Numbers 3:14-26
There was a difference in the way the Levites were numbered from the numbering of the rest of the tribes. In all the other tribes, the men were numbered from twenty years old and upward, but the Levites were numbered from one month old and upward. Undoubtedly this has a great lesson for us as Christian parents. Sometimes we do not own the Lord’s claims over our children young enough, nor do we bring them under His authority as soon as we should. We are liable to say, “They are too young” and so let them have their own way until it is too late, and then when we want to bring them under the Lordship of Christ, they rebel. The children of Christian parents, like the children of the Levites, are born into the place of privilege (1 Cor. 7:19) and we ought to “number” them as such, realizing at the same time that it is all of grace. The Levites did not begin their service until. they were thirty years of age, but they were numbered from a month old. Surely we can see in this something of the great responsibility which rested upon the pants of these children during those thirty years, and what a great responsibility rests upon us as Christian parents today, Have we taught our children the truth of God in all its purity and simplicity, at the same time making them realize what a great responsibility is theirs to “keep the charge of the Lord?” These are searching questions indeed, but very timely, we feel. What a difference it would make in the assemblies of God’s people if our children were diligently taught the truth from their earliest childhood, as well as having our living example before them, as parents. May it be more so with those of us who have “light in our dwellings” in these dark days of the Church’s history.
We now come to the service appointed to the different familes of the Levites, by Aaron. First there is the service of the Gershonites. They had the responsibility of the tabernacle itself, the hangings of the court, the cords, and other things. This comes first, for we need to watch the beginnings of thr enemy’s attack. In the tabernacle and its furniture we see that which picturet to us the various glories of Christ, and tells us of our approach to God. The Gershonites were to “keep the charge” of the tabernacle itself, and how needful it is that we “keep the charge” of that which it typified. The enemy is “a thief and a robber,” ever ready to rob Christ of His glory, and us of out blessings in Him, and great diligence is needed in maintaining the truth. When the time came for the children of Israel to move forward, or to stop in sumo place for a while, the Gershonites had to take down or set up the tabernacle in God’s appointed way. Each curtain and each cord had to be carefully picd up and guarded in the journey—then set up in its right place when they stopped. In this we see that every detail, though seemingly unimportant, was needful. They could not leave any part out as unnecessary, for they were acting on God’s behalf and must be faithful.
As we think of the great errors that have come into the professing church today, we can trace them all back to small beginnings—a carelessness as to the little things, which has resulted in carelessness as to the greater things. Dear readers, whether young or old, let us watch the little things, let us “keep the charge of the Lord” in the little things and not pass them over. “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines.” Song of Sol. 2:15.
ML 06/24/1951