N
U M B E R S
CHAP. VIII.
This
chapter is concerning the lamps or lights of the sanctuary. I. The burning
lamps in the candlestick, which the priests were charged to tend, ver. 1-4.
II. The living lamps (if I may so call them), The Levites, who as ministers
were burning and shining lights. The ordination of the priests we had an
account of, Lev. viii. Here we have an account of the ordination of the
Levites, the inferior clergy. 1. How they were purified, ver. 5-8. 2. How they
were parted with by the people, ver. 9, 10. 3. How they were presented to God
in lieu of the firstborn, ver. 11-18. 4. How they were consigned to Aaron and
his sons, to be ministers to them, ver. 19. 5. How all these orders were duly
executed, ver. 20-22. And, lastly, the age appointed for their ministration,
ver. 23, &c.
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The
Lights of the Sanctuary.
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B.
C. 1490.
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1 And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him,
When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against
the candlestick. 3 And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof
over against the candlestick, as the LORD
commanded Moses. 4 And 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.
Directions were given long before this for the making of the golden
candlestick (Exod. xxv. 31), and it was made according to the pattern shown to
Moses in the mount, Exod. xxxviii. 17. But now it was that the lamps were
first ordered to be lighted, when other things began to be used. Observe, 1.
Who must light the lamps; Aaron himself, he lighted the lamps, v.
3. As the people's representative to God, he thus did the office of a servant
in God's house, lighting his Master's candle; as the representative of God to
the people, he thus gave them the intimations of God's will and favour, thus
expressed (Ps. xviii. 28), Thou wilt light my candle; and thus Aaron
himself was now lately directed to bless the people, The Lord make his face
to shine upon thee, ch. vi. 25. The commandment is a lamp,
Prov. vi. 23. The scripture is a light shining in a dark place, 2 Pet.
i. 19. And a dark place indeed even the church would be without it, as the
tabernacle (which had no window in it) without the lamps. Now the work of
ministers is to light these lamps, by expounding and applying the word of God.
The priest lighted the middle lamp from the fire of the altar, and the rest of
the lamps he lighted one from another, which (says Mr. Ainsworth) signifies
that the fountain of all light and knowledge is in Christ, who has the seven
spirits of God figured by the seven lamps of fire (Rev. iv. 5), but
that in the expounding of scripture one passage must borrow light from
another. He also supposes that, seven being a number of perfection, by
the seven branches of the candlestick is shown the full perfection of the
scriptures, which are able to make us wise to salvation. 2. To what end the
lamps were lighted, that they might give light over against the
candlestick, that is, to that part of the tabernacle where the table
stood, with the show-bread upon it, over against the candlestick. They were
not lighted like tapers in an urn, to burn to themselves, but to give light to
the other side of the tabernacle, for therefore candles are lighted, Matt. v.
15. Note, The lights of the world, the lights of the church, must shine as
lights. Therefore we have light, that we may give light.
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The
Consecration of the Levites.
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B.
C. 1490.
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5 And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying, 6 Take the Levites from among the
children of Israel, and cleanse them. 7 And 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. 8 Then 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. 9 And thou shalt bring
the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather
the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: 10 And thou
shalt bring the Levites before the LORD:
and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:
11 And 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.
12 And 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. 13 And thou shalt set the
Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an
offering unto the LORD.
14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and
the Levites shall be mine. 15 And 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. 16 For 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. 17 For 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. 18 And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of
the children of Israel. 19 And 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. 20 And 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. 21 And 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. 22 And 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.
23 And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying, 24 This 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: 25
And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof,
and shall serve no more: 26 But 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.
