Bible Talks

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 4min
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• BibleTruthPublishers.com
Numbers 8:1-261And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. 3And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses. 4And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the Lord had showed Moses, so he made the candlestick. 5And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 6Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 7And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. 8Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering. 9And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: 10And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: 11And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord. 12And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites. 13And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the Lord. 14Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine. 15And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. 16For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. 17For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. 18And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. 19And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary. 20And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them. 21And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the Lord; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. 22And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them. 23And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 24This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: 25And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: 26But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge. (Numbers 8:1‑26)
Before the consecration of the Levites for their service, the Lord B, gave instructions as to the lighting of the lamps. Since the service of the Levites is figurative of our service to the Lord now, we can see there is an important lesson for us here. There needs to be a walk according to the light of the presence of God whom we serve, and that by the power of the Spirit, which the oil for the lamps typifies. God is jealous for the glory of His Son, and let us therefore see to it that all our service is according to God, who is light, so that men may see our good works and glorify, not us, but our Father which is in heaven. Matt. 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16). There is always a danger of us wanting some of the glory for ourselves, and thus biding the True Light.
We now come to the consecration of the Levites. First they were to be sprinkled with water. It is not the thought of salvation here, but of serce, and in order to serve the Lord acceptably there needs to be the application of the “water of the Word” to all that we are, as well as to all our associations of life, as typified in the washing of their clothes. They were also to shave off all their hair, for there must be the sentence of death on all that comes from within, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” Romans 7:1818For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18).
Then the Levites were brought to the tabernacle of the congregation along with the children of Israel. The children of Israel then laid their hands upon the Levites, for they were to serve the Lord in place of the firstborn, whom God had spared in His judgment upon Egypt. They therefore presented the Levites to the Lord in their place. The Levites then laid their hands upon the head of the two bullocks, one of which was to be offer for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. In laying their hands on the sin offering it was as though their guilt were transferred to the substitute, and then in the burnt offering it is rather the value of the sacrifice transferred to the offerer. All this must take place before the Levites could begin their service to the Lord, and it presents to us, typically, the ground of all our service. Until the soul has laid hold of the finished work of Christ as meeting all its guilt before God, and how God has been fully glorified in it, there can be no quiet and acceptable service at all.
After the Levites had been given to the Lord by the children of Israel, Moses then gave them to Aaron and his sons. Thus we see that we have been given to Christ to serve under His authority and Lordship. He said of the Levites, “They are Mine.” May we always remember this in our service! Too often we act as though we could serve just as we wish, and that the Lord would accept it, but most assuredly it was not so with the Levites in our chapter. Their service was to be one of obedience. It appears that they served for five years as learners, before taking definite service at thirty years of age, and until the age of fifty. Then after they were fifty they served, but not in the same full capacity. How carefully the Lord guards against what might be the inexperience of youth, and considers the bodily strength, no doubt, of those who are older! What a beautiful pattern we have for every detail of our lives in the precious Word of God.
ML 08/12/1951