike, not two blades of grass alike. Why then should any one aim at another’s line of work, or affect to possess another’s gift? Let each one be satisfied to be just what His Master has made him. This is the secret of real peace and progress.

All this finds a very vivid illustration in the inspired record concerning the service of the three distinct classes of the Levites, which we shall now proceed to quote at length for the reader. There is nothing, after all, to be compared with the veritable language of holy scripture.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them. and Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, as He was commanded. And these were the sons of Levi by their names, Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families; Libni, and Shimei. And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the sons of Merari by their families; Mahli, and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers. Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites. Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those that were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred. The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward. And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael. And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof.” (Num. 3: 14-26.) and again, we read, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families; from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens: and they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers’ skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. At the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens. This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.” Numbers 4: 21-28.

Thus much as to Gershon and his work. He, with his brother Merari, had to carry “the tabernacle whereas Kohath was called to bear “the sanctuary,” as we read in Numbers 10 “And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon, and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing the tabernacle ….. And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and the other (i.e., the Gershonites and the Merarites) did set up the tabernacle against they came.” (Ver. 17, 21.) There was a strong moral link connecting Gershon and Merari in their service, although their work was perfectly distinct, as we shall see from the following passage.

“As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them after their families, by the house of their fathers; from thirty years old and upward, even unto fifty years old, shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service to the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.” Numbers 4: 29-33.

All this was clear and distinct. Gershon had nothing to do with the boards and pins; and Merari had nothing to do with the curtains or the coverings. And yet they were very intimately connected, as they were mutually dependent. “The boards and sockets” would not do without “the curtains;” and the curtains would not do without the boards and sockets. And as to “the pins,” though apparently so insignificant, who could estimate their importance in keeping things together, and maintaining the visible unity of the whole? Thus all worked together to one common end, and that end was gained by each attending to his own special line. If a Gershonite had taken it into his head to abandon “the curtains” and address himself to “the pins,” he would have left his own work undone and interfered with the work; of the Merarite. This would never do. It would have thrown everything into hopeless confusion;. whereas by adhering to the divine rule, all was maintained in the most exquisite order.

It must have been perfectly beautiful to mark God’s workers in the wilderness. Each one was at his post, and each moved in his divinely appointed sphere. Hence, the moment the cloud was lifted up, and the order issued to strike, every man knew what he had to do, and he addressed himself to that and to nothing else . No man had any right to think for himself. Jehovah thought for all. The Levites had declared themselves “on the Lord’s side;” they had yielded themselves to His authority; and this fact lay at the very base of all their wilderness work and service. looked at in this light it would be deemed a matter of total indifference whether a man had to carry a pin, a curtain, or a golden candlestick. The grand question for each and for all was simply, “Is this my work? Is his what the Lord has given we to do?”

This settled everything. Had it been left to human thinking or human choosing, one man might like this; another might like that; and a third might like something else. How then could the tabernacle ever be borne along through the wilderness, or set up in its place? Impossible! There could be but one supreme authority, namely Jehovah Himself. He arranged for all, and all had to submit to Him. There was no room at all for the exercise of the human will. This was a signal mercy. It prevented a world of strife and confusion. There must be subjection – there must be a broken will – there must be a cordial yielding to divine authority, otherwise it will turn out to be like the book of Judges, “Every man doing that which is right in his own eyes.” A Merarite might say, or think if he did not say it, “what! am I to spend the very best portion of my life upon earth – the days of my prime and vigour – in looking after a few pins? Was this the end for which I was born? Am I to have nothing higher before me as an object in life? Is this to be my occupation from the age of thirty to fifty?”

To such questions there was a twofold reply. In the first place, it was enough for the Merarite to know that Jehovah had assigned him his work. This was sufficient to impart dignity to what nature might esteem the smallest and meanest matter. It does not matter what we are doing, provided always we are doing our divinely appointed work. a man may pursue what his fellows would deem a most brilliant career he may spend his energies, his time, his talents, his fortune, in pursuits which the men of this world esteem grand and glorious, and, all the while, his life may prove to be but a splendid bubble. But, on the other hand, the man that simply does the will of God. whatever that may be – the man who executes his Lord’s commands, whatever such commands may enjoin – that is the man whose path is illuminated by the beams of divine approbation, and whose work shall be remembered! when the most splendid schemes of the children of this world have sunk in eternal oblivion.