We read before of the separating of the Levites from among the children of
Israel when they were numbered, and the numbering of them by themselves (ch.
iii. 6, 15), that they might be employed in the service of the tabernacle. Now
here we have directions given for their solemn ordination (v. 6), and
the performance of it, v. 20. All Israel must know that they took not
this honour to themselves, but were called of God to it; nor was it enough
that they were distinguished from their neighbours, but they must be solemnly
devoted to God. Note, All that are employed for God must be dedicated to him,
according as the degree of employment is. Christian musts be baptized,
ministers must be ordained; we must first give ourselves unto the Lord, and
then our services. Observe in what method this was done:
I. The Levites must be cleansed, and were so. The rites and ceremonies of
their cleansing were to be performed, 1. By themselves. They must wash
their clothes, and not only bathe, but shave all their flesh, as
the leper was to do when he was cleansed, Lev. xiv. 8. They must cause a
razor to pass over all their flesh, to clear themselves from that
defilement which would not wash off. Jacob, whom God loved, was a smooth man;
it was Esau that was hairy. The great pains they were to take with themselves
to make themselves clean teaches all Christians, and ministers particularly,
by repentance and mortification, to cleanse themselves from all filthiness
of flesh and spirit, that they may perfect holiness. Those must be
clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. 2. By Moses. He must sprinkle the
water of purifying upon them, which was prepared by divine direction. This
signified the application of the blood of Christ to our souls by faith, to
purify us from an evil conscience, that we may be fit to serve the living God.
It is our duty to cleanse ourselves, and God's promise that he will cleanse
us.
II. The Levites, being thus prepared, must be brought before the Lord in a
solemn assembly of all Israel, and the children of Israel must put
their hands upon them (v. 10), so transferring their interest in
them and in their service (to which, as a part, the whole body of the people
was entitled) to God and to his sanctuary. They presented them to God as
living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, to perform a reasonable
service; and therefore, as the offerers in all other cases did, they
laid their hands upon them, desiring that their service might be accepted
in lieu of the attendance of the whole congregation, particularly the
first-born, which they acknowledge God might have insisted on. This will not
serve to prove a power in the people to ordain ministers; for this imposition
of hands by the children of Israel upon the Levites did not make them
ministers of the sanctuary, but only signified the people's parting with that
tribe out of their militia, and civil incorporations, in order to their being
made ministers by Aaron, who was to offer them before the Lord. All the
congregation of the children of Israel could not lay hands on them, but it is
probable that the rulers and elders did it as the representative body of the
people. Some think that the first-born did it because in their stead the
Levites were consecrated to God. Whatever God calls for from us to serve his
own glory by, we must cheerfully resign it, lay our hands upon it, not to
detain it but to surrender it, and let it go to him that is entitled to it.
III. Sacrifices were to be offered for them, a sin-offering first (v.
12), and then a burnt-offering, to make an atonement for the Levites,
who, as the parties concerned, were to lay their hands upon the head of the
sacrifices. See here, 1. That we are all utterly unworthy and unfit to be
admitted into and employed in the service of God, till atonement be made for
sin, and thereby our peace made with God. That interposing cloud must be
scattered before there can be any comfortable communion settled between God
and our souls. 2. That it is by sacrifice, by Christ the great sacrifice, that
we are reconciled to God, and made fit to be offered to him. It is by him that
Christians are sanctified to the work of their Christianity, and ministers to
the work of their ministry. The learned bishop Patrick's notion of the
sacrifice offered by the Levites is that the Levites were themselves
considered as an expiatory sacrifice, for they were given to make atonement
for the children of Israel, (v. 19), and yet not being devoted to
death, any more than the first-born were, these two sacrifices were
substituted in their stead, upon which therefore they were to lay their hands,
that the sin which the children of Israel laid upon them (v. 10) might
be transferred to these beasts.
IV. The Levites themselves were offered before the Lord for an offering
of the children of Israel, v. 11. Aaron gave them up to God, as
being first given up by themselves, and by the children of Israel. The
original word signifies a wave-offering, not that they were actually
waved, but they were presented to God as the God of heaven, and the Lord of
the whole earth, as the wave-offerings were. And in calling them
wave-offerings it was intimated to them that they must continually lift up
themselves towards God in his service, lift up their eyes, lift up their
hearts, and must move to and fro with readiness in the business of their
profession. They were not ordained to be idle, but to be active and stirring.
