Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

“And the Lord spake to Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites to Aaron, and to his sons: they are wholly given to him out of the children of Israel.” (verse 5-9)

Here, then, God’s marvellous purposes of grace toward Levi fully open before us, and truly marvellous they are indeed. We see that the sacrifices were but a means to an end; but both the means and the end were in every way worthy of each other. The means were, in one word, “death and resurrection,” and all included therein. The end was, nearness to God, and all included therein.

Looking at Levi by nature, there could not be any point farther removed from God than that at which he stood; but grace in exercise, through the blood, could lift him up out of that ruin in which he stood, and “bring him nigh,” yea, bring him into association with the great head of the priestly family, there to serve in the tabernacle. Thus, we read, “You has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience … But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1-6) And again, “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (verse 13)

When nature is left free to work, it will ever go as far away from God as it can. This is true since the day when man said “I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10) But when grace is left free and sovereign to work, it will ever bring the soul “nigh.” Thus it was with Levi. He was by nature “black as the tents of Kedar”; by grace, “comely as the curtains of Solomon”: by nature he was “joined” in a covenant of murder; by grace “joined” in a covenant of “life and peace.” The former, because he was “fierce and cruel”; the latter, because he feared and was afraid of the Lord’s name. (Compare Genesis 49:6-7; Malachi 2:5). Furthermore, Levi was by nature conversant with the “instruments of cruelty”; by grace, with “the instruments of God’s tabernacle: by nature God could not come into Levi’s assembly; by grace, Levi is brought into God’s assembly: by nature “his feet were swift to shed blood;” by grace, swift to follow the movements of the cloud through the desert, in real, patient service to God. In a word, Levi had become a “new creature,” and “old things had passed away,” and therefore he was no longer to “live to himself,” but to Him who had done such marvellous things for him in grace.

I would further observe, on the last cited passage, that the Levites are, in the first place, declared to be God’s property, and then they are “WHOLLY GIVEN UNTO AARON.” Thus we read: “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word.” (John 17:6) And again, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.” (John 6:37)

I would now look a little into the detail of their service, in which, I doubt not, we shall find much to edify and refresh us.

We find that although the whole tribe of Levi were, as to standing, “joined with Aaron,” yet, as to service, they were divided into classes. “All had not the same office;” and this is what we might have expected, for, although in the matter of life and standing they were all on a level, yet, in the development of that life, and in the manifestation of the power of that standing, they would, no doubt, display different measures; and not only so, but there would also be seen an assignment to each of distinct position and line of service, which would serve to distinguish him from his brethren in a very marked and decided manner. And here I would observe that I know of nothing connected with the walk and service of the Christian which demands more attention than this point to which I am now alluding, viz., unity in the matter of life and standing, and at the same time the greatest variety in the manifestation of character and in the line of service. A due attention to this important point would save us from much of that “unwise” comparing of ourselves and our service with the persons and services of others, which is most unholy, and, as a consequence, most unhealthy. See note 1. And not only would it lead thus to beneficial results in a negative point of view, it would also have a most happy effect in producing and cultivating originality and uniqueness of Christian character. But while there was this diversity in the line of service amongst the Levites, it is also to be remembered that there was manifested unity. The Levites were one people, and seen as such; they were “joined” with Aaron in the work of the tabernacle; moreover, THEY HAD ONE STANDARD, round which they all rallied, and that was “the tabernacle of the congregation,” the well known type of Christ in His character and offices. And, indeed, this was one of the ends which God had in view in calling out the Levites by His grace from amongst the people of Israel; it was that they should stand in marked association with Aaron and his sons, and in that association bear the tabernacle and all pertaining thereto on their shoulders, through the barren wilderness around. See note 2.

{Note 1: It is worthy the serious attention of the Christian reader who may desire the unity of the Church, that the tribe of Levi in the desert was a truly striking example of what may be termed “unity in diversity.” Gershon was in one sense totally different from Merari, and Merari was totally different from Kohath; and yet Gershon, Merari and Kohath were one: they should not, therefore, contend about their service, because they were one; nor yet would it have been right to confound their services, because they were totally different. Thus, attention to unity would have saved them from contention, and attention to diversity would have saved them from confusion. In a word, all things could only be “done decently and in order” by a due attention to the fact of there being “unity in diversity.” End of note 1.}

{Note 2: I say “one of the ends,” for we should ever remember that the grand object before the divine mind in redemption is to show, in the ages to come, His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus; and this object will be secured even though our poor puny services had never been heard of. End of note 2}

God did not call out the Levites merely that they might escape the sad effects of God’s absence from their assembly; or, in other words, God had more than their blessing and security in view in His dealings with them. He designed that they should serve in the tabernacle, and thus be to His praise and glory. We shall, however, I trust, see this principle upon which I am dwelling in a clearer and stronger point of view as we proceed in our subject.

