LEVITICAL SERVICE
LEVITICAL SERVICE
I think that when God numbers His people He indicates that He is taking account of them in connection with some given relation. It is a wonderful thing to be taken account of by God. “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee”. John 1:48. God takes account of us in our need, so as to relieve us, Exodus 3; but after we are delivered from Egypt and brought to God, we are regarded in another connection, i.e., in relation to the testimony. In chapter 1 the whole congregation is numbered save the Levites: and in chapter 2 each tribe is assigned a divinely given place in relation to the tabernacle.
Moses and Aaron combined represent authority and spiritual discernment. These are perfectly combined in Christ. The heads of the tribes would suggest certain responsibility in leadership among the saints. These things all appear in antitype in the early chapters of Acts.
Eligibility for a place in the ranks involved two requirements — pedigree and a certain age, Numbers 1:18. Had these things been sedulously attended to in the church so many “false brethren” would not have been “brought in unawares”. Galatians 2:4. At the outset, there was discrimination, as to those who should be recognised as in the fellowship. Peter said to Simon Magus, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter”. Acts 8:21. In this chapter God is taking account of His people, and placing them in relation to His own interests. Pedigree refers, I judge, to genuineness; it is not a question, as in the case of Aaron’s sons, of being derived from a certain parent-stock.
“Twenty years old” being the age of manhood, would refer to the believer as possessing the Spirit. Possessing the Spirit in a normal way, we give up “childish things”. Thus are we accounted of by God, and placed in the ranks of His warriors, so as to maintain and defend His testimony. This is to be learnt by the believer after he has believed on Christ and received the Holy Ghost. It is of the very greatest importance that we should learn this lesson, and, as having learnt it, to regard ourselves as not only taken up for blessing, but as placed down here in relation to the testimony of God.
The next consideration is the position we are to occupy. This is a further lesson, but quite as important as the first. Chapter 2 deals with this subject. “Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father’s house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch”, Numbers 2:2. Each one has to discover his given place, and he has to occupy that place, otherwise he is disregarding the Lord’s arrangements. The place may seem uncongenial, and our neighbours may not be desirable, but nevertheless we must abide there. We have, of course, to get the Lord’s mind as to it; assured of this, no other considerations must be allowed any place. I am not making much of the locality: the point is to discover the Lord’s mind as to your path, and not to deviate from it. According to this chapter the Israelite had no choice. It is here the defectiveness of the ‘popular gospel’ is most manifest; it does not carry with it the thought of God’s testimony, and that the convert is henceforth to be identified with it. The tabernacle prefigures the testimony really, it sets forth what is in God’s mind in regard to the whole universe. It is not a question of work here, that is Levitical, and comes in later; evidently we cannot take the testimony up until we discover our place. You have to find out from the Lord what your place is; this will be a secret between Him and you. The Lord is jealous as to His own rights, and the ordering of our position is entirely with Him. “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” John 21:22.
If these things were admitted by Christians generally, there would be a break-up in Christendom. People would see that the testimony is utterly at variance with human organisations, and hence, that in order to be in relation to the former, positions in the latter must be abandoned. Independency, too, is struck at the root, for the Lord’s authority is involved in this side of the truth; therefore our wills and predilections have to be surrendered.
In chapter 3 the Levites, as a class, are claimed by God as His. God asserts His redemption rights over His people. All believers are included, and they are numbered without regard to spiritual growth or capacity — “from a month old and upward”. So far it is not the service of the Levites in detail that is in view: service from their side begins in chapter 8. In this section of the book we have the ordering of things from the divine side. “These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses”. Numbers 3:1. Moses’ sons are not mentioned. They were simply Levites, while here the object is to identify the priesthood, those to whom the Levites were to be given. The Levites are given to Aaron first, verse 6, and then to Aaron and his sons, verse 9. Christ and the saints viewed as priests are ministered to by the Levites. But the first great lesson to learn in connection with service, is God’s right to us on the ground of redemption.
It is not a question of what you are to do, but that you recognise God’s right to hold you for His service. It is not right to set young converts to work at once; no one would set a child of a month old to work, but God would impress all with His claim over them, and that He holds them for His service. The actual work you are to do will be indicated to you in due time. For this, the believer must not only have the Spirit, but he must be formed by the Spirit; he must,
[p. 13] as in the type, be not only twenty, but thirty years old. Service requires mature manhood. The Lord, in time, will give you something to do, and also grace to do it; and then woe to you if you do not fulfil your mission. Levitical service is not voluntary, it is conscriptional; “necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel!” 1 Corinthians 9:16.
