Numbers: Faith, Law, and History

The Levites

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: The Second Census

Genre:

Track: 04

Dictation Name: RR181B4

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth to all generations. Let us pray.

O Lord, our God, we give thanks unto thee in this joyful season, that thou art the Lord, that thou art king of kings and Lord of Lords, that all things come from thee, and thou hast ordained us for thy holy purpose. Make us joyful in thee, mindful that thou shalt prevail, thy will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, and thy kingdom indeed shall come. Give us the peace that passeth understanding, and make us faithful, fervent, and joyful in thy service. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Our scripture is Numbers 3. Our subject: the Levites. Numbers 3. “These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in mount Sinai. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.”

Then the 27th verse: “And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites.”

Then, 33: “Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari.”

Then down to the 40th verse: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the Lord) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.”

And the 44th verse: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord. And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites; thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:) And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons. And Moses took the redemption money of them that were over and above them that were redeemed by the Levites: Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money; a thousand three hundred and threescore and five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

We have, in these verses, the census of the Levites. This was a religious census of particular importance. There was something very, very basic at stake. The law of the firstborn required that a substitute be given for all males in the twelve tribes. In verses 11-13, we are told that the Levites belonged to God in a particular way. All people are his creation, and all are required to serve God or to be judged by Him. The Levites, however, have a special status. God smote all the firstborn of Egypt. At the same time, He hallowed unto Himself all the firstborn of Egypt, both of men and animals, for destruction. Instead of a like judgment of death on Israel, God took their firstborn for His service. All are God’s property, but Levi, as the vicarious firstborn for all, represented the sentence of death and the deliverance by the atonement by the passover lamb. The tribe of Levi, thus, had charge of the sanctuary and the sacrifices. The sphere of atonement and its ministry was under their jurisdiction.

Then, in verses 14-39, we have the levitical census. Earlier, in verses 2-4, we have the family of Aaron listed, the priestly tribe. The sacrifices were more strictly their jurisdiction, while all other Levites had various responsibilities to the sanctuary and to God’s people. We have the duties of the Levites in the wilderness cited in these verses.

After the wilderness, there were other duties given to Levites as well. Among them was instruction teaching. According to Deuteronomy 33:10, the Levites were the teachers, the instructors of all Israel. But two duties are specified here. First the care, and moving, and erecting of the sanctuary is their duty. Second, the sanctuary must be guarded, and all unauthorized persons, trespassers, are to be put to death. Especially at this point, curiosity about the sanctuary made necessary a very strong emphasis on the penalty. After the golden calf episode, the Levites, because of their faithfulness, became the firstborn among Israel’s tribes.

Very clearly here and elsewhere in scripture, status as the firstborn is a matter of privilege and grace. Moral failure, as with Reuben, could lead to a demotion. Reuben was the firstborn as far as time was concerned. In European society, primogenitor became a legal premise. First birth meant inheritance. In the Bible, moral qualifications take priority over a biological priority. Thus, disinheritance is an important biblical doctrine. Over and over again, in the book of Genesis alone, as well as throughout the Bible, we see disinheritance stated very unequivocally. The fallacy of premillennialism begins with the belief that Israel could not be disinherited by God. Whereas, scripture makes clear that not only were the twelve tribes replaced by the twelve apostles to form the new Israel of God, but that the churches also can be judged and set aside. This is what our Lord’s letter to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 is about. He is telling them “Be faithful or be disinherited.”

In verses 11-13, we are reminded that all the firstborn belong to God. Since the firstborn represent the totality, the fullness, this means that all people belong to God, and we are accountable to Him for what we do with His property, ourselves and this world. This is a priestly responsibility. This is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. In Romans 15:16, Paul speaks of himself as a minster of Jesus Christ, ministering the gospel of God. In the Greek, the word translated as minister and ministering means a priestly ministry or administration. Paul was not a Levite nor a descendant of Aaron, but he declares that he is a priest of Jesus Christ, as all of us are in Him.

In verses 14-39, we have the counting of the subclans of Levi, named after his three sons; the Merrarites, the Gershonites, the Kohathites. The encampment of all Israel was with the sanctuary in the center, then Aaron and his family to the east, just outside the sanctuary, the Gershonites to the west, the Merrarites to the north, and the Kohathites to the south. Then the twelve tribes were the outer part of this square. To the south was Reuben, together with Gad and Simeon, Reuben being the main tribe to the south. To the east was Judah with Issachar and Zebulun under Judah. To the north was Dan with Asher and Naphtali under their leadership, and to the west was Ephraim with Manasseh and Benjamin under Ephraim’s leadership.

