Southern Christian Advocate

THE LEVITES.

The Levites were solemnly set apart to their
ministry in the following way:--1. Having
washed and shaved the whole body, they presented
themselves before the tabernacle with two
young bullocks, one for a burnt offering, the
other for a sin offering. 2. They were sprinkled
with water of purifying by Moses. 3.
The leading men of the whole nation laid their
hands upon them, and by this ceremony offered
them to God as substitutes for themselves; and
in the room of their first-born. 4. Aaron offered
them before the Lord, or, as it is literally expressed
in the Hebrew, waved them for a wave-offering,
before the Lord; perhaps by causing
them to fall down before God towards his holy
Tabernacle, or as others have supposed, by requiring
them to walk solemnly around the altar,
in token of their dedication to the Lord, as living
sacrifices for his use. 5. They placed their
hands upon the heads of the bullocks, which
were then offered to make an atonement for
them. (Num. viii. 5-22.) By these ceremonial
signs was represented the perpetual consecration
of the Levites, in place of the first-born
of all the Israelites, to the service of the Sanctuary;
the purity which God seeks in all who come
near to serve him; the necessity there is, that
for this end all such as belong to the family of
Adam, should be cleansed, as it were with water
and by blood, by the sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, and through the sanctifying power
of the Holy Ghost.

In the wilderness, the Levites had the charge
of carrying the tabernacle, with all its vessels,
from place to place. In this business, each
of the three great families to which they
were divided, had its particular department of
duty assigned by God himself. In the land of
Canaan, they were relieved, of course, from all
this service. Only a part of them were deputed
to attend about the sanctuary. The rest, scattered
themselves in their several cities through
the land, seem to have been employed, as we
have already seen, in various ways, for the promotion
of piety and knowledge in the nation, unless
where they forgot their character, and lost
the spirit of their office in the spirit of the world.
That part of them which attended at the tabernacle
or temple, were required to see that they
were kept clean, and to have continually on
hand all supplies, such as wine, oil, incense, &c.,
that were needed for the sanctuary service. The
music of the temple was committed to their care,
many of them were employed as porters, and in
later times it became their duty to slay the victims
that were brought to the altar. At first,
they began to wait upon the service of the tabernacle
from twenty-five years of age to fifty.
Initiated to their full ministration before the age of thirty, continuing their service till they reached their sixtieth year. (Num. iv. 8. viii. 24.)

Afterward, however, under the temple, they began to attend upon some duties of their ministry as early as the age of twenty. (1 Chron. xxiii. 21-32.)

David divided the Levites into four great classes. The first class, consisting of 24,000, were appointed to assist the priests--to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. The second, of 6,000, were made officers and judges through the land. The third, amounting to 4,000, were porters. The fourth, amounting to 4,000 also, were musicians. (1 Chron. xxiii. 3. 35.) Those that were appointed to minister at the temple, were divided into courses or smaller classes, which followed one another in turn, each performing service for a week at a time thus only a small part of the whole number were present at once.

The business of the Porters, was to open in the morning and shut at night, the gates of the outer court; to attend them through the day, in order to prevent any thing contrary to the purity or peace of the temple; to have charge of the treasure-chambers near the gates; and to keep watch at different places through the night. The Jews tell us, that there were altogether, about the temple twenty-four stations occupied every night by guards, three of them in the Court of Israel. were guarded by priests, and the rest by Levites.

Each of these guards, which consisted of several men, had its chief or commander; hence we read of the captains of the temple. (Luke xxii. 4.52.) There was one with still higher authority, set over all the guards as their ruler, who is called in a more eminent sense, the Captain of the Temple. (Acts v. 24.) This last perhaps, was the same with the Man of the Mountain of the House, whose business we are told it was to walk round every night and see the guards at every station were not neglecting their duty. If he found any asleep, he immediately struck him, and might set fire to his garments, as at times he did not hesitate to do.

Some have thought that there is allusion to this usage of the temple in Rev. xvi. 15.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.--St. Peter.