Biblical Essays
HISTORY OF THE TRIBE OF LEVI
The tribe of Levi arranged according to their families by class, name and meaning of the name:
First Class
Gershon – a stranger or exile
Lael – dedicated, or belonging to God
Eliasaph – God hath added
Shimei – hearing, renowned
Libni – for edification, white
Second Class
Kohath – congregation, assembly
Hebron – association, communion
Amram – exalted people, of the exalted One
Izhar – oil
Uzziel – the strength of God
Third Class
Merari – bitterness or sorrow
Mahli – sick, pardon or a harp, sickly
Mushi – yielding, one who has found a refuge, forsaking
Abihail – Father of strength
Zuriel – my rock is God
There are few exercises more profitable for the Christian than reflecting on the character of God as unfolded in the history of saints and fathers of ancient times recorded in Old Testament Scriptures – the Hebrew Bible: and indeed this might be expected from the nature of the subject, which is such that, whatever be its extent, it unfolds principles that stand connected with all that is important for us to know or be established in. Thus, whether we get the dealings of God on a limited scale, as with any one of the fathers personally or more widely extended, as with the seed of Israel afterwards, it is nevertheless the same lesson we are called on to learn, i.e., God and man. This is what should exceedingly enhance the value of the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament – to the Christian; almost the great body of its teaching is of the above character: and not only so, but it also (as looked at in this point of view) effectually guards against the mere exercise of imagination. Why? Because when we consider the history of any man or people, it is not necessary that we decide positively what is shadowed out therein;1 It is enough to see that we have before us a more or less extensive development of the character and acting of God and man; and, without descending beneath the surface of Scripture, this cannot fail to be instructive and edifying to the soul.
But, of all Old Testament histories embodying instruction of the above character, we believe there are few more copious, deep and varied than that which is about to engage our attention. If the narrative of a soul taken up from the pit of corruption and deep depravity by sovereign and eternal grace, carried through the various stages which grace and truth had enacted for sinful man, until at last he is set down in the sanctuary of God and forever established in the enjoyment of the covenant of life and peace. The history of Levi abounds in a narrative possessing charms and presenting attractions to us. It is astonishment that a history fraught with such rich and varied instruction has not occupied more of the thoughts of those luminaries of the Lord’s church whose writings have been a source of comfort and instruction, teaching us to value the truth of God.
Yet, as much as we see in the history of Levi, and as much as we admire what we do see, we could not think of directing anyone’s thoughts to the subject without saying that we purpose doing little more than bringing to view various Scriptures that treat this interesting question; Scriptures that are so plain and striking that no one who is familiar with Scripture truths can fail to enter into. Since we purpose, with the Lord’s blessing and grace, to follow the history of Levi through Scriptures in which it is brought before us, we commence with his birth, as recorded in Genesis 29:34; “And she [Leah] conceived again, and bare a son: and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi” (that is, “joined”; emphasis added).
Here we are presented with the birth and name of this most remarkable character – a name of significance when looked at in connection with his after history, whether in nature’s wild and lawless extravagance, in which we find him “joined” with his brother in the perpetration of a deed of blood and murder (Gen. 34), or in the day when he was called to drink deeply and largely of the cup of God’s electing grace, when “joined” with Aaron in “the work of the tabernacle” (Num. 8).
Genesis 34:25-26: “And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went out.”
As the Spirit of God in Jacob has furnished us with a striking commentary on the above piece of cruelty, we will consider the Scripture in which the commentary is given, i.e., Genesis 49:5-7: “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
We have here a humbling view of human nature as looked at in the light of the holiness of God. It is as if the Lord would say to us, “Look here! Behold a man clothed in nature’s blackest garb, and presenting nature’s most forbidding aspect. Examine him closely, in order that you, seeing what man is when stripped of all that false clothing which ignorance or vain self-righteousness would put upon him, may know the rich abounding of My grace, which can avail to lift even such a one into the loftiest heights of communion – heights which human conception would utterly fail to mount, but which My grace, through the blood of the cross, can make available to the very chief of sinners.”
In reading such a description as that which the above passage presents, how needful it is for the sinner to bear in mind that it is not only in the light of God’s holiness that he is called to look at himself, but also in the light of His grace. When this is learned he need not be afraid to deeply penetrate into the dark recesses of his heart’s corruption; for if God in grace fill the scene, the sinner (as far as his own righteousness is concerned) must necessarily be out of the scene. Then it is no longer a question of what we think about sin, but how God will deal with it in grace – to simply put it away forever. Yes, to bury it forever in the waters of His forgetfulness. Thus it will be placing our sin side by side with God’s grace; which is what the Gospel invites us to do – it is the only way to arrive at a proper settlement of the question of sin. On the other hand, where this saving principle is not known or not believed, the sinner will undoubtedly seek to make the load of his guilt as light as possible, in order that he may have as little to do as possible. This will always lead to the most unutterable and intolerable bondage; or if not to this, to that which is much worse – detestable religious pride, which is of all things most truly abominable in the sight of God.
If the question of sin has not yet been settled between the conscience and God, please ponder what has been stated; for to know this principle in spirit is life eternal. Once for all Christ has borne sin’s deepest curse in His own body on the tree, and now even Levi can lift up his head, even although he is by nature conversant only with “instruments of cruelty,” things which must have kept God forever at a distance from “his secret and his assembly;” although he is by nature cruel, fierce, self-willed, scattered, and divided, yet, in the exercise of His mercy, God can make him conversant with “the instruments of the tabernacle,” bring him into the enjoyment of the covenant of life and peace, in union with the great Head of the priestly family, and, in the power of this blessed union, cause him to have his “lights and perfections with his Holy One” (Deut. 33:8; Mal. 2:4-5). However, we must not anticipate the teaching of passages that are yet to come under our notice. Therefore, we close our remarks on this part of our subject by requesting a comparison of Levi’s character as recorded above, with that which the Apostle Paul, quoting from the Psalms, has given of man generally whether Jew or Gentile: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:10-18).
Exodus 32:25-29: “And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that He may bestow upon you a blessing this day.”
A new scene opens here, and we are called to witness the dawning of a new day on Levi; a day which may justly lead us to anticipate great things. True, we see him here with his sword by his side, but for a different purpose and cause. It is not now in anger and self-will slaying a man, but in holy jealousy and care for the honor of the Lord God of Israel, and in simple obedience to His command. And Levi cares not that this may (and will) lead to the cutting off of a brother, son, or friend, because the word is, “Consecrate yourselves to the Lord, that He may bestow upon you a blessing.” This was enough for Levi; and although by nature he was vile and unfit either for the fellowship or service of God, yet he is the foremost in jealous vindication of God’s holy name and worship against those who would seek to “turn their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” Levi is not now seen “joined” with his brother Simeon – no, he might join in league with him in the days of his wickedness for the perpetration of deeds of blood; but here, as observed before, we have the opening of a new scene and he is seen “joined” with the Lord and His servant Moses for the execution of righteous judgment on idolatry.
Henceforth, in following the footsteps of Levi, we find that instead of being “swift to shed blood,” they are to be swift in following the movements of the cloud, and, “swift” in performing the service of the tabernacle.
