This is a long chapter, and I suppose it would appear to many unnecessary repetition. Twelve times over we get the same thing repeated; but it is not unnecessary. We can be quite sure the word of God is unburdened of all superfluity; not a syllable given by God is unnecessary. We may not at first see why it is given, but faith will always justify God. It is impossible for Him to do a wrong thing, or an unnecessary thing. It is no small mercy to have God-given faith in the plenary inspiration of the word of God.
We have been looking at the teaching of chapter 6 about the Nazarites, and we have to be on our guard not to confound the type and the antitype. There was a holiness as regards one in the flesh, in relation to God; but it was external. We must remember this belonged to a “worldly sanctuary,” the word is not used in an evil sense, but in contrast to what is heavenly.
We must remember our Nazarite service must be on resurrection-ground. This was a dispensation of ordinances, divine ordinances; the dispensation in which we live is a contrast. We have died with Christ, and the question is asked: “Why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?” This would save us from mistakes many Christians make; many things are done in the name of the Lord antagonistic to Christianity, to improve man in the flesh. An impossibility! We have the Old Testament to show God’s dealings in various dispensations, and man is proved to be incorrigible; and we have the end of man in responsibility at the cross.
Now we who are in relationship with God are a new creation. So it is in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit, as risen ones, we can carry out the teaching to us, Christians, of this type. We are associated with Christ, the Sanctified One, Who set Himself apart for our sakes, that we might be sanctified through the truth.
We see, however faithful we are, however devoted, that does not give us any title to the rest that remaineth; only on the ground of sacrifice it becomes ours. Thus we get the Nazarites blessed on the ground of sacrifice, blessed as an earthly people. Our blessings are far beyond theirs; the best possible blessings, in the best possible place. “Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ” (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)). That is the Father’s blessing of the children.
Then we get Christ’s blessing. “He lifted up His hands and blessed them.” He could bless them, and us too, with heavenly joy.
Another principle is brought out in this chapter, ―the subject of liberality. The word “prince” is prominent in it; ― “twelve princes.” That word is also translated “willingly” and “liberally.” We can see the force of it as regards a prince; it would be what was suited to him; it ought to characterize one who is lifted up to be liberal.
And it came to pass on the day that Moses had completed the setting up of the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and hallowed it, and all the furniture thereof, and the altar and all its utensils, and had anointed them and hallowed them (7:1).
Everything had been done according to God’s instructions about the tabernacle. All was sanctified, all anointed with oil, type of the Holy Ghost. The tabernacle in that way points forward to the time when in the power of the Holy Ghost, the Lord Jesus will take the whole universe. He will take it by and by, and we shall be with Him. Everything then will be headed up in Him, everything put under His feet, and a Name displayed which is above every name. We are a very small part of the church, individually; but the church will be the complement (that which makes a thing complete) of Him that filleth all in all.
That the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, the princes of the tribes, they that were over them that had been numbered, offered: (7:2).
The princes had their place assigned when the people were numbered. “And they brought their offering.” We have no written instructions about it, but we may be sure they had the mind of the Spirit.
And they brought their offering before Jehovah, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for two princes, and an ox for each; and they presented them before the tabernacle (7:3).
There was fellowship. Two of them joined together to give a wagon; and individually, they each gave a bullock. So these six wagons and twelve oxen were presented by them.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Take it of them, and they shall be for the performance of the service of the tent of meeting, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to each according to his service (7:4, 5).
There we have His approval of what they did. It is a blessed thing to have God’s approval. The apostle Paul saw it was a grand thing to have the approval of the Lord Jesus. “Not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” By the grace of God, he could say, “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful;” and, “I know nothing against myself.” “By” myself as in the A. V. is not the meaning at all. If we have anything that is worth knowing, it has been imparted to us. But that is not the meaning there.
It is not a wrong translation, but the old English way of saying, “I know nothing against myself.” But he might make mistakes; he was not infallible. “He that judgeth me is the Lord.”
The Lord’s approval was acceptance; and Moses was instructed to take from them a voluntary thing, that expressed the liberality of their minds. “The Lord loveth a cheerful giver,” and the “liberal soul deviseth liberal things;” and it was acceptable to God.
It was not known when this was done how long they would be going through the wilderness, because from the shore of the Red Sea to Kadesh-barnea was only eleven days’ journey; yet it took forty years. It tells us how slow we often are; and I have often thought that what Paul went through those three days and three nights when he was without sight, would astonish us, if we could know what he acquired in that time. God can impart to us at once more than we can give out in a lifetime.
They had to go across the desert, and it may have been their thought these oxen and wagons were to do that eleven days’ journey, but it meant going from station to station for forty years.
