Numbers 3

v1-13: In the same way that God appointed the Levites to help Aaron and his sons in their service as priests, so deacons are to be appointed in the church, so that elders can give “themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.”

v14-39: Aaron needed to know how many Levities had been given to assist him. The Levites were divided “into three clans, according to the number of the sons of Levi.” These three clans surrounded the tabernacle as guards, “and to complete the square, Moses and Aaron with the priests set up camp in the front.” The responsibility the Gershonites had was to “care and transport of all the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle and court,” the Kohathites, “all the furnishings of the tabernacle,” and the Merarites, “the heavy equipment.” Of all the tribes of Israel, “the tribe of Levi was by far the smallest in number of all the tribes.” A reminder that the part belonging to God “in the world is too often the smallest part. His chosen are a comparatively little flock.”

v40-51: “The Levites and all their possessions were devoted to God instead of the firstborn” because they were passed over in Egypt. When the number of firstborn exceeded the number of the Levities, that small number were to be redeemed. “The church is called the church of the firstborn, who are redeemed, not as these were, with silver and gold, but… with the precious blood of Christ.”

Numbers 4

v1-20: From the tribe of Levi, “all the males from thirty years old to fifty,” were to be employed in the service of the tabernacle. “They started as probationers at twenty-five years old,” spending “five years in learning and waiting, to equip themselves for service.” From this we learn “two sound principles” to follow when appointing pastors and elders today. First, they “must not be recently converted.” Second, “they must learn before they teach, serve before they lead, and must first be tested.”

v21-33: Care was taken of everything that belonged to tabernacle, “that it might be readily available when [it] was to be set up again.” We are “to be most exact in keeping all divine instructions in a pure and genuine way.”

v34-49: Of the three families of the Levities, the number of useful men, was not even a third of the Kohathites, little more than a third of the Gershonites, and just over half of the Merarites. Many had “a place in the tabernacle but do little of the work of the tabernacle.” So it has been, so it is, as of the many who are part of the church, “there are comparatively few who contribute.”