Numbers 3

Numbers 3:1-4

Subdivision 2. (Numbers 3:1-51; Numbers 4:1-49.)The separation of the Levites to the service of the tent of meeting. The second subdivision shows us the separation of the Levites to their own peculiar service in connection with the tent of meeting, and details the service itself with special reference to the wilderness condition. The Levites are evidently in as distinct relation to the book of Numbers as the priests are to the book of Leviticus. The latter belong to the sanctuary when set up, and have their place in it as intercessors and as worshipers; the former guard it from without, or attend upon it in its traveling dress. They face outward, as the priests in their service face inward, -that is, Godward: and this is the essential distinction at all times between ministry and priesthood. It must be remembered that in Christianity God’s people are both; and not some of them, but all of them. “Ye are a holy priesthood” is said to all; and, in the prophetic wisdom of God, by him whom men have decreed to be the authoritative head of an exclusive priestly caste. Peter it is who is chosen of God to make this known to us (1 Peter 2:5): “Ye are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Here is the priestly attitude, the face Godward, although now the sacrifices are no longer propitiatory, Christ having offered Himself once for all for this; but “by Him” we are to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, -that is, the fruit of our lips, confessing His name.” And again we are exhorted, “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16.) Our altar is, then, now not the brazen altar, -the work there has been done; and we, having been accepted in the value of it, are introduced into the sanctuary itself, -to the golden altar, the vail also being rent, so that we are brought fully nigh to God. And as brought nigh, our lives are to be a thank-offering to Him, that which alone makes a life in its spirit Christian. Praise, intercession, all that in which we draw near to God is in its character thus priestly: the face is toward God. On the other hand, Levite service is from God and for God toward men; and this is ministry, which is nevertheless of the most diverse kind: not open ministry of the Word only, although in some sense indeed always that for when “without the Word” a woman wins her ungodly husband to the Lord, it is still by the Word as seen in its effect on her she does it, and she is truly more a minister of it in this than many a wordy preacher. All God’s saints are thus ministers: if the priesthood is not among us a special class, but all are priests, so the ministry is not with us a distinct class either, though there are distinct kinds of ministry. Nor is there in this way among saints a special class, holier by their office than are others; all are saints, and holy, not one secular and another sacred: a thought which degrades all ministry. They who are brought to God in the holiest by the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, His flesh, are as holy as any can be: to deny it is to put dishonor on the work of Christ. The children of Levi sprang, as we know, from the third son of Jacob, from whom came Aaron and Moses also, the double type of Christ. His name, “joined,” suits perfectly with the history of the tribe, in their first father joined to Simeon in deeds of violence, which brings upon them as chastisement the sentence, “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” But it is in result true blessing. Levi, in whom this is more fully accomplished than in Simeon, is only thereby more fully blessed. He is joined to the Lord, and the Lord becomes his portion, and if scattered in Israel, it is as a spiritual seed to bring forth fruit to God all over the land. Moses’ blessing in Deuteronomy speaks of their terrible proving at a time when, as we have seen, in the execution of divine judgment upon the idolaters, he “acknowledged not his brethren, and knew not his own children,” and of the result in the divine approval, “they shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, and Israel Thy law.” They are to teach the lesson who have learnt it; and so it ever is.

1. The first section gives their designation to the service, as the second gives us the service itself. God is sovereign in the choice of those who are to serve Him, which surely does not imply that the highest wisdom is not in the choice, but the contrary. All God’s attributes are manifested in His every act; most conspicuously, therefore, where He is most sovereign. (1) His call of them is here distinctly given, although there have been intimations of it before this. As we see already, that of the priests must have taken place first, as the calling of the Levites depends upon that of the priests. Communion and worship must precede and introduce to service, if this is to be real and effectual. (a) It begins with the “generations of Aaron and Moses,” the spiritual heads of the tribe, though only the name of Moses is given, as his children fall into their place as simple Levites. It is all the plainer on this account that it is as heads of the tribe they are brought in here. Typically, Christ as Priest and King is seen in relation to ministry, the fount and director of it. Aaron is first, because it depends above all upon mediation, is the fruit of this. Aaron, too, is the head of that priestly family which is typically our own. Here indeed we find terrible failure and the judgment of God, the first two sons cut off, and the third, Eleazar (the “help of God”), speaking in this way of that resurrection-power in which God acts when all human power is completely at an end.