V. God here declares his acceptance of them: The Levites shall be mine,
v. 14. God took them instead of the first-born (v. 16-18), of
which before, ch. iii. 41. Note, What is in sincerity offered to God
shall be graciously owned and accepted by him. And his ministers who have
obtained mercy of him to be faithful have particular marks of favour and
honour put upon them: they shall be mine, and then (v. 15) they
shall go in to do the service of the tabernacle. God takes them for his
own, that they may serve him. All that expect to share in the privileges of
the tabernacle must resolve to do the service of the tabernacle. As, on the
one hand, none of God's creatures are his necessary servants (he needs not the
service of any of them), so, on the other hand, none are taken merely as
honorary servants, to do nothing. All whom God owns he employs; angels
themselves have their services.
VI. They are then given as a gift to Aaron and his sons (v. 19), yet so
as that the benefit accrued to the children of Israel. 1. The Levites must act
under the priests as attendants on them, and assistants to them, in the
service of the sanctuary. Aaron offers them to God (v. 11), and then
God gives them back to Aaron, v. 19. Note, Whatever we give up to God,
he will give back to us unspeakably to our advantage. Our hearts, our
children, our estates, are never more ours, more truly, more comfortably ours,
than when we have offered them up to God. 2. They must act for the people.
They were taken to do the service of the children of Israel, that is,
not only to do the service which they should do, but to serve their interests,
and do that which would really redound to the honour, safety, and prosperity
of the whole nation. Note, Those that faithfully perform the service of God do
one of the best services that can be done to the public; God's ministers,
while they keep within the sphere of their office and conscientiously
discharge the duty of it, must be looked upon as some of the most useful
servants of their country. The children of Israel can as ill spare the tribe
of Levi as any of their tribes. But what is the service they do the children
of Israel? It follows, it is to make an atonement for them, that there be
no plague among them. It was the priests' work to make atonement by
sacrifice, but the Levites made atonement by attendance, and preserved the
peace with heaven which was made by sacrifice. If the service of the priests
in the tabernacle had been left to all the first-born of Israel promiscuously,
it would have been either neglected or done unskillfully and irreverently,
being done by those that were not so closely tied to it, nor so diligently
trained to it, nor so constantly used to it, as the Levites were; and this
would bring a plague among the children of Israel--meaning, perhaps,
the death of the first-born themselves, which was the last and greatest of the
plagues of Egypt. To prevent this, and to preserve the atonement, the Levites
were appointed to do this service, who should be bred up to it under their
parents from their infancy, and therefore would be well versed in it; and so
the children of Israel, that is, the first-born, should not need to come nigh
to the sanctuary; or, when any Israelites had occasion, the Levites would be
ready to instruct them, and introduce them, and so prevent any fatal
miscarriage or mistake. Note, It is a very great kindness to the church that
ministers are appointed to go before the people in the things of God, as
guides, overseers, and rulers, in religious worship, and to make that their
business. When Christ ascended on high, he gave these gifts, Eph. iv.
8, 11, 12.
VII. The time of their ministration is fixed. 1. They were to enter upon the
service at twenty-five years old, v. 24. They were not charged with the
carrying of the tabernacle and the utensils of it till they were thirty years
old, ch. iv. 3. But they were entered to be otherwise serviceable at
twenty-five years old, a very good age for ministers to begin their public
work at. The work then required that strength of body and the work now
requires that maturity of judgment and steadiness of behaviour which men
rarely arrive at till about that age; and novices are in danger of being
lifted up with pride. 2. They were to have a writ of ease at fifty years old;
then they were to return from the warfare, as the phrase is (v. 25),
not cashiered with disgrace, but preferred rather to the rest which their age
required, to be loaded with the honours of their office, as hitherto they had
been with the burdens of it. They shall minister with their brethren in the
tabernacle, to direct the junior Levites, and set them in; and they shall keep
the charge, as guards upon the avenues of the tabernacle, to see that no
stranger intruded, nor any person in his uncleanness, but they shall not be
put upon any service which may be a fatigue to them. If God's grace provide
that men shall have ability according to their work, man's prudence should
take care that men have work only according to their ability. The aged are
most fit for trusts, and to keep the charge; the younger are most fit for
work, and to do the service. Those that have used the office of a servant
well purchase to themselves a good degree, 1 Tim. iii. 13. Yet indeed
gifts are not tied to ages (Job xxxii. 9), but all these worketh that one
and the self-same Spirit. Thus was the affair of the Levites settled.
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