In Numbers the word that indicates the character of Levitical service is bear. The priests typify the saints in their spiritual capacity, as ministering in the immediate presence of God in connection with divine things; the congregation, or tribes, represent us as identified publicly with the claims of Christ — His standard; but the Levites prefigure those who bear the burden and drudgery involved in the maintenance of the testimony in this world. In 2 Corinthians 11 the apostle is forced, on account of the state of matters at Corinth, to speak of his experience as a servant. “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches”. 2 Corinthians 11:28. Paul was an exemplary Levite! He bore the saints of God in his heart. Levitical service is not limited to brothers; it is seen in the Scriptures in sisters as well. Phoebe was a “servant of the church”, Romans 16:1, and Paul speaks of “women which laboured with me in the gospel”, Philippians 4:3. There are many sisters now who are bearing things in prayer before God, and power and blessing in public ministry are, no doubt, often the fruit of this.
Although Levitical service is obligatory on all, yet it is carried out in love. The Levite is entirely dependent upon the priest for his work. The priest is the believer, viewed as having the Spirit, as spiritual, and so capable of understanding the mind of God; he sees what is needed to be done, and thus, as Levite, he, the same person, undertakes to do the work. As one of the congregation, the believer is viewed in his every-day circumstances; but here he [p. 14] is identified with the standard of Christ, so to speak, and this will bring him into reproach and conflict. But the common circumstances of the wilderness path involve exercises, which enhance spiritual growth: thus, in a sense, priesthood is sustained by the members of the congregation, or common people, and, in turn, the priests augment Levitical service. You cannot have Levitical service apart from the priestly state. Ministers who have not a secular occupation are in some respects at a disadvantage; not being in practical contact with the world without, they miss the exercises connected therewith, which, as we said, tend to promote spiritual growth. As things are at present, servants are thrown almost entirely either with their own families or with the saints, and these do not constitute the wilderness. Still, entire occupation in the things of Christ is sanctioned by the Lord, and if the responsibility of such a position is fully accepted, there will be abundant cause for that exercise by which priestly growth is promoted, and this will make up for the loss of the experiences which are normal to the common person.
In chapter 4 the actual work of each family of the Levites is allotted to it. If we recognise obligation as to service, our work will be indicated in due time. Saul accepted the obligation to serve: he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 22:10. The Lord gave him his commission, but when he actually entered upon his service in the regular course, the fellowship of the saints in it was also an element of importance. The Holy Ghost said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away”. Acts 13:2,3. This principle is, I think, foreshadowed here in the relation of Aaron’s sons to the Levites. Eleazar had the oversight of the Kohathites, while the Gershonites and the Merarites were under the supervision of Ithamar.
[p. 15] In the land the work of the Levites became less strenuous. This is easily understood, as the ark had reached its resting place — the temple being built — and therefore there was no further need to carry the tabernacle, 1 Chronicles 23:26. As serving in the temple, the Levite commenced work at the age of twenty years, 1 Chronicles 23:24; 1 Chronicles 23:27. There is a certain connection between the land and the assembly as convened. One feature of the temple was that it was a resting place for the ark. David and Solomon both say, “Arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength”, 2 Chronicles 6:41; Psalm 132:8. In the wilderness the ark of the covenant went before to seek a resting place for the people; in the land they prepare a resting place for it. The resting-place now for the ark is the assembly. Where do you think Christ rests now? He can rest only in the affections of His own. It is true that He rests in the Father’s affection, but this is not what is typified in the temple. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17) gives the thought. John 20 would suggest the idea of a resting place for Christ. Those in the upper room had been formed by His ministry, and they loved Him. When He came into Jerusalem and went into the temple, those there, the priests, who should have received Him were found to be His enemies, Matthew 21:12 - 17. Hence He went out to Bethany.
1 Corinthians 12 speaks of “distinctions of services”, and this corresponds with Numbers 4. Some parts of service are, so to speak, more sacred than others. The ark and other furniture, vessels, etc., of the tabernacle were carried exclusively by the Kohathites, being previously carefully covered by the priests. These things refer to the Person of Christ and certain things which are in intimate relation to Him in a spiritual way. Evidently, therefore, to minister publicly, as a Levite, in connection with the [p. 16] doctrine of the Person of the Lord, it is essential that we be in the priestly state, and under the immediate direction of the High Priest within. A state, formed entirely by the Holy Spirit, is requisite to capacitate us to handle what has reference directly to divine Persons. “The stranger that cometh nigh shalt be put to death”. Numbers 3:10. “The stranger” has reference to the natural mind of man intruding itself into the things of God. The Kohathites carried their burden on their shoulders, but the sons of Gershon and Merari had wagons assigned to them. This indicates that the service typified in the two latter families was less sacred than that prefigured in Kohath.
In a general way the priest typifies a spiritual person, morally of the same order as Christ. But I think that priesthood always involves responsibility; that is, he is always (day and night seven days) under a charge, Leviticus 8:35. As in association with Christ in the assembly we are not exactly under a charge, it is entirely privilege; it is sonship, and in Canaan; but in the tabernacle, and the priest at the door of it, under a charge, testimony in the wilderness is in view. In Canaan we have entered, in the power of the Spirit, into association with Christ as the heavenly Man. We share the Father’s love, which rests upon the Son. It is privilege and enjoyment.