THE WILL OF GOD IN THE WILDERNESS
[p. 476] THE WILL OF GOD IN THE WILDERNESS
Numbers 1:1 - 21; Numbers 1:44 - 54
JT My thought in taking up the book of Numbers was to confine remarks to the early chapters, those having to do with the order of march or encampment and the service of the Levites, so that our enquiry need not go beyond chapter 4, possibly looking at chapter 8. I have seen the need of calling attention to the wilderness as that in which the will of God is specially asserted, the will of God not as it is seen in Ephesians where we have the counsel of His will and the mystery of His will and the good pleasure of His will, but what His will is in our circumstances. Even though it may seem contrary, whatever seems to be His will in our circumstances is to be accepted, involving geographical position, for the New Testament contemplates the will of God involving geographical position.
WJC Is it the will of God relating to the testimony that we get in Numbers?
JT Yes, that is the idea, so that what is stressed is the wilderness. You will notice the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness in the tent of meeting. That is what is stressed at the outset, as though God were saying, I know where you are, and I am taking account of it, of the position and surroundings. We are impressed at the outset with His interest, a perfect knowledge of where we are. In that given position I am serving the testimony.
WB-w In a geographical position, do you mean collectively or individually?
JT Both. I am assigned a position. We have, for instance, “to you that are at Rome”, “the assemblies of Galatia” and “to the assemblies of Judaea”, “the assembly of God which is in Corinth”,
“[p. 477] I have much people in this city”, and many other such statements that show that the divine mind involves geographical position.
JS Are you viewing the wilderness of Sinai in a relative way?
JT Yes, it is a place of demand.
ANW You do not mean by circumstances the present, do you?
JT No, rather geographically.
ANW So that when the Emperor ordered the Jews to leave Rome, Aquila and Priscilla obeyed.
JT The epistle to the Romans contemplates them far away from the land of their birth. Aquila’s birthplace was apparently far to the east and yet he was in Rome, then he was in Corinth and in Ephesus.
JS Would that be true of Peter writing to the Jews in dispersion?
WB-w Paul having found certain Jews named Aquila and Priscilla, found them in the testimony at Corinth.
JT If the emperor is to command the Jews to leave Rome, they have to leave. They have to serve the testimony.
WB-w It is God’s will that enters into it, not my will.
JT God was speaking in the wilderness of Sinai, one of the worst kinds of a wilderness, but one in which God’s will is asserted. I may move to a place for personal reasons, whereas the will of God requires that I stay where it seems to place me and I serve there, even though it be an outpost. An outpost is an important position. There may not be a meeting for hundreds of miles, but if it is the will of God, it is where I am to stay.
JS If I place myself there, it is another matter.
WJC You would say that the will of God in relation to His testimony can be maintained and [p. 478] carried out no matter what the conditions may be that I find myself in.
JT For instance, the man at Decapolis, the demoniac that had been, desired to go back to the other side, to Galilee. Doubtless he calculated that he would have more spiritual enjoyment with the Lord.
ANW Take a brother sixty miles away from the meeting who gets to the meeting once a fortnight, would you suggest that he gets closer?
JT That is another matter. Little could be said about that except the circumstances were understood.
ANW I have a case in mind in which the circumstances are beyond the man’s control.
JT If the circumstances are unavoidable, the Lord may open up something.
JS If he is there as an outpost, all is well.
JT That is what I meant.
WB-w If he leaves, the Philistines may take the post.
JT That is what often happens. The man at Decapolis rightly calculated that he would have more spiritual enjoyment in the Lord’s company than he could have in Decapolis. Doubtless he would have preferred to go with the Lord to the other side of the lake, but the Lord says, “Go home to thy friends”, Mark 5: 19. He had no one there but himself. That illustrates what we have in Numbers, that the position is to be held, even if I am alone. There is nothing further said about the man, whether a meeting was formed there or not. There is one thought set out, that he is there at the Lord’s will and his being there is resultant in good.
JS Nevertheless, as set up in the testimony, he would be found there.
AAT Is John in Patmos a case in point?
JT We see that he was there for the will of God, although I suppose as a prisoner, it is not likely [p. 479] that he could alter the circumstances. He was there for the will of God, and we see in Revelation what was the outcome of it.
AAT He was alone geographically.
WB-w That man in Decapolis showed what great things God had done for him and God may open a meeting for him.
JT The Lord must have had some big thing in view. We can conjecture that there would be something formed for God there.
