11/18/2010 9:12:10 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The Levites
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 1Chron. 23:1-32
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Now when David reached old age, he made his son Solomon king over
Israel. 2 And he gathered together all
the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites. 3 And the Levites were numbered from thirty
years old and upward, and their number by census of men was 38,000. 4 Of these, 24,000 were to oversee the work of
the house of the LORD; and 6,000 were officers and judges, 5 and 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 were
praising the LORD with the instruments which David made for giving praise.
6 And David divided them into divisions
according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 7 Of the Gershonites were Ladan and Shimei.
8 The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the
first and Zetham and Joel, three. 9 The
sons of Shimei were Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three. These were the heads
of the fathers’ households of Ladan. 10 And
the sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the
sons of Shimei. 11 And Jahath was the
first, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so
they became a father’s household, one class. 12
The sons of Kohath were four: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. 13 The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And
Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, to
burn incense before the LORD, to minister to Him and to bless in His name forever.
14 But as for Moses the man of God, his
sons were named among the tribe of Levi. 15
The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The son of Gershom was Shebuel the chief.
17 And the son of Eliezer was Rehabiah
the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very
many. 18 The son of Izhar was Shelomith
the chief. 19 The sons of Hebron were
Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the
fourth. 20 The sons of Uzziel were Micah
the first and Isshiah the second. 21 The
sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.
22 And Eleazar died and had no sons, but
daughters only, so their brothers, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.
23 The sons of Mushi were three: Mahli,
Eder, and Jeremoth.
“ 24 ¶ These were the sons of
Levi according to their fathers’ households, even the heads of the fathers’
households of those of them who were counted, in the number of names by their
census, doing the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from twenty
years old and upward. 25 For David said,
"The LORD God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He dwells in
Jerusalem forever. 26 "And also,
the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for
its service." 27 For by the last
words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and
upward. 28 For their office is to assist
the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of the LORD, in the courts and
in the chambers and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the
service of the house of God, 29 and with
the showbread, and the fine flour for a grain offering, and unleavened wafers,
or what is baked in the pan, or what is well-mixed, and all measures of volume
and size. 30 And they are to stand every
morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and likewise at evening, 31 and to offer all burnt offerings to the LORD,
on the Sabbaths, the new moons and the fixed festivals in the number set by the
ordinance concerning them, continually before the LORD. 32 Thus they are to keep charge of the tent of
meeting, and charge of the holy place, and charge of the sons of Aaron their
relatives, for the service of the house of the LORD.”
This
SD begins a new main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on 2Samuel and
1Chronicles and it covers chapter twenty-three to chapter twenty-seven. David was getting old when the things that
are written in these chapters took place and there was going to be a transition
coming about because of the building of the temple. In the Law of Moses the Lord set apart the
Levites to help in the moving of the tabernacle and taking care of the
tabernacle which was an aid for the priests who came from the family of
Aaron. Now the tabernacle would not be
in use anymore whenever the temple would be built and so the duties of the
Levites would change and it was David, through the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit who made all of these changes, and the main point of all of this was to
bring glory to the Lord. It is recorded
that David was the maker of different instruments that were used in the worship
service. David organized the Levites,
the priests, the temple singers, and the temple officers as part of this new
system that would be used when the temple was finished. This was quite an undertaking and it shows
how much talent that David had, and it also shows how much that David loved the
Lord and wanted the worship of the Lord pleasing to Him.
The
author of 1Chronicles does not write about the trouble that happened in David’s
family, and only writes that David made Solomon king near the end of his life
and then the author goes onto speak of the duties of the Levites. In the early portion of this chapter he
mentions the age of serving for a Levite as thirty years old and then inverses
twenty-four it is twenty years old. As
mentioned above this section gives the new duties of the Levites since the
temple is going to be built.
Dr.
Wiersbe writes the following commentary:
“There was one temple, one high priest, and one divine law, and one Lord
to serve, but there was a diversity of gifts and ministries, not unlike the
church today. The fact that the Levites
took care of the altar didn’t mean that their work was less important to the
ministry or to the Lord. Each servant
was important to the Lord and each ministry was necessary.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Even though the worship of the Lord in the OT
times during the life of Israel, and in the times of the temple was different
than what it is in the NT times there are some similar things. Jesus told the woman at the well that things
were about to change and He was referring to the fact that after His
resurrection from the dead there would come a new system in worshiping the Lord
and it would not have to be from Jerusalem.
During the worship of the Lord at the temple the Levites had certain
things to do and if you take this over to the local church the Lord had given
each one of His children different gifts so that the worship of the Lord in the
local church would run as He wants it to run.
There are different places in the NT where these spiritual gifts are
described, Romans 12, 1Cor. 12, Eph. 4, and 1Peter 4. God gives at least one gift to each of His
children and some get more than one gift and it is in order to edify the body
of Christ. All of these gifts are
important and all necessary for the health of the body. I truly want to be in a place where I can use
the gift or gifts that the Lord has given to me to worship the Lord in Spirit
and in Truth, as the Lord told the woman at the well in John four.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Pray that the Lord would stir up the gift that He
gave me through the power of the Holy Spirit and led me to a place where that
gift can be used for His honor and glory.
11/18/2010 10:00:27 AM
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