Of course, dwelling on the sad and humbling scene that called out the above act of service on the part of Levi would be foreign to our subject. It is suffice to say that on the part of Aaron and the camp it was for them a ceasing to exercise faith in the fact that Moses was alive in the presence of God. The consequence of which was an entire forgetfulness of the mighty Hand and stretched out Arm that had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and of their present position in the wilderness. Hence, as might be expected, “the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” May the Lord preserve us from like forgetfulness; and, seeing “those things were written for our admonition,” may we be truly admonished not to “lust after evil things.”
We now pass on to the next Scripture, where we get the Lord’s own thoughts on the above act of service – Deuteronomy 33:8-11: “And of Levi he [Moses] said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed Thy word and kept Thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob Thy judgements, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon Thine altar. Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept l the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again” (emphasis added).
In this passage, real Levite service is brought before us in the words, “who said unto his father and mother, I have not seen him,” etc. The true and decided servant of God will always experience something of this. Actually, the measure thereof will be in proportion to the faithfulness and power of his walk: “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”; therefore every heir of that kingdom must show himself ready to deny all claims “flesh and blood” make on him, whether in himself or in others. Most happily does the address to “the queen,” in Psalm 45, connect itself with this point: “Harken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father’s house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him” (vs. 10-11).
In our testimony for Christ, we have to watch against a tendency to be influenced by the claims of flesh and blood. On this subject our Lord has said that “no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). And, it was on this point that the prophet Elisha’s character seemed a little defective, for when Elijah cast his mantle over him, or, in other words, when he had put on him the high honor of making him a prophet of the Lord God, Elisha’s heart seemed to yearn after home, and he said, “Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee” (1 Kings 19:20). This was certainly natural, and some would say amiable and affectionate; but, oh how amiability and natural affection have so often hindered people from entering as they should into the Lord’s service; and although one of the marks of latter-day apostasy is to be “without natural affection,” yet, in the above-cited passage, Moses does ask the Lord to bless Levi, because “he said unto his father and his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children.” How grossly inconsistent would it have been for Levi to have said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother,” when called upon to enter the Lord’s work. Is it any less for us? Let not the claims of “flesh and blood” interfere with true-hearted Levite service to our God, who has done so much for us.
But let us carefully observe the consequences of this decision of character on the part of Levi. These are: 1. “They shall teach Jacob Thy judgements, and Israel Thy law.” 2. “They shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon Thine altar.” 3. “Bless his substance.” 4. “Accept the work of his hands.” 5. “Smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.”
Though all these fruits are distinct, still, they are intimately connected, as springing from the same source – simple, devoted and uncompromising obedience to the Lord.
1. “They shall teach Jacob Thy judgements, and Israel Thy law.”
Regarding the first of these fruits, it is true that only the man who endeavors to walk in power before God can speak with effect to the hearts and consciences of others; nothing else will do on the hearts of Christians – nothing else will tell in the lives of Christians. In this age, there is much systematic teaching and preaching about things mere intellect may have received, and which, by a natural fluency of language, we may be able to do. But all such teaching is vain, and should be avoided in the sight of God. True, without human intellectual additions our public assemblies might often give an appearance of barrenness and poverty which our proud hearts find hard to take; but would it not be far better to keep silent rather than to substitute carnal effort for the blessed energy of the Holy Spirit?
However, true ministry, the ministry of the Spirit, will always commend itself to the heart and conscience. We can always know the source from which a man is drawing who speaks in “the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth,” and with the ability God gives. And, while we should always pray to be delivered from man’s intellect in handling the truth of God, we should diligently cultivate that power to teach which stands connected, as in Levi’s case, with denial of the claims of flesh and blood, and entirely devoted to the Lord’s service.
2. “They shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon Thine altar.”
In the second consequence above referred to we have an elevated point: “They shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon Thine altar.” This is worship. We put incense before God when we are enabled, in the power of communion, to present in His presence the sweet odor of Christ in His person and work. This is our proper occupation as members of the chosen and separated tribe.
But it is particularly instructive to look at both the above mentioned consequences in connection; i.e., the Levites in ministry to their brethren, and the Levites in worship before God. In other words, it was as acceptable in the sight of God, and as divine an exercise of his functions, for a Levite to instruct his brethren as it was for him to burn incense before God. This is very important. We should never separate these two things. If we do not see that it is the same Spirit who must qualify us to speak for God as to speak to Him, there is a manifest need of moral order in our souls. If we can keep this principle clearly before our minds, it will be an effectual means of maintaining the true dignity and solemnity of ministry in the Word – losing sight of it has and always will produce sad consequences. If we imagine that we can teach Jacob by any other power or ability than that by which we put incense before God, or if we imagine that one is not as acceptable before God as the other, we are not soundly instructed on one of the most important points of truth. Someone has observed, “Let us look at this point illustrated in the personal ministry of Christ, and we shall no longer say that teaching by the Holy Spirit is inferior to praise by the same, for surely the apostleship of Christ when He came from God was as sweet in its savor to God as His priesthood when He went to God to minister to Him in that office. The candlestick in the holy place which diffused the light of life – God’s blessed name – was as valuable, at least in His view, as the altar in the same place, which presented the perfume of praise, whether of Christ personally, or of His body the church, for in both do we not equally see Christ.”
3. “Bless his substance.”
We now come to the third point – “Bless, Lord, his substance.” This is what we might have expected; an increase of blessing will always be the result of real true-hearted devotedness to Christ. “Every branch in Me that beareth fruit He purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit;” “The diligent soul shall be made fat;” and “To him that hath shall more be given.” Levi had exhibited diligence of soul in the Lord’s service – he had shown himself ready to vindicate God’s name in strong and decided opposition to every mere human thought and affection. Now the Lord shows Levi that He is not unrighteous to forget his work and labor of love, “for He will bless his substance.” We find the Apostle Paul bringing forward the same principle to his son Timothy when he tells him to “meditate on these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all.” Here he connects the “profiting” with the “giving himself wholly”: this will always be the case; and if we would experience, more than we do, the meaning and power of the words, “Bless, Lord, his substance,” we must first endeavour to enter into the meaning of what goes before – “who said to his father and to his mother, I have not known him,” etc. “Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matt. 19:29).
4. “Accept the work of his hands.”
Not less striking is the connection between what has just been stated and our fourth point. This we conceive to be an important point, one involving a question on which we frequently display a lack of intelligence. We often find difficulty in reconciling the idea of salvation through grace with that of obedience; and yet we find the two things constantly maintained in Scripture; thus we read, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him . . . If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:21, 23).
This is clear – the manifestation of the Son depends on our keeping the commandments of Christ. Grace takes up a sinner and leads him into the knowledge of full forgiveness of sins through faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ: but all this is simply a means to an end. In other words, it sets him down in a position of responsibility to Christ, that by nature he could never have sustained because “the carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” It is clear that the more faithfully and diligently one put into a place of responsibility maintains that place, the more enlarged will be his communion.
A father may have two children, one obedient, one the reverse. Still, they both are his children and obedience of the one or disobedience of the other can interfere with the “blood” relationship existing between them. True, a father likes to be obeyed, and will love the obedient child. There may be extraordinary cases where, from a warped judgment or a blind and unmeaning partiality, the disobedient, lawless son may have more of the heart of the parent than the other; but this is not so with God: His judgment is clear and unerring: He can accurately distinguish between the one that honors Him and the one that despises Him: the former “He will honour,” the latter He will “lightly esteem.” The Lord does not ask a sinner dead in trespasses and sins to serve Him, for such a one would be polluted with sin; his very prayers are polluted; his meditations are polluted; his acts of benevolence are polluted; in other words, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, he is polluted and therefore can do nothing acceptable in the sight of God. But the Lord quickens those that are dead in trespasses and sins, and then teaches them to “walk worthy of Him as dear children," and to be fruitful in every good word and work, to the praise of His name: and when we do this He graciously condescends to “accept the work of our hands.” But not only does Scripture abound with precepts confirming what has above been stated, it also affords numerous examples and illustrations of the same. For instance, consider the case of Abraham and Lot, in the opening of the book of Genesis. These were both servants of God, but yet how differently they walked; one loved God; the other loved the well-watered plains of Sodom: and the consequence was that while the Lord Himself could meet with Abraham, sup with him, and unfold His counsels with reference to Sodom, He merely sends angels to Sodom and in their manner toward Lot we can plainly perceive their disapproval of his circumstances, for when he invites them into his house, they reply, “Nay, but we will abide in the street all night.”
This is plain: the angels of the Lord would rather abide all night in the streets of guilty Sodom than go in to a child of His who was not walking in obedience. Also, the fact that they afterwards consented to go in does not interfere with the point which we are seeking to establish. No, their answer speaks volumes of the solemn and practical instruction to us – yes, they enter into Lot’s house; but it is only to counteract the sad effects of Lot’s sin. By prayer and communion with God, may we seek to keep ourselves in the path of obedience, so that we may prove in our soul’s happy experience the meaning of the prayer in our text, “Accept the work of his hands.”
5. “Smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.”
We have now arrived at the fifth and last point in this branch of our subject. This is properly the last point, when there shall be neither adversary nor evil occurrent we shall rest from our labor and conflict, and enter into possession of that on which hope now feeds. Therefore, when it can be said of our enemies “that they rise not again,” we shall be happy indeed.
However, in the connection in which it stands here there is much practical value in this point, i.e., as a consequence of obedience; there is nothing that gives the soul such marvelous power over enemies as an obedient, holy walk. Christ has conquered the devil, death, hell, and He has crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts; therefore, when a soul truly believes in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ2, he is introduced into a place where he has Satan, the world, and the flesh under his feet; and it is as he walks in the power of resurrection life, that he can maintain his blessed ground. But how often does it happen that instead of having the enemies under our feet, we are found under their feet to the gross dishonor of our Lord, and the sorrow and debility of our souls, all because we walk not in simple obedience.
Every step we take in real obedience to Christ is a victory gained over the flesh, the devil; and every fresh victory provides fresh power for the conflict which follows – thus we grow. On the other hand, every battle lost serves only to weaken us, while powering our enemies for future attacks. Thus we see that the man whose heart is truly devoted to the Lord will have power to teach – power to worship; he will increase in substance, for Christ causes those that love Him “to inherit substance” (Prov. 8). He will enjoy more of God’s favor and of the light of His countenance, for “them that honour Me I will honour.” Finally, he will have enlarged power over all enemies. All these are the fruits of that true Levite devotedness that will enable a man to say “to his father, and to his mother, I have not seen him”; or, in other words, those fruits can only be enjoyed by one who is ready to “leave all and follow Christ.” This being the case, we can have little difficulty in accounting for poverty in gifts of ministry; poverty in worship; meagerness of growth; many interruptions in the enjoyment of divine favor; and lack of power over enemies. Many in this age seek to satisfy self by saying that we cannot expect the same power in gifts and worship now as that which fell to the lot of saints in the first century, and this we are certainly not going to deny. But the question is, have we as much power and freshness in these things as we might have? We believe the answer is no – and why? Is not Levi’s God our God? Yes, He is, but we are far behind in the matter of Levi’s true devotedness; and this is the root of it all, for it remains unalterably true that “to him that hath shall more be given,” and “we cannot serve two masters.” This is true, solemn, and practical.
We now consider a Scripture that will unfold the wondrous secret of how a sinner so degraded as Levi could hold a place of such elevation and nearness to God as that which he afterwards occupied. By nature, there is nothing in a sinner with which God can associate; therefore, if ever He brings anyone into a place of blessing and high communion, He does so in pure grace and thus excludes “boasting” altogether, for “no flesh shall glory in His presence.” Those who look on it as presumption in a sinner to speak of holding a place of such nearness to God seem to completely lose sight of this. Pride can never lead us into a place where we can be broken to pieces, and be shown that we are altogether corrupt and worthless. If God were to elevate flesh and bring it into a place of nearness to Himself then there would be some force to the objection on the ground of presumption. But God does no such thing: the flesh is so far in ruin that it cannot be improved, and therefore in the Cross God declares His mind about the flesh – it is a condemned thing; but, by the same Cross He gives life to the poor sinner and in the power of that life (not in the power of life in the flesh), He brings the sinner into His presence and sets him down at His table; so that it is not the presumption of a poor prodigal that assigns the place he is to occupy, but the grace and boundless loving kindness of the father. Thus, God says to Noah, “The end of all flesh is come before Me,” and what then? “Make thee an ark of gopher wood” – and in that ark Noah is raised up beyond the region of judgment and a judged world into a place of undisturbed communion. In the Scripture about to engage our attention, we shall find the same principles developed in God’s dealings with Levi. We first consider their cleansing; and then their position and service. First, their cleansing as recorded in Numbers 8:5-14: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: and thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord. And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites. And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the Lord. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be Mine.”
This passage furnishes a rich and blessed branch of our subject. In looking at Levi by nature, we were able to see that his character was such that God would have no fellowship with him whatsoever, and that, as far as Levi was concerned, he should have forever abided in his own habitation, in company with the “instruments of cruelty” therein. But God will not leave him there, and therefore God must Himself provide the remedy – God Himself must cleanse this self-willed, cruel and fierce man. And here we are invited to recall a thought that occurred to the mind in the opening of this essay, viz., that man’s sin must always be brought into the presence of God’s grace. Levi had nothing else to look to; his sin precluded every thought of human remedy; the law condemned Levi's nature; and God had pronounced him unfit for His presence. And what, then, had Levi to do? Could he set himself with heart and soul to keep the law? No: the law had not only condemned his works, but pronounced the curse of God on his very nature. The law said, “Thou shalt do no murder” and having said this, it added, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But Levi had murder in his nature; therefore Levi’s nature was cursed.
What, then, could Levi do? Might he not cast himself over on the mercy of God with the hope that He would deal lightly with his sins? No; God had given forth His solemn and unalterable decree, “O my soul, come not thou into their secret”; God could not come into a habitation wherein there were “instruments of cruelty.”
