Num 1:53, "But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony." 
	After a very extensive introduction, we now begin our consideration of the Book of Numbers with great anticipation and excitement for what the Lord will reveal. As we formerly considered the number of the census at this beginning chapter are those of the Israelites who came out of Egypt, the parentage of those who would eventually go into the Promised Land. This census is actually the counting of those who would turn away from God and die out in the wilderness, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. Even Moses and Aaron would be prohibited from entering because of their disobedience as to the holiness of God. 
	Accordingly, as we have been using extensive quotes from Dr. Ronald B. Allen in his writing on the Book of Numbers contained in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, we need to consider the seemingly impossible numbers presented in this chapter as well as the census dealing with the numbers of the people who would enter the Promised Land as detailed in Chapter 26. 
The issue is that the number of just over 600,000 able-bodied men would have to be extrapolated to account for women and children to a population well in excess of 2 million people. While this would present no issue to God to maintain by His grace, it would make the total number of the nation so vast and so great that none of the nations in the entire known world at that time would dare attack or hinder such a mighty nation. There are so many other seemingly impossible logistical details that would accompany this vast nation on the move that this has become one of the great controversies in this Book. Consider as but one example the crossing of the Red Sea in one night by 2 million people. 
	We will again refer to Dr. Allen on this point as it seems very likely that he has a response that completely serves to honor God in these details of the numbers. He proposes quote, …the possibility that the large numbers in the census lists in the Book of Numbers are deliberately and purposefully exaggerated as a rhetorical device to bring glory to God, derision to enemies, and point forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises to the fathers that their descendents will be innumerable, as the stars. 
	It appears to me that the figure given in the two census lists for the army of Israel may possibly be a magnification by a factor of ten…It results in an army in excess of 60,000 men, with a total population of about 250,000 to 300,000. This sum seems to fit the requirements of the social, geographic, and political realities without diminishing at all the sense of the miraculous and providential care of God. An army of 60,000 is not an insignificant force, but it was likely considerably smaller than the combined armies of the city-states of Canaan at the time. In this way the peoples of Israel must have seemed to be a “swarm” as they lived in Egypt, but they were still “the smallest of nations” when ranked with the great world powers…
	Again this smaller number does not diminish the miraculous. It enhances it; for we confront now a cluster of miracles that we may embrace readily rather than shun from some sense of embarrassment, as some do! The supernatural increase of the people in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea in one night, the gathering of the people at Mount Sinai, their daily provision in the desert, their entry into the Promised Land – all was a miracle! Only the Lord could so provide for this vast number of people in this manner, and mark it well, a population of over one-quarter million is indeed vast. But now, we can envision a series of miracles that fits the geography, the topography, and the times. The “myth” of the Exodus becomes the history of redemption. 
	By deliberately magnifying these numbers by a common factor (ten, the number of the digits), the writer was able to use them as power words. That is, the ancients who were the recipients of these words knew what we may forget, that numbers can be used for purposes other than merely reporting a given datum…we should possibly regard these sums as a deliberate exaggeration by the factor of ten, a rhetorical device used to give praise to God and hope to His people. End quote.  
    	Let us now consider the place that the Levites had in the heart of God as they were not part of the numbering of the men for war. They were kept separated out from the military forces because they were the ones who would take care of the holy things of God, the tent of the tabernacle and all the elements that were associated with the worship and the presence of God in the midst of the people. 
	If you will recall, from our reading in Exodus, specifically Ex 32:25-29, the Levites were the ones who rallied around Moses after he returned from receiving the Ten Commandments. The people were worshipping the golden calf and displaying all the harlotry of a pagan nation rather than holding true to the Living Lord God Almighty Who had delivered them from Egypt. This was the record of the tribe that responded to the call of Moses for those who would take a stand for Yahweh in the midst of the defilement. It was the Levites who gathered to Moses and to the testimony of the Lord. 
Ex 32:25-29, if you would please turn to it. Ex 32:25-19, Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control — for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies — then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.'" So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said, "Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord — for every man has been against his son and against his brother — in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today." 