But, besides the moral worth attaching always to the act of doing what we are told to do, there was also a special dignity belonging to the work of a Merarite, even though that work was merely attending to a few “pins” or “sockets.” Everything connected with the tabernacle was of the very deepest interest and highest value. There was not, in the whole world, anything to be compared with that boarded tent with all its mystic belongings. It was a holy dignity and privilege to be allowed to touch the smallest pin that formed a part of that wonderful tabernacle in the wilderness. It was more glorious, by far, to be a Merarite looking after the pins of the tabernacle, than to wield the sceptre of Egypt or Assyria. True, that Merarite, according to the import of his name, might seem a poor sorrowful, labouring man; but oh! his labour stood connected with the dwelling-place of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth. His hands handled the things which were the patterns of things in the heavens. Every pin, every socket; every curtain, and every covering was a shadow of good things to come – a foreshadowing of Christ.

We do not mean to assert that the poor labouring Merarite or Gershonite understood these things. This is not, by any means, the point. We can understand them. It is our privilege to bring all these things-the tabernacle and its mystic furniture – under the brilliant light of the New Testament, and there read Christ in all.

While, therefore, we predicate nothing as to the measure of intelligence possessed by the Levites, in their respective work; we at the same time, may say, with confidence, that it was a very precious privilege to be allowed to touch and handle, and bear through the wilderness, the earthly shadows of heavenly realities. Moreover, it was a special mercy to have the authority of a “Thus saith the Lord” for everything they put their hand to. Who can estimate such a mercy – such a privilege? Each member of that marvellous tribe of workers had his own particular line of things marked out by God’s hand, and superintended by God’s priest. It was not each doing what he liked himself, nor one man running in the wake of another, but all bowing to the authority of God, and doing precisely what they were told to do. This was the secret of order throughout the eight thousand five hundred and eighty workers. (Num. 4: 48) and, we may say, with all possible confidence, it is the only true secret of order still. Why is it that we have so much confusion in the professing church? Why such conflicting thoughts, feelings, and opinions? why such clashing one with another? Why such crossing of each other’s path? Simply from the lack of entire and absolute submission to the word of God. Our will is at work, we choose our own ways, instead of allowing God to choose for us. We want that attitude and temper of soul in the which all human thoughts, our own amongst them, shall be put down at what they are really worth; and God’s thoughts shall rise into full unqualified dominion.

This, we feel persuaded, is the grand desideratum – the crying want of the day in which our lot is cast Man’s will is everywhere gaining the ascendant. It is rising like a mighty tide and bearing away those ancient barriers which have, in some measure, kept it in check. Many an old and time-honoured institution is, at this moment, giving way before the rushing torrent. Many an edifice, whose foundations, as we supposed, were laid deep down in the fond and reverent affections of the people, is giving way beneath the battering ram of popular feeling. “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

Such is, pre-eminently, the spirit of the age. What is the antidote? Subjection! Subjection to what? Is it to what is called the authority of the Church? Is it to the voice of tradition? Is it to the commandments and doctrines of men? No; blessed be God, it is not to any of these things, nor to all of them put together. To what then? To the voice of the living God – the voice of holy scripture. This is the grand remedy for self-will, on the one hand, and submission to human authority, on the other. “we must obey.” This is the answer to self-will. “We must obey God.” This is the answer to mere bowing down to human authority. we see these two elements all around us. The former, self-will, resolves itself into infidelity. The latter, subjection to man, resolves itself into superstition. These two will bear sway over the whole civilized world. They will carry away all save those who are divinely taught to say, and feel, and act upon, that immortal sentence, “We must obey God rather than man.”

It was this that enabled the Gershonite, in the wilderness, to look after those rough unattractive looking “badger skins;” and that enabled the Merarite to look after these, apparently, insignificant “pins.” Yes, and it is this which will enable the Christian, now, to address himself to that special line of service to which his Lord may see fit to call him. What, though, to human eyes, it seems rough and unattractive, mean and insignificant: it is enough for us that our Lord has assigned us our post, and given us our work; and that our work has direct reference to the Person and glory of Him who is the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. We, too, may have to confine ourselves to the antitype of the rough unsightly badger skin, or the insignificant pin. But let us remember that whatever has reference to Christ – His name – His Person – His cause, in the world, is unspeakably precious to God. It may be very small, in man’s account; but what of that? we must look at things from God’s point of view, we must measure them by His standard, and that is Christ. God measures everything by Christ. Whatever has even the very smallest reference to Christ is interesting and important in God’s account. Whereas the most splendid undertakings, the most gigantic schemes, the most astonishing enterprises of the men of this world, all pass away like the morning cloud and the early dew. Man makes self his centre, his object, his standard. He values things according to the measure in which they exalt himself, and further his interests. Even religion itself, so called, is taken up in the same way, and made a pedestal on which to display himself. Everything, in short, is marked up as capital for self, and used as a reflector to throw light upon, and call attention to, that one object. Thus there is a mighty gulf between God’s thoughts: and man’s thoughts; and the shores of that gulf are as far apart as Christ and self. All that belongs to Christ is of eternal interest and moment. All that belongs to self shall pass away and be forgotten. Hence, therefore, the most fatal mistake into which any man can fall is to make self his object. It must issue in everlasting disappointment. But, on the other hand, the very wisest, safest, best thing that any man can do, is to make Christ his one absorbing object. This must, infallibly, issue in everlasting blessedness and glory.

