Levitical Service.

From: Tabernacle: Its Structure, Vessels, Coverings, Sacrifices and

Priesthood was established in the family of Aaron, Levitical service in the tribe of Levi. Israel worshipped Jehovah through the intermediary service of the priest, and served Jehovah in the person and work of the Levite. In Leviticus the Tabernacle and the priest are prominent; whereas in Numbers the journeyings of the people and service of the Levites are the distinguishing truths. In both books, however, the Tabernacle is the center of interest, whether for worship or service. Now, however, each Christian is both a priest and a Levite. He worships in the sanctuary and serves in the harvest-field. All believers are equally privileged to serve as priests and to serve as Levites. The two were separately regarded of old, in Christianity they are combined in each redeemed person.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto 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 unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel” (Num. 3:5-9⁵And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ⁶Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. ⁷And 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. ⁸And 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. ⁹And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. (Numbers 3:5‑9)).

God has a just, a righteous claim upon His creatures on the double ground that He is the Creator and Preserver of all. He claimed all the first born of man and beast, both of Egypt and of Israel. The pride, the strength, the excellency of these nations, as expressed in the first born, were rightfully claimed by God; for judgment in the case of Egypt (Exod. 12:29²⁹And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. (Exodus 12:29)), for service in that of Israel (Num. 3:12, 13¹²And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; ¹³Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the Lord. (Numbers 3:12‑13)). Jehovah took the Levites instead of the first born of redeemed Israel. This tribe was to be wholly devoted to the service of Jehovah. Israel were redeemed for worship and service. This they did representatively through the priest and by the Levite. Has this not a voice to us? Are we not redeemed for a distinct and definite purpose? We have been saved at an infinite cost―saved to worship in the sanctuary above, and to serve in the harvest-field below.

Levitical service was exercised within an exceedingly narrow sphere. In chapter 4. of the book of Numbers we learn that the service was confined to the Tabernacle. Judaism was essentially a conservative system. It was so even in the time of our Lord (Matt. 10:5, 6⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: ⁶But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matthew 10:5‑6)). Christianity on the contrary knows no limitations. The whole world is its sphere of operation, and every creature the subject of its glorious ministry.

In the passage which we have transcribed from the third chapter of Numbers, we have unfolded a deeply interesting feature of Levitical service. “Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.”

The Levites were given to Aaron and his sons (verse 9), thus maintaining an inseparable connection between worship and service. Our work on earth should correspond to our place on high. But besides this general truth, the Levites were to “minister unto him.” Aaron represents our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. We serve Him. He represents us in heaven. We serve Him on earth. Our place in heaven must not be divorced from our walk on earth. All we do here should have a heavenly character stamped upon it. Just as the Levites served Aaron so we serve Christ. We as associated with Him in heaven in worship, serve Him down here. We morally connect heaven and earth. We bring the savor and communion of heaven to our walk and service on earth. We in our service down here minister to Him up there. The High Priest ministers for us in the presence of God, and we here minister to Him. This consideration gives an elevated character to our service.

Our conflict is in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)), our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20²⁰For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)). Levitical service was connected with the Tabernacle, yet outside the sanctuary but in moral connection with it. So in like manner our service while performed down here, has or should have a heavenly character imprinted upon it. We serve Him Who is in the heavenly sanctuary and do it with the savor of the place where He is, impressed upon all we do — may God grant it!

The Court.