We find that Levi had three sons, viz., “Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.” (Numbers 3:17) These formed the heads of the three classes alluded to, and we shall find that the nature of the service of each was such as of necessity to impart that tone of character signified by their very name. Thus: “Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites. And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph, the son of Lael. And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof.” (verses 21-26)

Here was Gershon’s work, to carry through the waste and howling wilderness the tabernacle and its coverings. This was indeed true Levite service, but it was most blessed service, and its antitype in the Church now is what we should much seek after, because it is that which alone puts the Christian into his right place in the world, i.e., the place of a stranger. There could be but little attractiveness in the rams’ skins and badgers’ skins; but, little as there was, it was, nevertheless, the high privilege of the Gershonite to take them all up and bear them cheerfully on his shoulders across the trackless sands. What, then, are we to understand by the covering of the tabernacle? I believe, in a word, it shadowed out the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was that which would meet the eye. There might be, and were, other services among the Levites of a very blessed nature, but surely it was most elevated service to carry through the desert that which so strikingly prefigured the character of Christ.

This is what makes the saint “a stranger” (as the name Gershon imports) in the world. If we are walking in the manifestation of the character of the Lord Jesus, and in so doing realise our place as in the wilderness, we may rest assured it will impart a very decided tone of strangership to our character in the world. And oh, would that we knew much more of this. The Church has laid down the rams’ skins and badgers’ skins, and with them the Gershonite character: in other words, the Church has ceased to walk in the footsteps of her rejected Lord and Master, and the consequence has been that instead of being the wearied and worn stranger, as she should be, treading the parched and sterile desert, with the burden on the shoulders, she has settled herself down in the green places of the world and made herself at home. But there was another feature of the stranger character shadowed out in the curtain, viz., anticipation. This was most blessed — God dwelling in curtains showed plainly that neither God nor the ark of His strength had found a resting-place, but were journeying on towards “a rest that remained.”

And how could there be a rest in the desert? There were no rivers and brooks there — no old corn there — no milk and honey there. True, the smitten rock sent forth its refreshing streams to meet their need, and Heaven sent down their daily bread; but all this was not Canaan. They were still in the desert, eating wilderness food and drinking wilderness water, and it was Gershon’s holy privilege to carry upon his shoulders that which in the fullest manner expressed all this, viz., THE CURTAIN. “Thus says the Lord, Shalt thou build Me an house for Me to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.” (2 Samuel 7:5-6) Here, too, we have sadly failed. The Church grew weary of the curtain, and wished to build a house before the time; she grew weary of “walking in a tent,” and earnestly desired to “dwell in a house.”

And truly we have all to watch and pray against this disposition to grow weary of our Gershonite character. There is nothing so trying to nature as continual labour in a state of expectancy; our hearts love rest and fruition, and therefore nothing but the continual remembrance that “our sufficiency is of God” can at all sustain us in our Gershon or stranger condition.

Let us therefore remember that we bear on our shoulder the curtains, and have beneath our feet the sand of the desert, above our heads the pillar of cloud, and before us “the land of rest” clothed in never-withering green, and, both as a stimulus and a warning, let us remember that “He that endures to the end THE SAME shall be saved.”

{It would surely be of all importance in this day, when so many are declining from the narrow path of obedience to the written Word, and entering upon the wide and bewildering field of human tradition, to bear in mind that the Levite, when carrying the tabernacle through the desert, found no support nor guide from beneath: no, the grace in which he stood was his sole support, and the pillar above his sole guide. It would have been miserable indeed had he been left to find a guide in the footmarks on the sand, which would change at every wind that blew. But all the sand did for him was to add to his labour and toil while he endeavoured to follow the heavenly guide above his head.}

We shall next consider the Merarite feature of character; for, although the family of Merari does not stand next in order in the chapter, yet there is a kindredness of spirit, as it were arising out of the very nature of their service, that would link them together in the mind. But, not only is there this intimate connection between the services of these two classes of Levites, which would lead us to link them together thus, the Lord Himself presents them to us in marked unity of service, for we read, “And the Kohathites set forward bearing the sanctuary; and the other (i.e., the Gershonites and the Merarites) did set up the tabernacle against they came.” (Numbers 10:21) Here, then, we see that it was the great business of these two families to pass onward through the desert in holy companionship, bearing with them, wherever they went, “the tabernacle,” and, moreover, the tabernacle as looked at in its character of outward manifestation or testimony; which would, as a matter of course, put those who carried it thus into a place of very laborious discipleship. “And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serves thereto, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.” (Numbers 3:36-37) Here, then, was what Merari had to do: he had to take his place here or there, according to the movement of the cloud, and set up the boards of the tabernacle in their sockets of silver — and all this, be it remembered, upon the sand of the desert.

