THE Bible often speaks of burdens. Each of us also knows something about burdens, and it all depends upon what the burden is, whether it is or is not pleasing to us. A heavy basket of apples would be quite a pleasant burden to some, while a little boy or girl carried upon the shoulder would be a charming burden to others! But a great weight of care or sorrow is a sorrowful burden for all who have to bear it.
King Solomon had seventy thousand men that bore burdens, whose daily work it was to carry the loads appointed them for building the Temple, and he chose for this laborious service men from among the strangers in Israel. In erecting the house of the Lord, whether in Solomon’s or in Josiah’s reigns, we read of the burden-bearers told off to their important, though insignificant, duty.
We remember how that Pharaoh forced Israel in Egypt to the severe labor of bearing burdens, and how that he afflicted them with them, till at length the Lord Himself made Israel free, and said, “I removed his shoulder from the burden.” (Psa. 81:66I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. (Psalm 81:6).) Great was that day of freedom for Israel―not only because they were then no more slaves, but because in and by their freedom this word of the Lord was fulfilled in them, “Ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” (Ex. 6:77And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:7).)
The Lord Jesus speaks to us of the burden-bearer in a passage well known to us all: Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest... My burden is light.” Did He utter these gracious words with a bearer of burdens, so familiar to the eye in Palestine, before Him? The traveler sees nowadays the hammal pressed under his heavy load, which seems almost too great and too weighty to be carried. The hammal is a porter or carrier. He has a strong rope, which he arranges around his load, and each end of which he holds in his hands, and thus, with the amazing pile upon his back and shoulders, he staggers along the slippery stone paths of Jerusalem! What a picture of the sinner under the weight of his sins―yea, with the load piled up upon him, and weary and heavy laden with it How glad would such an one be to have a burden-bearer―how welcome would rest be to his heavy laden soul! Now the Lord takes away the burden of sin, for He has carried our sorrows, and He has freed us from their weight.
We said that some burdens were pleasant. Jesus says, “My burden is light.” Love makes the burden light. The Lord Jesus came to do His Father’s pleasure, and it was a joy to Him to do it, and herein He is graciously pleased to be to us an example.
If we read about the service of the Levites (Num. 4), we find they had burdens to carry―different sorts, but they all had something to carry. Very precious things did they bear, some more precious, as we should suppose, than others, but all equally necessary for the service of the Lord. Their burdens were their honors, for ordinary Israelites were not appointed to this sacred service. So it is even today: God calls forth His people to carry for Him some sacred burden in His service, and it is an honor to be appointed by Him for the work of His glory, whatever the particular service may be.