The twelve tribes or clans were numbered in terms of their eligibility to fight. It was in terms of men within the years and physical capacity to go to battle, but the numbering of the Levites was different.

In verse 15, we are told every male from a month old and upward “shalt thou number them.” From their earliest days, the young Levites were set apart for service to the sanctuary. Specific services were assigned to the three subclans of the Levites. We see this in later chapters. The location of the three subclans of the Levites, and the fourth, the line of Aaron, around the sanctuary, has a very important purpose. F.W. Grant said, “The separation of the Levites to God for the work of the tabernacle is now declared. They are now to be the bodyguard of the divine king, and as the priests go into God to perform their intercessory service in behalf of the people, so the Levites keep them (the people) from the wrath that would follow the intrusion of the stranger into the tabernacle of God, the holy things of which they bear through the desert and all their journeyings.”

Now, this is an important fact that men tend to forget. Namely, that the tabernacle and then later, the temple, and now the church, must be seen as the palace of the great king, God the creator, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit. It must be protected from profanation, and it must be treated as a royal place. This is why the very first church buildings built by the early church were all designed in terms of the palace and its plans.

The clergy are to be the ministers of the church as the priests and Levites were before them, a royal guard to prevent profanation and sacrilege. When priests and pastors are themselves the source of profanation, a people are far gone and judgment upon all. This is why it’s such a fearful thing when heresy and modernism are preached from the pulpit. It means the clergy, instead of being the guards of the holy place, have become the source of profanation. This is why the Levites are described in verse 9 as holy given, entirely given, to Aaron for the temple service. Theirs must be a complete surrender to their calling and to the defense of the royal house against sacrilege.

These verses are prescriptive, and this is troublesome to the modern mind. We are accustomed to thinking there is merit to a lack of order, and rules are seen as burdens. However, as Joseph Parker commented about a century and a half ago, “Order is but another name for purpose, or another word for mind. This mechanism was not self-invented or self-regulated. Behind this military table of position and movement is the God of the whole universe. He is behind everything.”

Well, of course, today, in terms of evolutionary thinking, we believe the universe is mindless. In terms of Freudian thinking, we believe man really is mindless and that the mind really expresses the unconscious, the primitive, in man. For the modern mind, disorder and revolution spell freedom. As a result, whether it is in art, education, politics, ballet, religion, or any other sphere, revolutionary movements are encouraged and order is treated as an imposition.

The significance of the Levites as a type is very great. They are given to us as the tribe or clan of the firstborn of Israel and, as such, they represent the totality. There is a very important reference to this in Hebrews 12:23, which speaks of Christ’s congregation as the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Now this has reference to Leviticus 3. The firstborn of Egypt were all anathema to God and died. They represented His verdict on the world of covenant breakers. Jesus Christ as God’s firstborn and only begotten son died in the place of His people, His new humanity, to free them from Egypt, the fallen humanity and its realm.

In verse 39, we are told that the total number of Levites was 22,000, and this number included all who were one month old and older. We are not told why the Levites were numerically so much smaller than the other tribes. Perhaps the reason for this lay back in Egypt in some harsher oppression of the Levites and their children. In verse 1 of this chapter, the word generations, as in Genesis, means in Hebrew the family records or history of those involved, so that when we meet the word, as in Genesis, “these are the generations of Adam,” it means literally, “These are the family records of Adam, these are the family records of Noah,” and so on.

So, in Genesis and in various other books, we have family records compiled by the persons mentioned. Here it is Aaron and Moses. Family records have an important place in the Bible. Again and again we have genealogies given. Genealogical tables are not only regularly given for the covenant people, but at times, for other peoples as well, ungodly peoples. This is unusual. To the modern mind, it seems strange. At present, any concern with genealogy is considered pretentious and is very often ridiculed. While it is true that many approach their own genealogy with self-exalting hopes, the concern about one’s family is basically sound. The family is basic to Christianity and its civilization, and the present indifference to one’s ancestors is part of a belief that the individual is everything, so the family does not count. Most Americans cannot tell you the names of their great-grandparents, and have to think to remember sometimes the first names of their grandparents. This is because the individual is everything, but Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 4:7 have a very general application. “For who maketh thee to differ from another, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” What we are we have received from God, from our parents and grandparents, our ancestors, from the culture around us, from the church in which we were reared, so why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Our family heritage should move us to both humility and to gratitude. Let us pray.

