Jesus our Great High Priest began his ministry at age 30 (Luke 3:21-23). Jesus subjected Himself to the age of priestly acceptance because everything He did fulfilled the Law. (Luke 18:31) The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our great high priest from Heaven and He made a way for us to approach God for mercy and that Jesus can empathize with our weaknesses because He was tempted here on earth (Hebrews 4:14-16).
As mentioned in the last post, the priests cover the articles from the tabernacle before the Kohathites come in and carry them. The priests use the shielding curtain which shields the ark from the eyes of the priests doing their normal duties in the tabernacle (tending lamps, burning incense, replacing the Bread of the Presence) to cover the ark of the covenant. The shielding curtain is only the first layer. The second layer covering the ark is made of sea cow hide. Manatee or sea cow hide would be durable and waterproof to protect the ark. A blue cloth is then the final layer on the ark and then the carrying poles are inserted in the ark so that the Kohathites only touched the carrying poles and never actually saw the ark. The fact that the Levites never saw or touched the articles (or they would die!) led to some of the jealousy we will see later in this book.
This idea of being content applies in a number of ways in this chapter. In Jesus' time, the priests of God at the temple were jealous of His popularity, wisdom and abilities. They sought to kill Jesus to eliminate the competition! (Matthew 12:14) In the Israelite community there is a lot of jealousy as well, and we will see it rise to the surface a few times in this book. Some members of other tribes are jealous of Moses and Aaron. Aaron and Miriam become jealous of Moses. Some Levites are jealous of the priests. There is a lack of contentment in the camp! In the book of Philippians, Paul tells us to focus our thoughts on good, true, excellent things. He also goes on to tell us to put into practice what we have learned (from God's word) and we will be at peace. Paul says he learned to be content with whatever he had or whatever circumstance he found himself in. (Phil 4:8-13) We can learn to be content. When we find ourselves wanting to complain, we need to instead find something for which to be thankful! This simple control of our thoughts can turn things around. We can also help others who are complaining to us by lending a sympathetic ear but then saying something positive to encourage them and help them to also look at the bright side.
I know you may be going through some very difficult times. We live in a broken world. Ever since sin entered the world, there has been illness, death, crime, hatred and all kinds of hardship. We can either turn on God and blame Him for our situation or turn to God and receive comfort. This world is not our home if we have trusted in Jesus as our Savior and we have the hope of a much better life in eternity. Let's focus on heaven today and worship the God who saved us from our sin. He will get you through anything you are dealing with today. Do not worry about tomorrow. (Matthew 6:25-34)
DUTIES OF THE LEVITES-GOD'S TABERNACLE CARRIERS
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After the Levites old enough to serve at the tabernacle were numbered, they were trained for service. The priests prepared the articles and the Levites carried and transported them. The ark is the only item whose outer covering is blue. All the other furnishings are covered in blue cloth first. The ark leads the way when traveling, the blue is possibly easier to see than the outer layer of the other furnishings, which is sea cow hide. It is also good to distinguish the ark because it is the holiest article, representative of the Lord Himself. The table with the Bread of the Presence is also covered differently than the other items. Interestingly, the plates, dishes, jars and the bread itself are left on the table which is covered in blue cloth, then covered in scarlet cloth, then finally a covering of sea cow hide is added to protect it all. The scarlet cloth is interesting in that no other furnishing of the ark is covered this way. Jesus said He is the Bread of life and anyone who comes to Him will not hunger (John 6:35) Jesus speaks of a spiritual hunger and He died for our sins so we who believe can be filled with His Spirit and fulfilled in our hearts with the Lord’s presence. The red is possibly indicative of Jesus’ blood shed as He sacrificed His body as bread as symbolized in the Last Supper and our Communion Service (Matthew 26:26).
All the gold furnishings were carried with poles and covered in blue and leather (sea cow hides). The ark and the Bread Table were the only articles with three layers of covering, setting them apart as special. The bronze altar of sacrifice kept in the courtyard of the tabernacle was covered in purple cloth; they added all the accessories used for sacrifices, then covered it in leather before inserting carry poles. The purple cloth indicates royalty and Jesus the King (1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14) sacrificed Himself as the final sacrifice, once for all, the perfect, spotless Lamb (John 1:29).
Jesus, our Great High Priest, by one sacrifice, has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:14) He put Eleazar, son of Aaron next in line for the High Priesthood and he was in charge of supervising the Kohathites. The rest of the Levites (in the Merarite and Gershonite clans) carried the tents and frames and other items of the tabernacle on carts pulled by oxen under the supervision of Aaron’s son Ithamar.
Numbers 4 closes by giving us the final counts of men ages 30-50 in each clan of the Levites. The total of 8,580 men were fairly evenly representatives of each clan. God provided the men He needed for this important service. God has a plan for each of us to serve Him. He has given us gifts to fulfill our calling. We need to seek after Him and pursue His will for our lives so we are doing our duty as God’s chosen children who have the privilege to serve the Lord of the Universe. (Luke 17:10)
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