The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 47

-earth by the mouths and by the hands of his servants. Thus, if any preach the word, he is doing the work of Christ our Prophet ; if any minister to the sick, of Christ our Healer; if any feed his lambs, of Christ our Good Shepherd ; if any rule over men for their good, of Christ our King. Even if any suffer in the spirit of Christ, he is filling up the yet unfilled measures of the afflictions of Christ (Col. i. 24), because it is appointed unto Christ to suffer, ns once in himself, so now in his earthly members, until the cup be wholly drained (cf. Rev. i. 9; xiv. 12). So, on the other hand, every one that is devoted to some ministry is discharging the duty of all to all, and through all to God. The body of Christ, which is the Church, owes unto all her members spiritual and temporal care and tendance ; unto God cea.eeless worship, prayer, and praise. But a.e the natural body discharges many of its functions through separate members or organs, so does the body of Christ through individuals cset apart thereunto. Consider, again, WITH RESPECT TO THE FIRST-BORN- I. THAT GoD CLAIMED, AS OF RIGHT, THE SERVICES OF ALL THE FIRS1-BORN ,IIECAUSE OF TREIB PRESERVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD 011' THE (PASSOVER) LAMB IN EGYPT. Even so all who belong to "the general nssembly and Church of the first- :born," which are enrolled not in the lists of Aaron on earth, but in the book of God :in heaven (Heb. xii. 23), i. e. all Christian people, so far as they understand their 11igh calling, are claimed ns his, and wholly his, by God ; and this because he .redeemed them by the precious blood of Christ (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; Rom. xiv. 8; 1 Pet. i 19, &c.). And notice that this" hallowing'' of the first-born was a kind of death. All the first-born throughout the land of Egypt were "anathema "-a thing -<l.evoted. God had claimed them. If then these are saved from the destroyer by the death of the substituted lamb, they are still regarded as dead unto the old, the ordinary, life of men who are sui ;'uru, as living only for God, and unto God. And this is precisely and unequivocally the position of all redeemed souls. Christ ,did not die tbat they should not die, but that their death should take 11 happy and blessed form, instead of one dark and terrible (2 Cor. v. 15; Col. iii. 3, &c.). Every -soul, elect, first-born, redeemed, is hallowed and dedicated and marked as dead unto csin and self, alive only unto God. II. THAT THE FIRST-BORN WERE NUMBERED BY NAME, EVEN TO THE LAST INDIVIDUAL; which does not seem to have been the case even with the Levites. Even so there is no one of his redeemed, first-born, that does not come into separate remembrance before God, because a soul hallowed by the precious blood is of priceless worth. III. THAT THE ODD NUMBER of the first-born over and above those redeemed by the Levites HAD TO BE REDEEMED WITH A PRICE; for they were his, nnd he could by no means renounce his rights over any. Even so all the assembly of the first-born are the Lord's, and he cannot forego hie claims over any one of them, neither cnn .any one of them say, "It does not matter about me-I shall not signify-/ need not be counted." The services of all are due to Christ, nnd God will have this acknow- ledged without any exception. Consider, again, as incidentally appearing-I. That the whole matter begins with the genealogy of Aaron and Moses-the priest and the Ruler in Israel. Even so all questions of religion and devotion, however seemingly simple or entirely prac- tical, do really begin with and from the "generations " of him who is both Priest and Ruler in larael, of him who came forth out of Bethlehem, whose goings forth are from everlasting (Micah v. 2). And so do the Gospels begin with the human _genealogy (Matthew, Luke), or the Divine (John), of the Anointed, or with the briefest summary of both (Mark-" the Son of God''). 2. That Nadab and Abihu, priests of the line of Aaron, who offered strange fire, had no children. Even .so the solitary priesthood of Christ is ministered visibly in the Church, and there oare that attempt to minister it presumptuously and falsely, as though it were their -own ; but these are spiritually barren, and leave no children in the faith, because the blessing and power of God is not with their ministry, and because human ambitions are "strange" to the gospel of love. 3. That Moses and Aaron camped -on the east of the tabernacle, as the place at once most central and most near the Divine presence. Even so our King and Priest doth so nbide as that he may ever .appear in the presence of God for us (Heh. ix. 24), and yet may ever be in the midst ,of his Church (Matt. xxviii. 20 i Bev. ii. 1).  TtlE 80().It OF NUMllERS. fca. m. 1-51.