Numbers 1:1-3:13
The book of Numbers gives us the wilderness journey of the children. of Israel on their way to Canaan, and it is most interesting in that we learn herein much of the ways of God with His people. Just as the Red Sea separated the children of Israel from Egypt and its glories, so the cross of Christ has separated us from the glories of this world, making it a wilderness as we travel to our heavenly Canaan. Our trials and testings, and alas our murmurings too, answer to what Israel passed through, so that God’s ways with them are very instructive to us. May we profit by what God has written for us here, for “they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10:11.
First we have the numbering of the people according to their tribes. Not one is forgotten of God, and here it is the people in their outward place as His people. They pitched their tents and encamped around the tabernacle where He dwelt among them. It is noticeable here that the Levites were not nuered with the people. The firstborn of all the people belonged to the Lord, for He had spared them when they had taken shelter under the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt, while the firstborn among the Egyptians were all killed. They were His, therefore, for He had spared their lives, but now, instead of them, He had taken the whole tribe of Levi to serve in their stead in connection with the tabernacle. The tribe of Levi were therefore not nuered among the people, because they belonged to the Lord. We notice too that they were placed immediately around the tabernacle, for this is a paern of heavenly things, and it reminds us of how the Lord Jesus said, “If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be.” John 12:26. How Unportant this is. for if we are going to serve according to His mind the very first requirement is nearness to Him.
We might say that there are three important things to remember in this connection, when we apply what we have here to our own service to the Lord now, as believers. First, we deserved death and judgment, just as the children of Israel deserved it in Egypt and it is only the blood of Christ that has sheltered us from that judgment. Secondly, as being redeemed we are not our own but have been bought with a great price, and we ought to recognize this and, by the constraint of the love of Christ, present our bodies as a living; sacrifice to Him. (Romans 12:1). Thirdly, we have been given to Chris, by the Father, and He is Son over His own house, whose house we are. (Heb. 3:6.) He has given gifts by the Holy Spirit, and we are responsible to the Lord as to the use of these gift. (1 Cor. 12:5.)
Another important thing here is that the service of the Levites was appointed to them by Aaron and his sons. They did not do just what they thought was best, but served as under the priesthood of Aaron who is typical of Christ. The great trouble in Christendom today is that many Christians do whatever service they themselves think best, follong their own thoughts, and then when the Word is presented to them they do not want the path of obedience. God has told us that “to obey is better than sacrifice,” (I Sam. 15:22), and our service is only truly acceptable in the measure in which it is according to His Word. All this will be manifested at the judgment seat of Christ, when the lives of all believers will come into review. (1 Cor. 3:12-15.)
ML 06/17/1951