Thus, Levi was completely shut up without a single means of escape; the law nailed him down to this one point, “Answer my demands.” And all that Levi had towards the discharge of these demands was “anger, fierceness, murder, self-will, cruelty,” etc.: poor resources. Nor would the law of God enter into any composition with the sinner; it should have “the uttermost farthing,” or else the word was, “cursed art thou.” Therefore Levi, as a man alive in the flesh, or, in other words, Levi, as seeking to get life through the law, was judged, condemned, set aside, and it only remained for him to take the place of one dead, in order that God might in grace quicken him into new life, which God was ready and willing to do, and which, as we shall see, He graciously did, according to His own marvelous thoughts and in His own way.
Levi had to see himself as one that was, in God’s account, dead, as we read “For they [i.e., the Levites] are wholly given unto Me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto Me: for all the first-born of the children of Israel are Mine both man and beast: on the day that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself; and I have taken the Levites for all the first-born of the children of Israel” (Num. 8:16-18; emphasis added).
The Lord passed through the land of Egypt with the sword of justice unsheathed to smite all the first-born (nor would Israel’s first-born have escaped), had not the sword fallen upon the neck of the spotless victim and thus there was death in every house, not only in the houses of the Egyptians, but also in those of the Israelites: in the former, it was the death of Egypt’s first-born; in the latter, the death of God’s Lamb.
The Levites were typically a dead and risen people, and thus were no longer looked at in the circumstances of nature, but of new life through grace in which they were placed by God Himself. This is the path every sinner must travel if we would experimentally know anything of Levi’s after history. There is no other way in which to escape from judgment of the law on one hand, or from the horrid workings of indwelling corruption on the other, than simply to see ourselves “dead” to both, and “alive unto God through Jesus Christ.” The apostle says, “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:2-4).
And again, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom. 7:4). But not only are death and resurrection the only possible means by which as sinners we can escape condemnation of the law and the tyrannical sway of sin, they are also the only means by which we can acceptably serve God. The flesh or carnal mind cannot serve God, for it is not subject to His law, neither indeed can it be. Therefore we infer that the sources of that life by which we can serve God are not to be found in the flesh, but only in union with the Lord Jesus in resurrection. “If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered” (John 15:6).
Consequently, when God brings Levi into a place of nearness and service to Himself, He shows him to us as passing through those circumstances which, in the clearest manner, illustrate death and resurrection; for they are taken instead of those that were as dead, but who escaped through the death of the lamb: and then having passed through the circumstances of death, they are told in chapter 8 to “put off the old man and put on the new” for that is the meaning of the “washing of water,” and “shaving of the flesh,” etc. This is in full keeping with what the apostle states to his son Titus: “For we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 3:3-6).
But in order that we may have a clearer and more comprehensive view of the ground on which the Levites stood before God, we briefly refer to the offerings connected with their consecration – the burnt offering, meat offering, and sin offering; all, as we shall see, showing the Lord Jesus Christ in His varied aspects.3 First, the burnt offering: the principles unfolded in this offering are brought out in the first chapter of Leviticus, where we read, “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord” (v. 3).
Here is something real for the soul to feed on and rejoice in. In the burnt offering we have the Lord Jesus Christ in all His fullness and perfections; offering Himself “without spot to God,” and also as accepted before God for us. In this He was found to be “a male without blemish”; so much so, that the One in whose sight the very heavens are not clean could say, “In whom I am well pleased”: and again, “Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth.”
But further, this unblemished offering presents Himself voluntarily at the door of the tabernacle. “No man,” says the Lord Jesus, speaking of His life, “taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again: this commandment have I received of My Father.” And in tracing the way of the blessed Jesus through this defiled world, truly we recognize this feature of the burnt offering in a most striking manner. From first to last His course was marked with all the steadiness and divine uninterrupted calmness of true devotedness to God. The billows of dark and fierce temptation might roll and toss themselves with a range and fury that would have crushed one less than God. The devil might stir up all his deadly malice against Him; man might display all his enmity – enmity that could only be outdone by the eternal friendship of this devoted One. His disciples may refuse to “watch with Him one hour.” Death may arm itself with ghastly terrors, and pour out a cup mixed with hell's bitterest ingredients; and display a deadly sting in all its infernal keenness and power to wound. The grave may conjure up all its unutterable horrors to make one grand struggle for “victory,” but all in vain. The answer of this unblemished voluntary offering to all these was, “My meat and My drink is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” He had His eye on one object, and that was “the joy that was set before Him.” He looked forward to the moment when He would be able to draw forth the rich and princely fruits of His hard-bought victory from the inexhaustible treasuries of eternal love, and pour them forth in divine profusion on the “travail of His soul”; even the church, which He loved and purchased with His own precious blood. He eagerly anticipated “the morning without clouds,” when, surrounded by the myriads of His ransomed brethren, He will sound forth in everlasting strains of the love of God toward the sinner – the mighty answer to all the foul aspersions of the enemy. All these attractions He had before Him, and therefore He marched onward in the greatness of His strength; “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Lord Jesus Christ, invigorate our poor cold hearts to sound forth the eternal honors of Thine adorable name; and may our lives be more and more the decided evidence of our hearts – love to Thee, for “Thou alone art worthy.” All this is most blessed for us; but, blessed as it is, it is not all; there are other strokes from the pencil of the Divine Artist, calculated in the highest degree to captivate our spiritual tastes, yea, more, to feed our souls. “He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him” (v. 4). Here, then, is grace. Levi, the self-willed, cruel, fierce, and blood-shedding Levi, is accepted before God in all the perfectness and acceptableness of this “unblemished male:” whatever of excellency, value, and purity God beheld in this offering, that He likewise beheld in Levi as “accepted in the offering.” Thus, looking at Levi apart from the offering, we find him such that God could not come into his assembly: but looking at him as in the offering, and through grace we find him as pure and perfect as the offering itself. Nothing could surpass this most excellent grace. The grace that could take up a sinner from such a pit of corruption as that in which Levi lay groveling, leading him into such high elevation, deserves the highest note of praise. We pray that before long all shall, like Levi, have felt its sacred power.
However, though we cannot here enter too minutely into the detail of this burnt offering, there are two points to which we will refer. The first is presented in verse 6: “And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.” Here we see to what a process of strict, jealous and uncompromising scrutiny the Lord Jesus was exposed in offering Himself before God. It was not enough that the animal should be apparently “without blemish,” because the skin or outward surface might look very well, while at the same time the offering is not fit for God’s altar. Therefore, the outward surface must be removed, in order that this offering may be examined in all its sinews, joints and veins, and thus regarding the springs of action, structure of His frame, and the source and channels of the life that animated Him be found a perfectly unblemished offering. But further, “he shall cut it into his pieces,” i.e., take the offering asunder and examine its various parts in order that it may not only form a perfect whole, but that each distinct joint may be found perfect.4 Thus, in whatever aspect we look at the Lord Jesus, we get divine perfection. He could say to God, “Thou hast tried Me, and shalt find nothing;” and God could answer, “I am well pleased.” He could say of the devil, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me;” and the devil could reply, “I know Thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God.” He could say to men, “Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” and man could answer, “Truly this was a righteous man.” Thus, our divine burnt offering, who voluntarily presented Himself at God’s altar, and there poured forth His most precious blood, was, in every feature and aspect, found pure and perfect in the highest sense of the word, and confessed so by heaven, earth, and hell.
Therefore, all having been found pure and fit for God’s altar, it becomes the happy place of Aaron’s sons to send up before God the sweet savor of this most acceptable offering, as we read: “And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar. But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord” (vs. 7-9).