Ques Would the maid in 2 Kings 5 be a suggestion of one in circumstances that were quite out of keeping with what was proper to her, but who was recognising the will of God and carrying the light of God with her? I wondered if she would represent what one person may do as isolated but faithful.
AAT Is there a difference between the government of God and the will of God?
JT Yes, the government involves administration, but it is to carry out His will, bringing into action elements that make His will seem good and right and acceptable to you.
JS So what is governmental would make room for the testimony.
JT The speaking was in the wilderness, as though God would say, I know exactly where you are and I want to speak to you there.
AAT Is there anything in speaking and not commanding?
JT Yes, speaking is communications. There was speaking at the beginning. God says, I will speak to you where you are.
JS Do you feel that is worthy of note at the present time?
JT I think it is, because God’s way is to disperse. The dispersion was under God’s government, then there was writing to them. They were not to come back to the point from which they were dispersed,
[p. 480] but to stay there and to get the word there. The dispersion was to universalise the testimony. Every land was to have something, and it was for those who had the light to accept the governmental ordering as in Moses’ case. He was content to dwell in Midian, and what a wonderful result there was! So that the speaking follows the dispersion. You get the great European systems spreading abroad. That is what Japheth means — enlargement, with a view to the present character of the testimony that, instead of being centralised, is spreading abroad; there is centralisation, of course, but in heaven. Heaven can be the centre of any spot on the earth. European systems have lent themselves to spreading abroad. The maritime conditions afforded that under God, spreading abroad, and then colonisation followed by speaking as in Philippi, which was a colony. There was speaking there.
JS How would you view the call from the man, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us”?
JT It is not simply, ‘Come over to this town’, but “Come over into Macedonia”.
ANW Acts 8 speaks of them being scattered everywhere. It says, “Except the apostles”. With the scattering there is a central point which would answer to “except the apostles”.
JT Jerusalem still had a central importance. Peter and John were sent out from there. The scattering abroad served to spread the testimony. A large proportion of the meeting of Rome was formed of persons who had migrated from the east, and the apostle salutes them there.
WB-w Would these twelve men called sons represent those who would support a movement of this kind?
JT Yes, I think they represent the formation of moral weight and influence among the saints who direct all this. They are princes, men, as it says,
“expressed by their names”. The use of the word “names” in this chapter means persons who have acquired a place. When things were to be done, they were the sons in Israel. That is a great element that the Lord calls upon when anything of importance goes on. Sometimes we get circumstances amongst us which are of unusual interest and the idea expressed by these twelve men is ignored. Persons with no experience assume to know better than those who knew about them. It is the want of subjection to what there is as expressed in these twelve men.
WB-w It would be a serious thing to ignore what any of these twelve men suggest.
DrMcA They would speak with the whole assembly of Israel as set together.
JT They were the summoned in Israel, those whom Moses could always send for in any matter to be adjusted or done.
AP-t How would you apply this today?
JT When matters of importance come up amongst us, let us look around and pay attention to those whom God has fitted to deal with such, because God takes account of them.
RM Does the moral state enter into this?
JT It is said of them: “With you there shall be a man for every tribe, a man who is the head of his father’s house” (verse 4). He is known to be the head of his father’s house. Then they are called “These were those summoned” (verse 16). The note says, ‘That is, those who were habitually called to undertake the matters of the assembly’; so it is said, “These were those summoned of the assembly, princes of the tribes of their fathers, the heads of the thousands of Israel”. That is what they were. Moses did not make them that at this time.
GM You would say they were addicted to the service of the [p. 482] saints.
JT That is a good remark. That is in 1 Corinthians 16: 15, “I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the saints for service,) that ye should also be subject to such, and to every one joined in the work and labouring”. That is the idea exactly. That man would be summoned at Corinth if anything came up. The Lord would indicate that Stephanas would be a man to pay attention to.
WB-w It is open for each one of us to develop from the father’s house to the heads of the house of Israel?
JT That is the normal development. That is what we look for in the assembly. There will be those whom the Lord can call upon to lead in matters.
WJC What is the idea of being head of his father’s house? It is not his own house.
JT That is illustrated in Gideon. It was not given to him formally. He is called a mighty man of valour: he threw down the altar of Baal. His father did not say ‘Nay’ to him.
FW They were men that had credentials; some thing definite is said about them. It is important to note that they had certain features. They were not everyday men: they were military men and heads of their father’s houses. These are two important features. They carried weight with them.
