Go Team!

Numbers 4 

Have you ever been on a team for some sport? Now, obviously there are some that are really good on the team and they may carry the team but the point of a team is that everyone is working together. That is a team. There is a statement that I heard that goes, “There is no ‘I’ in team.” This is very true. Teamwork is important to win, you need everyone. I know I have had a hard time working with other people on a team. Sometimes I was not patient with them or frustrated but I always needed to remind myself we are a team and we need to work together.

In this chapter we see that the Levites were a team when it came to the tabernacle. Each tribe of Israel was broken up into clans. Each tribe of Israel had several clans within it. This was so that it was easier to keep track of 2 million people. God told Moses and Aaron that certain clans from the tribe of Levi will need to help when it came to moving the tabernacle.

Clans work

We read a break down of the different clans and their jobs. Aaron and his sons were required to cover all the holy items within the tabernacle. They needed to cover the ark, the altar, the table, the lamp stands. This was so that people could carry it would not be consumed because they were carrying holy items. Aaron was told to take a census of each clan of the Levites between the ages of 30 to 50. A male Levite was to start his apprenticeship by the age of 25. Here he would help serve in the priestly duties that go on in the tabernacle. The carrying of the tabernacle was only done by those of the ages 30 to 50 because it was a very important task and a novice could not start carrying something so important. Both cases of service in the temple and moving it would end at age 50, that is when they would retire. 

The clan of Kohath had a very important job. They were to carry the holy objects when Israel would move to the next part in their wilderness journey. They are the only clan mentioned in this chapter that God wanted Moses and Aaron to not let be destroyed due to carrying the holy things (4:17-20). The Gershonites would be responsible in carrying the curtains and the screen and tent itself to the new locations. The sons of Merari were responsible for carrying the frame of the tabernacle.  These clans were responsible for this part. Aaron’s son Eleazar was responsible for carrying the oil and the incense and the anointing oil. Each clan was responsible for the carrying of some part of the tabernacle. Even though the frame was not as nice looking as the holy items, they were needed just as bad. Each one needed to take their service with dignity and seriousness.

We are a Team 

Just like the Levites were a team when it came to carrying the tabernacle we are a team as the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4 we read about how we as Christians make up one body. Just like our physical bodies have hands, fingers, toes, eyes, nose, etc. we make up one huge spiritual body. Some will serve as pastors, some will serve as teachers, or administrators; while others will serve as greeters, and encouragers. We all have gifts which we need to work together with each other. 1st Corinthians 12: 14 tells us that the body is not made up of one part but many. Read the next few verses after that and you see how important each member of Christ is to the whole. 

Next time you think about maybe complaining about your Christian service, think about how each job is important and without it we cannot function as the body of the church. Do you realize that you can be used by the Lord? Are you a dead member of the body, meaning do you not help out? There are many people that receive from the church but not as many that help out as a body. May we desire to not only work together but accomplish the greater goal of sharing Christ to this world!