The fat of the offering was God’s peculiar part; no one could with impunity touch that. The punishment for doing so was the same as for eating blood; i.e., it was as wrong and daringly presumptuous for a man to intrude on God’s portion of the offering as it was for him to assume he controlled life by his own right, which latter was an open denial of the state of his death and ruin by reason of sin. God claimed the fat. He alone could feed on the inward excellency and peerless perfections of Jesus, just as in the case of the unmeasured ointment in Exodus 30, where we see (as well as in the above cited passage) that the infinite mind of God alone could appreciate the infinite value of Christ. But we find the head burnt in connection with the fat, showing us, we suppose, that both the hidden energies of the Lord Jesus and the seat of His understanding were equally suited to be a sweet savor unto God. Lastly, the inwards and legs were washed and burned on the altar, showing us that the secret thoughts, purposes and counsels of the Lord Jesus, as well as the outward development of these in His walk, were perfectly pure and fit for the altar. In connection with this last point, one cannot help dwelling with comfort on the marvelous contrast between the Lord Jesus and His people. How often may our outward walk, typified by “the legs,” appear right in the eye of man, when perhaps at the same time in the eye of God, our “inwards” may be full of gross impurity. But it is well for us that such was not the case with our great Head: in Him all was alike – all was pure. Under the teaching of the Spirit, may our hearts enter more and more fully into the intrinsic excellency of the Lord Jesus; and standing at the altar before God may we be enabled daily to send up in His presence the savor of all this.
The meat offering was composed of that which sprang from the earth; such as aptly shadowed “the Man Christ Jesus” – the frankincense thereon marking the entire devotedness of all the actions of Christ’s human nature to God His Father. Nothing was done by Him to meet man’s eye or approbation; nothing was done to produce mere effect; no, all was directly before God. Whether we trace the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, while, for thirty years, He was subject to His parents at home; or while, for three years, He was engaged in public ministry among the Jews – all was alike: all showed the pure frankincense that marked Him in all things as God’s peculiar and devoted servant. Further, we may observe that this meat offering was baked with oil and anointed with oil; thus showing, we suppose, the incarnate Son of God, who was first “conceived of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 1:20), and then “anointed with the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 3:16; Acts 10:38).
We now consider the sin offering, and may the Lord graciously refresh our spirits while briefly dwelling on the blessed principles unfolded therein. The sin offering is brought before us in Leviticus 4, from whence we select one case for our present purpose.
If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people, then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head and kill the bullock before the Lord (vs. 3-4).
We observe a difference between the above passage and that in which the burnt offering was referred to; and the difference consists mainly in this: that in the last cited passage the words “voluntary will” are not found. In the burnt offering we were able to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ offering Himself voluntarily before God, in which aspect of His blessed work He could say, “No man taketh it [My life] from Me, I lay it down of Myself” (emphasis added). In other words, He offered Himself “of His own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.” But in the sin offering it is different: “He shall be brought” and “He shall be killed”, i.e., instead of coming, He shall be brought; and instead of laying down His life of Himself, His life shall be taken from Him. We consider these to be important distinctions, arising from the nature of the two offerings. In the burnt offering the Lord Jesus is seen offering Himself in all the unblemished perfectness that belonged to Him; and His soul had great delight in this, because He was presenting before God that which was so acceptable to Him. But in the sin offering the Lord Jesus is seen standing in connection with that which His pure and spotless soul must have deeply abhorred and keenly resented – abhorred and resented, indeed, in a way of which we cannot have the faintest idea. He is seen standing in connection with sin: yea, more, as “made sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Thus, through the Spirit, the prophet viewed Him when he said, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:5-6).
We believe that by looking at the two offerings we get a deep and wondrous view of sin’s dark and dreadful enormity in the sight of God: for in this point of view sin appears sinful according to the measure of Christ’s perfectness in God’s account. If, in the burnt offering, we were able to see that His whole man could go up before God as a sweet savor – that such was the beauty and excellency of Christ, and that God could “find nothing in Him” but perfection; then, as a necessary consequence, we must see in the sin offering the blackness and heinousness of sin, obliging God to hide His face from “His elect, in whom His soul delighted.”
This brings us to the next point connected with the sin offering, viz., “He shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head” (v. 4). Here we have the secret of the deep and profound mystery of the three hours’ darkness.
We have observed that God hide His face from the Lord Jesus on the cross, but how are we to account for such a mysterious circumstance? Simply by the words, “he [the sinner] shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head” (emphasis added). If, in contemplating the burnt offering, we were struck by the fact that all the perfectness of the offering was communicated to the “fierce and cruel” Levi, so here we are called on to adore the grace that devised the wondrous plan whereby that could be effected, which was by imputing to the offering all the sin and defilement of Levi, and dealing with the sin of Levi in the person of the sin offering, in order that Levi himself might be dealt with in the person of the burnt offering.
All this is conveyed to us in the action of “the laying on of hands.” This action was performed in both cases; i.e., Levi laid his hands on the head of the burnt-offering, and Levi laid his hands on the head of the sin offering. Regarding the act, it was the same in each case; but oh, how different the results. They were as different as life and death, Heaven and hell, sin and holiness. In fact, we cannot conceive a wider contrast than that which is observable in the results of this action, to all appearance the same in each case. Perhaps we may be able to form some idea of it by considering that the act of imposition of hands was the imputation of sin to one “who knew no sin,” but was “holy, harmless, undefiled,” and whose nature abhorred all sin. On the other hand, it was the imputation of perfect righteousness to one who was by nature “a cruel, fierce, and self-willed murderer.”5 Furthermore, the act of all worlds dwelt in the bosom of the Father to travel far away into the cold and barren regions of death and darkness, where the genial and life-giving rays of His Father’s countenance, which He alone could truly appreciate, had never penetrated; and standing on the confines of which, He cried “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me” and again, when these gloomy regions, with their ten thousand unutterable horrors, burst upon His spotless soul, “My God, My God Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?”
On the other hand, it enabled the one who dwelt in “the habitations of cruelty,” into whose “assembly” God could not come, to stand in the blaze of the light of God’s throne. These considerations may perhaps in some measure assist our conceptions on this astounding truth. The apostle states the same truth in the didactic language of the New Testament when he says, “He [God] hath made Him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21; emphasis added). That is, He has made the One whose perfectness is seen in the burnt offering to be judged as sin and treated as such in the sin offering, in order that we who deserved the treatment of the sin offering might be created as accepted in the burnt offering.
We also observe that here there is much force and value in the word “made” – it shows that righteousness was as foreign to the nature of man as sin was to the nature of Christ. Man had no righteousness of his own, or, in other words, he knew no righteousness, and therefore he had to be “made” righteousness. Christ “knew no sin,” and therefore had to be “made sin” in order that we might be made righteousness, even “the righteousness of God in Him.” But further, we learn from the passage to which we are referring, that the Lord Jesus having been “made sin for us,” is not more real, not truer or more palpable, than that the true believer is “made righteousness in Him.”
If there be any truth or reality in the record concerning the cross and passion of the Lord Jesus, then, it is plain that the moment a soul acts in faith on Christ in His death and resurrection, that moment he is accepted in all the acceptableness of Christ. His consciousness of this is, of course, another question: a truth and the realization of a truth are distinctly different.