Ithamar, (“where the palm-tree is,”) following Eleazar, seems to imply the uprightness and fruitfulness, constantly in Scripture associated with the palm-tree, like which the righteous flourish. (Psalms 92:12.) This, at least, is in the true order here not the less so that in the history we find that when (as in Eli) Ithamar’s descendants are exalted above Eleazar’s then there is mournful failure and collapse. Together and in due order Eleazar and Ithamar minister as priests in their father’s presence. (b) The Levites are now bidden to be brought near, and to be given to Aaron and his sons, to minister to him, and keep the charge of the vessels of the tabernacle: a weighty service, for which they need to be in dependence on the Priest. Indeed, to the service of the priests they are wholly given, ministry belonging to those who worship, and its first and most imperative duty is to guard and care for the holy things with which they have to do. The tabernacle vessels we know to set forth the truth of what Christ is in all His offices; and all ministry must watch over and preserve this. (c) But they are indeed Jehovah’s possession, sanctified to Him instead of the first-born which He had sanctified to Himself when He delivered them in Egypt. Those whom He delivers He claims, and only in being His can deliverance be realized. This is the joy of salvation, that we then belong to Him, and that He obtains in us that which He has sought. (2) Next, we have their numbering, in which also their divisions and relationships are made known to us. They are numbered from a month old and upward, as the first-born are, and for the same reason. If only men in their strength were to be redeemed or numbered, would it not appear as if God took “pleasure in the legs of a man”? (Psalms 147:10.) But it is the soul He values, and the soul of an infant is precious in His sight: His “delight” is “in the sons of men.” The sons of Levi are Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, and these three are the heads of eight families. “Gershon” means “exile;” his two sons are Libni, “white,” and Shimei, “my report:” names not difficult to unite into a meaning. For a true exile is indeed one conscious of exile, though it be but for a while, from the home of his heart; and it is from this spirit of strangership that springs power for purity and freedom from defilement; while the last name may speak naturally of what has in this case fullest value for him, the “report” of things not now seen. Correspondingly the Gershonites have charge of all that which in the tabernacle speaks of practical righteousness, whether in Christ or in His people, as the tabernacle itself, the tent and its covering, the hangings of the court, and what connects with these. He is occupied with what is subjective, as we say, and illustrates the anointed foot. His prince is Eliasaph, “God hath added,” a name we have had before in the prince of Gad, and near akin to Joseph. “Increase” is in the line of Gershon’s practical bent, and that “increase” is from God is a good reminder to those in this way who may be in danger of self-occupation, meaning, as it always does, self-confidence. These princes we have noticed to be always overcomers. He is the son of Lael, “of God,” or, “belonging to God,” a name which seems as if it welled out of the deep joy of a soul that had found here the secret of its strength and progress. Kohath comes next with his four sons, whose names (with his own) are much more difficult to read. His charge was the ark, the table, the lamp-stand, the altars, and the utensils belonging to all this, with the one linen article, which speaks, as we know well, of the humanity of Christ. Thus it is easy to see that typically the Kohathite ministry is objective; his occupation is with what is outside himself in Christ; the anointed ear is nearer his symbol than the anointed foot. His prince is beautifully Elitzaphan, “[whom] God hath hidden,” for here it is indeed in the presence of God, and in occupation with Christ, that self is lost. He is the son of Uzziel, the “power of God.” May we not take it as the realization of the apostle’s prayer (Ephesians 3:16-17) “that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”? What, then, of these first names, which after all are not uncertain in their meaning, but difficult in their application? “Kohath,” all are agreed, means “assembly.” He has indeed in his charge the ark, the centre of gathering. To lift up Christ as the One in whom, and as the fruit of His work, God reveals Himself to us, is to draw men, according to His assurance, unto Him. Here is indeed the glory of the Kohathite ministry: as when the Baptist out of the fullness of his heart, when looking upon Jesus as He walked, said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” and those who heard him speak left him