Beloved reader. pause here a moment and commune with thine own heart and conscience. It seems to us, at this point, that we have a sacred responsibility to discharge in reference to thy soul. We are penning these lines in the solitude of our chamber at Bristol, and you may, perchance, read them in the solitude of thy chamber in New Zealand, Australia, or some other distant spot. we would therefore remember that our object is not to write a book, nor yet, merely, to expound scripture. We desire to be used of God in the blessed work of dealing with thy very inmost soul. Permit us, therefore, to put this solemn and pointed question home to thee, What is thy object? Is it Christ or self? Be honest with thyself before the almighty and all-seeing Searcher of hearts. Sit in stern judgment upon thyself, as in the very light of the divine presence. Be not deceived by any gilding or false colouring. God sees below the surface of things, and He would have thee do so likewise. he presents Christ to thee in contrast with all beside. Hast thou accepted Him? Is He thy wisdom, thy righteousness, thy sanctification, and thy redemption? Canst thou say, without hesitation, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his?” Search and see. Is this a thoroughly settled point, deep down in the very depths of thy soul? If so, art thou making Christ thy exclusive object? Art thou measuring everything by Him?

Ah! dear friend, these are searching questions. Be assured we do not put them to thee without feeling their edge and power for ourselves. As God is our witness, we do feel, though in a very small degree, their weight and seriousness. We are deeply and thoroughly convinced that nothing will stand save that which is connected with Christ; and, moreover, that the very smallest matter which refers, however remotely, to Him is of commanding interest in the judgement of heaven. If we may be permitted to awaken a sense of this in any heart, or to deepen the sense where it has been awakened, we shall feel we have not penned this volume in vain.

We must now, ere closing this lengthened section, glance, for a few moments, at the Kohathites and their work.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers, from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work; in the tabernacle of the congregation. This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things: and when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it: and shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. and upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: and they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers” skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuff dishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it; and they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers skins, and shall put it upon a bar. And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: and they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar: and they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it. And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.” Numbers 4: 1-15.

Here we see what precious mysteries were committed to the charge of the Kohathites. The ark, the golden table, the golden candlestick, the golden altar, and the altar of burnt offering – all these were shadows of good things to come – the patterns of things in the heavens-the figures of the true – the types of Christ, is His Person, His work, and His offices, as we have sought to show in our “Notes on Exodus.” (Ex. 24 – 30) They are here presented in the wilderness, and, if we may be allowed the expression, in their travelling dress. With the exception of the ark of the covenant, all these things presented the one unvarying appearance to the human eye, namely, the rough covering of the badgers skins. With the ark there was this difference, that above the badgers’ skins there was “a cloth wholly Of blue,” setting forth, doubtless, the entirely heavenly character of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His own divine Person. That which was essentially heavenly in Him lay upon the very surface of His blessed life here below. He was ever the entirely heavenly man – “the Lord from heaven.” Underneath this covering of blue were the badger’ skins, which may be viewed as the expression of that which protects from all evil. The ark was the only thing that was covered in this peculiar manner.

With regard to “the table of showbread,” which was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His connection with the twelve tribes of Israel, there was first “a cloth of blue,” and then a cloth of scarlet;” and over all, the badgers’ skins. In other words, there was that which is essentially heavenly; then that which expresses human splendour; and above all, that which protects from evil. It is the purpose of God that Israel’s twelve tribes shall be pre-eminent in the earth – that in them the very highest type of human splendour shall be exhibited. Hence the appropriateness of the “scarlet” covering on the table of showbread. The twelve loaves evidently point to the twelve tribes; and as to the scarlet colour, the reader has only to look through scripture in order to see that it sets forth that which man considers splendid.