In the detailed description of the Tabernacle and its vessels and services, the sacred historian commences from within, describing separately the Ark and the Mercy-seat (Exod. 25:10-22¹⁰And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. ¹¹And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. ¹²And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. ¹³And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. ¹⁵The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. ¹⁶And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. ¹⁷And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. ¹⁸And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. ²⁰And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. ²¹And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. ²²And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 25:10‑22)) in the holiest or innermost part of the sacred building. Then the vessels in the holy place are detailed, with the exception of the Golden or Incense Altar (verses 23-40); next, the Tabernacle itself, with its curtains, coverings and boards; the dividing veil and door being minutely described (chap. 26.). Then the Court with its pillars, sockets, hangings, and gate are delineated with an exactness equal to any part of the holy edifice. But, again, we have an omission of an important vessel which stood in the Court; we refer to the Brazen Laver. Now the two omitted vessels, namely the Golden Altar and the Brazen Laver, were pre-eminently priestly vessels―none but priests could use them―hence the description of them (30.) comes after the institution of the priesthood (28., 29.), and rightly so. In this connection we may remark that the two-vessels which stood in the Court were both of brass: the Brazen Altar and the inn teen Laver. Only in the former the brass covered the shittim wood; whereas the latter was wholly of brass. There is too a very intimate connection between the two vessels. Both were for the judgment of sin. At the Altar the sinner had his sins judged according to his responsibility as such. At the Laver the worshipper had his uncleanness judged according to his responsibility as such. In fact, the Court with all in it, had as its distinguishing feature, Righteousness. The hangings, vessels, sockets, all told the same tale and proclaimed the same truth, that righteousness must be maintained and upheld whether for saint or sinner. The vessels then in the Court would express the ground, place, and means by which God could righteously meet any sinner coming out of the world and meet him too in grace. As to the general construction of the Tabernacle we shall begin from the outside, first looking at the Court (27:9-18). The Court was not covered. The heavens formed its covering. Angels from above were no doubt interested spectators of what took place― “which things the angels desire to look into.” The Court with its flooring of sand or dust was 100 cubits, or 150 feet in length; and 50 cubits, or 75 feet in breadth, that is 18 inches to the sacred cubit. There is considerable diversity of opinion as to the English measurement of the cubit, but it is not a matter of importance. There is no moral teaching involved whether you make 18 or 22 inches to the cubit. The civil cubit was about 22 inches.

One hundred cubits (150 feet) of fine twined linen were suspended on 20 pillars for the north side of the Court, an the same for the south side. These pillars were of shittim-wood, although not expressly stated. The shittah tree is named 26 times in the Scriptures, and only in the book of Moses. This wood was an exceedingly durable one, and grew plentifully in the great Arabian desert. Whether these pillars were formed square or round we are not told. The only other materials of a hard nature were brass, gold and silver. The pillars were not of brass, as Exod. 38:29-31²⁹And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. ³⁰And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar, ³¹And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about. (Exodus 38:29‑31) show, nor were they of silver, for that metal was only used in the upper and ornamental parts, whilst gold was employed in covering the boards of the Tabernacle, and it the construction of certain vessels inside, but not in the Court. These pillars, therefore were of necessity shittim wood, resting on sockets of brass. The linen hangings were suspended by hooks of silver, while the fillets, or connecting rods, were also of silver. Between each of the pillars there were live cubits of linen hangings.

On the west side there were ten pillars, each supporting five cubits of hangings. On the east side, in the center stood the gate of the Court, termed a “door” in Num. 26, formed of 20 cubits of fine twined linen suspended on four shittim-wood pillars; while on either side of the gate were three pillars, supporting 15 cubits of linen-five for each pillar.

Thus on the north side (the right hand) were 20 pillars; on the south side (the left hand) 20 pillars; on the west side 10. pillars; and on the east 10 pillars in all 60 pillars of shittim wood.

The shittim-wood has been termed “the imperishable or incorruptible wood,” and sets forth the incorruptible human nature of our Lord (Luke 1:35³⁵And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)). The pillars, His stability and firmness as man. The linen, His righteous character. The sockets of brass were unseen, signifying His ability to sustain Divine judgment. The silver, the grace of God in providing atonement by Christ’s most precious blood. The blue tells of His heavenly character, the purple reminds us of His sufferings and death, whilst the scarlet proclaims His coming glory in connection with the earth. Christ is both the gate and door of the Court. On the four sides of the Court the righteous character of Christ towards the world was expressed, and of this the four Gospels are the witness.