The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 39

HOMILETICS. Ch. ii.-The camp of the Saints. We have nere, spiritually, the Church of God in its order and its beauty and its balanced proportion of parts; resting inwardly upon, and ranged outwardly around, the abiding presence of the Almighty, and thus pre- pared either to abide in harmony and safety, or to set forward without confusion and without fear. Consider, therefore, on a broad view of this chapter- !. THAT THE ONE AND ONLY CENTRE 011' THE WHOLE CAMP, of all its symmetry and all its order, WAS THE TADERNACLE 011' Goo. About this were arranged in the inner lines of encampment the priests and Levites, in the outer lines the rest of Israel ; the tent of the Presence was, as it were, the jewel of priceless worth, of which the camps of Levi formed the inner case, the other camps the outer casket. Even so the whole Church of God, in its broadest extent, is centred upon and drawn up about the spiritual presence of God in Christ, according to that which is written: "I will dwell in them, and walk "in them." Whether for rest or for progress, for safety or success, ull depends exclusively upon, all can be measured only with reference to, that Presence in the midst of her, She is herself, in the truest sense, the living shrine, the spiritual casket, which encloses and enfolds this Divine jewel. About this Presence-" over against" it, full in view of it, looking straight towards it, albeit separated yet by an uncrossed interval-all the tribes of God are drawn up, all of them near, all equally near, eave that those are nearest who are specially devoted to the waiting upon that Presence. II. That as the glory and beauty of the encampment depended ae to its internal symmetry upon the presence of God in the midst of it, so IT DEPENDED AS TO ITS OUTWARD PEBll'ECTI0N UPON THE ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT AND HARMONY OF ITS PARTS, Every tribe and every family had its place, knew its place, kept its place, mutually supporting and supported by all the others. Even so God is not the author of con- fue1on, but of peace, in all the Churches of the saints. Conflicting aims, rivalries, counter-workings, cannot be in the Divine ideal. Towards them that are without, in the face of the difficulties and hostilities of the Church's earthly pilgrimage, an absolute discipline, a i)erfect oneness of purpose, a universal walking by the so.me rule and minding the same thing, is o.n essential part of the truth as it is in Jesu~ (John xvii. 21, 22; 1 Cor. i. 10; Phil. ii. 2; iii. 16). III. That this perfect order and discipline was not attained by ignoring or effacin~ tbe natural divisions and distinctions of the people, and by making of each individua.l  THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. (ce. n. 1-Sf.