The coverings of the golden candlestick and of the golden altar were identical, namely, first the heavenly covering; and then the external badgers’ skin. In the candlestick we see our Lord Christ, in connection with the work of the Holy Ghost in light and testimony. The golden altar shows us Christ and the preciousness of His intercession – the fragrance and value of what He is before God. Both these, when passing along the sand of the desert, were wrapped up in that which was heavenly, and protected above by the badgers’ skins.

Finally, in reference to the brazen altar, we observe marked distinction. It was covered with “purple” instead of “blue,” or “scarlet.” Why was this? Doubtless because the brazen altar prefigured Christ as the one who “suffered for sins,” and who shall therefore wield the sceptre of royalty. “Purple” is the royal colour. The One who suffered in this world, shall reign. The One who wore the crown of thorns, shall wear the crown of glory. Hence the moral fitness of the “purple” covering on the brazen altar – for on that altar the victim was offered. We know there is nothing in scripture without its own divine meaning, and it is our privilege as well as our duty to seek to know the meaning of all that our God has graciously written for our learning. This, we believe, can only be reached by humble, patient, prayerful waiting upon Him. The One who has penned the Book knows perfectly the scope and object of the book as a whole, and of each division of the book in particular. This will have the effect of checking the unhallowed flights of the imagination. The Spirit of God alone can open scripture to our souls. “God is His own interpreter” in revelation, as well as in providence, and the more we lean on Him, in true self-emptiness, the deeper insight we shall have both into His word and His ways.

We would therefore say to the Christian reader, Take the first fifteen verses of Numbers 4 and read them in the presence of God. Ask Him to explain to thee the meaning of each clause – the meaning of the ark, and why it alone was covered with “a cloth wholly of blue.” And so of all the rest. We have ventured, we trust in humility of mind, to suggest the meaning, but we earnestly desire that thou shouldst get it directly from God, for thyself, and not accept it merely from man. We confess we are terribly afraid of imagination; and we know not that we have ever sat down to write on sacred scripture with a deeper sense of this that none but the Holy Ghost can really explain it.

Thou wilt say, then, “Why sit down to write at all?” Well, it is with the fond hope of being permitted, in some feeble manner, to help the earnest student of scripture to catch sight of the rare and exquisite gems that lie scattered along the inspired page, so that he may pick them up for Himself. Thousands of readers might read, again and again, the fourth of Numbers, and not even perceive the fact that the ark was the only part of the mystic furniture of the tabernacle that did not exhibit the badger skin. And if the simple fact be not laid hold of, how can its import be seen? So also, as to the brazen altar, how many have failed to notice that it alone put on the “purple?”

Now, we may rest assured that both these facts are full of spiritual meaning. The ark was the very highest manifestation of God, and, therefore, we may understand why it should exhibit, at first sight, that which was purely heavenly. The brazen altar was the place where sin was judged – it typified Christ in His work as a sin bearer it set forth that most distant place to which He travelled for us; and yet that brazen altar was the only thing that was wrapped in royal covering. Can anything be more exquisite than the teaching here? What infinite wisdom in all these fine distinctions! The ark conducts us to the very highest point in heaven. The brazen altar conducts us to the lowest point on earth. They stood at extreme points in the tabernacle. In the former, we see the One who magnified the law; in the latter, we see the One who was made sin. In the one, that which was heavenly was seen at the first sight; and it was only when you looked deeper, you saw the badger skin; and deeper still, that mysterious veil, the type of Christ’s flesh. But, in the other, the first thing you saw was the badger skin, and deeper down we see the royal covering. Christ in each, though in a different aspect. In the ark, we have Christ maintaining the glory of God, In the brazen altar, we have Christ meeting the sinner’s need. blessed combination for us!

But, further, has the reader noticed that in the entire of this marvellous passage to which we have been calling his particular attention, there is no mention of a certain piece of furniture which we know, from Exodus 30 and other scriptures, occupied a, very important place in the tabernacle? We allude to the brazen laver. Why is this omitted in Numbers 4? It is more than probable that some of our keen-eyed rationalists would find here what they would pronounce an error – a defect – a discrepancy. But is it so? No, thank God! The devout Christian student knows full well that such things are wholly incompatible with the volume of God. He knows and confesses this, even though he may not be able to account for the absence of this or the presence of that particular thing in any given passage. But just in so far as we are enabled, through the mercy of God, to see the spiritual reason of things, do we always find that where the rationalist, sees, or affects to see flaws, the pious student sees brilliant gems.

Thus it is, we doubt not, in reference to the omission of the brazen laver from the catalogue in Numbers 4. It is only one of the ten thousand illustrations of the beauty and perfectness of the inspired volume.

