Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Pitch Their Tents - Numbers 1:47-54

Numbers 1:47-54 ESV
Levites Exempted
But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle. When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death. The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp and each man by his own standard. But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.” Thus did the people of Israel; they did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.

The twelve tribes are numbered just as they are numbered in Revelation. The Levites are not and are around the tabernacle. This may foreshadow the elders around the throne in John's vision of the throne room. The church becomes a royal priesthood to serve the King. The tribes become His people who move in the world and carry His light to the nations. The harvest becomes a multitude without number.

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