Today we'll look at the ceremonial cleansing of the Levites as a whole. In the book of Leviticus we studied the ceremonial cleansing of Aaron and his sons, but although the tribe of Levi is the priestly tribe, not every man of the tribe of Levi is a priest. Earlier in Numbers we saw the tabernacle duties assigned to the three clans of the Levite tribe. Because they will be serving at the tabernacle they must be ceremonially clean.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Take the Levites from among all the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. And so they will purify themselves. Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering. Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting and assemble the whole Israelite community. You are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them. Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering, so that they may be ready to do the work of the Lord.'" (Numbers 8:5-11) We don't know the purpose for the shaving, but we found incidences of shaving earlier in the Bible. A healed leper was to shave his whole body as part of his ceremonial cleansing. A person who had fulfilled a Nazarite vow was to shave all the hair off their head when the vow was completed. I think the shaving signifies a fresh start. Some Bible scholars believe it may symbolize being born again; newborn babies typically don't have as much hair on their heads and bodies as an adult. Occasionally you'll see a newborn with a full head of thick hair but these tend to be the exception.
"Then the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, using one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the Lord. In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be Mine." (Numbers 8:12-14) Laying their hands on the heads of the bulls symbolically transfers their sins to the bulls. They are acknowledging that these animals are standing in for them. I am not sure how a wave offering was done with human beings. With a sacrifice, usually a portion of the meat was waved before the Lord. Or if the offering was of firstfruits, a sheaf of wheat might be waved before the Lord. Perhaps the Levites lined up and passed by the tabernacle one by one, but the Bible doesn't tell us how their wave offering was accomplished.
"After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come do their work at the tent of meeting. They are the Israelites who are given wholly to Me. I have taken them as My own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in Israel, whether human or animal, is Mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for Myself. And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons of Israel." (Numbers 8:15-18) You'll recall from Exodus that, due to the stubbornness of Pharaoh, he refused time and time again to let the Israelites go. Even after the Lord began to send plagues, each one increasing in severity, Pharaoh opposed Him until the Lord brought the final plague upon Egypt: the death of the firstborn sons of all the Egyptians and the death of the firstborn of all the cattle of the Egyptians. Because this is what it took to secure Israel's release, the firstborn son and the firstborn of all the animals of the Israelites are consecrated to the Lord to commemorate what happened on Passover night. The firstborn males among the animals were offered to the Lord, with the exception of unclean animals (such as a donkey), but an unclean animal could be redeemed by offering a clean one in its place. Of course the Israelites weren't to offer their sons in sacrifice to the Lord. Also the Israelites weren't expected to send every one of their firstborn sons to serve at the tabernacle; that would have been too many workers. The Lord took the tribe of Levi (the smallest tribe in Israel at that time) in place of all the firstborn sons. This tribe now symbolizes all the firstborn males of Israel.
"From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary." (Numbers 8:19) Purity is required to approach God. King David asked this question in Psalm 24:3, "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?" Then he answers his own question, saying, "The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god." (Psalm 24:4) But we can't keep our hands clean from sin at all times and we can't keep our minds free of wrong thoughts at all times. We've all engaged in some form of idolatry by giving ourselves or someone else or something else the priority over God. This is why we need atonement made for us---we need a sacrifice that can somehow transfer purity upon us. In the Old Testament this was done by sacrifice and through the faith required to believe that, symbolically, one's sins were transferred to the sacrificial animal and that the Lord would accept the sacrifice on the person's behalf. Since Christ came in the New Testament and gave Himself as a perfect and eternal atoning sacrifice, we are made clean by our faith in Him. How do we approach God in the church age? Through His Son who said, "No man comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) Because we come to God through Christ, in whom we have trusted for salvation, God accepts our confessions of sin and cleanses us of our sins. (1 John 1:9)
"Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses. The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them. After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses. The Lord said to Moses, 'This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.'" (Numbers 8:20-26) In Numbers 6 we were told that the men's duties at the tabernacle began at age thirty. Why do we find the age of twenty-five referenced here in verse 24? It is believed that the men began their apprenticeship at the age of twenty-five. Only after five years of training---after they knew every facet of their duties inside out and could perform them almost perfectly---could they take on their full responsibilities.
Anything we do for the Lord is worth doing well. We should do it in a spirit of humility and purity, to the best of our ability, as we find the Levites doing in today's passage.
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