Numbers 4:1-49

So here we have the charges of the Levites (what they are charged to do or to care for) as well as a partial census.  Notice, only men of an age suited to serving in the Tabernacle were counted: from age 30 to age 50.  The total number comes to 8,580.  What if that were a church?  Could you imagine, 8,580 men serving?  In basically a custodial fashion?  They would be like the deacons of the church of today, ministering and serving without any priestly duties.  How many active deacons do you have in your church?  (I am always surprised by the number ours has when it comes time to confirm offices, but I have to say, I'm glad to know so many men in our church serve!).  Essentially, these men took care of the physical aspects of the Tabernacle.  The priests' offices were spiritual, the Levites physical.  It was left to them to properly wrap and pack up all the articles of the Tabernacle, the various hangings, posts, poles, etc. of the physical Tabernacle building.  They were to ensure that everything was properly cared for and stowed and carried, and they were not to touch it for fear of dying.  And that was not an empty threat, as we shall see some day in our reading.

Imagine the care and attention it would have taken to properly wrap these articles so that you could be sure not to touch them, that they would be protected, and that they would not fall during a move.  I would hope that not even the best housewife would as lovingly pack her china or her silver.  Yet, knowing the Israelites history, I can't help but wonder if perhaps sometimes the Levites prized their position more than their charge, that they cared for their importance as a Levite more than the Lord's house.  Maybe they were careless from time to time?  Did it ever become so routine that they barely noticed what they did?  Just as we can sometimes be careless in the disciplines we are called to: Bible study, prayer, giving, worship.  We are not threatened with death if we do not care for such things so well.  But doesn't it become kind of a spiritual coma if we don't?  What do we disregard that the Levites may (or may not, really) have?

Tomorrow's Reading: Numbers 5:1-31