It is not until chapters 14, when they despise the pleasant land they are told they must wander forty years.
And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites (7:6).
We have noticed before that the Levites were divided into three families. There was no difference in the priests, all were one family; and as priests we are all before God, through the finished work of Christ, on the same blessed standing. He has constituted us a holy priesthood, and all He accepts from us is Christ.
But when it comes to service, the Holy Ghost divides to every-man severally as He will, when it is a question of gifts. So we find the Lord, in giving His servants their responsibility and service, makes differences in what is committed to them. So it is with all of us; there are no two alike; God has no doubles at all. There is distinctive place and service for every one; it is a blessed thing to be under the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service; and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, ―under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest (7:7, 8).
The most privileged of the three families did not have any wagons committed to them. Gershon had two, and Merari four. They had the most weighty, the heaviest material. The Kohathites had the furniture of the Holy of holies, the holy place, and the brazen altar: ―the most marked and most blessed types of the Lord Jesus. In a certain sense, they spoke of greater nearness to God: and they had to carry on their shoulders; they had no wagons. The others who had four wagons, made a greater display than those who had two and they even made a greater display than those who carried what was covered. It does not follow those who enjoy the greatest communion with God have the greatest privilege in His service, the place likely to be coveted by man. All service is blessed; it is not for us to choose Merarite or Gershonite service. Let us seek to do it in obedience and the energy of the Holy Ghost. It is possible to make a great show in the flesh which is counted nothing with God.
As we have seen already, the Levites were substituted for the firstborn, and God gave them to the priests for the service of the tabernacle; and as we read here, they were under the hand of Ithamar, ―both Merari and Gershon. The Kohathites were under Eleazar. It is so very blessed to see priestly communion, and service in connection with it; not mere service apart from communion; but communion, and service resulting. We get that frequently; that is God’s order.
I have no doubt when the Lord went to Bethany (the first time that family is brought before us), and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His word, while Martha was cumbered about much serving; hers was not the service that flowed out of communion. She charged her sister with lack of interest. Mary did not say a word. That is what we had just now. Practically Martha was commending herself; Mary says nothing. Never let us seek to vindicate ourselves. People are never likely to say so badly of us as they did of the Lord. “Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil?”
I always dread a Christian standing up for his rights. “Though He suffered, He threatened not.” Paul says it is a small thing to be judged of man’s day. So the Lord vindicated Mary; and said, “Mary hath chosen that good part that shall not be taken from her.” She had the Lord’s commendation on what she did. So we learn from that the proper order is to be sitting at His feet, and then the service will not cumber, but be a joyous thing. We should not be burdened by it, for “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
So we must not forget the teaching of verse 8 priestly communion and Levitical service.
But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none, for the service of the sanctuary was upon them: they bore [what they carried] upon the shoulder (7:9).
What is carried on our shoulders is what we value most. This is better than having a wagon or a new cart! “God helped the Levites.” 1 Chronicles 15:25, 2625So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. 26And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. (1 Chronicles 15:25‑26). They carried the ark on their shoulders. They would not have needed that help with a wagon. What a blessed privilege! Then they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. Look at seven there as representing completeness, and you get a type of perfect worship of God. So they had the most honored place but with the least display.
And the princes presented the dedication―gift of the altar on the day that it was anointed; and the princes presented their offering before the altar (7:10).
There we get the dedication of the altar, set apart for the worship of God. There is something very sweet in thinking that the offerer, the offering, and the altar (the altar sanctifies the gift), all represent Christ. He is the altar. We have looked at that before in Exodus. The shittim wood, the incorruptible wood, speaking of the humanity of the Lord Jesus. Then brass, or copper (divine righteousness in the place of judgment), telling of One able to bear the whole of God’s holy judgment against sin.
So here we have the altar; and He offered Himself. This is the difference brought out in Heb. 7, where Aaron and the Lord Jesus are contrasted. Aaron offered for himself, and for the sins of the people. I have known men who have very wrong thoughts of that. “Who needed not... to offer for His own sins.” As the Offerer He offered up Himself, there is the holy sacrifice. If He had had to offer for His own sins, He could not have been the holy sacrifice, could not offer Himself.
“Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” He is the Offerer, the Offering, and the Altar. That is the only place in the word of God where the Spirit is called the Eternal Spirit. There are Three revealed in the New Testament, Three blessed Persons in the Godhead, co-equal, co-essential, and co-eternal.
We must not forget that nothing is so jealously guarded as the Person of the Lord. As a Man He took the place of subjection to His Father. “My Father is greater than I.” Then in juxtaposition, “I and My Father are one.” So the place He takes as a Man, that which became Him, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, is “He humbled Himself, and became obedient.” The contrast there is with the first man, who snatched at equality with God, and fell.