to follow Jesus. Kohath’s first son is Amram, “people of the Exalted One,” a beautiful name, if we connect it with that gathering to Christ of which his own name seems to speak to us; while the next is Jitzhar, “oil,” the undoubted type of the Spirit as the Anointer; then we have Hebron, “union,” as some put it, “communion,” as we have elsewhere interpreted it; in either case, clearly the effect of the Spirit’s work; lastly, we find the father of Elitzaphan, Uzziel, “the power of God.” That these names run most naturally together, that they harmonize in a blessed presentation of the results of Kohathite ministry, is plain. Are they not the real significance of what must have significance if it be of God? Last of Levi’s three sons we find Merari, “bitter,” with his two sons, Mahli, “sick,” and Mushi, “yielding.” Strangest words of all are these in connection with Levi’s sons. These families have charge of the boards of the tabernacle and its bars, its pillars and sockets, and those of the court and the pegs and cords. Here it is evident that not so much Christ Himself as the people of the Lord occupy Merari. His is the anointed hand. His work is in the main what we may call ecclesiastical; and who that has engaged in this but has found the bitterness which expresses itself in Merari’s name? Little fitted would he be for ministry who could not feel it; and this we must believe to be the reason of a connection which seems strange enough, and yet expresses familiar experience. Think of how Paul’s epistles convey this to us from the full heart of a devotedness which went on, finding from men rather disappointment than recompense, -in his own words, “Though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved.” Mahli may express on the other hand the faintness that results from excessive labor; while Mushi may denote that spirit of forbearance and gentleness that, where the truth permits, can yield all else, -a spirit how necessary in just such relation as is here intimated to the Church of God! The lack of it is as fruitful a cause of trouble among saints as perhaps can be found. Merari’s captain is in striking, comforting contrast to these names, Zuriel, “my rock is God,” the son of Abihail, “the father of valor,” -the “virtue” of 2 Peter 1:1-21. It should be noted that Merari significantly encamps north of the tabernacle, Kohath to the south, Gershon to the west, while Moses, Aaron, and his sons encamp toward the east, filling thus Judah’s place in the inner circle. (3) We have next the numbering of the first-born, the sanctification of the Levites in their place, and the redemption of the overplus. We can add nothing of importance to what has been already said with regard to this. 2. We have now the service of the Levites and the numbering of those of age for service. The service here is what the book of the wilderness would naturally insist upon, the form of it that which was peculiar to the wilderness, or to the time when there was as yet no settled location for the ark of God, no place in which was Jehovah’s name. This service is the carriage of the holy things through the wilderness, the type for us of the presentation in the world, as we pass through it, of Christ and the heavenly truths of Christianity. These, it is true, are in their traveling dress, and as they are in themselves, in their innermost reality, faith alone can know them. Yet is this testimony of the highest possible value, counted so of God, who, if it be His good pleasure thus to go through the world, trusts Himself to the loving obedience of His people to bear Him through. It is a testimony with the lips as in the life, in the life as with the lips, the truth uttered never to be divorced from the truth embodied in practice. The former without the latter would be empty words; the latter without the former (if such a thing indeed were possible) an enigma never to be solved, a lost hieroglyph. The two together fulfill our Lord’s precept, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” This combined testimony alone places our good works in the light, in which when seen they glorify the Father. (1) This, then, is Levite service here. In the first part of this section the families of the tribe are put into their several places by God, He sovereign in His appointment as to it, every thing of course, therefore, in its place perfectly ordered, -Kohath with his precious vessels, Gershon with his fine linen, Merari with his boards and pillars. Service is gift, and therefore gift is the appointment to service, since the Giver can make no mistake. What an immense thing for the Church of God if it could rise up to this so simple truth, and every member of the body of Christ were to start out of the bands with which custom and tradition have enswathed him, into the healthful use of all the faculties and powers with