Dedication of the Levites
July 16, 2020
Commentary
In this chapter we are examining the events that occurred in the camp of Israel at Mount Sinai on the day the tabernacle was erected. Everything that was done in the camp of Israel was ordered by the Lord. In the church today, God doesn’t speak audibly to His people as He did to Moses, but as they worship together, pray and study His Word, He reveals His will. God spoke to Moses about two important things: caring for the lamps (vv. 1-4), and dedicating the Levites (vv. 5-16).
It was the duty of Aaron and his sons to trim the wicks, replenish the oil each day and make sure the light was shining (Lev. 24:1-3). Without the light, the priests couldn’t see to minister in the holy place. Without Jesus (“the light of the world” – I John 8:12) we can not see and understand spiritual truth. Unless the people obeyed God and worshiped Him as He commanded, Israel’s light of witness would become dim and eventually go out.
If Aaron and his sons were the “official ministers” in the camp, serving at the altar and in the tabernacle, then the Levites were the dedicated laymen who assisted the priests in their ministry. Since they were serving God at the tabernacle, the Levites had to be set apart for the Lord. First they were cleansed by water (vv. 5-7), but unlike the priests, they were merely sprinkled (Ex. 29:4).
God says that when He killed the oldest sons of the Egyptians He decided that the first-born sons in each Israelite family would be His, as well as every first-born male from their flocks and herds. But now He has dedicated these Levites as substitutes for the first-born sons (vv. 17-18).
Application
We serve the Lord by serving His people, but our orders must come from the Lord (II Cor. 4:5). No matter what task the Lord gives me to do, I must do it cheerfully and carefully.
Numbers 8:1– 18 (NET)
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to Aaron and tell him, ‘When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.’”
3 And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 This is how the lampstand was made: It was beaten work in gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was beaten work. According to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 6 “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and purify them. 7 And do this to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification on them; then have them shave all their body and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves. 8 Then they are to take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with olive oil; and you are to take a second young bull for a purification offering. 9 You are to bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire community of the Israelites. 10 Then you are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on the Levites; 11 and Aaron is to offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, that they may do the work of the Lord. 12 When the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. 14 And so you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.
15 “After this, the Levites will go in to do the work of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering. 16 For they are entirely given to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites. 17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself. 18 So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites.
Illustration: Elizabeth Elliot “I gave all to Jesus”
Elizabeth Elliot tells in her book “Passion and Purity,” how on her first date with Jim Elliot (one of the five martyred missionaries in Ecuador), they went to a missionary meeting at Moody Church in Chicago, late in April. The speaker was one of the daughters of the famous missionary to Africa, C.T. Studd. She told of her father’s last hours. He lay on his cot, gazing around the little hut and at his few possessions. “I wish I had something to leave to each of you,” he said to the handful of people present, “but I gave it all to Jesus long ago.” (Elizabeth Elliot – Passion and Purity).