The measure of our realization will be in proportion to the measure of our communion with God. If we are satisfied to move at a cold and heartless distance from God, our consciousness of the power and value of any truth will, as a consequence, be meager and shallow: while, therefore, it is not to be forgotten that the root and source of all life and communion is the truth stated in the passage to which we are alluding – it is manifest that the more we walk in communion with Him who gives us the life, the more we shall enjoy both Him and the life which He gives. Let us pray that the cross and passion of the Lord Jesus may sink so deeply into our hearts that we may have on one hand such a view of the loathsomeness of sin as shall lead us to abhor it with a holy abhorrence “all the days of our life,” and on the other hand such a view of the amazing love of God as shall constrain us “to live not unto ourselves but unto Him who died for us and rose again.”
So we see that the laying on of hands shows nothing less than a change of places on the part of the sinner and the Savior. The sinner was out of the favor of God: “O my soul, come not thou into their habitation.” The Savior was in the favor of God, “daily His delight,” dwelling in His bosom from before all worlds. But the amazing plan of redemption shows us the Savior out of the favor of God, and God forsaking Him, while at the same time a condemned malefactor is brought into the presence of a loving and pardoning God – what amazing, deep, inconceivable, eternal love and unfathomable wisdom; love which soars far aloft above the most gigantic conception; wisdom that has written everlasting contempt on all the power and base designs of the great enemy of God and man. For, before Levi could be introduced into the enjoyment of the “covenant of life and peace” (Mal. 2:5), a spotless Victim must stand the shock of the king of terrors and all his thunders. But who is this Victim? We ask not, “Who is this King of glory?” but Who is this Victim? The answer to this question is what gives to the plan of redemption its grandest and most divine characteristic. The Victim was none other than the Son of God Himself. Yes; here was love, here was wisdom. The Son of God had to stoop because man had exalted himself. And surely we may say that if God had not entered on the work, all would forever be lost. No mere mortal could have entered into that dark scene where sin was being atoned for; no one but the Son of God could have sustained the weight which, in the garden and on the cross, rested on the shoulders of the “One that was mighty.” And here we might refer to the Lord’s language to His disciples when He was about to enter into conflict with the adversary: “Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me” (John 14:30). Why could He not “talk much with them”? Because He was going to enter on the work of atonement, in which they could do nothing, because the prince of this world, had he come, would have had plenty in them. But, the moment He in spirit passes through that sorrowful hour, He says, “Arise, let us go hence”; i.e., although we could not move a single step in the achievement of the victory, yet we could enjoy the fruits of it; and not only so, but display the fruits of it in a life of service and fruit-bearing to God, which is the subject of teaching in the next chapter.
Here, then, is what gives peace to the awakened conscience of the sinner. God Himself has done the work. God has triumphed over all man’s wickedness and rebellion, and now every soul who feels his need of pardon and peace can draw near in faith and holy confidence and reap the fruits of this wondrous triumph of grace and mercy.
If we have not as yet made these wondrous fruits our own; if we have not as yet cast the whole burden of our sins on God’s eternal love as seen in the cross, we ask, “Why do we stand aloof? Why do we doubt?” Perhaps one feels the hardness of heart; perhaps one is ready to say that he feels himself unmoved by the contemplation of the deep sorrow endured by the Son of God. Well, what of that? If it is a question of guilt, we may go even farther, for in that hour of which we have been speaking we stand unmoved, looked on with cold and heartless indifference, while all creation owned the wondrous fact. Yea, more, we ourselves crucified the incarnate God; we spat in His face, and plunged our spear into His side. Do we shrink back and say, “Oh, not so bad.” It was the act of the human heart; and if we have a human heart, it was our act. But the Scriptures decide this point, for it is written, “For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together” (Acts 4:27). This passage proves that around the cross all the world was represented. But why insist on this? Simply to show the riches of the grace of God, which can only be seen in all its effulgent luster in the cross; and therein it is seen mounting far above all man's sin and malignant rebellion; for when man, in the fiendish pride of heart, could plunge his spear into the side of incarnate Deity, God’s cry was – blood, and through that blood “remission of sins, beginning at Jerusalem.” Thus, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, and “grace reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
We trust that enough has been said to show the grounds on which the Levites stood before God. These grounds were free and eternal grace – grace exercised toward them through the blood, which is the only channel through which grace can flow. Man has been found utterly ruined before God, and therefore, it is a question either of salvation through free grace, or eternal damnation; “for by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh living be justified.” But then, while man is by nature unfit to render anything like an acceptable righteousness or service to God, yet, when God gives us new life through grace, He, of course, looks for the development of that life. In other words, grace brings the soul into circumstances of responsibility and service, and it is as we meet those circumstances that God is glorified in us and our souls grow in the knowledge of God. Thus it was in the case of the leper: up to a certain point in his history had nothing to do, the priest was the sole actor. But when the priest had done his part; when, by virtue of the blood which had been shed, he had pronounced him “clean,” the leper then begin to “wash himself” (Lev. 14:8). We shall now find that the history of Levi develops all these principles most fully.
Up to now, we have been engaged with Levi’s condition and character by nature and also the wondrous remedy devised by grace to meet him in his lost estate – not only to save him from that estate but also to raise him up to an elevation that could never have entered into the heart of man, even into the very tabernacle of God. With God’s blessing and grace, we now proceed to examine that high elevation to which we have referred, and also the service it involved, as put before us in Numbers 3: “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” (vs. 5-9).
Here, God’s marvelous purposes of grace toward Levi fully open before us and truly marvelous they are. We see that the sacrifices were but a means to an end; but both the means and the end were in every way worthy of each other. The means were “death and resurrection,” and all included therein. The end was nearness to God, and all included therein.
Looking at Levi’s nature, there could be nothing farther removed from God; but grace in exercise through the blood could lift him up out of that ruin in which he stood, and “bring him nigh,” yes, bring him into association with the great head of the priestly family, there to serve in the tabernacle. Thus, we read, “You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience . . . But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:1-6).
And again, “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (v. 13).
When nature is left free to work, it will always go as far away from God as it can. This is true since the day when man said “I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid and I hid myself” (Gen. 3:10). But when grace is left free and sovereign to work, it will always bring the soul “nigh.” Thus it was with Levi. He was by nature “black as the tents of Kedar”; by grace, “comely as the curtains of Solomon”: by nature he was “joined” in a covenant of murder; by grace “joined” in a covenant of “life and peace.” The former, because he was “fierce and cruel”; the latter, because he feared and was afraid of the Lord’s name (Cp. Gen. 49:6-7; Mal. 2:5).
Furthermore, Levi was by nature conversant with the “instruments of cruelty”; by grace, with “the instruments of God’s tabernacle”: by nature God could not come into Levi’s assembly; by grace, Levi is brought into God’s assembly: by nature “his feet were swift to shed blood”; by grace, swift to follow the movements of the cloud through the desert, in real, patient service to God. In other words, Levi had become a “new creature,” and “old things had passed away,” and therefore he was no longer to “live unto himself,” but unto Him who had done such marvelous things for him in grace.
