And \1crc ,,e l1ave to notice- I. MA~ Is ASKED To rno,·mE THE TADLES. Goa loves tl1e co-operation or his people as far ns possible. "Fellow-workers with God" is our highest honour. Jnst as when Christ ~·ns raising Lazarus he allowed men to roll away the stone (John xi. 3!!-41), sn when lie would write the Decalogue anew, he directs Illoses to provide tho tables. Tliis is l1l'ltrr than to encourage man's indolence by God doing all. , In the Ycry same way it is upon "the fleshy tables of the heart" God writes his Law I:! Cor. iii. 3). Man, ~o to speak, provides the material, offers his heart for the sacred inscription, and thus becomes a living epistle, known and read of all men. II. Gon's ,1·11,L rs UNCIIANGilW. 'l'he two new tables received the same words as the first which '"ere broken. The second edition of the Decalogue was identical with the first. God's will may be stereotyped, it is so perfect and changeless. Man may be wayward; but God will not alter his standard to suit man's low ideal. The Di,·ine plan is to keep before man the unchanging Law, and bring him by easy stages up to it. There is no depreciation of the Divine requirements. III. THE ARK WAS PRIMARILY INTENDED AS A DEPOSITORY OF THE LAW, This chest of shittim ,rnod, made strong and beautiful, was evidently meant as a" safe,'' where this precious deposit, this oracle of God, should be placed. There was nothing so precious in the keeping of Israel. It was their great riches. What advantage had the Jew? "l\Iuch ernry way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." And !his ark not only typified the care taken of the canon, but also it would seem Christ himself, who, as the Ark, kept the Law in its entirety; it was the expression of his own will, and it was the deposit within him. "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the propl,ets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matt. v. 17). IV. SANCTIFIED MEN ARE SIMILAilLY TO BE DEPOSITORIES OF Goo's HOLY WILL, 'l'hose who are regenerated hide God's Law in their hearts, as Christ says prophetically he did (Ps. xl. 8). The preservation of the sacred books has been wonrlerful-but better is it to have truth settled in the soul and manifested through the life. The blessedness of him who makes God's Law his meditation day and night is great indeed (Ps. i. 2). "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those clays, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. x. 16, 17). \I hen God's word and will are so deposited; when human hearts receh•e, like Lydia's. the truth,-then is it carried not only through the wilderness of life, but out into "the undiscovered lands." The ark of shittim wood, so strong and precious, only faintlS images the more precious receptacle of the human heart, rendered by Divine grace strong and true, which accepts of God's word of promise, and becomes thereby partaker of the Divine nature and escapes the corruption of the world (2 Pet. i. 4).-R. M. E.
V ers. 6-9.-The sepai·ation of the sons of Levi. The tables of stone in the ark had to be committed to special officers. These were the sons of Levi. God called them to this, a high and glorious honour surely. 'fhey were also to minister unto him and to bless in his Name. To this order of men no mere temporal inheritance was given; God was their inheritance. l. lT IS SURELY DESIBABLE THAT A SPECIAL ORDER OF MEN BIIOULD BE BET APART FOR THE CUSTODY OF THE DIVINE WoRD. 'l'his was the primary office of the sons of Levi, custodians of the ark of the covenant. Jn this respect they resemble the CLristian ministry, whose great office is to keep and to propagate the Divine Word. In tLe "division of labour" to which human wisdom brings us, it is surely important that a special class ~hould be charged with the sacred deposit of the D!vine Word. Men 1.eularized by business cannot be expected to handle the Word of God with the wisdom and power of tho6e who are set apart for this special purpose. II. THE so11s Of L11vl WER!': >.,I SO TO Bf: :141NlS'fERB UN'fO Gop. They werll directed on. x. 1-22.J THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 193
to stnn<l nnd officiate. They were the ministers of God. They wero h-i.~ servants, not man's. We do not now refer to the priestly rites, through which they passed accordin" to tho Mosaic Law.. These were s12ecial and temporary. They typified the priestly office fulfilled by Christ, and, when lulfilled, no longer needed. But the general idea of ministration in God's presence and for the Lord is surely the very essence of the ministerial office. III. '!'HE SONS OF LEVI WERE ALSO TO BLESS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, They were charged to pronounce certain benedictions in God's Name. And this right is manifestly continued in the Christian Church. 'fhe pronouncing of the benediction is surely something more than a mere prayer breathed to heaven for the blessings specialized. Is it not the assurance on the part of Gou's officer that the blessings are conveyed to those waiting to receive them (cf. Numb. vi. 24 and 2 Cor. xiii. 14)? IV. IT WAS ARRANGED THAT THE LEVITES SHOULD NOT BE SECULARIZED, BGT SHOULD LIVE AT THE ALTAR OF Goo. "Wherefore Levi bath no part nor inheritance with bis brethren; the Lord is bis inheritance, according as the Lord thy God bath promised him." This means that this tribe was not to be secularized by worldly anxieties and common cares. The Lord guaranteed their support by arrangements at bis altar. And "ministerial support" should mean no more! It is a Divine expedient to secure a class of men for bis service, emancipated from secular cares and troubles. The privilege of studying and enforcing God's Word is great and glorious. We only ask such support as ministers as will preserve us from corroding cares, and enable us with free spirits to give ourselves to this high business. It is this only we ask for, the freedom from the secularity which the world demands even when one is most watchful, in business struggles, against it. It is when a believing Church gives the ministry of Christ such emancipation all round that they may expect the ministerial office to be fulfilled with superior power and to command the ablest men.-R. M. E.