JT They were men of moral weight. How they came into it is another matter. They had been at the foot of Sinai: they had seen remarkable things. They had gained by what was going on. These men had a wonderful advantage as everyone in Israel had. These men had profited by it.
SMcC Does Deborah recognise this when she says, “the people willingly offered themselves”?
JT The leaders that led were examples, and others were encouraged to follow.
AL These are called “princes of the tribes of their fathers”. As such, they had acquired power with God like Jacob.
JT That is what the word “Israel” means. Jacob had become a prince by having power with God and men.
WB-w Gideon would illustrate one who developed by overthrowing an idol in his father’s house.
AAT Is the tribe feature emphasised rather than the family feature?
JT That is the tribe thought; that is on the breastplate. The order here is “all that go forth to military service in Israel”; and then, “with you there shall be a man for every tribe”. I suppose they were such as went forth to war in Israel, not men that quarrelled with one another.
JS Does God thus take account of their position geographically in a military way?
JT That is right. That is what we see in chapter 2. We see how they were arranged in four threes — Judah and his two on the east of the tabernacle, Reuben and his two on the south, Ephraim and his two on the west, and Dan and his two on the north. Their positions are assigned geographically. Chapter 1 brings out the levitical side, the individuals who form these groups. We have first individuals, then tribes, then the total number, and then in chapter 2 the full thought.
JS So that it would be very encouraging for the young to see that God has something definite for everyone in view of the movement of the testimony in a military sense.
JT “All that go forth for military service in Israel” — not that shall go forth. It is not the children of a christian that are in view. They are not numbered because they are children of christian parents: they are numbered because they go forth to war in Israel, meaning that they begin to confess [p. 484] Christ openly. That is when you begin to go forth to war in Israel.
WB-w They are numbered “according to their hosts”. It is the military idea.
RK It is twenty years for military service but thirty years for priestly.
JT There is no age given for the priests; thirty years is the age for levitical service.
GMcP What feature would this service take on? Is it defensive service?
JT They are already marked off because they are soldiers. The thing is there already before he calls it by name. Those are the ones that are numbered. If we have not gone forth, we cannot be numbered. I think that is important because every young brother and sister here will see that it applies to him or her, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ.
GMcP “All that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”, 1 Corinthians 1: 2.
JT They are all in military service. 1 Corinthians contemplates that.
RM Why is it the second year that the numbering takes place and not at the beginning?
JT I think they had opportunity to qualify here. The military were there, but it is a question of numbering them now. They did not have the tabernacle the first year: things were not ordered, although they went out of Egypt in rank, but after the first year they had the tabernacle. God is there now, dwelling, and what am I going to do about this? What have I been doing during the year the tabernacle was being constructed?
WB-w At the beginning of the first year they came under the shelter of the blood, but the second year was another experience.
JT They went out in military array, but there is [p. 485] no regular order given, no central position, no tabernacle until after their first year.
JB Does the military service come in in 2 Timothy 2 where Paul speaks of the soldier?
JT There you are already taken account of. You are known to be a soldier, but the point is to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
JB I was thinking of verse 3; as being there, going forth.
JT He does not entangle himself with the affairs of this world. In 2 Timothy he is called upon to bear arms and go actually into war.
DrMcA Say more about the first year before the ark was set up. How is the development of my soul connected with that first year?
JT See what happened in Exodus 19 and 20, and so on, and take account of what actually happened before your eyes. What use have you made of all that? Where have you been in regard to all that? Have you been a mere curious bystander, or are you taking it in and being formed by it? It was a great learning time in Israel. They were before the mount. It was the place of provision. One would be set to see what was provided.
DrMcA So that at the end of the year and the month, God puts His approval upon it.
JT Young man or woman of twenty, are you to be numbered? Why am I not numbered? If I do not go forth to war, I am the loser.
EP Does the thought of numbering involve the thought of relation with others, and so in 2 Timothy 2: 22 it is “those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”?
JT That is what is in view in 1 Corinthians.
WB-w In Exodus 14 they go forward.
JT That was like a military command.
ANW It would be well if you said a little about the “service in Israel”. We imagine we are individuals rather than belonging to a great system.
JT I think it is well for every young brother and sister to ask themselves whether the word goes round, and the officer or messenger comes to my tent-door and passes by. He will if I am not one that goes forth to war in Israel.
JS No compulsory service here.
JT They are taken on because they are already in the thing.