which God has endued him! Does he question his title or responsibility to use any other faculties than spiritual ones? It would be thought strange indeed to do so. Here, and here alone, where the faculties are the highest, and the need for their exercise is the most urgent, here he questions. It must not be thought, however, that because God has apportioned to the Kohathites one charge, to the Gershonites another, and to the Merarites still another, that Christians are in a similar way divided into corresponding classes. It is true that each Christian has undoubtedly sonic character of gift, or some proportion of gifts, special to himself. But this is not represented, as we see easily, by the special charges here. On the contrary, every Christian is Kohathite, Gershonite, and Merarite all in one: the objective cannot be divorced from the subjective, nor either from the necessary outflow to others, without fatal consequences. (a) Kohath is another instance of which there have been so many, that the first-born naturally loses his place to another. Kohath is not the first-born of Levi, but Gershon is. Grace, not nature, rules. Let us look, then, at Kohath’s charge. Here first we have the ark, the throne of God in Israel, a throne typically of grace, the lid of the ark being the “propitiatory” or “mercy-seat,” on which once a year the precious blood was sprinkled. Yet the ark with its mercy-seat was Christ, for it is in Christ, and through His work, that God can take His place in gracious government over a redeemed people. But the ark is wrapped in a covering vail: it is Christ as known in the flesh that is here, though hiding within Himself all His heavenly glory. Outside of this is a sealskin covering, the impenetrable holiness of His character; and outside of this again a cloth wholly of blue, the heavenly color. Essentially, then, what we have is Christ in the grace of humanity, yet holy and heavenly, our redeemer and Lord. This implies on our part of course as a first principle obedience, and that the joyful obedience of the redeemed. Next to this is borne the table of show-bread: Christ again, as maintaining us in communion, for this entered into heaven, so that a cloth of blue immediately envelops the table upon which are the furniture of the table and the vessels of the drink-offering, with the continual bread itself. The bread is primarily for God, the presence-bread, though the food of the priests afterward, and thus communion is maintained according to the value of the position which we have in Christ, fruit of that corn of wheat which, that it might not abide alone, has fallen into the ground and died. This is emphasized by the crimson cloth which covers all, covered itself only with the sealskin covering, like that “it is most holy,” of the sin-offering. Next, the lamp-stand is covered like the table with a cloth of blue, for Christ as the maintainer of spiritual light is passed into the heavens. For the world it is hidden: it is night, and the sun is down; but upon us who are in the sanctuary it shines still through the night. Outside the lamp is wrapped again in the sealskin covering: what is most apparent is the holiness of the truth. Then we have, similarly covered with blue and sealskin, the altar of incense; and then the vessels of service. Then follows the altar of burnt-offering, covered with a purple cloth, for the Crucified is the One who reigns; and “if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” Thus typically it is with Christ in His relationship to God and to His people that Kohath is occupied, and this implies our place before God, communion with God, heavenly illumination, worship, and the way to glory by the cross. Practical in the highest way as all this is, the truth is yet essentially objective: it points the eye in the first place elsewhere than upon self, and than this very thing nothing can be more practical. Yet the testimony is that of God Himself, and not of man, though man may utter and re-utter it. We enter the heavens to be qualified for earth; we do not begin on earth, by and by to reach the heavens. Our simplest earthly duties require us to be conversant with things above. (b) Gershon has a charge very distinct from that of Kohath. His is all the fine linen, whether of the tabernacle or the court, except the vail, together with the coverings of skin, and what pertains to these. We have looked at them already severally as they came before us in the book of Exodus, and we see readily that they all speak of practical righteousness or character in some way. In the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle itself they speak of Christ; in the hangings of the court they speak of His people, but still in a similar way. We have already said that he illustrates the anointed foot; but this scarcely seems to agree with the numerical