    	As a result of their faithfulness to the Lord, God chose the tribe of Levi as His own servants within the nation of Israel. They were set aside for the place of dealing with those elements which were holy and sanctified unto God. Accordingly, they were given the privilege to carry and to care for the precious essentials of the tent of meeting and the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. The rest of the nation was prohibited from handling these holy devices in any manner whatsoever. 
God even had the Levites encamped completely around the tabernacle of the testimony so that none other among the people could wander there and be struck down in their unholiness before the Lord God Almighty. The tribe of Levi honored the Lord in their obedience and their dedication to Him and He honored them with the portion of His glory in their service unto God and unto the people.
	As we will read in chapter three, the Levites were set aside to serve as the functionaries to the priests as into the Lord. Num 3:5-9, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. And they shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. "They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. 
The tribe of Levi was to be honored among the people for the service they rendered to God and to man. They would do all the work required to maintain and to keep all the tools and the tent and the articles necessary to fulfill the required ceremonial details and stipulations of God’s ordination. 
    	They were the ones who physically packed up and carried and then set up the Tent of meeting. They were the ones who cleaned everything that was used in full accordance with God’s stipulated requirements. They were the ones to launder the priest’s clothing and to do all the necessary work that would honor God in the reverent handling of all the holy articles that had been made in complete accordance with God’s plans. This was not an easy task by any measure and it took the entire tribe of Levi to accomplish what was required. Accordingly, they were to be given the honor from the people commiserate with the service that they rendered on the nation’s behalf.
	This was detailed, as we will read together, in Numbers Chapter 8, verses 19-22, if you would now turn to it. Num 8:19-22, And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, that there may be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary." Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites; according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them. Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. 
	The Levites served the Lord in dealing with the Tent of the Tabernacle as well as ministering in their service in the Temple in Jerusalem throughout the years preceding the enslavement and the removal of the people to Babylon. At that point the temple was closed and the Levites and the priests were enslaved or scattered for the duration of the captivity. 
When the Israelites were returning to Jerusalem, with the articles of the Temple, Ezra dealt with the Levites in the same manner as did Moses. He considered them to be holy unto the Lord as we read in Ezra 8:28-30. He entrusted all the valuables to their care for the long journey back to Jerusalem over the rough and rugged and dangerous trek home. 
Ezra 8:28-30, Then I said to them, "You are holy to the Lord, and the utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites, and the heads of the fathers' households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord." So the priests and the Levites accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God. 
    	In Neh 12:44-47, the Prophet Nehemiah detailed how the people of Judah rejoiced when the priests and the Levites were finally returned and the temple service was reestablished. It had been a long, long time that the people had not been served nor rendered honor to the Levites as they functioned to bring forth the work of the Lord unto the people of Judah. 
Please turn to Neh 12:44-47. Neh 12:44-47, On that day men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served. For they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon. For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God. And so all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers as each day required, and set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron. 
    	The Prophet, in Neh 13:10-12, also made it very clear to the officials who had remained in Jerusalem that they should have treated the Levites with the honor that the Lord had required. Even when the remnant was left with very little, they should have done everything in accordance with the command of God and given the Levites the due respect and honor that they were to receive in order for them to maintain the service of the Lord and the people in the Temple. By not doing so, the Levites had been forced to make their own living in the land and had to quit their rightful service in the Temple of the Lord. 
	Neh 13:10-12, I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 
	The honor of the Lord requires the honor of those who serve the Lord in being the means by which the people are brought all the elements of worship as before the most holy Lord God Almighty. In the day of the Tent of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the Levites were the chosen instruments to make certain that all was accomplished as to the required ministry of the Lord. 
Today, in our midst, there those members of the fellowship who have given themselves to serve all of us in whatever way would please the Lord. We all need to hold those who serve with distinction in our hearts and with thanksgiving unto the Lord for His provision for such as these Beloved ones. So be it.    
	"But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Heb 4:15+16. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Amen.