The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 36

they were called to it. Their fitness was made manifest before a word was epoken regarding t~e honourn~le_ office in which it was to be exe~ised. 'l'~e whole history of the (?hurch 1s full of sn~ular fac_ts. W~~n some great ex1gencJ'. anses calling for the sernces of men possessing special qualities of character or attamment, it is generally found th&t the Head of the Church has anticipated the occasion by raising up the men required. See for an illustrious example, Gal. i. 15, 16. II. THE WORK APPOINTED TO THE LEVITES. It was II to keep the charge of the tabernacle" (ver. 53). They carried it; guarded it; did all the work of it except offering sacrifice, burning incense, and blessing the people. In a word they under the hand and oversight of the priests, attended to the "outward bu;iness '.of the honse of God" (Neh. xi. 16). One cannot read this account of the Levites' work without being touched with a sense of the superiority of the Christian Church and its services over the tabernacle and the Levitical ministrations. To thoughtful and spiritually-minded men the Leviticnl ministrations must have been an intolerable burden. Barnabas the Levite would, without doubt, say Amen when he heard Peter's description of them as "a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear" (Acts xv. 10). It is right to remember that, as time passed, the yoke was much mitigated. If the Pentateuch gives no express commandment to the Levites except about the external business of the tabernacle, that simpl,Y confirms the antiquity of the Pentateuch. By King David they were invited to higher service as singers and even as psalmisu. Jehoshaphat employed them largely as public teachers of the law throughout the cities of Judah (2 Chron . .xvii. 8, 9). Moreover, the Levitical services as prescribed by Moses, although burdensome and unprofitable when compared with those of the New Testament Church, had a great purpose to serve both in prefigur- ing the truth to be afterwnrds revealed, and as an educational institute by which tl,e people of God were prepared for the better time. It is a good thing to have a charge to keep in connection with Christ's Church, in any capacity, however _humble. Better be a Levite to keep the door of the house of God than Jive without God in a pala~e.-B. Vere. 45-50.-" Dijferencu of administrations" in the service of God. The different departments of service appointed to the host of Israel and to the Levites remind us of similar diversities in national and Church life at present. L TH& 6EllVlCE OF THE SWORD. II. THE SUPEBIOil SERVICE OF 1'HE SANCTUARY. I. 1. The apparent strergth of the Israelites was according to the number of its soldiers. So with a nation and its bread-winners, or with a Church and its active workers. The "mixed multitude" (representing hangers-on, idlers; grµmblers;. eh. xi. 4), not reckoned or" mustered": only true Israelites can be relied. on. 2. Their aggregation by tribes illustrates the value of natural affinities in Christian work (vers. 18, 20, 22, &c.). This truth may be applied-(!) To Christian nationalities, whether of a European or Asiatic type: e. g. Chinese Churches should not be.cast in English moulds. (2) To Christian denominations, which may work best as separate, yet allied denominations, each having its own methods and rallying round the standard of some special truth. We are reminded also of-3. The value of noble Church traditions. "The house of their fathers " had a specinl honour in the eyes of every patriotic Israelite. So with British Christians: e. g. attachment of Episcopalinns to the Church of the Protestant martyrs, and of other Christians to the C!!urches of Paritan, Covenanting, Nonconforming, or Methodist ancestors (Ps . .xxu. 4, 5; :u::xiv. 4). •. . . II. The Levites were not mURtered as soldiers, but were active m another depart- ment of service. The ark and its ministries were symbols of the source of the nation's strength. Their valuable services are described es a" warfare" ( eh. iv. 23, marg.). Just as in a nation, it ie not the hand-workers only that are a source of strength and wealth, but thinkers, writers, lecturers, preach~!'5 also, so in a Chur~h th~ least prominent may not be the least useful (Cf. 1 Cor. xn. 12-28). The Levites pitched nearest the tabernacle (vers. 52, 53), "that there be no wrath," &c. Si~eonR and .Annas in the temple, invalids" dwelling in the secret place of the Most High," may not be" numbered" among the workers of the Church, but may have power with God and prevail as intercessors for their brethren.-P. CB. I. 47-54.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 11