Our Father, we thank thee that thou art our God, and that thou hast called us to be a holy priesthood, to dedicate ourselves, our families, our realm, our work, all things to thee, and to serve thee with all our heart, mind, and being. Make us mindful of how much we have received, O Lord, from thee, from our loved ones and those around us and before us. Give us grateful hearts, and teach us to pass on a goodly heritage to our children’s children. In Christ’s name. Amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] I just noted that the tribes were assigned specific geographical locations with reference to the tabernacle. Were members of these tribes, did they socialize, and they never intermarry, or were they required to stay socialized and intermarry within their own tribe?

[Rushdoony] They socialized, they intermarried, and the reckoning of tribal membership was in terms of the husband, unless a family had no sons, then the daughter established the family membership. Any other questions or comments? Yes

[Audience] Does the Diaspora still continue this census?

[Rushdoony] No. It was very early abandoned, and especially after the Fall of Jerusalem, the entire idea ended. The nation before the Fall of Jerusalem was essentially Judah, with Simeon and Benjamin to a lesser degree. The northern tribes, the Galileans, had already begun to drift away and were largely indifferent to the center, Jerusalem. The Pharisees and the Sadducees alike left the Galileans cold. It is interesting that all of the twelve disciples, with the exception of Judas, were Galileans, so they were outsiders to the Judeans. The number of converts, of course, both from Galilee and Judea was considerable, however, the Judeans considered themselves to be almost the only true Israel of God. They were very contemptuous of the Galileans, the northern tribes. So, they were excluding them to a considerable degree. Yes?

[Audience] What was Paul referring to in Titus 3:9 and in the passage in 1 Timothy where he warned against genealogies?

[Rushdoony] Yes, Titus?

[Audience] 3:9, 1 chapter of Timothy verse 4.

[Rushdoony] “But avoid foolish questions in genealogies and contentions in strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and vain.” This had reference to the kind of controversies that the Pharisees were involved in, and their reinterpretation of the law, and their reinterpretation of the significance of biblical matters, well, let’s begin with foolish questions. Foolish questions were questions such as, “Could you eat an egg that was laid on the Sabbath?” “Could you eat an egg it if were laid the day after, because obviously, the chicken had been producing it, or working on it during the Sabbath?” Now, those are foolish questions, and Phariseeism was deeply involved in those. They were specifying the number of yards you could walk on the Sabbath without it being work, that sort of thing. So, the foolish questions were questions that did not deal with truly biblical issues, issues that were vital to the faith.

Then, genealogies had to do with making sure that your background was pure. Now, the Bible does not say that an outsider could not marry. In fact, in the line of our Lord, there were a number of alien women who were involved, but they became “holier than thou” in this respect, so that you could not marry, for example, a foreign woman, even if she were a proselyte, a convert, and you had to be sure that your ancestry was purely Judean. The Galileans were not involved in that but the Judeans were, and contentions and strivings about the law. Endless debates, some of which bordered on the pornographic as they were trying to determine what possible meaning the law could have. I won’t go into them now, but there are many chapters of the Talmud given to such legal requirements. “At what age is a girl a woman? and what is the age of legal consent? and when does it constitute adultery? and so on, that sort of thing, and Paul’s judgment in all these things is, they are unprofitable and vain.

Now, we can sum it all by saying this kind of temper has been constant among peoples, not only in the western tradition, but in other religions. If you want to understand exactly what Paul is talking about here, all you have to do is go to supreme court decisions and what they do with the Constitution. It’s the same kind of thing, whereby, they build a house of cards and they get more and more remote from the actual wording of the text. The Constitution, for example, very plain says the federal government can have no lands in any state, other than post offices and military bases, and post roads of they are lacking, and yet, as much as 90% of at least one state is owned by the federal government. All you have to do Is to go to court decisions and see how the plain lettering and wording of scripture is subverted and something else substituted in its place. That’s what you had with the Pharisees, and this is what Paul is condemning. He doesn’t say, “Argue with them and try to set them right.” He says, “Avoid all these things, avoid them.” Yes?

[Audience] Well, it seems to be that he was also saying that genealogical dissent does not mean that you’re in the {?}

[Rushdoony] It’s not to be the source of your pride. There’s nothing wrong with genealogy, in fact, the Bible incorporates too many of them for us to set it aside, but it’s not to be your source of trust. We’re all descended from Adam and Eve, so we’re all related in some degree. So, it’s this false pride in genealogy rather than a sense of the family and what you owe to your family that is important. Any other questions or comments? We have something similar to this now. The Mormons are the greatest imitators of the Pharisees in compiling genealogies, but the purpose is so you can save your ancestors by having vicarious baptism for them and making them good Latter Day Saints. If there are no further questions, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, thy word is truth, and thy word is a lamp upon our way, a joy to our hearts, and a means of seeing in a world of darkness. Make us ever joyful in thy word and constant in the study thereof. Bless us in thy service. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape