This long chapter tells us what the sons of the tribe of Levi were to do while the people of Israel were on their journey to God’s land. They were first presented (verse 6) to the high priest, for his service. The Lord Jesus is our Great High Priest, if we have been fully converted to God. Only a true Levite could do the work (verse 10). No one that was not real could be accepted.
Dear young reader, if you have not been “born again” ( John 3), you cannot serve God. He demands your heart, your soul, before He can use your voice, your hands, your service.
The Levites were linked with those who were spared from judgement (verse 13), the objects of mercy, and they were counted from the earliest days (verse 15) from long years before they could really serve their Master. A New Testament verse which throws light on this, is Gal. 1:1515But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, (Galatians 1:15). Someone has rightly said, “Strength is given before service is claimed.”
Each family of the Levites had its own particular place, and its own particular work, and all was according to God’s plan. The children of Kohath had the first position in service; they were to care for the ark and all the furniture and vessels of the house of God. The family of Gershon came next, to look after the outward frame of. the Tabernacle; and the family of Merari were last, charged with the care of the boards and smaller pieces which went together to make up the walls of the Tabernacle.
No one could decide for himself what he would do. God had decided everything, and He asked only for obedience. The Christian has only to get God’s mind from the Bible, and obey Him, not man.
Verse 40, and following, tell with painstaking care and loving purpose, that the Levites were to take the position of, and act for, all the people. All were one before God, and redemption was needed for all.