Numbers 18:2-322And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. 3And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die. 4And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. 5And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. 6And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 8And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. 9This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. 10In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee. 11And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee. 13And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. 14Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. 15Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. 16And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor unto the Lord. 18And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine. 19All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. 20And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. 21And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 22Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. 23But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. 24But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 25And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 26Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe. 27And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress. 28Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest. 29Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. 30Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress. 31And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation. 32And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die. (Numbers 18:2‑32)
God cannot pass over sin, but since we have such a Great High Priest and Advocate the Lord Jesus— God can go on with us now as His people, even though we are so weak and failing, just as He could go on with Israel through the priesthood. of Aaron. Now, as priests (for every believer is a priest), we are to lay hold of this according to God. There is that which is suited to His presence, and we are to act thus, as Aaron’s sons did on God’s behalf.
Because of this charge and responsibility—as well as privilege (for the very service was a “gift”)—they could share in the offerings of the Lord. In this we can see that while there is a deep responsibility in serving the Lord, there is also a special joy for our own souls in it. The more we speak of the precious work of Christ in all its various aspects, the more we get spiritual food for ourselves, just as the priests who offered the sacrifices received a portion of them for themselves and their families. All who were in the families of the priests were to eat the meat offering, the trespass offering, and the sin offering, in the most holy——or as a most holy thing. It is a serious thing, as well as a blessed thing, to have to do with the sins of the people on God’s behalf; it is to think of the cost of that perfect work which Christ accomplished, as well as the grace that meets the needs of the people through it.
Then there was the firstfruits of the land which were offered to the Lord, and they were to be the priest’s portion, as well as the flesh of all the firstlings of clean animals offered to the Lord. These are typical of the joys of seeing God’s blessings to souls—of His harvest being gathered in, of souls being born again, and of any measure of devotedness seen among the children of God. All these things rejoice the heart of one who serves the Lord, and are like the “priest’s portion.”
Indeed, there will be a reward for any service to the Lord, for God will never be any man’s debtor, The Lord told Aaron that the Levites because of then service were to receive the tithe (one tenth) which the children of Israel offered to the Lord of all their possessions, as well as having a place of nearness to Him. We who are saved can taste something of the joys of serng the Lord, in a measure even now as we shall in fullness above. What a privilege to act for Him here. How often we draw back from the responsilities of such a path, thus missing the joys that are only known in it. Even children can do little things for the Lord, which He values much. The enemy of our souls would tell us of all the hardships of following and serving the Lord, but will never tell us of the joy that is to be found in yielding ourselves wholly to Him. The Levites did not have a foot of ground which they could really call their own, but the Lord said, “I am thy part and thine inheritance,” and surely that was more than enough. He undertook to provide for all their needs, giving them the best of all the increase of the land, through the tithe which they received, and all this because they served Him. Of course our blessings now are heavenly, not earthly, but let us be sure that the Lord will undertake for all our needs, and give us even better things to enjoy than the Levites of old, making our cup truly run over. Let us willingly give ourselves to the Lord, for He is worthy, is He not?
ML 11/11/1951