And Jehovah said to Moses, They shall present their offering or the dedication of the altar, each prince on his day (7:11).
It is not left to man. God gives instruction as to this. In verse 5 it is, “Take it of them;” but here, “They shall offer.”
In Psa. 110 we read: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power;” or “willingnesses,” looking at His people collectively. It is not the day of His power now. We should not see all the corruption and violence around if it were, but we quite admit He has made us willing.
And he that presented his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah (7:12).
I think we can learn, from the Lord giving us all particulars about each prince, of God’s wonderful interest in what we do individually, and that we must be recipients first before we can give Him anything. David said, “Of Thine own have we given Thee,” when he gave about nineteen million sterling for Solomon’s temple of his “own proper good.”
And his offering was one silver dish of the weight of a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl, of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingle? with oil for an oblation (7:13).
All pointing to Christ, and telling us of the perfection of the life of Him who alone was fit to be represented by the fine flour; there was no unevenness in our blessed Lord. He is the only one of whom this can be said. Peter, Paul, John, all were uneven. There was only One exception. I never feel free myself to say the Lord Jesus was “characterized” by perfect obedience do not like to say anything “characterized” Him, for there was an equipoise of every perfection in Him.
One cup of ten [shekels] of gold, full of incense (7:14).
It looks like divine intelligence in having that spoon of gold, because when that incense was used, the high priest had to go into the holy place, where it was burnt before the vail, telling of the fragrance of Christ to God continually. The furniture of the tabernacle was all of gold. Outside we find the brazen laver and altar. This spoon was of gold, which too speaks of righteousness, but takes us to heaven-divine righteousness where God is.
One young bullock, one ram, one yearling lamb, for a burnt-offering; one buck of the goats for a sin-offering; and for a sacrifice of peace-offering, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five yearling lambs (7:15-17).
As in the previous verse, so the burnt, or ascending offering, tells of God’s special delight in the work of Christ. In the burnt-offering the only part kept back was the skin, which became the property of the offering priest. In Genesis all are burnt-offerings. There is no sin-offering until Exodus. In Genesis 22 we get the burnt-offering, though Abraham did not take the life of his son. In Leviticus 1 The inwards and the legs (coming in contact with the earth) had to be washed, to make true typically what is true of Christ actually. So that corresponds in measure with what we have in Genesis, ―father and son going together. Then Isaac was bound and laid on the wood, ―not slain first, as in the instruction in Leviticus. We sing sometimes:
“Love bound Thee to the altar;”
but I think what is brought out in Isaac is very wonderful. He was in the full vigor of youth, and his father a very old man. But it reminds us of Him who said, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” Perfect obedience is brought out very sweetly in the acquiescence of Isaac to his father’s will.
The lessons in this book are very various. We see the blessedness of the life devoted to Jehovah in chapters 6. Only a few were Nazarites, though it was the privilege of all; as it is of all the Lord’s people now to live really devoted lives to Him. We shall never regret being too devoted to Him. Then they were a blessed people; and we are a blessed people too, infinitely more blessed than they.
Then this chapter gives us a princely, liberal, willing people. The word “Amminadab” occurs in the Song of Solomon, and means a princely willing people. We have to remember that whatever we are privileged to give to God, we first have to receive from Him. What have ye that ye have not received?” is a question all have to heed, and remember what the king said in the last chapter of 1 Chronicles, when he gave (it is estimated) £19,000,000! He takes no credit for it: he could not have given it if God had not given it to him.
The very best possible use we can make of whatever God gives us, is to pass it back to Him. One of the early fathers, ―I think it is Gregory Nazianzen, says, “All I have kept for myself I have lost; all I have given to God I still possess.” So we are privileged to be a princely, liberal, willing people.
Another thing we have to learn is brought before us here. It is really marvelous that so much is in so small a compass. It is amazing to see what depth of meaning there is in a single sentence of the word of God. God never did, ―never could do, ―an unnecessary thing. It would be against His perfection to think He could. Yet we have in this chapter (for His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways, but higher than the heaven above the earth), twelve times over the particulars about the gift of the princes, reminding us God takes interest in each individual case. All the particulars of each individual case are precious to Him.
This chapter which is thus devoted to a princely, liberal, willing people shows us, at its end, God will have communion with this people; and is not speaking from Sinai, the place of terror, but from the mercy-seat, a communication of grace and love.
And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then he heard the voice speaking to him from off the mercy-seat which was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims; and he spoke to him (7:89).
Moses was specially favored. chapter 12. brings that out. Not even with Abram, not with any of the prophets did God speak face to face, as to him.