Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #133 -Numbers 18 - Duties of Levites
Welcome to Berean's Corner, the podcast where we go through books of the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse, wherever you are in the world. Thank you for joining. Grab a glass of water, a cup of coffee or tea and let's get into today's lesson all right.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining me welcome back.
Speaker 1:Open your bible to numbers chapter 18. The title of today's lesson is duties of levites, numbers chapter 18, and let's read Numbers 18.
Speaker 3:The Lord said to Aaron you, your sons and your father's family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood.
Speaker 3:Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the testimony. They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar or both they and you will die. They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, all the work at the tent, and no one else may come near where you are. You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to do the work at the tent of meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death. Then the Lord said to Aaron I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me. All the holy offerings the Israelites give me, I give to you and your sons as your portion and regular share. You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire, from all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. Eat it as something most holy. Every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy. This also is yours. Whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites, I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the Lord as the firstfruits of their harvest. All the land's firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours. 1 Peter 3, verses 1-10. Is yours, but you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals when they are a month old. You must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty geras. But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep or a goat. They are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours.
Speaker 3:Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord, I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt to the Lord. I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.
Speaker 3:The Lord said to Aaron you will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them. I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting. From now on, the Israelites must not go near the Tent of Meeting or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die. It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for offenses against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said concerning them they will have no inheritance among the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses Speak to the Levites and say to them when you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord's offering.
Speaker 3:Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor. You must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord's offering. Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. In this way, you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes, you must give the Lord's portion to Aaron, the priest. You must present as the Lord's portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you. Say to the Levites when you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the wine press. You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting. By presenting the best part of it, you will not be guilty in this matter. Then you will not defile the holy offerings of the israelites and you will not die now.
Speaker 1:The last time we were together we looked at the button of aaron's rod, which was a sign given to the Lord to show the grumbling people who God put in charge. Today we are looking at the duties of the Levites. Now this chapter is focusing on the serious business of the church leader and what he does and or allows in the sanctuary. Now, at the time I am studying this chapter and going through this book of numbers in this particular area, there are things happening in the Christian world that show how unserious some of these quote unquote Christian leaders are. There is a guy named Mike Todd who I saw getting his hair cut during a sermon.
Speaker 3:Now.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be straight up with you. No, I did not listen to the whole sermon. No, I didn't sit down and dissect it. I saw this man on the in the pulpit in front of a church, in front of his congregation, getting a haircut while he was supposed to be teaching the word of God. No, I don't know the context. To be honest, I don't care what the context was. I don't need to listen to the whole thing to know what he was tying it into. There has to be a reverence when you are in the house of the Lord, at least the building that you claim to be the house of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Another heretic Jamar Bryant. He wasted time in church this was at the end of 2024 talking politics. Now there are many more of these people and I'm sure that you know them all, but this guy was supposed to be in church teaching the word of God, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, bringing people to repentance. Instead, he wasted time on a Sunday talking about the election, the 2024 election, talking about what he had an issue with. He had an issue with these people doing this. He had an issue with people doing that he had an issue with. He had an issue with these people doing this.
Speaker 1:He had an issue with people doing that, and the sad part is is that a lot of the people in this congregation his flock, if you will they were championing him standing up pumping a fish yeah, pastor, and all all of that nonsense. A lot of these emasculated eunuch men standing up pumping their fists. You know, championing this on there's supposed to be a seriousness in the house of the Lord. Now, the good thing for those people is that we live in a time of grace, but during this time, during this old covenant time, the Lord did not tolerate that People have died for less in front of the congregation. And now we are in a chapter that talks about how serious the Lord takes his sanctuary and actually before, I move on there was another guy actually recently who I saw.
Speaker 1:I don't know who the guy is, but he actually recently did this in the pulpit.
Speaker 2:God's shepherd. See, that's how I know you still poor, broke, busted and disgusted because of how you've been honoring me. I'm not working your McDonald's money, come on. I'm not worth your red lobster money. I ain't worth your Saint John Nick. Y'all can't afford it. No, how. I ain't worth y'all Louis Vuitton. I ain't worth your product. I'm not worth your Gucci. You can buy a Movado watch in Sam's. Yes, you can, and y'all know. I asked for one last year. Here it is the whole way in August I still ain't got it. Y'all ain't saying nothing. Let me kick down the door and talk to my cheap sons and daughters. I don't want to hear no more excuses about what y'all can't afford. You can't afford it because you don't see the value here.
