This is the very longest section in the entire book of Numbers. It
contains a detailed statement of the names of the twelve princes of the
congregation, and of their respective offerings on the occasion of the
setting up of the tabernacle. “It came to pass on the day that Moses had
fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and
all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof,
and had anointed them, and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel,
heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes,
and were over them that were numbered, offered: and they brought their
offering before the Lord, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon
for two of the princes, and for each one an ox; and they brought them
before the tabernacle. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Take it
of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the
congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man
according to his service.’ And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and
gave them unto the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the
sons of Gershon, according to their service; and four wagons and eight
oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under
the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. But unto the sons of
Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto
them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.” (Ver. 1-9.)
We noticed, when meditating on chapters iii. and iv., that the sons
of Kohath were privileged to carry all that was most precious of the
instruments and furniture of the sanctuary; hence they did not receive
any of the princes’ offering. It was their high and holy service to bear
upon their shoulders, and not to make use of wagons or oxen. The more
closely we examine those things which were committed to the custody and
charge of the Kohathites, the more we shall see that they set forth,
in type, the deeper and fuller manifestations of God in Christ. The
Gershonites and Merarites, on the contrary, had to do with those things
which were more external. Their work was rougher and more exposed, and
therefore they were furnished with the needed help which the liberality
of the princes placed at their disposal. The Kohathite did not want the
aid of a wagon or an ox in his elevated service. His own shoulder was to
bear the precious mystic burden.
“And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that it
was anointed, even the princes offered their offering before the altar.
And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘They shall offer their offering, _each
prince on his day_, for the dedicating of the altar.’”
An unspiritual reader, in running his eye over this unusually long
chapter, might feel disposed to ask why so much space is occupied, in an
inspired document, with what might be given in the compass of a dozen
lines. If a man were giving an account of the transaction of those twelve
days, he would, in all probability, have very briefly summed up all in
one statement, and told us that the twelve princes offered each such and
such things.
But that would not have suited the divine mind at all. God’s thoughts
are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. Nothing could satisfy
Him but the fullest and most detailed account of each man’s name, of
the tribe which he represented, and of the offering which he made to
the sanctuary of God. Hence this long chapter of eighty-nine verses.
Each name shines out in its own distinctness: each offering is minutely
described and duly estimated. The names and the offerings are not huddled
promiscuously together. This would not be like our God; and He can only
act like Himself in whatever He does, and speak like Himself in whatever
He says. Man may pass hastily or carelessly over gifts and offerings; but
God never can, never does, and never will. He delights to record every
little act of service, every little loving gift. He never forgets the
smallest thing; and not only does He not forget it Himself, but He takes
special pains that untold millions shall read the record. How little did
those twelve princes imagine that their names and their offerings were to
be handed down, from age to age, to be read by countless generations! Yet
so it was, for God would have it so. He will enter upon what might seem
to us tedious detail—yea, if you please, what man might deem tautology,
rather than omit a single name of any of His servants, or a single item
of their work.
Thus, in the chapter before us, “each prince” gets his own appointed day
for the presenting of his offering, and his own allotted space on the
eternal page of inspiration, in the which the most complete record of his
gifts is inscribed by God the Holy Ghost.
This is divine. And may we not say that this seventh chapter of Numbers
is one of those specimen-pages from the book of eternity, on which the
finger of God has engraved the names of His servants, and the record
of their work? We believe it is; and if the reader will turn to the
twenty-third of second Samuel, and the sixteenth of Romans, he will
find two similar pages. In the former, we have the names and the deeds
of David’s worthies; in the latter, the names and the deeds of Paul’s
friends at Rome. In both, we have an illustration of what, we feel
persuaded, is true of all the saints of God and the servants of Christ
from first to last. Each one has his own special place on the roll, and
each one his place in the Master’s heart, and all will come out by and
by. Amongst David’s mighty men we have “the first three,” “the three,”
and “the thirty.” Not one of “the thirty” ever attained a place among
“the three,” nor did one of “the three” ever reach to “the first three.”
Nor this only. Every act is faithfully set down, and the substance and
style most accurately put before us. We have the name of the man, _what_
he did, and _how_ he did it. All is recorded, with sedulous care and
minuteness, by the unerring and impartial pen of the Holy Ghost.
So also, when we turn to that remarkable sample-page furnished in Romans
xvi, we have all about Phebe—what she was and what she did, and what a
solid basis she had on which to rest her claim upon the sympathy and
succor of the assembly at Rome. Then we have Priscilla and Aquila—the
wife put first,—and how they had laid down their own necks for the
life of the blessed apostle, and earned his thanks and that of all the
churches of the Gentiles. Next we have “the _well_-beloved Epænetus;”
and “Mary, who bestowed,” not merely labor, but “_much_ labor” on the
apostle. It would not have expressed the mind of the Spirit, or the
heart of Christ, merely to say that Epænetus was “beloved,” or that Mary
had bestowed “labor.” No; the little adjuncts, “well” and “much,” were
necessary in order to set forth the exact _status_ of each.
But we must not enlarge, and we shall merely call the reader’s attention
to verse 12. Why does not the inspired penman place “Tryphena, Tryphosa,”
and “the beloved Persis” under one head? Why does he not assign them one
and the same position? The reason is perfectly beautiful—because he could
only say of the two former that they had “labored in the Lord,” whereas
it was due to the latter to add that she had “labored _much_ in the
Lord,” Can aught be more discriminating? It is “the three,” “the first
three,” and “the thirty” over again. There is no promiscuous jumbling of
names and services together—no haste—no inaccuracy. We are told what each
one was, and what he did. Each one gets his own place, and receives his
own meed of praise.
And this, be it observed, is a specimen-page from the book of eternity.
How solemn! and yet how encouraging! There is not a single act of service
which we render to our Lord that will not be set down in His book; and
not only the _substance_ of the act, but the _style_ of it also; for
God appreciates style as well as we do. He loves a cheerful giver and a
cheerful worker, because that is precisely what He is Himself. It was
grateful to His heart to see the tide of liberality flowing around His
sanctuary from the representatives of the twelve tribes; it was grateful
to His heart to mark the actings of David’s worthies, in the day of his
rejection; it was grateful to His heart to trace the devoted path of the
Priscillas, the Aquilas, and the Phebes of a later date; and, we may
add, it is grateful to His heart, in this day of so much lukewarmness
and vapid profession, to behold, here and there, a true-hearted lover of
Christ, and a devoted worker in His vineyard.
May God’s Spirit stir up our hearts to more thorough devotedness. May the
love of Christ constrain us, more and more, to live, not unto ourselves,
but unto Him who loved us and washed us from our scarlet sins in His most
precious blood, and made us all we are, or ever hope to be.