WB-w Does “going forth” involve coming into fellowship?
DrMcA There are many that come into fellowship and do not go forth into war afterwards.
ANW All they view is a small group in a locality. It is a great central unit we have before us.
DrMcA I was wondering if the tribe was worked out in the local meeting but always in view of the central unit, which the twelve represent.
JT Each of the four groups would ordinarily understand where the others were. I would know where Judah was, where Reuben was, where Ephraim was and where Dan was. I would be in the know of things.
WB-w I have the whole six hundred thousand before me. I might be taken up with the small number in the locality, but I should have the whole six hundred thousand before my soul.
JT Why should the number be given if I am not to have them in my mind? They are scattered figuratively here in every place according to chapter 2. They are in every place where they call on the name of the Lord, both theirs and ours; their Lord and our Lord.
JS So that the aggregate number is given to encourage us.
JT In Exodus 20: 6 we have “thousands of them that love me”, not the thousands of them that ought to love [p. 487] Me.
GH Is there a difference between this conflict here and that in the book of Joshua?
JT There it is a question of the inheritance. In the wilderness we do not have the inheritance. We are exposed to unknown foes.
RK Would the blind man in John 9 be a good example of a soldier?
JT Yes, he is a good example of a man that goes forth to war in Israel.
EP What does the conflict involve? Does it mean that the authority of God is challenged?
JT It is the kingdom, and corresponds very much with Romans. All that is there in the tabernacle was to be defended. Every Israelite would realise that the ark was there, and that it was precious and had to be defended. We have no definite nationalities. There are seven nations in the land of Canaan, but we have no such thing in the wilderness, yet we have to be vigilant. “What I say to you, I say to all, Watch”, Mark 13: 37.
JS It might be internal trouble.
JH What is the thought in verse 17 where it speaks of the men by their names? Is it that they make no attempt to gather the assembly of God together without these men?
JT In verse 4 it is, “with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers”. It was obligatory on Moses and Aaron to have that person. You notice the word “expressed by their names”. It is not simply known or identified by their names. What the men are is expressed in their names. If any one of these men was mentioned in Israel, everyone would understand what was meant.
JS Men of moral weight.
GMcP Do you think Barnabas was expressed in his name?
JT Everyone would think of what was in Barnabas.
[p. 488] Ques Does the epistle to the Romans bring out men of twenty years of age, corresponding to chapter 1 here; and perhaps Corinthians would correspond with chapter 2?
JT I think Romans brings out men of thirty years of age.
Rem I was thinking of chapter 12 on to the end where you get a list of persons that are judged by this feature, that are judged by their names. He speaks by name of those that he commends in chapter 16.
ANW When you link Numbers with Romans, have you not in mind the chapters on from the twelfth?
Rem Yes.
JT The persons are already there and known to be there. I think it involves the teaching in Romans, the kind of man seen in chapter 12.
JS Would you not require the whole epistle to set up a good Roman soldier? You need the whole of it to govern you.
JT Yes. It is remarkable how the body of the believer is mentioned in Romans — a man’s size, age and weight — all these are in view if he is to be in the army. Romans takes great account of a person’s body. Those of twenty years of age are fully developed physically.
DrMcA Would Romans 12 correspond with the year and the month?
JT Quite so. They are called upon to present their bodies. The bodies are under control and are to be presented to God.
JH What is the object in bringing in the princes?
JT It is leadership. In that way God maintains the unity of the Spirit and of the faith. No local company develops much that has not a leader.
AL Would these qualifications that a young [p. 489] believer gets in Romans be gained during the first year after he leaves Egypt?
JT Yes.
AL You do not expect a person to serve immediately after he comes into fellowship?
JT He is under the rule of grace. God develops the youthful side. “God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines”, so that they might come under the rule of grace. It is coming under the rule of grace that fits you to be a military man.
GMcP The features of Exodus 21 qualify for service, do they not? “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”.
JT That is where you see the Hebrew servant set out as a model.
WB-w The failures in the beginning of Exodus are passed over.
JT Yes. They are all passed over to encourage the young. Later murmuring is taken account of, because they had grown up into manhood and are supposed to have put away childish things.
JS Would Romans 8: 14 bring to light the princes? “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”.
JT That is abstract. It involves that the concrete is not manifest yet, but it is there.
AP-t There is no age limit given here — twenty years and upward — as long as they have ability to serve.
JT So long as they are able to go forth.