But, the reader may enquire, “Why is the laver omitted?” The reason may be found is the double fact of what that laver was made from, and what it was made for. This double fact we have noticed in Exodus. The laver was made of the looking-glasses of the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (Ex. 38: 8) This was its material. And, as to its object, it was provided as a means of purification for man. Now, in all those things which formed the special burden and charge of the Kohathites, we see only the varied manifestations of God in Christ, from the ark in the holiest of all, to the brazen altar in the court of the tabernacle; and, inasmuch as the laver was not a manifestation of God, But a purification for man, it is therefore not found in the custody and charge of the Kohathites.

But we must now leave the reader to meditate alone on this most profound section of our book, (Num. 3 – 4) It is really inexhaustible. We might go on expatiating upon it until we had filled volumes instead of pages, and, after all, we should feel as though we had barely penetrated the surface of a mine whose depth never can be sounded – whose treasures never can be exhausted. What human pen can bring out the marvellous instruction contained in the inspired account of the tribe of Levi? who can attempt to unfold that sovereign grace which shines in the fact that the self-willed Levi should be the very first to respond to that soul-stirring call,” Who is on the Lord’s side?” Who can speak aright of that rich, abounding, distinguishing mercy illustrated in the fact that those whose hands had been embued in blood should be permitted to handle the vessels of the sanctuary; and that those into whose assembly God’s Spirit could not enter should be brought into the very bosom of the congregation of God, there to be occupied with that which was so precious to Him?

And then those three divisions of workers, Merarites, Gershonites, and Kohathites! What instruction is here! what a type of the various members of the Church of God, in their various service! What depth of mysterious wisdom in all this? Is it speaking too strongly – is it too much to say that nothing, at this moment, so deeply impresses us as the sense of the utter feebleness and poverty of all that we have advanced on one of the very richest sections of the inspired volume! Still we have conducted the reader to a mine of infinite depth and richness, and we must leave him to penetrate thereinto by the gracious aid of Him to whom the mine belongs and who alone is able to evolve its wealth. All that man can write or say on any portion of God’s word can, at best, be but suggestive; to speak of it as exhaustive would be to cast a slight upon the sacred cannon. may we tread the holy place with unshod feet, and be as those who inquire in the temple, and whose studies are perfumed by the spirit of worship.*

{*For further suggestions on the subjects touched upon in the foregoing section, the reader is referred to “Notes on Exodus.” (Ex. 24 – 30) Also to a small pamphlet entitled, “the History of the Tribe of Levi Considered.”}

Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Num 4:1-45. A Census of the Levites Qualified to Serve about the Tabernacle, and the Apportionment of their Duties.This census includes all males between 30 and 50 (cf. 1Ch 23:3). In Num 8:23-26 the limits of age are 25 and 50 (and the LXX substitutes 25 for 30 in this passage also); in 1Ch 23:24-27, 2Ch 31:17, Ezr 3:8 the inferior limit is 20, and no superior limit is specified. The variation no doubt corresponds to changes which prevailed at different periods. The task of packing the contents of the Tabernacle for transport was undertaken by the priests alone; but the actual work of transport was the duty of the Kohathites (kinsmen of Aaron and his sons), who carried the Ark and other things on their shoulders (Num 7:9). The external hangings and the woodwork of the Tabernacle were conveyed in wagons by the Gershonites and Merarites respectively (Num 7:7 f).

Num 4:6. sealskin: or dugong-skin. The staves mentioned in this verse, and in Num 4:8; Num 4:11; Num 4:14, were probably passed under the cords that fastened the wrappings in which the Ark, the table, and the two altars (see on Num 3:31) were packed.

Num 4:15. the sanctuary: better, as mg., the holy things (and so in Num 4:16; Num 4:20).

Num 4:20. die: cf. the incident in 1Sa 6:19.

Num 4:27. in charge: better (LXX), by name.

Num 4:46-49. The Number of the Levites between the Ages of 30 and 50.This, which amounts to 8580, bears to the number of Levites over one month a higher proportion (39 percent.) than is probable, the actual ratio of persons between the ages stated to the whole population being (it is said) in Europe 25 percent., and in the United States even less.

Num 4:49. Read, According to the commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses they were appointed, every one according to his service, and according to his burden, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

THE SERVICE OF THE KOHATHITES

(vs.1-20)

Moses and Aaron are instructed in verse 2 to take a census of the sons of Korath, those males 30 to 50 years of age. In verses 21-22 the same is said as to the sons of Gershon, then the sons of Merari in verse 29. Before this census was taken, however, we are told in some detail of the responsibilities of the Kohathites, Gershonites and Merarites.