{It has been well observed that in the tabernacle, God was seen bringing all His glory into immediate connection with the sand of the desert: and when the high priest went into the holy place, he found himself in the very presence of that glory, with his feet upon the sand of the desert likewise. In the temple, however, this was not the case, for the floor of the house was overlaid with gold. (1 Kings 6:30)

So is it with the Christian now, he has not as yet his feet upon the “pure gold” of the heavenly city, but his deepest and most abiding knowledge of God is that which he obtains in connection with his sorrow, toil and conflict in the wilderness.}

Could anything be more opposed to another, than the nature of all that Merari had to set up was to the waste and howling wilderness around? What could be more unlike than silver and barren sand? But Merari might not shrink from all this; no, his language was, when he had arrived at a spot in the desert at which the cloud halted, “I am come to set up the patterns of things in heaven in the very midst of all the desolation and misery of the wilderness around.” All this was most laborious, and would, no doubt, impart to the character of Merari a tone of sadness or sorrow which was at once expressed in his name, which means “sorrow.”

And surely the antitype of all this in the Church now will fully confirm what has been stated about the character of Merari. Let any one take his stand firmly and decidedly in the world for Christ — let him penetrate into those places where “the world” is really seen in its vigour — let him oppose himself, firm as a rock, to the deep and rapid tide of worldliness, and there let him begin to set up “the sockets of silver,” and, rest assured of it, he will find such a course attended with very much sorrow and bitterness of soul; in a word, he will realise it to be a path in which the cross is to be taken up “daily,” and not only taken up, but borne. Now, if any further proof were needed of the above interpretation, we have a most striking one in the fact that there are but very few of the laborious Merarite character to be found; and why is this? Simply because the exhibition of such a character will ever be attended with very much labour and sorrow to nature, and nature loves ease, and therefore human nature never could be a Merarite; nothing will make us true Merarites but deep communion with Him who was “THE MAN OF SORROWS.”

There is something in the service of Gershon from which one does not shrink so much as from that of Merari. For what had Gershon to do? He had to place the curtains and badgers’ skins over the boards which had been already set up by his laborious and sorrowful brother. And just so now: if a laborious servant of God has gone to a place where hitherto the world and Satan have reigned supreme, and there raised a testimony for Christ, it will be comparatively easy for another to go and walk on in the simple manifestation of Christian character, which would of itself put him into the place of “a stranger.”

But, although nature may assume the character of a misanthropist, yet nothing but grace can make us Merarites, and the true Merarite is the true philanthropist, because he introduces that which alone can bless; and the very fact that a Merarite should have to take a place of sorrow is a most convincing proof that the world is an evil place. There was no need of a Merarite in Canaan, nor a Gershonite either: for the Merarite was happy there, and the Gershonite at home. But the world is not the Levite’s home, and therefore if any will carry the curtains, he must be a stranger; and if any will carry the sockets and boards, he must be a man of sorrow; for when He who was a true Gershonite and a true Merarite came into the world He was emphatically the Man of sorrows, who had not where to lay His head.

However, if the Gershonite and the Merarite had to occupy a place in which they endured not a little of “the burden and heat of the day,” yet the Lord graciously met them in that with a very rich reward, for “He is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love,” and therefore, if they had to labour and toil amongst their brethren, they were blessedly ministered to by their brethren. Thus we read concerning the offerings of the princes: “And the Lord spake to Moses, saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service. And Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. 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. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonging to them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.” (Numbers 7:4-9)

Here we see that the service of Gershon and Merari was that which met the rich and blessed ministrations of their brethren. Grace had filled the hearts and affections of the princes, and not only filled but overflowed them, and in its overflow it was designed to refresh the spirits of the homeless Gershonite and sorrowful Merarite: on the other hand, the Kohathites had no part in these ministrations; and why? Because their service, as we shall see presently, was in itself a rich reward indeed. We see the very same doctrine taught in the case of the Levites generally, as contrasted with the priests, in chap. 18, where we read: “And the Lord spake to 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.” (verse 20)

On the other hand, He says of the Levites, “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.”

And again, “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.” (verses 21, 31)

Aaron occupied a position so truly elevated that any inheritance in the way of earthly things would have been to him most degrading; whereas the Levites (looked at in one aspect) had not this high standing, but had much hard labour; and consequently, while Aaron’s very place and service was “his reward,” the Levites had to get a tenth for “their reward.”