Speaker 1:Sir, the same way your congregation didn't see the value there, neither do I, and I don't attend that church. This is some of the foolishness that goes on in the churches nowadays. The quote unquote church because we know that that is not the church that the lord called us to, to worship in and to serve. Now getting on to numbers chapter 18. We will break this chapter down into four sections.
Speaker 2:Part number one.
Speaker 1:Aaron has been given responsibility by God. We see this in verses one through seven. So the Lord said to Aaron you and your sons and your father's household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood. But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. And they shall thus attend to your obligation and obligation of all the tent, but they shall not come near to the furnishing of the sanctuary and the altar, lest both they and you die. And you shall be joined, excuse me and they shall be joined with you and attend to the obligation of the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, but an outsider may not come near you. So you shall attend to the obligation of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar that there may no longer be wrath on the sons of israel. And behold, I myself have taken your fellow levites from among the sons of israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death. Now the Levites had the responsibility of helping Aaron and his sons. What the what the Levites did was they had services that they had to tend to that Aaron and his sons may or may not have time to attend to. Now the three sons of Levi were given responsibility. Hold your finger right here and turn back to Numbers chapter three, and let's look at these sons and their responsibility. Numbers chapter three the first son, gershon. We see this in verses 25 and 26. Now the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and the tent is covering and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting and the hangings of the court and the screen for the doorway of the tent which is around the tabernacle and the altar and its cords, according to all the service concerning them. So we see what Gershon his duties were. Son number two, kohath. We see what he did in drop down to verse 31 now. Their duties involve the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen and all the service concerning them. Son number three, merari. We see what he did in verses 36 through 37. Now the appointed duties of the sons of merari involve the frames of the tabernacles, its bars, its pillars, its sockets and all this equipment and the service concerning them, and the pillars around the court with their sockets and all this equipment and the service concerning them, and the pillars around the court with their sockets and their pegs and their cords. So we see the duties that these three sons of levi were given.
Speaker 1:Part two aaron and his sons would be provided for by the offering that god gave aaron to oversee.
Speaker 1:We see this in verses 8 through 19.
Speaker 1:Then the lord spoke to aaron.
Speaker 1:Now, behold, I myself have given you charge of my offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire, every offering of theirs, even every grain offering and every sin offering and every guilt offering which they shall render to me shall be most holy for you and your sons, as the most holy gifts. You shall eat it. Every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. This also is yours, the offering of their gifts, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment.
Speaker 1:Every one of your household is clean, may eat it.
Speaker 1:All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the lord, I give them to you.
Speaker 1:The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land which they bring to the lord shall be yours. Every one of your household is clean, may excuse me because, or who is clean may eat. Every devoted thing in israel shall be yours. Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And as their redemption price, from a month old, you shall redeem them by your valuation five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is 20 garas. But the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat and smoke as an offering by fire for a soothing aroma to the Lord and their meat shall be yours.
Speaker 1:It shall be yours like the breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh, all the offerings of the holy gifts which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord. I will eat, I'm excuse me. I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. It is an everlasting government, this covenant assault before the Lord to you and your descendants with you. Now, although this is an Old Testament concept, paul the apostle mentions this in the New Testament. Hold your finger right here and go to First Corinthians, right here, and go to first corinthians, first corinthians I'm sorry, I went past it. And when you get to first corinthians, we are looking at chapter 9. When you get there, we'll see where paul mentions this. First corinthians 9. Notice verses 13 through 14. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar? So also the lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. So what Paul was talking about here is exactly what's happening here. Aaron and his sons were the priests, and the Lord is because they don't have everything that everyone else has. The Lord is providing for them through the people. This is how Aaron, his sons and his daughters. This is how they ate. We will move on to part three. Unlike the other tribes of Israel, aaron and his sons would get no land inheritance. We see this in verses 20 through 24. Then the Lord said to Aaron you shall have no inheritance in their land, nor own any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of israel and the sons of levi. Behold, I have given all the tithe in israel for inheritance in return for their service, which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting, and the sons of israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, lest they bear sin and die. Only the levite shall perform the service of the tent of meeting and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations and among the sons of Israel. They shall have no inheritance For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord. I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore, I have said concerning them they shall have no inheritance among the sons of israel, as we mentioned, the levites were not getting a land inheritance, but they would inherit cities. Hold your finger right here and go to your right a few chapters and go to numbers 35. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Numbers 35 notice verse 7. All the cities which you shall give to the levites shall be 48 cities, together with their pastor lands. Pastor lands, I should say so. No, they did not inherit land, but they did inherit cities.
