was the sign of the presence among the people of their unseen King, so the Levites were, among
the other tribes of Israel, as the royal guard that waited exclusively on him. It was obviously essential
for their work as the bearers and guardians of the sacred tent that there should be a fixed assignment
of duties; and now accordingly we meet with the first outlines of the organization which afterward
became permanent. The division of the tribe into the three sections that traced their descent from
the sons of Levi formed the groundwork of it. The work which they all had to do required a man’s
full strength, and therefore, though twenty was the starting-point for military service, Numb 1, they
were not to enter on their active service till they were thirty. (Numbers 4:23,30,35) At fifty they
were to be free from all duties but those of superintendence. (Numbers 8:25,26) (1) The Kohathites,
as nearest of kin to the priests, held from the first the highest offices. They were to bear all the
vessels of the sanctuary, the ark itself included. (Numbers 3:31; 4:15; 31:35) (2) the Gershonites
had to carry the tent-hangings and curtains. (Numbers 4:22-26) (3) The heavier burden of the boards,
bars and pillars of the tabernacle fell on the sons of Merari. The Levites were to have no territorial
possessions. In place of them they were to receive from the others the tithes of the produce of the
land, from which they, in their turn, offered a tithe to the priests, as a recognition of their higher
consecration. (Numbers 18:21,24,26; Nehemiah 10:37) Distinctness and diffusion were both to be
secured by the assignment to the whole tribe of forty-eight cities, with an outlying “suburb,”
(Numbers 35:2) of meadowland for the pasturage of their flocks and herds. The reverence of the
people for them was to be heightened by the selection of six of these as cities of refuge. Through
the whole land the Levites were to take the place of the old household priests, sharing in all festivals
and rejoicings. (12:19; 14:26,27; 26:11) Every third year they were to have an additional share in
the produce of the land. (14:28; 26:12) To “the priests the Levites” was to belong the office of
preserving, transcribing and interpreting the law. (17:9-12; 31:26) II. The period of the judges.—The
successor of Moses, though belonging to another tribe, did all that could be done to make the duty
above named a reality. The submission of the Gibeonites enabled him to relieve the tribe-divisions
of Gershon and Merari of the most burdensome of their duties. The conquered Hivites became
“hewers of wood and drawers of water” for the house of Jehovah and for the congregation. (Joshua
9:27) As soon as the conquerors had advanced far enough to proceed to a partition of the country,
the forty-eight cities were assigned to them. III. The monarchy.—When David’s kingdom was
established, there came a fuller organization of the whole tribe. Their position in relation to the
priesthood was once again definitely recognized. In the worship of the tabernacle under David, as
afterward in that of the temple, the Levites were the gatekeepers, vergers, sacristans, choristers, of
the central sanctuary of the nation. They were, in the language of (1 Chronicles 23:24-32) to which
we may refer as almost the locus classicus on this subject, “to wait on the sons of Aaron for the
service of the house of Jehovah, in the courts, and the chambers, and the purifying of all holy
things.” They were, besides this, “to stand every morning to thank and praise Jehovah, and likewise
at even.” They were, lastly, “to offer”—i.e. to assist the priest in offering— “all burnt sacrifices to
Jehovah in the sabbaths and on the set feasts.” They lived for the greater part of the year in their
own cities, and came up at fixed periods to take their turn of work. (1 Chronicles 25:1; 1 Chronicles
26:1) ... The educational work which the Levites received for their peculiar duties, no less than
their connection, more or less intimate, with the schools of the prophets, would tend to make them
the teachers of the others, the transcribers and interpreters of the law, the chroniclers of the times
in which they lived. (Thus they became to the Israelites what ministers and teachers are to the
people now, and this teaching and training the people in morality and religion was no doubt one
frankie
(Frankie)
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