For by the last words of David was this [done], -- the numbering of the sons of Levi from twenty years old and upward.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purifying of all holy things, and [for] the work of the service of the house of God;
David organised the tribe of Levi for the temple, and this verse is their job description. It raises two questions: why do these men serve the priests, and what does such service look like now?
Everything in this arrangement depends on David the king. One writer finds grace in the way he used that authority.
David showed that he had a sovereign right to act for the Lord. He only did so because he is a picture of Christ. There was One greater than Moses in the view of the Spirit of God, and David pictures Him... No doubt their duties were much larger now. And however many of them there were, the splendour of the temple would call for every man from twenty years old. Besides, David would give them all a place in it. It was an honour as well as a duty, and so one can see grace at work in calling in the younger men.
The Levites had once carried the tabernacle and its vessels from place to place. Peace and a settled house changed that.
Once the reign of peace had been firmly established, the Levites could enter the activity of service at a younger age. ... The Levites no longer had to "carry the tabernacle, nor any of its vessels for its service." ... The strength of mature men was no longer needed once it was no longer necessary to carry the ark, the altars, and the vessels from stage to stage.
To "assist the sons of Aaron" is not a lesser errand but the very thing that gave Levite work its worth.
The Levites as a whole were given to Aaron and his sons, whatever their different kinds of ministry. They were wholly, absolutely given to serve Aaron on behalf of the children of Israel. So the ministry of the tabernacle depended by its very nature on the priesthood of Aaron; it had no place or fitness otherwise. The outward service hung entirely for its value and acceptance on the inner worship. The tribe of Levi was joined to Aaron and ministered to him, and had no other reason to exist... All real service flows from the Lord, and so it depends on Him in the sanctuary and refers to Him there. Otherwise it becomes false, if the source is made human or the motives are of the world.
Another writer adds a warning:
Their service was in things that were outside, but it was always connected with what was within. This connection should never be let go, or outside service becomes dead and barren.
One writer asks what all this helping is for.
Does this not show that all true Levitical service has in view the supporting of priestly service in the presence of God? This is the real end in view of all true ministry, that worship to our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ may be the result.
One writer explains who the Levites replaced.
They were taken by God instead of the firstborn sons of the whole nation. These firstborn sons had been sheltered from judgment by the blood in Egypt, and God claimed them as His own, but took the tribe of Levi instead of them for special service in His house and for His Name. They were a privileged people, called to devote themselves to God's interests and to be specially cared for by Him... They were a picture of the whole Christian company today. Their service, as King David ordered it, shows us in picture the place and spiritual service we have been called to.
The verse names the chambers as well as the courts. The same writer starts there.
The chambers were where the Levites lodged, and would show what sort of lives they lived. The key to everything lies in the chamber. What a man is when alone and able to do just as he pleases, that he is really and as God sees him. All true service to God begins in secret with God... It is here that service begins, and it is here that we are prepared for service in public. A man who has not been with God in secret soon betrays the fact in public.
- Given. God took the tribe of Levi in place of Israel's firstborn sons. Service starts as a privilege, not a career.
- Assigned. David, a picture of Christ, made room for every man from twenty years old. The place was an honour as much as a duty.
- Released. With the ark at rest the carrying ended, so the work no longer needed the strongest men, but willing younger ones.
- Dependent. Levite work had no reason to exist apart from the priests. Outward service that loses its link with what is inside goes dead and barren.
- Aimed. All such service points at one result: worship rising to God. And it starts in the private room before anyone sees it in the courts.
and for the loaves to be set in rows, and for the fine flour for the oblation, and for the unleavened cakes, and for [what is baked in] the pan, and for that which is saturated [with oil], and for all measure of capacity and size;
Near the end of 1 Chronicles 23, David gives the Levites their duties after making Solomon king. This verse is the kitchen end of that list: bread, flour, cakes, and measuring. Commentators read this plain work as a picture of real service to God, and of who does it.
One writer breaks the Levites' service into its parts.
In verses 28 to 32 we find the details of the Levites' service. They attended to: the courts and the chambers; the purification of all holy things; and the work of the service of the house. The last of these had three parts: a. arranging the showbread; b. providing the flour for the meal offering and for the unleavened cakes; c. attending to all measures of capacity and size.
The two families did not do the same job.
Here we find a difference between the priests and the Levites. The first group did service to the Lord Himself (v. 13); the second "did the work of the service of the house of God" (vv. 24, 28).
The Levites did not pick this place. One writer reads them as a type — a picture given in advance — of Christians.
Jehovah took them instead of the firstborn sons of the whole nation. The blood in Egypt had sheltered those firstborn sons from judgment, and Jehovah claimed them as His own. But He took the tribe of Levi in their place for special service in His house and for His Name. They were a privileged people, called to devote themselves to God's interests and He gave them special care (see Numbers 3:40-51). They were a type of the whole Christian company today. Their service, as King David ordered it, shows us the place and the spiritual service God has called us to. Indeed, we are called "the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven" (Heb. 12:23).
One writer traces the fine flour, the missing leaven, and the baking back to Leviticus.
The loaves or cakes were made of fine flour. That at once points to the meal offering, which was also made of fine flour, with oil and frankincense added (see Lev. 2). There is no mention of leaven here. In the two wave loaves of Lev. 23:17, Leviticus names leaven on purpose, and the reason is plain: there the loaves stand for the church, so leaven — a picture of evil — is found in them. But fine flour is a type of the humanity of Christ. So the loaves of the showbread have no leaven, since He was holy, harmless, undefiled, completely without sin. The loaves were also baked. They show Christ exposed to fire — the judgment of God's holiness, which tested Him on the cross and found that He answered its every claim perfectly.