Speaker 1:Now we move on to part four. Aaron and the priests were given an offering, but they were to give an offering to the Lord out of the offering they received. We see this in verses 25 through 32. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them when you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of a tithe, or in other words a tenth of a tenth. So the Levites, excuse me, were getting their tithe from the people and then they were supposed to give a tithe out of that back to the Lord, and your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the dressing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. You notice where they were getting it from the grain and the wine. So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel and from it you shall give the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts, you shall present every offering, shall give the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts, you shall present every offering due to the Lord from all, the best of them, the sacred part from them, and you shall say to them when you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the wine vat, and you may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting and you shall bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, lest you die. So we see here that this is how, as I mentioned a little earlier, this is how Aaron and his sons ate. This is actually how all the Levites ate. This was the thing.
Speaker 1:The Levites, their duty, was to be always taking care of the house of the Lord. Remember, in previous chapters we talked about the oil that they had to put in the lamps and the Lord said that the oil, that the fire of the lamps, was not to die out. This was a 24-7 job, 24-7, 365 or however many days they had back in their time, but in our time it would be 365, 24 hours a day. There was always Levites on duty at the temple. The lamps never went out. That was the whole point. They kept oil in these lamps. So there has to be men on duty to make sure these things take place, also, the things that were made in the temple. This is what the Levites were doing. So, while the other 11 tribes were out hunting and gardening and shepherding, doing doing whatever else it is they were doing, the Levites were not. The Levites were attending to the Lord's business. That included Aaron and his sons. So we see that this is why they were actually given a tithe. They were given a tithe because they actually were not allowed to work.
Speaker 1:Now, unfortunately, in the 21st century that we're in now, and even back in the 20th century. There are a lot of men, evil, corrupt men some of them I mentioned at the beginning of this broadcast who have taken this and they have put their selves in this place. They have put themselves in the seat of Aaron and his sons and the Levites. These men are not Levites, these men are. These men are heretics and they are charlatans and what they have done is they have convinced people that this is for them. Well, you know, uh, we are equal to Aaron and his sons, so we're kind of like the modern day Levites. So you know, we are supposed to get a tide of a tide, and this, that and the other.
Speaker 1:Now let say this again. I have said this before and I will repeat it again. Don't get it, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that a man who actually takes time to break down the scriptures, a pastor who was in a building, that it takes money to run the building. I am not at all saying that you don't give.
Speaker 1:I have said several times if you attend a church, you should give to the church, you should provide the resources. It takes electricity to run the church, it takes gas to keep the heat on and, you know to keep you warm in the wintertime the electricity provides air. In the summer it keeps the lights on year round. The water has to run. Unless your church is on, is on a well. You know a ground with a well, you have to pay the water bill because it takes water to run the church some churches have, they have car ministries where they have a van and they go pick up seniors and they go pick up kids and bring them to church. All of those things take money the insurance, the people who take care of the lawn.
Speaker 1:So don't get it. Don't don't misunderstand what I'm saying. It takes money to run and I'm not saying that you shouldn't give and I'm not saying that once a man is in ministry full time, that you that you should not give, you should not give him something. But what I am saying is is that these men are not supposed to have a lifestyle like the knucklehead whose clip I played earlier. Talking about you know where's my watch that I asked last year for my birthday? That's not what the tide was supposed to be for. The tide was given to Aaron and his sons and Levites. This is how they ate. It wasn't for them to go out and buy new robes, to go out and buy a new a juror in a throne, or new jewelry to put on their robes. It was for them to eat and have their livelihood because, like everyone else, they have to eat as well. So that's really what it really was more for.
Speaker 1:Okay, I kind of went on a rant. Some of you have been rolling with me for a while. You know how I feel about people taking advantage of other people. All right, that brings us to the end of numbers, chapter 18. I hope that you got something out of this lesson and you enjoyed it, as always. As always, ask, continue to pray for me that I stand strong and steadfast in the scriptures, that we get through the entire book, and I am doing the same for you as well. I appreciate you all a great deal. That is all for now, until next time, god bless.
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