Kohathites were required to wait for the priests to prepare the tabernacle furniture for moving. When a move was to take place Aaron and his sons must first take down the veil from between the outer sanctuary and the holiest of all and use the veil to cover the ark (v.5). For only the priests were allowed to even look at the ark. thus, when the Lord Jesus was a sojourner on earth among His people, His great Godhead glory was veiled with that which speaks of His heavenly character (blue), His royal dignity (purple), His attractive beauty (scarlet) and His human moral perfection (fine linen). These were the components of the veil (Exo 26:31).

Yet a covering of badger skins was put over the veil, the badger skins (or possibly sealskins) speaking of the opposite of beauty, for “when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him (Isa 53:2). However, that too was covered by a cloth entirely of blue (v.6), an important reminder that though walking on earth, the Lord Jesus is “the second Man, the Lord from heaven” (1Co 15:47). Only the ark had this blue covering visible for all, for it tells that God’s authority is from heaven, an authority over all mankind. The poles for carrying the ark were then inserted (v.6) in readiness for the Kohathites to carry.

The priests then spread a blue cloth over the table of showbread and put on it the dishes, pans, bowls and pitchers. The showbread itself should also remain on it (v.7). A scarlet cloth was put over this, then also a covering of badger skins, and the poles inserted (v.8). The table speaks of Christ as the Sustainer of communion, and the blue cloth reminds us that communion with Him now is on a heavenly level, while the badger skins tell us that communion is not attractive to the outside world, though still strong and endurable.

The lampstand was to be covered with blue cloth, together with its lamps, wick trimmers, trays and oil vessels, then put on carrying bars or poles (vs.9-10). For the lampstand symbolizes Christ as the Sustainer of testimony, and the blue insists that true testimony for God is from heaven, while the badger skins again show it to be not attractive or popular in the world, though of a durable character.

The golden altar was covered just as the lampstand and the table, with a blue cloth and a covering of badger skins over it (v.11). This altar represents Christ as the Sustainer of worship, and worship too is of truly heavenly character (the blue), but has no attraction for the outside world.

The utensils of service were together similarly covered with a blue cloth and a covering of badger skins added, then placed on carrying bars (v.12). The same truths therefore apply to all the details of the furniture of the outer sanctuary.

The altar of burnt offering was outside. The priests were to take the ashes from it spread over it a cloth of purple (v.13). Purple is the royal color, for He who sacrificed Himself is the One who has absolute right to reign. Over this and over all its implements a covering of badger skins was put and its poles inserted.

Only after Aaron and his sons had finished their work in preparing the tabernacle furniture for moving were the Kohathites permitted to begin their work of carrying by means of the poles all this furniture (v.15). But they were not to even touch any of these furnishings, under penalty of death. This is intended to teach us that, while the Lord’s servants are privileged to bear witness to the truth concerning the Lord Jesus in all of His wonderful relationships, yet they are to have such wholesome regard for the glory of His person that they are deeply to remember that no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Son but the Father. “Great is the mystery of godliness” (1Ti 3:16). We cannot and must not dare to try to explain the great mystery of the person of Christ, whose glory is infinitely above our understanding.

The priest did have a nearer place than the servant (the Levite) however, a place of enjoyment of the Lord’s presence. For the glory of the person of Christ is for the worship of Saints, though not for the explanation to others. Thus Eleazar the son of Aaron was appointed to take charge of the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the daily grain offering and the anointing oil, and to oversee the ordering of the tabernacle and its furniture (v.16). Eleazar’s name means “God is Helper,” and he succeeded Aaron in the high priesthood when Aaron died (Num 20:23-28), He is therefore a type of Christ as High Priest in resurrection.

Verses 17-20 insist that the Kohathites were not to be cut off from Israel, but to avoid this they must fully obey instructions from the priests to do only the work assigned to them, and not to even watch while the priests covered the holy things in preparation for moving. Thus it is emphasized that service must not infringe on the privileges of priesthood.