place which Scripture assigns to Gershon: we should naturally have given him a fourth place rather than a second. But Scripture is given to guide and correct our thoughts, not to be subject to them: it would be of no use to us whatever if it were. What, then, does the number point to with which is associated this second form of Levite service? The only possible thought seems that of separation, and as soon as we look a little carefully at Gershon here a certain connection begins to appear. First, his name -“exile” -speaks very simply of separation from the place to which he is native, typically for us heaven, and Gershon belongs by birth to Canaan, while his life afterward in Egypt justifies his name. Is not this, too, to be our character, “strangers,” as belonging to heaven, “partakers of the heavenly calling?” and does it not appeal to us as naturally following and dependent on that to which Kohath has introduced us? is not the heavenly objective truth, as just now said, the governing truth in this case, as it ought to be? Then we may observe that the curtains, coverings, and hangings with which Gershon has to do are in fact all lines of separation. They define the tabernacle itself, or mark off and separate the court from the wilderness around. They speak therefore, easily and without strain, of the boundary-lines of God’s special enclosure such as the Church is in the world. Scripture insists upon such a separation every where: it is not strange to find it insisted upon here; and it is an essential part of testimony surely, which, we have seen, this Levite service is. What need, too, of enforcement of what Satan and the world from the outside, in league with the flesh within us, unite to break through and, if possible, destroy! Frail enough too for a wall these linen curtains look! That which is of God is constantly exposed to the contempt of unbelief; and this unbelief the event for long often seems to justify. To-day, the Church itself thinks little of separation; and yet he who holds by the Word of God will find the reckoning of eternity to be on his side. Gershon’s separation is not an imaginary one. It is not an air-line, but one maintained, as these linen hangings suggest, by practical righteousness. How much, in fact, depends upon it! If God cannot walk with the world, my walking with Him requires as its first necessity separation from it: what righteousness can there be apart from a walk with Him? There can at least be no right or Christian measure, The grace and peace which the apostle prays may be to us are “from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” (Galatians 1:3-4.) The cross of Christ is that by which the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world; and for this he who wrote thus gloried in it. (Galatians 6:14.) If times are changed, the cross of Christ at least has not, and those who “mind earthly things” are by that fact “enemies of the cross of Christ.” (Philippians 3:18-19.) (c) We come now to Merari’s charge: after the testimony of separation follows that of union; for this is surely what the tabernacle frame-work suggests, -the boards, bars, pillars, and sockets, made for each other, and which Merari himself joined together wherever they encamped. The boards thus united speak of the Church, builded together for a habitation of God in spirit," (Ephesians 2:22) -that is, a spiritual habitation corresponding to the material one which is here before us. The place of Merari in this way has been already indicated, and in so brief an outline as alone is possible to us now, there remains little to be added. Only we may note that while Kohath’s charge is under the oversight of Aaron’s son Eleazar, those of Gershon and Merari both fall under that of Ithamar. Eleazar, the third son, and whose name signifies “the help of God,” naturally reminds us of resurrection-power, and in that way of the position into which the Risen Priest introduces us. The Kohathite ministry depends upon this new place which Christ has taken for us. Ithamar is the fourth son, and his name signifies “where the palm is.” Practical walk (for the righteous is compared to the palm-tree) is easily read in him, and thus his connection is clearly with Gershon and Merari. (2) Now comes the numbering of the Levites who are of age for service. Every one such finds his place in this reckoning. He enters it at thirty, the age of realized capacity (3 x 10); he leaves it, in its wilderness-form, at fifty, or typically only when the creature stands before his God in the day of account (5 x 10). As to the numbers of the respective families, one can only confess that lack of proper diligence is the reason of being able to say nothing of them. Assuredly there is meaning in it all worthy of Him who has inspired it; and those who seek in faith and humility, here as elsewhere, shall find.