We further observe in the last cited passage, that the Levies are, in the first place, declared to be God’s property, and then they are “Wholly given unto Aaron.” Thus we read: “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word” (John 17:6). And again, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37).
We now briefly look into the detail of their service, in which, no doubt, we shall find much to edify and refresh.
We find that although the whole tribe of Levi, as to standing, was “joined with Aaron,” yet, as to service, they were divided into classes. “All had not the same office;” and this is what we might have expected, for, although in the matter of life and standing they were all on a level, yet, in the development of that life, and in the manifestation of the power of that standing, they would, no doubt, display different measures; and not only so, but each would be assigned distinct positions and line of service, which would serve to distinguish him from his brethren in a marked and decided manner. We know of nothing connected with the walk and service of the Christian that demands more attention than this point to which we are now alluding, viz., unity in the matter of life and standing, and at the same time the greatest variety in the manifestation of character and line of service. Due attention to this important point would save us from much of that “unwise” and unholy comparing of ourselves and our service with the persons and services of others, and, as a consequence, most unhealthy.6 And not only would it lead to beneficial results in a negative point of view, it would also have a happy effect in producing, cultivating originality and uniqueness of Christian character. But while there was diversity in the line of service among the Levites, it must also be remembered that there was unity. The Levites were one people, and seen as such; they were “joined” with Aaron in the work of the tabernacle; moreover, they had one standard, around which they all rallied, and that was “the tabernacle of the congregation,” the well-known type of Christ in His character and offices. And, indeed, this was one of the ends7 God had in view in calling out the Levites by His grace from among the people of Israel. It was that they should stand in marked association with Aaron and his sons, and in that association bear the tabernacle and all pertaining thereto on their shoulders, through the barren wilderness around.
God did not call out the Levites so that they might merely escape the sad effects of God’s absence from their assembly; or, in other words, God had more than their blessing and security in view in His dealings with them. He designed that they should serve in the tabernacle, and thus be to His praise and glory. However, we shall see this principle on which we are dwelling in a clearer and stronger point of view as we proceed.
We find that Levi had three sons, viz., “Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari” (Num. 3:17). These formed the heads of the three classes alluded to, and we shall find that the nature of the service of each was of necessity such as to impart that tone of character signified by their name. Thus: “Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites. And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph, the son of Lael. And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof” (vs. 21-26).
Gershon’s work was to carry the tabernacle and its coverings through the waste and howling wilderness. This was true Levite service, but it was blessed service, and its antitype in the church now is what we should seek after, because it is that which alone puts the Christian into his right place in the world, i.e., the place of a stranger. There was little attractiveness in the rams’ skins and badgers’ skins; but, little as there was, nevertheless it was the high privilege of the Gershonite to take all of them up and bear them cheerfully on his shoulders across the trackless sands. What, then, are we to understand by the covering of the tabernacle? We believe it shadowed the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was that which would meet the eye. There might be, and were, other services among the Levites of a very blessed nature, but surely it was a most elevated service to carry through the desert that which so strikingly prefigured the character of Christ.
This is what makes the saint “a stranger” (as the name Gershon imports) in the world. If we are walking in the manifestation of our Lord’s character, and in so doing realize our place as being in the wilderness, we may rest assured it will impart a decided tone of stranger-ship to our character in the world. And oh, would that we knew much more of this. In this age, the church has laid down the rams’ skins and badgers’ skins and with them the Gershonite character. In other words, the Lord’s church has ceased to walk in the footsteps of her rejected Lord and Master, and the consequence has been that instead of being the wearied and worn stranger, as she should be, treading the parched and sterile desert, carrying the burden on the shoulders, she has settled herself down in the green places of the world and made herself at home. But there was another feature of the stranger character shadowed in the curtain, viz., anticipation. This was most blessed God dwelling in curtains showed plainly that neither God nor the ark of His strength had found a resting-place, but were journeying on towards “a rest that remained.”
How could there be a rest in the desert? There were no rivers and brooks – no old corn – no milk and honey. True, the smitten rock sent forth its refreshing streams to meet their need, and Heaven sent down their daily bread; but all this was not Canaan. They were still in the desert, eating wilderness food and drinking wilderness water, and it was Gershon’s holy privilege to carry on his shoulders that which in the fullest manner expressed all this, viz., the curtain. “Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build Me an house for Me to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle” (2 Sam. 7:5-6).
Here, too, we have sadly failed. In this age, the Lord’s church has grown weary of the curtain, and thus wishes to build a house before the time; she has grown weary of “walking in a tent,” and earnestly desires to “dwell in a house.”
Truly we all have to watch and pray against this disposition to grow weary of our Gershonite character. There is nothing so trying to nature as continual labor in a state of expectancy; our hearts love rest and fruition, and therefore nothing but the continual remembrance that “our sufficiency is of God” can at all sustain us in our Gershon or stranger condition.
Let us therefore remember that we bear on our shoulder the curtains, and have beneath our feet the sand of the desert8, above our heads the pillar of cloud, and before us “the land of rest” clothed in never-withering green, and, both as a stimulus and warning, let us remember that “He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved.”
We now consider the Merarite feature of character; for, although the family of Merari does not stand next in order in the chapter, yet there is a kindredness of spirit, as if arising out of the nature of their service that would link them together in the mind. But, not only is there an intimate connection between the services of these two classes of Levites, leading us to link them together, the Lord Himself presents them in unity of service, for we read, “And the Kohathites set forward bearing the sanctuary; and the other [i.e., the Gershonites and the Merarites] did set up the tabernacle against they came” (Num. 10:21; emphasis added). Here, then, we see that it was the great business of these two families to pass onward through the desert in holy companionship, bearing “the tabernacle” with them wherever they went. Further, the tabernacle as looked at in its outward manifestation or testimony of character; which would, as a matter of course, put those who carried it into a place of very laborious discipleship. “And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords” (Num. 3:36-37).
Here, then, was what Merari had to do: according to the movement of the cloud, he had to take his place here or there and set up the boards of the tabernacle in their sockets of silver – and all this on desert sand9.
Could anything be more opposite than the nature of all that Merari had to set up and the waste and howling wilderness around? What could be more unlike than silver and barren sand? But Merari did not shrink from all this; no, when he had arrived at a spot in the desert at which the cloud halted, his language was, “I am come to set up the patterns of things in heaven in the very midst of all the desolation and misery of the wilderness around.” All this was most laborious, and would, no doubt, impart to the character of Merari a tone of sadness or sorrow expressed in his name, which means “sorrow.”
And surely the antitype of all this in the Lord’s church today will fully confirm what has been stated about the character of Merari. Let us take his stand firmly and decidedly in the world for Christ; let us penetrate into those places where “the world” is really seen in its vigor; let us oppose self, firm as a rock, to the deep and rapid tide of worldliness, and there let us begin to set up “the sockets of silver,” and, rest assured of it, we will find such a course attended with much sorrow and bitterness of soul. In other words, we will realize it to be a path in which the cross is to be taken up “daily,” and not only taken up, but borne. If any further proof were needed of the above interpretation, we have a striking one in the fact that there are but very few of the laborious Merarite character to be found in this age; and why is this? Simply because the exhibition of such a character will always be attended with much labor and sorrow to our nature and nature loves ease, and therefore human nature never could be a Merarite. The only thing that will make us true Merarites is deep communion with Him who was “the Man of sorrows.”