Another writer reads that fine flour as a picture of Christ Himself.
There was not so much as a single coarse grain. Nothing uneven, nothing unequal, nothing rough to the touch. No matter what pressure came from outside, the surface always stayed even. He was never ruffled by any circumstance or set of circumstances.
The showbread the Levites arranged was twelve loaves.
Next came the table, and upon it a defined supply of bread. For what was presented there? One loaf? No, nobody thought in that earthly way, as if God needed bread from man. The bread on the golden table was twelve loaves. They clearly match the twelve tribes of Israel, yet they stand there in connection with Christ, for He is always the object of God's counsels.
Their job was to have everything ready for the priests.
The great end of the service of these Levites was that God should have His own portion in His house. So they had to prepare the burnt sacrifices, the meal offering, and the showbread. They also had to see that nothing stopped the priests from lifting up their hands in God's holy presence. All this was only a picture of what is a great reality in the New Testament. Peter tells us that we are "a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5).
One writer draws two marks from the whole arrangement.
Two features dominate all the rest here. On the one hand, the service given to the Lord must be worthy of the name. On the other hand, the servant must take a place of humility and modesty, a lower place than the priestly family, which, as we know, includes all believers. That family must not be made up of men who lord it over God's heritage, treating them as their own (1 Peter 5:3).
- Claimed — God took the tribe of Levi in place of Israel's firstborn sons. Commentators read them as a picture of all Christians, "the assembly of the firstborn."
- Assigned — The priests served the Lord Himself; the Levites did the work of the house — showbread, flour for the meal offering and the cakes, and every measure of capacity and size.
- Christ — Fine flour without leaven is a type of His humanity: nothing coarse, nothing uneven, never ruffled. The baking pictures Him tested by fire at the cross.
- Twelve — The loaves match the twelve tribes, yet they stand there in connection with Christ. God never needed bread from man.
- Purpose — The goal was that God should have His own portion in His house, with nothing stopping the priests from lifting their hands before Him. That asks for service worthy of the name, from a servant who does not lord it over others.
and to stand every morning to thank and praise Jehovah, and likewise at even;
Near the end of his reign, David gave the Levites a daily task: to stand and praise the LORD each morning and again each evening. Why did praise have to be ordered at all, and what does that fixed rhythm point to?
Edward Dennett links this appointment to a future day when praise will not be the work of one tribe only:
One of the last acts of David was appointing the Levites "to stand every morning, thanking and praising the LORD, and likewise at evening" (1 Chr. 23:30). But at the time this psalm speaks of, all the tribes will join together in this blessed service of thanksgiving and praise.
J T Mawson traces the Levites' position back to the blood that sheltered Israel's firstborn sons in Egypt:
The LORD took them instead of the firstborn sons of the whole nation. The blood in Egypt had sheltered those firstborn sons from judgment, and the LORD claimed them as His own. But He took the tribe of Levi instead of them for special service in His house and for His Name. They were a privileged people, called to give themselves to God's interests and to receive His special care.
Dennett notes that this office had no parallel in the wilderness. He also applies both roles, priest and Levite, to believers today:
Today believers are both priests and Levites. When they are in the holiest place, offering the sacrifice of praise to God through Christ, or when they "do good" and "share what they have," they are acting as priests (Heb. 13:15-16). When they are busy for the Lord in other kinds of service, they show the character of the Levite instead... There is nothing like this in the service of the Levites in the wilderness, for the wilderness was not a place of song or praise. This office dates from the time of David.
Mawson reads the two ends of the day as a test of the soul's condition:
Their days had to be filled with praise. Every morning they had to stand up and break into songs of praise, and the day had to close the same way. If they knew the LORD they served, they could do nothing else. And can we do anything else, when we know Him as "our Father" and "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"? If we have drifted away from Him, or if we let burdens weigh our souls down when we should lay them at His feet, we will wake each morning with sighing instead of singing, and lie down at night in low spirits.
Mark Grasso finds it striking that thanksgiving had to be commanded by decree:
This may explain why, even under David's rule, an official decree was needed that the Levites would stand at the house of God and praise Him every morning and evening... Still, there may be something out of place in David having to prescribe regular thanksgiving. Surely this should already have been the people's daily habit... The people of Israel seem to have built up a routine of offering many of the animal sacrifices the law required, but it was only a routine. The sincere thanksgiving God was looking for was mostly missing.
G. C. Willis turns the same appointment into a question about our own prayers:
Might we not know more answers to our prayers if we spent more time in thanksgiving? Long ago there were men whose duty was "to stand every morning, thanking and praising the LORD, and likewise at evening." We know God's gift beyond words. Do we have less reason for thanksgiving than they had?
Dennett sees the fixed hours giving way to praise that never stops:
It is striking that they are described here as standing by night in the LORD's house. This seems to point to a time of praise that never stops. The sorrows of Israel will then be over... they will want to pour out their hearts, without pause, through the appointed channels, in thanksgiving and praise.
- Claimed — God took the Levites in place of the firstborn whom the blood sheltered in Egypt. They stood there because He claimed them.
- Appointed — One of David's last acts was to set them to thank and praise, morning and evening.
- New — There was no such office in the wilderness. It was no place of song. This service of thanksgiving starts with David.
- Tested — Praise at both ends of the day shows the state of the soul. Sighing in the morning and low spirits at night mark a heart weighed down.
- Unceasing — The fixed hours point on to praise that never stops, when all the tribes join what one tribe once did alone.