THE SERVICE OF THE GERSHONITES

(vs.21-28)

The census of the Gershonites was now commanded to be taken (vs.22-23), but again their sphere of service is first detailed before the census. They were to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the covering of badger skins, the hanging for the door of the tabernacle as well as that for the gate of the court, all the hangings of the court, their cords and other furnishings connected with these (vs.25-26). These speak, first of the moral perfection in the life of the Lord Jesus, and secondly, of the moral righteousness of the saints of God (the linen hangings of the court). the ministry seen in Gershon is therefore that insistence upon the unique ministry seen in Gershon is therefore that insistence upon the unique perfection of the Manhood of Christ and the becoming responsibility of saints to represent Him in their measure in their daily lives. “For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints ” (Rev 19:8)

The service of the Gershonites was under the authority of Ithamar, rather than Eleazar (v.28). Ithamar’s name means “where the palm is,” which reminds us of Psa 92:12, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,” emphasizing the fruitful walk of the saints of God.

THE SERVICE OF THE MERARITES

(vs.29-33)

The same numbering was to be true of the Merarites, from 30 to 50 years of age, capable of serving in connection with the tabernacle.

When the priests had prepared things in readiness for moving, the Merarites were appointed to carry the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, pillars and sockets, the pillars for the court with their sockets, pegs and cords, and other accompaniments. These things speak of Christ as the Upholder of His people and of their place as accepted in Christ before God. This line of ministry is of vital importance too. Again, the service of the Merarites was under the authority of Ithamar (v.33). We have seen that Eleazar is typical of Christ in resurrection, and therefore connected with the Kohathite ministry dealing with this, for we are “in Christ” though walking through a hostile world, as is implied in 1Jn 4:17, “as He is, so are we in this world.” How we need to be reminded of this holy dignity, while all around us is great contrasting confusion!

THE CENSUS OF THE LEVITES

(vs.34-49)

The Kohathites were then numbered, that is, the males from 30 to 50 years of age, and found to be 2,750 (v.36). It appears evident that all these would not be expected to serve at all times, but would likely take turns in carrying the furniture of the tabernacle. thus there would be no hard labor for anyone.

The number of the Gershonites amounted to 2,630 (v.40). We shall see later that these were given wagons for the transporting of the burdens given to them (ch.7:6-7), so that they would have charge of wagons and animals that pulled them.

The Merarites were found to number 3,200, more than either the Kohathites or Gershonites (v.44). They were given wagons for their service (ch.7:8), twice as many as Gershonites. Then the total number of the three families is given in verse 48 as 8,580, that is, of those males between the ages 30 and 50.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

The number of Levites in tabernacle service ch. 4

Moses did not arrange the three Levitical families in the text here in the order of the ages of their founders. He arranged them in the order of the holiness of the articles that they managed.

The Kohathites-who included Moses, Aaron, and the priests-were in charge of the tabernacle furniture including the ark. God told them how to prepare the various pieces of furniture for travel and how to carry them. The priests wrapped the articles of furniture, except the laver, and then the other Kohathites carried them. Touching a holy piece of furniture or even looking at one would result in death (Num 4:15; Num 4:20). The oils, incense, and the flour for the daily meal offering were the special responsibility of Eleazer, the heir to the high priest’s office (Num 4:16). God also explained the responsibilities of the Gershonites (Num 4:21-28) and the Merarites (Num 4:29-33).

There were 8,580 Levites who were fit for service (Num 4:48). A Levite had to be at least 30 and not more than 50 years old to participate in these acts of ministry (cf. Num 8:23-26).

"The truth is that all work in the kingdom of God is royal service, however unostentatious and, from the human standpoint, lowly and insignificant." [Note: Philip, p. 63.]

"The sense of order and organization already observed in this book comes to its finest point in this chapter. Again, we observe that the standard pattern in Hebrew prose is a movement from the general to the specific, from the broad to the particular. Chapters 1-4 follow this concept nicely. . . . The chapters have moved from the nation as a whole to the particular families of the one tribe that has responsibility to maintain the symbols of Israel’s worship of the Lord. Each chapter gets more specific, more narrow in focus, with the central emphasis on the worship of the Lord at the Tent of Meeting." [Note: Allen, p. 731.]

A prominent emphasis in this book appears at the end of this chapter again (Num 4:51). Moses carried out the Lord’s commands exactly (cf. Num 1:54; Num 3:33-34; Num 4:42; Heb 3:5).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

9

3. LEVITICAL SERVICE

Num 3:14-39; Num 4:1-49

The sacred service of the Levites is described in detail. There are three divisions, the Gershonites, the Kohathites, the Merarites. The Gershonites, from a month old and upward, numbered 7,500; the Kohathites, 8,600; the Merarites, 6,200. Eleazar, son of Aaron, is prince of the princes of the Levites.

