And Mattithiah of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was in trust over the things that were made in the pans.
A long list of returned exiles pauses on one man with one job: Mattithiah, a Levite of the Korahite family, baked the flat cakes for the sanctuary. Why does Scripture keep the name of a man who worked over a pan, and what were those cakes for?
The chapter this verse sits in looks back on collapse and then forward to a small recovery. One writer traces the movement:
1 Chronicles 9 shows us the final ruin of the people: "Judah was carried away to Babylon because of their transgression" (v. 1). We then find the restoration of a feeble remnant, mentioned in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, to await the promised Messiah at Jerusalem.
So Mattithiah's pans belong to a weakened, returned people. The kingdom was gone, yet named men again cared for the daily details of God's house.
Mattithiah's charge is one line in a longer list of Levite duties:
These Levite doorkeepers were over the rooms and over the treasuries of the house of God. They stayed around the house of God during the night, because the charge was on them, and the opening of it every morning belonged to them (vv. 26-27). Some of them had charge of the vessels used in the service, and they brought them in by number and brought them out by number (v. 28). Others were in trust over the things that were made in the pans.
The cakes from those pans belonged to an offering, and one writer reads that offering as a picture of Christ:
The grain offering pictured the moral perfection of the man Christ Jesus, and God's acceptance of Him. It was a cake of fine flour, baked in an oven, a pan, or a frying-pan, with its oil and its frankincense. (Lev. 2)
Another writer goes through the treasures in the doorkeeper's care and names what each one stands for:
Oh, my soul, dwell on each of these pictures of Christ, and then say: have you ever understood the doorkeeper's trust — all the treasures of the house of the Lord? The opening of those treasures every morning. The fine flour — the perfection of Christ in His blessed humanity. The wine — the joy of heart in God. The oil — anointed with the Holy Spirit. The frankincense and spices — the infinite preciousness of Christ. The grain offering in the pans — the Person and walk of Christ, as a sweet aroma to God.
Mattithiah's job was a charge placed in his hands, not a rank he had earned. The same writer, reading from an older translation, applies that word to every believer:
Most people's first thought about a doorkeeper in any establishment is that it is the lowest position. And it is true here also: if anyone would serve the Lord, he must take the lowest place. … And notice, wherever you find the word "office," the margin reads "trust." We will find this is not truth for officials, but for every child of God, as a trustee of Christ.
Baking cakes looks like small work. Yet one writer will not let the reader dismiss such duties:
How many different jobs these humble servants carried on! Modest jobs, yes, but without them the whole order of the Lord's service would have broken down, or even stopped! Let us think about this. When the Lord entrusts a service to us, however small it may look, let us carry it out with zeal, remembering that it is necessary for the order of the house of God.
Mattithiah came from the family of Korah, the Levite who rebelled against Moses and whom the earth swallowed. His line did not die out, and one writer reads their later place in God's house as mercy:
Sovereign grace saved the sons of Korah from the awful fate of their father. They were saved from the pit. Mercy was remembered in wrath. … They had the cities of refuge, they kept the gates of the tabernacle, they were over the rooms and treasuries of the house of the Lord, and the instruments of the sanctuary, the wine, the oil and the rest were in their charge.
- Ruin — Judah went to Babylon for their transgression. A feeble remnant came back to Jerusalem to wait for the promised Messiah.
- Trust — The Levites' duties were charges placed in their hands. In the older reading, "office" is "trust," and that trust belongs to every child of God.
- Mercy — Mattithiah came from Korah's line. Grace saved that family from the pit and gave them charge of the gates, the treasuries and the holy vessels.
- Christ — What came out of his pans was the grain offering: the Person and walk of Christ, a sweet aroma to God. Fine flour pictures His perfect humanity.
- Order — These duties were modest. Without them the order of the Lord's service would have stopped, so carry out whatever small service the Lord entrusts with zeal.
And [some] of the sons of the Kohathites, their brethren, were over the loaves to be set in rows, to prepare them every sabbath.
This verse sits inside a long list of names of people who came back from exile. It picks out some of the Kohathites — one branch of the tribe of Levi — and gives them one job: getting the bread ready for the table in God's house, week after week. What was this bread? Why did it have to be replaced so often, and why does Scripture record who handled it?
Scripture gives this bread several names, and each one tells us something. One writer collects them and shows that the wording here points to bread arranged and set out before God.
It was called showbread, or "bread of face," suggesting that it was set before the face of God, perfectly acceptable to Him. It was also called "the continual bread" (Num. 4:7), reminding us that it was always before God; and the "hallowed bread," speaking of the holiness connected with this presentation. It was that which was presented before God, as is suggested by the expression, "Bread of ordering" (1 Chr. 9:32, margin), and "Bread of setting forth, or presentation" (Heb. 9:2, Greek).
The number of loaves was not random. It matched the number of the tribes of Israel, and one writer explains why God wanted their memorial on that table.
The bread on the golden table was twelve loaves. That clearly matches the twelve tribes of Israel, but it is certainly also connected with Christ, for He is always the object of God's purposes. It is God displaying Himself in Christ; but those who had this connection with Christ were Israel. Of them He came, and He was pleased to have their memorial on this table before God.
That memorial held steady even when the nation was in ruins — the very situation of the people who had come back from exile in this chapter.
