And thou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, that the Levites may be mine.
Numbers 8 ends the ceremony that set the Levites apart, and verse 14 gives God's aim in it: a tribe taken out from Israel and owned by Him. On what ground can God call them His own?
One writer draws out what that setting apart means for believers now.
The ceremony set the Levites apart from the rest of Israel as the Lord's special property. Today, all believers should value being set apart for the Lord's service — not set apart from other believers, but from the world.
God's claim is not arbitrary. The Levites stood in the place of Israel's firstborn, whom God spared in Egypt on the night of judgment.
They were redeemed by blood, and counted emphatically to belong to Jehovah. In place of Israel's firstborn He accepted the Levites. "The Levites shall be mine." ... The grace of God had exempted those they answered to in the time of judgment. So the Levites were identified with mercy — the great, distinguishing mercy that rescued Israel from the doom of Egypt. That fitted them all the better to serve in the sanctuary. Who dares to take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry, if we listen to God and take seriously the solemn warning of the Lord and His apostle. (Matt. 7:22; 1 Cor. 9:27)
Three steps made up their cleansing, and each one reaches into daily life.
The sprinkling of the Levites was done for them. But then they had to carry out what it meant themselves — first to themselves, and then to all the details and surroundings of their daily lives. They were to shave, as in the case of the leper, all their flesh. No product of the flesh was to escape the sharp edge of the word of the cross, however attractive it might look to people. ... They were, moreover, to wash their clothes. Clothes are a picture of habits and surroundings. We must keep bringing all these under the water, if we are to stay before God with a good conscience and ready for His service.
Two bulls were offered, and one offering was missing.
When they put their hands on the head of the sin offering, it transferred their guilt, so to speak, to the bull. Before it was offered, the bull became identified with their sin. In the same action with the burnt offering, though, the Levites became identified with all the acceptance of its sweet aroma as it burned on the altar. So there was clearance from guilt and positive acceptance. ... There was no peace offering, as has often been noted: this was a question of service, not communion.
Being taken out for God did not cut the Levites off from the nation.
If we are His people, let us not forget that the people of Israel showed their agreement and joy. They took their part in it too, by identifying themselves with the Levites who were then set apart for Jehovah. How happy we are when we fully recognise the rights of the Lord, and at the same time find our own portion so much the better. We are not made poorer because a thing is the Lord's; we are so much the richer, because His things are ours.
Belonging to God was not the end of it. One writer sets out three steps in our service.
So, as regards our service, we have these three principles. First, we are redeemed, delivered from the judgments that the enemies of God lie under, and taken out from among those enemies. Second, as a result of this first fact, we belong completely to God. Bought with a price, we are no longer our own, but God's, to glorify Him in our bodies, which are His. Third, we are given entirely to Christ, who is the Head of the house of God, the Priest, for the service of His tabernacle. Blessed bondage, happy giving up of self, true deliverance from a world of sin!
Service has a goal beyond itself.
Does this not show that all true Levitical service aims to support 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.
- Redeemed — blood had spared the firstborn. That is why God can say "Mine". Salvation comes before service, never after it.
- Cleansed — sprinkled, shaved, washed. What they received had to be lived out in daily habits.
- Accepted — the sin offering carried their guilt away. The burnt offering brought them in. There was no peace offering: this was service, not communion.
- Separated — taken out from among the people, yet the people shared in it. The Lord's rights never leave His people poorer.
- Given — redeemed, so owned. Owned, so handed to the Priest. And the end of it all is worship.
And afterwards shall the Levites come in to do the service of the tent of meeting. And thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them as a wave-offering.
The Levites were the men God took for His own service instead of Israel's firstborn sons. The phrase "after that" carries the weight of this verse: before they could serve at the tent of meeting, two things had to be finished — a cleansing and an offering.
Commentators read the washing and shaving of verses 6–7 as a picture. God deals with what a man is by nature before He uses him.
Here we have, in type, the only divine principle of cleansing. It is the application of death to nature and all its habits. It is the word of God brought to bear upon the heart and conscience, in a living way... The pure water and the sharp razor were called into action. The washing and shaving had to go on before Levi was fit to approach the vessels of the sanctuary.