We come now to consider the third and last division of the Levites, viz., the Kohathites, of whom we read, “The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof.” (Numbers 3:29-31) We can now have no difficulty in understanding why it was that Kohath had no share in the ministrations of the princes. Gershon and Merari might need wagons and oxen to carry the boards, etc., but not Kohath; his charge was too precious to be committed to any or aught but himself, and therefore it was his high and honoured place to carry all upon his shoulders. What a privilege, for example, to be allowed to carry the ark, the table, or the golden candlestick! And would it not have argued an entire absence of ability to appreciate his elevated calling if he had sought for the assistance of oxen in his holy service? What, then, we ask, would have been the effect produced upon the character of Kohath by this his service? Would it not have imparted a very elevated tone thereto? Surely it would. What can be more elevated, at least as far as development of character in the world is concerned, than the display of that congregational spirit which is expressed in the name of Kohath? Should not Christians be found rebuking, by a real union in everything, man’s oft-repeated attempt at forming associations for various purposes? And how can they effect that if it be not by gathering more closely around their common centre, Christ, in all the blessed fullness and variety of that Name? a fullness and variety typified by the varied furniture of the tabernacle, some of the most precious parts of which were designed to be borne on the shoulders of this favoured division of the tribe of Levi.

And surely we may safely assert that what would lead the saints now into more of the congregational spirit is just communion with Him whom the ark and table shadowed forth. If we were more conversant with Christ as the ark, covering in the ministration of death, and, moreover, with the table of showbread, whereon stood the food of the priests — if, I say, we knew more of Christ in these blessed aspects of His character — we should not be as we are, a proverb and a byword by reason of our gross disunion. But, alas, as the Church grew weary of the curtains and the boards, and laid aside her Gershonite and Merarite character, so has she laid aside her Kohathite character, because she has ceased to carry the ark and the table upon her shoulder, and cast those precious pearls which were, through the grace of God, her peculiar property, to the swine, and thus has she lost her elevated character and position in the world.

Thus, let us review those three grand features of character shown forth in the tribe of Levi.

Strangership. “Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not.” “Here we have no abiding city.” “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”

Sorrow in the world. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” “After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect” — “ye have need of patience” — “ye yourselves know that ye are appointed thereunto.” “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” “These are they that came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Union. “That they all may be one.” “He should gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad.” “That He might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross.” And here, again, I would request of my reader to bear in mind that, while there was this beautiful diversity in the character and line of service of the Levites, yet they were one people, and that manifestly — they were one in life, one in standing, one in calling, one in inheritance; and so should it be with Christians now. We are not to expect uniformity of opinion on every point, nor yet are we to look for a perfect correspondence in the line of service and development of life; but then the saints should be seen as one people — one in worship, see note, one in labour, one in object, one in sympathy; in a word, one in everything that belongs to them in common as the people of God.

{Note: I say, one in worship and I would press this point, because at the present day it seems to be a thought in the minds of many that there may be unity in service and at the same time the greatest diversity in worship. I would appeal to the spiritual mind of the Christian reader, and I would ask him, Can this really be? What should we say to a family who would unite, or appear to do so, for the purpose of carrying on their father’s work, but who could not, by reason of division, meet around their fathers table? Could such unity satisfy a father who loved his children? End of note.}

How sadly out of order it would have been for a Levite to call upon one of the uncircumcised of the nations around to assist him in carrying any part of the tabernacle! and yet we hear Christians now justifying and insisting upon the propriety of conduct not less disorderly, viz., calling upon the openly unconverted and profane to put their hands to the Lord’s work. Thus we see that the Levites have become scattered, and have forsaken their posts. The Gershonite has refused to carry the curtains because he has become weary of the stranger condition; the Merarite has laid down the boards and sockets because he grew weary of bearing the cross, and the Kohathite has degraded his high and holy office by making it the common property of those who have not authority from God to put their hands thereunto. Thus the name of God is blasphemed among the heathen by us, and we do not “sigh and cry for the abominations” thus practised, but lift up our heads in proud indifference as if it all were right and as if the camp of God were moving onward in all heavenly order, under the guidance of the cloud, communicated by the silver trumpets. “My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” May we walk more humbly before our God, and, while we mourn over the sad fact that “Overturn, overturn, overturn” has been written by the finger of God upon all human arrangements, let us remember that it is only “until He come whose right it is,” and then all shall be set right forever, for God, in all things, shall be fully glorified through Jesus Christ.

Thus dear reader, have we followed Levi in his course; and oh, what a marvellous course has it been! a course, every step of which displays the visible marks of sovereign grace abounding over man’s sin — grace, which led God to stoop from His throne in the heavens to visit “the habitations of cruelty,” in order to lift a poor perishing sinner from thence, and bring him, through the purging power of the blood, into a place of marvellous blessing indeed, even into the very tabernacle of God, there to be employed about the instruments of God’s house. We have found Levi to have been indeed the one who “was dead and is alive again, who was lost and is found.”

May we, then, adore the grace that could do such mighty acts! and if we have felt in our hearts the operations of the same grace in delivering us from the death and darkness of Egypt, may we remember that its effects should be to constrain us to live, not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and rose again. We are now in the wilderness, where we are called to carry the tabernacle. May we cheerfully move onward, “declaring plainly that we seek a country,” and anxiously look out for “the rest that remains.”