They were kept in the sanctuary before the Lord, on the pure table, for seven days. After that they became food for Aaron and his sons, the priests. This gives another striking picture of Israel's condition as the Lord sees it, whatever their outward state may be. The twelve tribes are always before Him. Their memorial can never perish.
This verse does not stand alone. It closes a careful list of jobs handed out to the Levites — the men who served in God's house — after the return from exile. Read the whole list and you see how carefully the work was divided.
These Levite doorkeepers were over the rooms and the treasuries of the house of God. They stayed around the house of God through the night, because that charge was theirs, and opening it every morning was their task (vv. 26-27). Some of them had charge of the instruments used in the service, counting them as they brought them in and as they brought them out. Others were appointed over the vessels, over all the holy instruments, and over the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the frankincense and the spices (vv. 28-29). Others were trusted with what was prepared in the pans. And some of the Kohathites, their brothers, had charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath. Last of all came the singers (vv. 31-33).
The bread never sat there for long. Fresh loaves each week teach us something about our own fellowship with God.
Is this fellowship only occasional? Not at all. Fresh bread was to be arranged on the table every Sabbath day (v. 8). So our fellowship with God and with His saints is to be continual, never allowed to become stale. The priests were responsible for this. In the same way, if we are acting as priests, we will always be in communion with the Lord.
Baking bread sounds like the smallest job on the whole list. One writer draws the opposite conclusion.
How many different tasks these humble servants carried on! Modest tasks, yes — but without them the whole order of the Lord's service would have broken down, or even stopped! Let us think about this. When the Lord entrusts a service to us, however small it may look, let us carry it out with zeal. It is necessary for the order of the house of God.
- Presented — Its names, "bread of face" and "bread of ordering," mean bread arranged and set before God, acceptable to Him, and holy.
- Represented — Twelve loaves matched the twelve tribes. They were held before God in connection with Christ, who is always the object of God's purposes.
- Preserved — The memorial stood whatever the nation looked like on the outside. So the people back from exile still kept the table supplied.
- Repeated — Fresh bread every Sabbath. Fellowship with God is meant to be constant, never left to go stale.
- Prized — Handling flour and loaves looks minor. Yet without such tasks the whole order of God's house would stop. No service the Lord gives is too small to do with zeal.
And these were the singers, chief fathers of the Levites, [who were] in the chambers free from service; for they were employed day and night.
1 Chronicles 9 lists names and duties: gatekeepers, keepers of the vessels, men in charge of the flour, the oil and the spices. One group stands apart: the singers. They lived in the temple rooms and did no other job, because their work ran day and night.
The chambers were rooms inside the temple. W. W. Fereday describes the men who lived in them.
Elderly men, living with Israel's God in His house, and released from all other service but praise. The time may come when some of us may have to cease active labour, but we can still praise our God. If our hearts are in tune!
The arrangement cuts against our instincts. We would expect the most gifted men to carry the most duties, not the fewest. C. H. Mackintosh explains why that instinct is backwards.
Praise is to be the primary and continual occupation of the believer. We think we know better, and would put work first. We tend to treat bustling activity as the thing that matters most. We have such an exaggerated sense of the value of doing. So we lose sight of the place worship holds in the thoughts of God.
Nobody appointed himself to this choir. One writer asks why God took such care over who was allowed to sing.
There is no such care shown for any other branch of the Levites' service. Why such particular care about the singers? Because none must be allowed to sing, but those who have the right. And who now have the right to sing? Redemption gives the right. Should there be songs for slaves? Whether the slave is willing or groaning, deliverance must come first, and with it comes the appointment to sing.
The words "day and night" reach beyond a temple duty roster. One writer traces the same unbroken praise from Israel's singers to heaven.
God has always desired to have the perpetual adoration of His redeemed. We read of singers in His service who "were employed in that work day and night." When the Lord left His disciples, He blessed them, and He was taken up into heaven. "And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God." Then there are the four living creatures who never rest day or night from their praise. So it will be when all the redeemed gather around the Lord in heaven. Never-ending praise will fill their whole existence.
Edward Dennett adds that this praise is not only for later. The singers' work was, he writes,
a shadow of the endless occupation of the redeemed in heaven. It is a blessed service — if service is the right word — and the Church has the privilege of enjoying it in advance on earth, while waiting for the return of our blessed Lord.
Edward Dennett takes the same picture forward to Israel's future, when praise by night will have nothing left to interrupt it.
Now that the Lord has found His rest in Zion, He will "inhabit" the praises of His people; and, all ordered according to His own mind, the Spirit can call upon His servants to bless Him who gives songs in the night. It is striking that they should be described as standing by night in Jehovah's house. It seems to point to perpetual praise at that time. The sorrows of Israel will then be over. They will bask in the full rays of Jehovah's favour and blessing, with no enemy and nothing bad happening. They will want to pour out their hearts without a break, in thanksgiving and praise.
- Redemption qualifies. No one takes up this song on his own. "Redemption gives the right" — deliverance comes first, then the appointment to sing.
- Freedom follows. Once appointed, they were released from every other duty. Their exemption was not idleness; it was clearance for the one work that filled day and night.
- Praise outranks work. The order is deliberate. Our instinct puts "bustling activity" first. That makes us lose sight of where worship stands in God's thoughts.
- Age cannot retire it. Active labour may one day stop. Praise does not — provided, as Fereday adds, our hearts are in tune.
- It never ends. This is a shadow of what the redeemed do in heaven. It also points to Israel's coming rest, when sorrow is over and praise never stops.