The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 459

HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-34.-The dwelling of the faithful: the Redeemer: the 1anctit11 of life. There are ill this chapter three things closely connected historically, and therefore closely consecutive in the narrativeJ but distinct in their spiritual application. We have, therefore, separately to consicier-1. THE PROVISION WHICH GOD MAKES FOR BIB OWN, AND THEIR DISPERSION j II. THE REFUGE BET BEFORE HIM THAT IS GUILTY OF JILOOD; III. THE BANOTITY OF LIFE, I. In the regulations made for the habitation of the Levites and their cattle we have some sort of precedent for religious endowments; but this precedent loses all value in argument when we consider that the old dispensation was essentially tem- poral, which ours ie not; moreover, the Levites do not correspond to the clergy, but rather to the inner circle of the faithfnl, who are more empha.tically the "salt of the earth." Consider, therefore, ae to the habitation of the Levitee- 1. That it was the will of God to di:rperse them as widely as possible thrO'U{Jlwut Israel-a thing which might have been looked upon as a punishment to them (Gen. xlix. 7), but wne really for the common good. Even eo it is hie will that hie own, who are more especially hie own, should be scattered far and wide among the maee of imperfect or nominal Christiane ; not gathered together in one corner of Christendom, but everywhere found ae the few among the many. And note that this is the very law of "salt," which must be scattered and diffused to exercise its antiseptic functions. 2. That the Levites, although dispersed, yet lived in com- munities, and thle no doubt that they might set forth the life of holiness according to the law. Even eo there ie, beside the law of dispersion, a counter-law of aggrega- tion for "the spiritual," which makes mightily for holiness. For Christianity is a life, and life is complex, and therefore can only be lived by many who agree. There should be centres of high religious influence everywhere, but those centres should be strong. 3. That the allotments of the Lwites, though BUj/ici,ent, were far from being e:aensive, on any understanding of the text. Even eo, for those who would be an example to Christ's flock, sufficiency ie the rule, and nothing more (1 Tim. vi. 8). God does not design poverty for his own (Luke xii. 31), unless voluntarily embraced (ibid. ver. 33), but assuredly not wealth (ibid. vi. 24). 4. That the object aimed at in the allotment of their cities was to give each tribe, and even each tribesman, a per- sonal and local interest in the Levites. Even eo it is the will of God that those who specially follow after him should be identified ae strongly as possible with those around them, in order that these may love and reverence them, Every Christinn land has its "saints," by whom it is the more edified in that it feels them to be specie.Uy its own. Consider also, mystically-I. That the Lwitical cities numbered fo-rty-eigltt, i. e. 12 X 4-the first being the symbol of the universe.I (apostolic-see Rev. xxi. 14) Church, the second of the whole earth (Matt. viii. 11; Rev. xxi. 13), the whole signi- fying diffusion throughout the world. Even so the religious life is universal in all pnrte of the Church of God, even in those which seem to UB most remote. 2. That the endoBUruround the Levitical cities meamred the same eveTJ/. way-layfoursquare a,.~ far a, possible. Even eo it ie the ideal of the religious life that it be not one- sided, or unequal, but attain its full development in all directions ; if not it must be starved to some extent. II. The law of refuge from the goel is one of the most striking, and yet difficult, of the foreehadowin~s of the gospel. It ie complicated, in the spiritual interpretation, by the fact that Cbnet ie the Victim with whose blood our hands are stained, and our only Refu~e, while he ie also typified as Redeemer by the goel, and ae Messiah by the anomted priest. Consider, however-I. That the law presupposed and pro- flided for a atate of blood-guiltiness, which brought after it the sentence of death (Gen. ix. 6). Even so the gospel presupposes that all have sinned, and have oecome guilty of the death of Christ, who died for our sine, and have incurred the sentence of eternal death. David said, " Deliver me from blood-guiltiness" (Pe. Ii. 14), but he had already incurred it (2 Sam. xii. 9); and eo have we (ci Heh. vi. 6; L 29). 2. That it pruui,ded for ll'UCh blood-guiltiness as was unwittingly incurred. Even so Christ's excuse for ue is that we "know not what we do ' (Luke xxiiL 24), and our NUMBERS. 0 11  THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [CH, XXXV. 1-84.