GH The convert is expected to accept the will of God from the outset.
JT That is right. God is very gracious. Grace reigns.
SMcC Should you only qualify for rule in the measure in which you have been established in grace? Grace enables you to rule yourself. “Sin shall not have dominion over you”. It is the reign of grace.
JS Grace breaks down the activities of our own will.
JT It would be very interesting if we knew the history of those twelve men as to what they had learned. It would be interesting to learn what God had been teaching them. The history is secret. You go into your closet and pray to your Father in secret. That is not for the public but it shows itself in what I am in public.
EP Moses had a secret history; and it says, “these are the names of the men that shall stand with you” in verse 5.
AP-t Twelve men named by the Lord Himself.
JT He knew them. That is a comforting thing, that God knows them. In the beginning of Exodus, He says, “I know that he can speak well”. God knows His man and there is no use in us trying to put anyone forward. In the service it is a question of God operating.
GM Would you say that in every little company God has His eye on the leader, and that we lack spirituality if we do not see that one? We should support that leader when we see him.
JT If he is the one, he is the one, and God knows it. We do not make him: God makes him.
Rem God orders in connection with those who are to be marked by these princely features in the assembly.
JT They are “made in secret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth”, Psalm 139: 15. He makes His people in secret, “under the shadow of his hand” (Isaiah 49: 2), hidden there. You are never told until a crisis that a man was there. God had him there.
Rem We would make way for spiritual ministry such as digging the wells.
JT You see how they shine in this book, digging [p. 491] the wells, etc. They are men that make room for things. They take pleasure in others going forward.
They make room for the Spirit. The princes dig the wells.
AAT Were the princes not official, an official set of men as expressed by their names?
JT They are now, but they had the place before.
They were this. It is a man who is head; he is that already.
JS They gain their moral degrees before they are officially nominated.
N What is the thought of declaring their pedigree?
JT To make sure that you are the right man. You have heavenly links away back. Every one of these is proved to be genuine. You say, That is a genuine young brother or sister. You see it in the way she looks after herself. She is not given to conforming herself to this world.
MCO As Paul says, “ye know the proof of him”.
N You referred to the word “expressed” being used, but here it is “declared”.
JT There can be no question about it that I am genuine. I am not a false professor. The pedigree is of every military person “according to their fathers’ houses, by the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, according to their polls. As Jehovah had commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai”. I wish the brethren would take account of that. They are spoken to there; they are numbered there. They are numbered in that wilderness of wildernesses.
JS Did the leaders in Corinth fail to declare their pedigree? They assumed their leadership without moral qualifications.
JT They were false, false apostles. Stephanas is not mentioned among [p. 492] the leaders.
AAT What position today corresponds to the wilderness of Sinai?
JT The world, as you are just converted. Everything in it that was pleasure to you before has to be regarded as evil. That is the reason why I say Sinai is such a wilderness. It is the first place where they stay.
AAT They are sobered in connection with that.
JT It must have been extremely monotonous as regards surroundings.
AP The house of Chloe would be Sinai, spiritually speaking.
JT Stephanas represents the kind of thing that is expressed in these names.
WB-w Moral precedes the official.
JT Yes. The tabernacle was being constructed during the first year, so that it was there in principle but not yet set up. This chapter contemplates it as set up. God is speaking in it.
G It is very encouraging that God is speaking out of the tabernacle in the wilderness where we have these princes, men that have the interest of God at heart and can take hold of any situation that arises; they are the men that are to number the children of Israel. They are the brethren you would look for.
JT It is very touching that there is a speaking to you in your actual circumstances, God knowing them well. He speaks to you there. One does not have to leave any divinely given position. The Lord speaks there. You are being built up a spiritual house.
SMcC It says the ark went before them to seek out a resting place. That would give me peace in my soul when I am in a place that God has placed me in.
JT That is additional. That is excess in the wilderness because the ark as placed properly is placed in the centre of the camp. In spite of that, it [p. 493] goes before them. He does for us “exceedingly above all which we ask or think”, Ephesians 3: 20. The Lord goes before.
DrRS As to the Lord speaking where one is, I was thinking of Moses in those uncongenial circumstances with the sheep, and yet God speaks to him in that wonderful way.
JT That illustrates it wonderfully, strikingly. He “was content to dwell with the man”, Exodus 2: 21. He kept his father-in-law’s sheep without wages. He led them to Horeb. That is how he was led and then he gets a communication from the Lord.
