Verses 5-22

Numbers 8:5-6. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

These men were to be the servants of God; they are the type of God’s elect, — a people set apart unto divine service, to be zealous for good works. “Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.” That is just the way that God the Holy Ghost takes Christians out of the main of mankind, and cleanses them.

Numbers 8:7-8. And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. Then let them take a young bullock with his meat of offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering.

There are still, typically, these three things in the cleansing of God’s people, — the blood, the water, and the razor. There is blood, the emblem of the putting away of sin by Christ’s atoning sacrifice; the water, typical of the Holy Ghost, by whom the power of sin is overcome; and then that razor, cutting off that which grows of the flesh; that which was their beauty and their glory is all taken away from them. There are some of God’s people who have not felt much of that razor; but if they are to serve God perfectly, it must be used. “Let them shave all their flesh.

Numbers 8:9-12. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: and thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD. And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin of offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites.

There is no true way of serving God without the atonement. Leave that out, and you have left out the vital part of the whole. What service can we render to the Most High if we begin by disloyalty to him whom God has set forth to be the propitiation for sin, even his dear Son?

Numbers 8:13-14. And thou shalt let the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.

We are to offer up to God our spirit, soul and body, which is our reasonable service; and if we be indeed God’s children, we are to feel that, henceforth, we are not our own, for we are bought with a price. We belong wholly to God; all that we are, and all that we have, is to be his through life, and in death, and throughout eternity.

Numbers 8:15. And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering.

An offering must be presented for us before we can offer ourselves as an offering unto God.

Numbers 8:16. For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel;

Listen to this, you who trust that you are made like unto the elder Brother, and the firstborn from among the creatures of God:

Numbers 8:16-18. Instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

God’s people are the elect; they have escaped from death. In that day when the sword of the Lord was drawn, they were shielded by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the lintel and on the two side posts; and, henceforth, because they have been thus preserved, they belong unto the Lord.

Numbers 8:19-22. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary. And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them. And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD, and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before His sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

How instructive all this is to us! We are not to begin blunderingly to serve God while we are yet in our sins, — before we have been sprinkled with the blood, — before we have been washed in the water which flowed with the blood, — before we have felt that razor that takes away from us all our own pride and glory. No; but when all that is done, then there is to be no delay: “After that went the Levites in to do their service.”