One writer points out who does each action here, and what each one pictures.
Moses first sprinkled the purifying water on them, but the Levites themselves did the rest of the actions in this verse: "let them shave… let them wash… make themselves clean." The water of purifying points to being born again. We see it no doubt in John 3, where the Lord tells Nicodemus, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Our first right desires after God began when the Spirit had done that work in our souls. A work done for us came first; then came a work done by us, as we clearly see in this picture. To shave all our flesh means, in New Testament language, to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh (2 Cor. 7:1). To wash our clothes means separation from the circles we moved in before the grace of God reached us (2 Cor. 6:17).
Another writer presses the same razor into ongoing use. Anyone who wants to serve like a Levite "must constantly use the sharp knife of self-judgment to remove all that is of self" (Arno Clemens Gaebelein).
The second condition is the wave offering. Why not a heave offering? The answer shows how much of Israel God claimed.
On that day all the Levites were publicly consecrated to God's service. All the firstborn in Israel belonged to Him (Ex. 13:2), but He accepted the Levites in their place, as far as they would go, man for man. A heave offering here, as in the other cases, would have been out of place. It was not some of the firstborn whom God claimed, nor some of the Levites that He accepted.
One writer sets the offering out in two steps.
Israel first offered them to the LORD for His service through Aaron the priest (v. 11). It was a wave offering (tenupha); that is, they were presented before the Lord as consecrated to Him. Then (v. 13) they were set before Aaron and his sons, and so under their hand given to the Lord, wholly given to Him instead of the firstborn.
Service at the tent of meeting is the goal of the whole ceremony. That service pointed toward the priests, and through them to God.
There we read that the Levites were given ("gifted" according to Young's Concordance) to Aaron and to his sons to do the service of the tabernacle. 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.
The people made this offering. So the service that followed was not a private career, but the nation's work done through a few men.
They are then presented before the LORD, and offered, on the part of the people, to do what as a whole they were responsible for. The Levites are therefore the people's representatives, and their service (in this picture) belongs to the people of God at large. So they become the Lord's, being, as taken instead of the firstborn, His by right of redemption, and then given to the priests for the service of the tent of meeting.
Another writer names the source of such service now: "all ministry today is provided by Christ ascended in glory (Eph. 4:8)" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Cleansed — water and razor come before the tent of meeting. No one is fit to handle holy things until the growth of nature is cut away.
- Cleansed twice over — Moses sprinkles the water; the Levite shaves and washes. The Spirit's work comes first, then ours.
- Offered — a wave offering, not a heave offering, because God claimed all of them, not a selection.
- Given — offered to the Lord, they are then handed over to the priests; the servant does not own his own service.
- Serving — the aim of all service is worship. The Levites stand in for the whole people, doing work that belonged to everyone.
For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of every one that breaketh open the womb, instead of every firstborn among the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.
Here God claims a whole tribe as His own. He has taken them in place of every firstborn son in Israel. Two questions follow: what gives God that right, and what does it mean to belong to Him "wholly"?
The claim does not rest on anything in the Levites. It rests on a night in Egypt. God destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and the blood of the Passover lamb bought Israel's firstborn. One writer traces the claim back to that event:
First, the basis of the Lord's claim on the Levites was the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt. If God redeems through sacrifice and judgment, He claims those whom He redeems... So all the firstborn among the people of Israel were bought with a price. That price was the blood of the Passover Lamb, a picture of the precious blood of Christ.
"Instead of" is the key phrase. The Levites took the place of men who should have died under the destroying angel's sword. That gives them a new standing:
The Levites were taken instead of those on whom the sword of the destroying angel should have fallen. In other words, the Levites were a picture of a dead and risen people. They were no longer seen in the circumstances of nature, but in new life through grace — the place God Himself had put them in.
Mercy came first, and mercy is what fitted them for the work. One writer puts the order plainly:
So the Levites were linked with mercy — the great, distinguishing mercy that rescued Israel from the doom of Egypt. That fitted them all the better to do the service of the sanctuary. Who dares to take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry, if we listen to God...
The tribe is given to God, and in the same chapter God hands them to Aaron and his sons for the work of the tabernacle. One writer sees the church in this double giving:
We find here again what we have already seen. The Levites were given to Aaron and his sons. In the same way the church is given to Christ, the true Priest and Son over the house of God, for use in the service of the house... Then they were set before Aaron and his sons, and so given to the Lord under their hand, wholly given to Him instead of the firstborn.
That service had an aim beyond itself:
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 aim of all true ministry: that worship to our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ may be the result.
What does that ownership mean for the one who serves?
They were wholly the Lord's. He claimed them absolutely, for they were His through redemption. In the same way now the servant must recognise that he is not his own, and that he is wholly devoted to the Lord's will. No other claim may ever come between him and the Lord.
Notice where the line of separation falls:
In this way the ceremony separated the Levites from the rest of Israel as the Lord's special property. Today, all believers should value this fact of being set apart for the Lord's service — not set apart from other believers, but from the world. To be devoted to the Lord's service is a wonderful privilege.
One writer presses the same claim on every Christian today:
All these things were pictures, written for our instruction, so that we may understand that we belong to the Lord, on the ground of redemption, as absolutely as the Levites did... In saying this, we are not speaking of "gifts," or of those called out for service in a special and extraordinary way, but of all Christians. All alike have been redeemed, bought with a price, and are therefore the Lord's servants.
- Redeemed. God's claim starts at the blood of the Passover lamb. He claims those He redeems, and the price came before any service.
- Substituted. The Levites stand where the firstborn stood. A lamb died in their place, so they count as a people brought through death into new life.
- Owned. "Wholly given" means He owns them completely. That claim rests on redemption, and it covers every Christian. No other claim may come between the servant and the Lord.
- Given. God hands those He owns to the work of His house, as He gives the church to Christ.
- Aimed. All such service exists to support worship in God's presence. It separates the servant from the world, not from fellow believers.
For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both of man and beast; on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed them to myself.
God points back here to the night judgment passed through Egypt, when He took Israel's firstborn — people and animals alike — as His own. That claim explains why a whole tribe was later given to serve at the sanctuary, and it raises a sharper question: what does redemption entitle God to ask of those He saves?
The claim is not random. It rests on one night, when God both judged and rescued.
The Lord's claim on the Levites rests on the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt. If God redeems through sacrifice and judgment, He claims those whom He redeems, and so we read, "All the firstborn among the people of Israel are Mine... On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for Myself." (v. 17.) All the firstborn of Israel were bought with a price, the price of the blood of the Passover Lamb, a type of the precious blood of Christ.
Israel's firstborn were no safer in themselves than Egypt's. They lived because something else died in their place.
The Lord passed through the land of Egypt with the sword of justice drawn, to strike all the firstborn. Israel's firstborn would not have escaped, if the sword had not fallen on the neck of the spotless victim. Someone has put it well: "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 firstborn; in the latter, the death of God's LAMB."
To consecrate, or sanctify, is to set apart for God. One writer traces the first two times the Bible uses the idea.
The first mention of sanctification in the Bible comes with creation, when God sanctified the seventh day on which He rested (Gen. 2:3). The second comes with redemption, when He brought Israel out of Egypt. Here persons were in question, for He said, "Sanctify to Me all the firstborn" (Ex. 13:2). Blood had redeemed them, so God set them apart for Himself in their standing before Him. Because of that place, a very special way of life suited them — or rather suited the Levites, who later took their place.
(Where older translations say "sanctify," the ESV says "consecrate.")
The claim covers the cattle as well as the children. One writer reads the rescue from Egypt as taking in the animals too.
Moses redeemed them all out of Egypt... and he sanctified them all to Jehovah under the law — the fruit of the land and of the cattle, as well as the fruit of man. This shows us that Jehovah claimed the whole created order as His own. The firstborn of animal as of man was sanctified to Himself (Num. 8:17).
The tribe of Levi did not earn its place at the sanctuary. It stepped into a place already bought.
That is, Jehovah took them in a very special way as the formal substitute for the firstborn of Israel, the ones He spared when the destroying angel struck Egypt. They were redeemed by blood, and plainly counted as belonging to Jehovah... The Levites were identified with mercy — the great mercy that set Israel apart and rescued them from the doom of Egypt. This fitted them all the better to do the service of the sanctuary. Who dares to take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry...
The exchange was counted exactly, and the extra firstborn had to be paid for.
Chapters 3 and 4 show that God afterwards took all the Levites instead of the firstborn of the children of Israel. The exchange was so solemn and exact that the 273 firstborn of Israel who were more than the number of the Levites all had to be redeemed at the value God set on them. (See chap. 3:44-51.)
Commentators read the arrangement forward. What was true of one tribe pictures everyone God has bought.
If we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, let us understand our place, our privileges and our responsibilities. God has paid that great price for us and claimed us for Himself. We have no option but to answer His claim with our whole heart... We are the Levites of this day. The honour of the family falls above all on the firstborn. It is his duty and privilege to give himself to the family's interests and to carry out his father's wishes. This is our place, by the infinite grace of God.
- Judgment. The claim dates from one night. God struck the firstborn of Egypt, and He points back to that act as His title deed.
- Price. Israel's firstborn lived only because a lamb died. The blood of the Passover lamb bought them, so they belonged to the One who paid.
- Set apart. "Consecrated them for Myself" means set apart for God. The claim covers man and beast alike.
- Substitute. God took the Levites in place of the spared firstborn. They stepped into a place redemption had already won.
- Service. That same rescuing mercy fitted them to serve the sanctuary. Salvation comes before ministry, then as now.
And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel.
God speaks here about a swap He made: the tribe of Levi taken in place of every firstborn son in Israel. Two questions follow. Why did God have any claim on those firstborn? And what does it mean for a redeemed people to belong to Him?
Commentators trace God's right here back to one night in Egypt.
First, the basis of the Lord's claim on the Levites was the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt. If God redeems through sacrifice and judgment, He claims those whom He redeems... So all the firstborn among the children of Israel were bought with a price, the price of the blood of the Passover Lamb, which pictures the precious blood of Christ. Later all the Levites were taken instead of the firstborn of Israel. The swap was so solemn and exact that the two hundred and seventy-three firstborn who outnumbered the Levites all had to be redeemed at the value God set.
The swap was exact. The Levites were also an offering in themselves, presented to God on the nation's behalf.
On that day all the Levites were set apart for God's service in public. Every firstborn in Israel belonged to Him (Ex. 13:2), but He accepted the Levites in their place, as far as their number went, man for man... God did not claim only some of the firstborn, and He did not accept only some of the Levites. He claimed all the firstborn, but took all the Levites in their place as far as they would go — a wave-offering from the children of Israel.
The Levites stood in for men whom mercy had spared. One writer draws a rule for service out of that.
They were redeemed by blood, and counted emphatically to belong to Jehovah. In place of Israel's firstborn He accepted the Levites. "They shall be mine."... God's grace had spared the very men the Levites stood for when judgment fell. Being tied in this way to mercy — the great mercy that marked Israel out and rescued them from the doom of Egypt — the Levites were all the better fitted to serve in the sanctuary. How can anyone dare to take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry.
One commentator reads the Levites' position as a picture of a believer who has died and risen with Christ.
So the Levites were taken instead of those the destroying angel's sword should have struck. In other words, they were a picture of a dead and risen people. God no longer looked at them in their natural condition, but in the new life He Himself had given them by grace. Every sinner must travel this same path to know anything of Levi's later story by experience. There is no other way to escape the judgment of the law on one side, or the awful working of the sin that lives in us on the other. We must simply see ourselves "dead" to both, and "alive to God through Jesus Christ."
The Levites were servants, not priests. Notice the order too: God owns them before they go in to work.
The Levites represent the saints in service. The priests picture the Church in communion; the Levites are servants to the priests. The Levites are offered to God first. "And after that the Levites shall go in to do service." This is the true character of service — they "first gave themselves to God," and then God puts them to work... The Levites served only because they belonged to the Lord. "The Levites shall be mine." For as it is written, "you are not your own, for you were bought with a price." It is a happy thing to say, "My beloved is mine;" but it is greater progress and a deeper joy to say, "I am His."
This picture is not limited to a special class of workers. One writer applies the tribe to every Christian.
Jehovah took the tribe of Levi instead of the firstborn sons of the whole nation, for special service in His house and for His Name. They were a privileged people, called to give themselves to God's interests, and God took special care of them... They were a picture of the whole Christian company today.
- Claim. God takes only what He has redeemed. His right over the firstborn goes back to the night He struck Egypt and spared Israel under the blood.
- Price. The firstborn were bought with a price: the blood of the Passover lamb, which pictures the blood of Christ. The swap rests on a sacrifice.
- Substitute. The exchange was exact, man for man, with a ransom paid for every one left over; God settles for nothing partial.
- Life. The Levites stood where the sword should have fallen. They picture a dead and risen people, living the new life God gave them.
- Service. Belonging comes first, and work follows. Salvation comes before ministry. The deeper joy is not "my beloved is mine" but "I am His."
And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to perform the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel draw near to the sanctuary.
God hands one whole tribe over to another: the Levites are His to give, and He gives them to Aaron and his sons. The verse names a gift, a service and a danger held off — so why would coming near God's sanctuary put a redeemed people at risk of a plague?
A concordance sharpens what "given" means, and one writer follows it to the point of the gift:
The Levites were given to Aaron and to his sons to do the service of the tabernacle. Young's Concordance renders that word as "gifted." Does this not show that all true Levitical service aims at supporting priestly service in the presence of God? This is the real goal of all true ministry: that worship to our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ may be the result.
Another writer finds the same giving in the church:
Here again we find what we have already seen. The Levites were given to Aaron and his sons. In the same way the church is given to Christ, the true Priest and Son over the house of God, for use in the service of the house.
The tribe's own character makes this gift startling:
What a place for the self-willed, fierce, and cruel Levi! What a triumph of grace! What an illustration of the power of the blood of atonement and the water of purification! By nature and by practice they were far off from God. But the "blood" of atonement, the "water" of cleansing and the "razor" of self-judgment had done their blessed work. So the Levites were now fit to be presented as a gift to Aaron and to his sons, and to be joined with them in the holy services of the tabernacle of the congregation.
God took the Levites in place of Israel's firstborn. One writer shows what that substitution fitted them for:
They were redeemed by blood, and counted as belonging to Jehovah in a marked way. In place of Israel's firstborn He accepted the Levites. "They shall be mine."… So the Levites were tied to mercy — the great mercy that set Israel apart and rescued them from the doom of Egypt. That made them all the more fitted to do the service of the sanctuary. Who can presume to undertake the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry, if we listen to God.
The last clause explains the whole arrangement. Israel was redeemed, yet still needed shielding at the sanctuary — and God acted first:
Atonement in God's government divides into two parts. One kind was made to prevent God's dealing in government. The other stopped that dealing once it had begun. Numbers 8:19 is an instance of the first kind… In another way God provided for His people, to shield them from His dealing in government. He took the Levites in the place of the firstborn of Israel, on whom He had a special claim… What care this showed on God's part! He cared for the welfare of His ransomed but stiff-necked people, and for keeping them safe from judgment. All the people were redeemed, and the firstborn were God's in a special way. But He chose the Levites, and gave them to Aaron and to his sons to do the service of the children of Israel in the sanctuary… God did not give this command after the attempt had been made and had ended in a terrible disaster. He gave it, and Moses announced it, as the provision the Lord made to prevent what must otherwise have happened.
A servant's place turns on two things: whom he represents, and whose he is:
In their service the Levites represented the whole assembly… Looking at the Levites as a picture of all saints as servants, we learn that the Church is given to Christ for His service on the earth. We were given to Him for salvation, as every believer is. We must also remember that we are a gift to Him, entirely at His disposal. Our only proper attitude, therefore, is that of Saul of Tarsus, who said, "Lord, what will You have me to do?"
- Redeemed — redeemed by blood, the Levites stand in place of Israel's firstborn. Salvation comes before ministry.
- Cleansed — blood, water and the razor of self-judgment did their work. Fierce Levi became fit to be handed to the priests.
- Gifted — "given" here means gifted. God Himself makes the present, and the church is likewise given to Christ, entirely at His disposal.
- Aimed — Levite work exists to support priestly work, so the goal of all true service is worship.
- Shielded — this atonement was made to prevent judgment, not to stop it once begun. God gave the Levites before disaster struck, not after.