There is something in the service of Gershon from which one does not shrink as much as from that of Merari. For what had Gershon to do? He had to place the curtains and badgers’ skins over the boards which had already been set up by his laborious and sorrowful brother. And so it is now: if a laborious servant of God has gone to a place where hitherto the world and Satan have reigned supreme, and there raised a testimony for Christ, it will be comparatively easy for another to go and walk in the simple manifestation of Christian character, which of itself would put him into the place of “a stranger.”
But, although nature may assume the character of a misanthropist, yet nothing but grace can make us Merarites, and the true Merarite is the true philanthropist, because he introduces that which alone can bless. The very fact that a Merarite should have to take a place of sorrow is convincing proof that the world is an evil place. There was no need of a Merarite in Canaan, or a Gershonite either: for the Merarite was happy there, and the Gershonite at home. But the world is not the Levite’s home, and therefore if any will carry the curtains, he must be a stranger; and if any will carry the sockets and boards, he must be a man of sorrow; for when He who was a true Gershonite and a true Merarite came into the world, He was emphatically the Man of sorrows, who had not where to lay His head.
However, if the Gershonite and the Merarite had to occupy a place in which they endured much of “the burden and heat of the day,” the Lord graciously met them in that with a rich reward, for “He is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love,” and therefore, if they had to labor and toil among their brethren, they were blessedly ministered to by their brethren. Thus we read concerning the offerings of the princes: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service. And Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them unto the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service. And four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders” (Num. 7:4-9).
Here we see that the service of Gershon and Merari was that which met the rich and blessed ministrations of their brethren. Grace had filled the hearts and affections of the princes, and not only filled but overflowed them, and in its overflow it was designed to refresh the spirits of the homeless Gershonite and sorrowful Merarite. On the other hand, the Kohathites had no part in these ministrations; and why? Because their service, as we shall soon see, was in itself a rich reward. We see the same doctrine taught in the case of the Levites generally, as contrasted with the priests, in chapter 18, where we read: “And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel” (v. 20).
On the other hand, He says of the Levites, “Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.”
And again, “Ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households, for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation” (vs. 21, 31).
Aaron occupied a position so truly elevated that any inheritance in the way of earthly things would have been to him most degrading; whereas the Levites (looked at in one aspect) did not have this high standing, but had much hard labor. Consequently, while Aaron’s place and service was “his reward,” the Levites had to get a tenth for “their reward.”
We now consider the third and last division of the Levites, viz., the Kohathites, of whom we read, “The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof” (Num. 3:29-31).
We can now have no difficulty in understanding why it was that Kohath had no share in the ministrations of the princes. Gershon and Merari might need wagons and oxen to carry the boards, etc., but not Kohath; his charge was too precious to be committed to anyone but himself, and therefore it was his high and honored place to carry all on his shoulders. For example, what a privilege it was to be allowed to carry the ark, the table, or the golden candlestick. And would it not have been a lack of appreciate for his elevated calling, if he had sought assistance of oxen in his holy service? What, then, would have been the effect produced on the character of Kohath by this such service? Would it not have imparted an elevated tone thereto? Surely it would. What can be more elevated, at least as far as development of character in the world is concerned, than the display of that congregational spirit that is expressed in the name of Kohath? Should not Christians be found rebuking man’s oft-repeated attempt at forming associations for various purposes? And how can they effect that if not by gathering more closely around Christ, their common center in all the blessed fullness and variety of that Name? a foulness and variety typified by the varied furniture of the tabernacle, some of the most precious parts of which were designed to be borne on the shoulders of this favored division of the tribe of Levi.
Surely we may safely assert that what would lead the saints now into more of the congregational spirit is communion with Him whom the ark and table shadowed. If we were more conversant with Christ as the ark, covering in this scene of death, and, moreover, with the table of showbread, whereon stood the food of the priests – if we knew more of Christ in these blessed aspects of His character – we should not be as we are, a proverb and byword by reason of our gross disunion. But, as the church grew weary of the curtains and boards, and laid aside her Gershonite and Merarite character, so has she laid aside her Kohathite character, because she has ceased to carry the ark and the table on her shoulder, and cast those precious pearls which, through the grace of God, were her peculiar property, and thus she has lost and continues to lose her elevated character and position in the world.
Thus, let us briefly review those three grand features of character shown in the tribe of Levi:
Stranger-ship
“Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” “Here we have no abiding city.” “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
Sorrow in the world
“In the world ye shall have tribulation.” “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” “After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect” – “ye have need of patience” – “ye yourselves know that ye are appointed thereunto.” “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” “These are they that came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Union
“That they all may be one.” “He should gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad.” “That He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross.” May we bear in mind that while there was this beautiful diversity in the character and line of service of the Levites, yet they were one people, and that manifestly; they were one in life, one in standing, one in calling, one in inheritance; and so should it be with Christians in this age. We are not to expect uniformity of opinion on every point, nor yet are we to look for a perfect correspondence in the line of service and development of life; but then the saints should be seen as one people – one in worship10, one in labor, one in object, one in sympathy; in other words, one in everything that belongs to them in common as the people of God.
How sadly out of order it would have been for a Levite to call on one of the uncircumcised of the nations around to assist him in carrying any part of the tabernacle. And yet we hear Christians today justifying and insisting on the propriety of conduct not less disorderly, viz., calling on the openly unconverted and profane to put their hands to the Lord’s work. Thus we see that the Levites have become scattered, and have forsaken their posts. The Gershonite has refused to carry the curtains because he has become weary of the stranger condition; the Merarite has laid down the boards and sockets because he has grown weary of bearing the cross, and the Kohathite has degraded his high and holy office by making it the common property of those who have not authority from God to put their hands thereunto. Thus the name of God is blasphemed by us, and we do not “sigh and cry for the abominations” thus practiced, but lift up our heads in proud indifference as if it all were right and as if the camp of God were moving onward in a heavenly order, under the guidance of the cloud, communicated by the silver trumpets. “My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” May we walk more humbly before our God, and, while we mourn over the sad fact that “Overturn, overturn, overturn” has been written by the finger of God upon all human arrangements, let us remember that it is only “until He come whose right it is,” and then all shall forever be set right, for in all things God shall be fully glorified through Jesus Christ.
Thus, we have followed Levi in his course; and what a marvelous course it has been – a course which every step of the way displays the visible marks of sovereign grace abounding over man’s sin; grace that led God to stoop from His throne in the heavens to visit “the habitations of cruelty” in order to lift up a poor perishing sinner, and through the purging power of the blood, bring him into a place of marvelous blessing – into the very tabernacle of God, there to be employed about the instruments of God’s house. We have found Levi to have been the one who “was dead and is alive again, who was lost and is found.”
May we adore the grace that could do such mighty acts, and if we have felt in our hearts the operations of the same grace in delivering us from the death and darkness of Egypt, may we remember that its effects should be to constrain us to live, not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again. We are now in the wilderness, where we are called to carry the tabernacle. May we cheerfully move onward, “declaring plainly that we seek a country,” and anxiously look out for the “the rest that remains.”