RK What is the difference between Sinai and Horeb?
JT Horeb is more the grace side, less exacting than Sinai. The feature of Sinai is that God made Himself felt there; as we are told in Hebrews 12, even Moses shuddered at it. There is nothing of the flesh before Sinai.
Rem We need to be at Sinai for a while.
JT I think Sinai is the great forming place; what God is. We are under grace, but yet in that chapter (Hebrews 12), “Our God is a consuming fire”.
DrMcA Is that why Paul went to Arabia?
JT Yes, I think so.
ANW It is interesting that Aaron should be associated with Moses in this chapter, verse 3, “Ye shall number them according to their hosts, thou and Aaron”. In view of the wilderness condition there is the grace of the priesthood. It is not exactly like Exodus.
WB-w And in verse 44, “These are those that were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, the twelve men”.
JT “Each one was for the house of his fathers”. These twelve men are never lost sight of in this section.
WB-w Did you want to go on with [p. 494] the Levites and the place they had? The Levites seem to have an inner place.
JT You have the whole setting in this chapter, to be opened up more fully later. We are not to take on levitical service as military men. The military are kept distinct. That is why the military are brought in in this chapter. They are brought in here to bring out the full position. They are not to be Levites as military men. We have to view ourselves in a different light.
ANW To carry is one attitude, but to defend and protect is another.
JT There are so many more military men, six hundred thousand of them, but only twenty-two thousand Levites. That shows you that the levitical idea is greatly refined. They are the same persons, but reduced by refinement. It is one thing to confess the Lord outside and another to serve Him in the inner sanctuary. “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet”.
GMcP Paul speaks of the “holy apostles and prophets”.
JT We are holy brethren.
RM The Levites are not to be merged with the military. Is that why they are not numbered at this time?
JT It is just to bring out the full position. We might assume that a military man could draw near to God. David could not build the temple as being a military man. The Levites represent the firstborn. It is ourselves only reduced by refinement, brought down to a smaller number by spiritual refinement. The age is thirty to fifty instead of twenty.
WB-w There is greater responsibility attached to the Levites.
JT Obviously. What we see now is the bearing of the military thought on the levitical, so that it says, “The Levites after the tribe of their fathers ...”
([p. 495] verse 47 to the end of the chapter). It is a very excellent chapter for us as in the wilderness. The example is that they did as they were commanded to do. The position of the Levites is made very clear so that the military might not assume to do anything in the sanctuary.
GH Why are there no Levites on the east?
JT It is too sacred. Moses and Aaron are given that position. You get that in chapter 3: 38, “And those who encamped before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrising, were Moses, and Aaron and his sons, who kept the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh near shall be put to death”. The position at the tent-door is assigned to them. That was purely for the priests, entirely for the priests.
DrMcA Would this large number of the men of war and the small number of the Levites indicate how few there are amongst us who really know God well enough to take care of His own particular things?
JT It might indicate that. It is more likely to point out that side of you that is to be brought down to smaller proportions. It is reduction by refining, so that as a matter of fact you are brought down to three priests, Aaron and his two sons. We are brought down to what is very small, but it is the excellent quality of the priesthood.
WB-w You have to begin earlier on levitical lines. They are numbered from a month old and upward.
JT You are taken account of from the time formation begins. You begin to use your senses, your eyes, your ears, your tongue, etc. God says in spite of that you are not to do anything until you are thirty years of age, so you will see the refining. I think that one month of the Levite corresponds with twenty years of the military man. It is really refining [p. 496] reduction that is in view. God would impress us with what is necessary for service.
DrMcA Everyone born in a christian household could take account of himself as set apart for service.
JT A month-old Levite is a christian, but just beginning to use his senses.
N Is that why Barnabas was sent with Saul in Acts?
JT They were fully developed Levites now.
N Would you help us in relation to that? It says John also ministered to them. What phase would that have in the service?
JT He would be a sort of apprentice. That makes room for another thing. Later on in this book the Levite went into service at twenty-five. John Mark was to write his gospel which was the guide-book for all levites. He would take account of all these features. He broke down, but he was restored.
N The apostle told Timothy that he knew his manner of life.
WB-w He discerns between good and evil, and he takes hold of the good and refuses the evil.
JT A child begins to look around, begins to use his senses.
WB-w He begins to have a spiritual touch about him.
G Jesus Himself began when He was about thirty years of age.
JT Yes, that is full consciousness.