The office of the Kohathites is of peculiar sanctity, next to that of Aaron and his sons. They are not “cut off” or specially separated from among the Levites; {Num 4:18} but they have duties that require great care, and they must not venture to approach the most holy things till preparation has been made by the priests. The manner of that preparation is fully described. When order has been given for the setting forward of the camp, Aaron and his sons cover the ark of the covenant first with the veil of the screen, then with a covering of sealskin, and lastly with a cloth of blue; they also insert in the rings the long staves with which the ark is to be carried. Next the table of shewbread is covered with a blue cloth; the dishes, spoons, bowls, and cups are placed on the top, over them a scarlet cloth, and above that a sealskin covering; the staves of the table are also placed in readiness. The candlestick and its lamps and other appurtenances are wrapped up in like manner and put on a frame. Then the golden altar by itself, and the vessels used in the service of the sanctuary by themselves are covered with blue cloth and sealskin and made ready for carriage. Finally, the great altar is cleansed of ashes, covered up with purple cloth and sealskin, and its staves set in their rings. When all this is done the sons of Kohath may advance to bear the holy things, never touching them lest they die.

The question arises, why so great care is considered necessary that none but the priests should handle the furniture of the sanctuary. We have learned to think that a real religion should avoid secrecy, that everything connected with it should be done in the open light of day. Why, then, is the shrine of Jehovah guarded with such elaborate precaution? And the answer is that the idea of mystery appears here as absolutely needful, in order to maintain the solemn feelings of the people and their sense of the holiness of God. Not only because the Israelites were rude and earthly, but also because the whole system was symbolic, the holy things were kept from common sight. In this respect the worship described in these books of Moses resembled that of other nations of antiquity. The Egyptian temple had its innermost shrine where the arks of the gods were placed; and into that most holy place with its silver soil the priests alone went. But even Egyptian worship, with all its mystery, did not always conceal the arks and statues of the gods. When those gods were believed to be favourable, the arks were carried in procession, the images so far unveiled that they could be seen by the people. It was entirely different in the case of the sacred symbols and instruments of Hebrew worship, according to the ideal of the law. And the elaborate precautions are to be regarded as indicating the highest tidemark of symbolised sanctity. Jehovah was not like Egyptian or Assyrian or Phoenician gods. These might be represented by statues which the people could see. But everything used in His worship must be kept apart. The worship must be of faith; and the ark which was the great symbol must remain always invisible. The effect of this on the popular mind was complex, varying with the changing circumstances of the nation; and to trace it would be an interesting piece of study. It may be remembered that in the time of most ardent Judaism the want of the ark made no difference to the veneration in which the temple was held and the intense devotion of the people to their religion. The ark was used as a talisman in Elis time; in the temple erected after the captivity there was no ark; its place in the holy of holies was occupied by a stone.

The Gershonites had as their charge the screens and curtains of the tabernacle, or most holy place, and the tent of meeting or holy place, also the curtains of the court of the tabernacle. The boards, bars, pillars, and sockets of the tabernacle and of the court were to be entrusted to the Merarites.

In the whole careful ordering of the duties to be discharged by these Levites we see a figure of the service to be rendered to God and men in one aspect of it. Organisation, attention to details, and subordination of those who carry out schemes to the appointed officials, and of all, both inferior and superior, to law-these ideas are here fully represented. Assuming the incapacity of many for spontaneous effort, the principle that God is not a God of confusion but of order in the churches of the saints may be held to point to subordination of a similar kind even under Christianity. But the idea carried to its full limit, implies an inequality between men which the free spirit of Christianity will not admit. It is an honour for men to be connected with any spiritual enterprise, even as bearers of burdens. Those who take such a place may be spiritual men, thoughtful men, as intelligent and earnest as their official superiors. But the Levites, according to the law, were to be bearers of burdens, menials of the sanctuary from generation to generation. Here the parallel absolutely fails. No Christian, however cordially he may fill such a place for a time, is bound to it in perpetuity. His way is open to the highest duties and honours of a redeemed son of God. In a sense Judaism even did not prevent the spiritual advancement of any Levite, or any man. The priesthood was practically closed, but the office of the prophet, really higher than that of the priest, was not. From the routine work of the priesthood men like Jeremiah and Ezekiel were called by the Spirit of God to speak in the name of the Highest. The word of the Lord was put into their mouths. Elijah, who was apparently of the tribe of Manasseh, Amos and Daniel, who belonged to Judah, became prophets. The open door for the men of the tribes was into this calling. Neither in Israel nor in Christendom is priesthood the highest religious function. The great servants of God might well refuse it or throw aside its shackles.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary