A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 3 (Part 3)

Numbers 3:11-13—11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 12 "Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, 13 because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD." If God says something belongs to Him, does it belong to Him? So when He says He has taken the Levites to Himself, do they then belong to God? Well, yes. But these were His people, His tribe, rather than all the firstborn of Israel. For one very important reason: that they may act as a go-between between God and Man. Were they better than the others? By no means. We have already shown, from the book of Judges, that they could be just as dastardly as anyone. He does it for one reason and one reason only: because He can. Because that’s what He decided He wanted to do.

Don’t think you are any different. He chose who would be His from before the foundation of the world. Why? Are we better than those He didn’t choose? Oh goodness, no. We are far worse than we could ever think, far worse than we could ever be accused of being. And likewise, these Levites were no better than the others. But the others were set apart for His armies, and the Levites for His service in the Tabernacle. This was done to maintain order in this crowd of over 600,000 people. Ever take part in putting something together or tearing it down? It can be frustrating. People milling about, moving stuff in no particular order, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Then one person puts something where it doesn't belong, and everything gets out of whack, and… Now, suppose instead of setting up a stage for a production, we’re talking about the place where God has decided to put His name. And instead of a dozen or so workers, we have over a half million. So God says, Okay, before we get started, we are only going to have the sons of the tribe of Levi handling this. They are going to put stuff up, they alone are going to take it down and put all the stuff where it’s supposed to be, and do everything else. Now, that’s settled.

Now, suppose one of these Levites said “Nah, I’d rather not”. Could they have just walked away from this calling? No. “The Levites shall be MINE”. They belonged to God. If you are in Christ, you belong to God. And that should make us the most humble of all people. That we have been bought with the price of the blood of the Son of God. Not because we were good enough or smart enough or holy enough or righteous enough to accept that payment. But that we were chosen, based on nothing, by God, redeemed with His blood, and we are now set apart to Him. There are some who say “Yes, but you can always walk away. You can say ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’”. Seriously? You think that once you are in Christ, saved from the wrath to come, that God thinks so little of you that He would let you waltz off into Hell? 1st Corinthians 3:23—and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. Ephesians 1:13-14—13 having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. See that word “guarantee” in verse 14? In the KJV it is translated “earnest”. It is defined as “money which in purchases is given as a pledge or down payment that the full amount will subsequently be paid.” God gives us His Holy Spirit as a pledge. And God does not go back on His word.  The Holy Spirit is our guarantee, our earnest. If God guarantees something, will it happen?

Verses 14-39 detail which duty each division of the Levites was to carry out, so we will skip on down to Numbers 3:40-51—40 Then the LORD said to Moses: "Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. 41 And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel." 42 So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as the LORD commanded him. 43 And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. 44 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 45 "Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I am the LORD. 46 And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, 47 you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. 48 And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons." 49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites. 50 From the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 51 And Moses gave their redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Here we see a picture of redemption. The Old Covenant is often referred to as a “Covenant of Works”, and the New Covenant is referred to as a “Covenant of Grace”. I would argue they are both a Covenant of Grace. Adam’s sin plunged all humans into death and sin. God would have been perfectly justified in wiping us all out and starting all over again. But He didn’t. Even before He began the work of Creation, He knew Man would sin. So He planned to redeem some with the blood of His Son, Whom He would send at an appointed time. Until that time, He would chose for Himself a people He would call Israel. And He would give them types and shadows to serve as guideposts so that when that Son came into the world, they would know it was Him. One of those guideposts was this concept of redemption.

First, He says in verse 45 that He shall take the tribe of Levi instead of all the firstborn of all Israel. There were 22,000 males in the tribe of Levi, there were 22,273 firstborn males in all of Israel. That meant there were 273 more firstborn males than there were males in the tribe of Levi. So how would these additional 273 souls be redeemed? Well, in verses 46-48, we see that God told Moses that there was a price to be paid for them. They couldn’t just say “eh, close enough”. The first 22,000 firstborn had to be redeemed with a Levite, the remaining 273 had to be redeemed with something. God determined that that price was five shekels. This would be the price of anything devoted to the service of God, as it says in Numbers 18:16— And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. God could have said “that one is Mine, and I shall have it”, but He didn’t.  He said “give five shekels to the Levites, that they might minister on My behalf, and intercede for you”. So the principle of redemption was established.

This principle would find its way into the New Covenant, but instead of paying five shekels to redeem a soul to God, it was now a price God paid to redeem a particular people. In 1st Corinthians 6:20 it says you were bought with a price. That price was not five shekels, but rather the blood of the Lamb without spot or blemish. As John the Baptist said, “the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). In order for your sins to be taken away and forgotten, something had to be given in its place. God cannot just forget about the times you have disobeyed Him and rebelled against Him. Under the Law, that something was the blood of bulls and goats. But as we saw earlier, Hebrews 10:4—It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. We had to be redeemed. We had to have someone go into the Holy of Holies in Heaven with blood from a perfect sacrifice in order for God to forgive our sins. Hebrews 9:12—Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. F.B. Meyer in his commentary, wrote—

We are led to consider Christ’s high-priestly work. The scene for it is no edifice made with hands in this transitory world, but eternal and divine. His stay in the Holiest is not brief, hurried, and repeated year by year, but once for all He enters by virtue of His own blood. That blood cleanses not only from ceremonial guilt, but from moral and spiritual pollution. A will or testament comes into force when the testator dies; so the will of the eternal Father toward us has been made valid through the blood of Jesus.

I’ll end with the words of the Apostle Peter, in 1st Peter 1:17-19—17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. If you are in Christ, it cost more than five shekels to redeem you from the curse of sin. You were bought and paid for with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 3 (part 2)

Now, this idea of God being particular about who ministers to Him for man, this precept is still in effect today. Only today those men are not called priests, but rather preachers. If you’re like me, you have heard snippets from those who call themselves preachers who have no business calling themselves preachers. Whether they're spewing the heretical Prosperity “gospel”, or they call themselves “progressive”, or they stand before their congregation wearing a rainbow-colored shawl, these are some who do not preach truth. And every time they stand to give their talks, they heap more and more of God’s wrath upon them. They are outsiders coming near, as our verse in Numbers says, and while they may not die today or tomorrow, they will die, like all humans. And when they do, they will stand before God, who will judge them rightly, that they have blasphemed the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, they have blasphemed the Father, and are deserving of eternal torment.

The question I always have is, “why do they do it”? Why do they blaspheme the name of God—the very God they hate—why do they preach, as they say, “in the name of Jesus”, teaching their audiences the very opposite of what God has said, the very opposite of what Christ has said? I fear that it may be their way of sticking their thumb in His eye, showing Him their utter contempt. Making light of the things of God and His Christ. And they will receive the reward for their unrighteousness. And it will be eternal. 2nd Peter 2:1-3—1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Now, this is not to say the Levites could not be corrupted. In the book of Judges we see two episodes where they were not seen in the most favorable light. Of course  in Judges 19 we read of a Levite who was travelling with his concubine, she gets taken by a bunch of men referred to as “sons of Belial” and has unspeakable things done to her. She returns, dies on the threshold of the house, and he walks past her with contempt. And also in Judges 17 we read of a Levite who worked as a priest for an individual named Micah and served his graven images. Judges 17:6-13—6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (That is a phrase you find all throughout the book of Judges. Judges, if you read it, may very well be the most depressing book in the Bible. Moses has died, Joshua has died, and Israel as a nation is still in its infancy, and many of their past behaviors return.) 7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there. 8 The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" So he said to him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay." 10 Micah said to him, "Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance." So the Levite went in. 11 Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. 12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!" This is the passage referred to by Paris Reidhead in his famous sermon entitled “Ten Shekels and a Shirt”.  This passage is a warning to all who would come—whether Old Testament priests or New Testament preachers, but especially those who would preach and teach in such a way to lead people into sin and away from God—to examine why it is they preach, or “preach”. He says in his sermon—

The question comes then to this, what is the standard of success and by what are we going to judge our lives and our ministry? And the question that you are going to ask yourself, “Is God an end or is He a means?” Our generation is prepared to honor successful choices. As long as a person can get things done or get the job done then our generation is prepared to say well done.

And so we’ve got to ask ourselves at the very outset of our ministry, and our pilgrimage, and our walk, “Are we going to be Levites who serve God for ten shekels and a shirt?” serve men perhaps in the name of God, rather than God. For though he was a Levite and performed religious activities, he was looking for a place, which would give him recognition, a place which would give him acceptance, a place which would give him security, a place where he could shine in terms of those values which were important to him. His whole business was serving in religious activities, so it had to be a religious job. He was very happy when he found that Micah had an opening. But he had decided that he was worth ten shekels and a shirt, and he was prepared to sell himself to anyone that would give that much. If somebody came along and gave more, he would sell himself to them. But he put a value upon himself and he figured then his religious service and his activities were just a means to an end, and by the same token, God was a means to an end.

It’s why Paul tells us in 1st Timothy 3:2 that a pastor must be blameless, not covetous or a drunkard, etc. etc. Don’t judge the effectiveness of your ministry by numbers, but rather by your faithfulness to God.

Now, after these events, did God say “Eh, I’m done with you Levites. If anybody wants to be a priest and to minister in the Tabernacle, go ahead”? Did He cast off the tribe of Levi for these offenses? No. Paul lays out the qualifications for elders and deacons in his letters to Timothy and Titus. And, as the Levites did, some who have been elders and deacons have abused those positions. Does that mean God has said, “Well, okay, I’ll open up the doors and if anyone wants to be an elder or deacon, go right ahead”? Again, no. God does not adapt to the culture; the culture is to adapt to God and His Word. Unfortunately, many “churches” are run by men—and women—who do not fit the qualifications laid out in Scripture. And we wonder why society is running downhill at such an alarming rate. If the church doesn’t care about God’s Word and His commands, why should we expect those outside the church to respect them?

We would see later in Scripture that some unscrupulous kings would appoint whomever they desired, regardless of ancestry, to be priests. For example, we see Jeroboam do this very thing in 1st Kings 12:27-31— 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah." 28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!" 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. He did it again in the very next chapter, 1st Kings 13:33-34—33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34 And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth. This becomes a phrase used repeatedly in the books of Kings and Chronicles, “the sin of Jeroboam”. His sons would be wiped out, his name dragged for so many years—so many times the evil kings of Israel are described as “walking in the sin of Jeroboam”. Not “sins”, but “sin”, singular. This sin here, where he sets up idol worship and appoints priests from outside of Aaron’s bloodline—directly against the edict from God. Simply because he wanted glory for himself, the very glory which belongs to God and God alone! Robert Hawker, the Anglican priest from the late 1700s and early 1800s, summarized the sinfulness and wretchedness of these actions quite succinctly

What an awful example doth this man afford of an unreclaimed heart! oh, Reader! Learn from it the vast and infinite importance of the Spirit’s work upon the soul, without whose gracious influence every sinner’s heart would be more and more hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin.

Then of course we have the example of King Saul. 1st Samuel 13:8-12—8 Then [Saul] waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9 So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering. 10 Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11 And Samuel said, "What have you done?"—you can almost hear the anger and consternation in Samuel’s voice—Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, 12 then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.'  Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." Saul of course was from the tribe of Benjamin, a tribe which had no business with the things of the Tabernacle. But Saul presumed to offer a Burnt Offering to God, and did so without waiting for the man of God, Samuel, who was descended from Levi through his father Elkanah.

And just as Rehoboam suffered the loss of his kingdom, so Samuel told Saul he would lose his kingdom as well. 1st Samuel 13:13-14—13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14      But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." And of course we know this came true, that King Saul died in battle and his kingdom was given to the man he tried to kill many times, the man David, And while David is held in high esteem by the Israelites, while King Saul is held in derision. Why? Because he disobeyed God.

Part 3 next week 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 3 (Part 1)

We’re going to skip chapter 2, as it is simply a numbering of the various tribes and move on to Numbers 3:1-10— 1 Now these are the records of Aaron and Moses when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. 2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests. 4 Nadab and Abihu had died before the LORD when they offered profane fire before the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.  5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 6 "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7 And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. 8 Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle. 9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to him from among the children of Israel. 10 So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."

First thing we need to remember is this: Everything in all of creation belongs to God. Even people. Psalm 24:1— The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. God would have been perfectly righteous to declare “every single soul on Planet Earth shall come before Me to serve Me”. And who could argue with Him? It all belonged to Him anyway. But He doesn’t. He says “I will take the Levites, they will belong to Me, they will be in My service”. So let’s go through this passage.

Numbers 3:5-13—5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 6 "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7 And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. 8 Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle. 9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to him from among the children of Israel. 10 So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death. 11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 12 "Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, 13 because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD.”

Aaron was to be the High Priest. He was the chief of all who were to go between man and God. But remember, there were over 600,000 people in the camp of Israel. And they were all sinners, as everyone is. And the depth of their sin was exposed when Moses was atop Mt. Sinai receiving the Law from God, and before he could even come down they were already throwing a drunken orgy in front of the Golden Calf that they convinced Aaron to make. So whoever it was going between man and God was going to be busy. Especially when you take into account all the details of all the various sacrifices, what animals were to be brought, male or female, how they were to be prepared, what to do with the blood, etc etc etc. Not to mention having to inspect the people and their houses for possible leprosy.

Now, remember, this was under the Old Covenant. And under this Old Covenant, only Levites could serve in the priesthood. And when one priest died, or one High Priest died, they were replaced. So this priesthood was transferred from one man to another to another, throughout successive generations. As it says in Hebrews 7:23—Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. And this is a place where we say “But God…” He gave to us a New Covenant, with a better High Priest, namely our Lord Jesus Christ. And the good thing about Him is, He is not dead, as He lives forevermore. And because He lives forever, His priesthood is forever. Hebrews 7:24—But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. No more need for going through the divisions of the priesthood to see who will sprinkle incense and offer prayers today or tomorrow or the next day. No more deciding who will be High Priest today or tomorrow. We now have one Priest, both now and forever, and He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

You may ask, “But Jesus isn’t from the tribe of Levi, He is from Judah”. And this is true. But remember, New Covenant. The Old Covenant, with all its rules and regulations, and its imperfections because of men’s weaknesses (Romans 8:3), could redeem no one simply because they did their best to keep it. So a New Covenant had to be made. External commands could save no one, as they were always being broken and the burning flesh of bulls and goats could not take away their stain (Hebrews 10:4). If we were to be redeemed to God, we needed a better and eternal sacrifice. And for this, we needed a better and eternal High Priest. And it had to be One who did not come from the tribe of Levi.

Why? Simply to show that this High Priest was offering a sacrifice better than the Law. If He were from the tribe of Levi, the people—especially the Jews—would think salvation came from the Law. However, Galatians 2:16—knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. So now we have a New Covenant, a better and eternal sacrifice, mediated by a better and eternal High Priest, to redeem us from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13).

Us. Sinful, wretched us!!! Us who for however long turned our backs on God, despised God, rebelled against God, violated His Law and ignored His salvation! And yet, here comes the Lion of Judah—a different tribe entirely from the tribe of Levi—to become our High Priest, to become our perfect and eternal sacrifice, that we may be reconciled to the very God we hated! The very God in whose face we spit came and offered Himself as the sacrifice. Think about it! When the Roman guards were beating Christ and spitting on Him and mocking Him. They were not doing these things to a mere man. They were beating and spitting on and mocking—God! Were they any different than us? No. They were not

Isaac Watts said it quite well—

Alas! and did my Savior bleed,/and did my Sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head/for sinners such as I?

Was it for crimes that I have done,/he groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!/And love beyond degree!

 (“Alas And Did My Saviour Bleed?”)

 The blood of Bulls and goats could not take away sin. They can cover them up, but can never take them away. Hallelujah! He wrote in another place-

 

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

that were a present far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.

(“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”)

What do many hold onto on this Earth, what do many prize more, what do many not want to rid themselves of, in exchange for the eternal goodness and beauty of our Lord Jesus! May it never be with those of us who love Him! There are about a thousand more rabbit holes I could go down, but I won’t.

Look at the last part of Numbers 3:10—“But the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.” Only the Levites were to perform any work in the Tabernacle of Meeting. Anyone who was not a son of Aaron could not come near to the Tabernacle of meeting to perform priestly duties, lest God Himself wipe that person out. “But that’s not fair, shouldn’t everybody have a chance???” The short answer: no. The longer and more detailed answer: also, no.

Again, God has a certain way He wants things done. And if you go against the way He wants things to be done, you will incur His wrath and you run the risk of being destroyed on the spot. Just ask Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-2). God declared that only the incense that was made according to His specifications was to be used on the altar. They said “we’ve got a better idea” and…..*poof*

Part 2 next week

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.