Chapter 8 speaks of the
candlestick. [1]
The lamps were to make the light shine from it, and cause
that light to be diffused around and before it. This is
the case when that which is the vessel of the Holy Spirit
shines with the light of God. Whether it be Israel or the
church, it throws light before it. "Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is
because the profession of the Christian is clear and
unequivocal that men, seeing his good works, know to whom
to attribute them. The candlestick was of pure gold only,
beaten work; it was properly divine, and that only, God's
light in the sanctuary. The twelve loaves, connected with
what was divine, were the government of God in man; the
table was of wood, though overlaid with gold; the number
we have seen as marking divine government, but in man,
specially true of Israel, but the testimony of God in
light is purely divine.
The purification
of the Levites and their consecration to Jehovah's
service
We have next the
purification of the Levites and their consecration to the
service of Jehovah. This prefigures the consecration of
the members of the church to God for service. The Levites
were sprinkled, [2]
then shorn like the lepers, and their clothes washed, all
their manifested life purified according to the
purification of the sanctuary, their ways suited to the
service of God. After that the whole people laid their
hands upon them, and they laid theirs upon the
sacrifices. In the offerings which accompanied their
consecration there was no peace-offering, because it was
a question of service and not of communion; but the
sacrifices which represented the efficacy of the
atonement, and the devotedness unto death of the Lord
Jesus, were offered, and characterised the ground and
nature of their service. They are the double character of
the death of Christ. The meat-offering was there also
with the burnt-offering; all that constituted Christ as
an offering to God, glorifying God in death as regards
sin, bearing sins, and also in living perfection and
devotedness fully tried in the fire, were found. In the
application the sin-offering comes first.
The people's
identification with the Levites
The children of Levi
belonged to Jehovah as His redeemed, having been saved,
when He judged sin, and themselves offered as an offering
to Jehovah. The laying on of hands identified with the
victim the person who did so. If it were an offering for
sin, the offering was identified with the sinner in his
sin; if it were a burnt-offering, the offerer was
identified with the value of the consecration to God's
glory of the victim in respect of sin. Romans 15: 16 is
an allusion to this consecration of the Levites, and
considers the church as thus offered to God from among
the Gentiles. The Israelites having also laid their hands
upon the Levites, the whole people were, so to speak,
identified in this consecration with them, as an offering
made by them to Jehovah, so that the Levites represented
them before Him.
We find here again, what
we have already seen, that the Levites were given to
Aaron and his sons, as the church is given to Christ, the
true Priest and Son over the house of God, to be used in
the service of the house. They were first offered by
Israel to Jehovah for His service by Aaron the priest
(ver. 11); it was a wave-offering (tenupha); that is,
they were presented before the Lord as consecrated to
Him. Then (ver. 13) they were set before Aaron and his
sons, and so under their hand given to the Lord, wholly
given to Him instead of the firstborn (vers. 16-19). How
solemn and perfect is the offering up of the servant of
the Lord to Him, according to the purification of the
sanctuary and all the value and true character of
Christ's offering of Himself to God, and the divine
judgment of sin. [3]
Israel under the
difrect Fatherly government of God in the wilderness
The passover, the memorial
of redemption, and in consequence the symbol of the unity
[4] of the people of God, as an
assembly redeemed by Him, is obligatory during the
journey through the wilderness. [5] Only God makes a provision, in grace and
forbearance, for those who were not able to keep it
according to His will, to whom it had reference.
But these provisions of
forbearance and grace kept continually present the idea
of a redeemed people and one under the direct fatherly
government of God. Besides this we have the precious
declaration that God Himself conducted His people by His
presence. At His commandment they pitched; at His
commandment they journeyed. They kept the charge of
Jehovah, according to the commandment of Jehovah. God
grant that we, who have His Spirit, may thus be led in
all things, to stay or to go entirely under His immediate
direction! If we are near God in His communion, we shall
be guided by His eye; if not, we shall be guided by His
eternal providence, as horses, and mules, with bits and
bridles, that we may not stumble.
[1] The introduction
of this type at this place shews how much the order of
the types, and their introduction in such or such a
place, refers to the things typified and to their moral
order.
[2] The leper was
washed, not merely sprinkled. He was outside the camp,
wholly unclean before God. It was cleansing, not
consecration; he had been, before the washing, brought
under the blood-sprinkling—the full abiding efficacy
of Christ's work in itself. Then he was washed with
water, cleansed personally in the power of the Spirit and
word, according to that water that came out of Christ's
side. His clothes or outward demeanour were even cleansed
too, and all that could harbour defilement removed. Here
it was the consecration of those who, in an ordinary
sense were clean and within. The sprinkling was a sign
calling to remembrance consecration according to Christ's
death, what was fit for the sanctuary, bringing them into
that conscious separation to God's service; and so their
clothes, their outward demeanour, were washed. It was all
of the same nature—the water—but with the leper
it was the body of sin destroyed, cleansing from it so as
not to serve it. Here it was consecration too.
[3] They served from
25 to 50, the first five years a kind of noviciate, as
after 50 they ministered, but were not charged with the
service.
[4] In Israel this
unity was simply that of a people redeemed together to
the enjoyment of a common portion, not a body as the
church.
[5] Yet those who had only wilderness
character were not in a condition to keep it. None born
there were circumcised till they came to Gilgal across
the Jordan.
Numbers 9 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
The pure golden candlestick and its light
Chapter 8 speaks of the candlestick. [1] The lamps were to make the light shine from it, and cause that light to be diffused around and before it. This is the case when that which is the vessel of the Holy Spirit shines with the light of God. Whether it be Israel or the church, it throws light before it. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is because the profession of the Christian is clear and unequivocal that men, seeing his good works, know to whom to attribute them. The candlestick was of pure gold only, beaten work; it was properly divine, and that only, God's light in the sanctuary. The twelve loaves, connected with what was divine, were the government of God in man; the table was of wood, though overlaid with gold; the number we have seen as marking divine government, but in man, specially true of Israel, but the testimony of God in light is purely divine.
The purification of the Levites and their consecration to Jehovah's service
We have next the purification of the Levites and their consecration to the service of Jehovah. This prefigures the consecration of the members of the church to God for service. The Levites were sprinkled, [2] then shorn like the lepers, and their clothes washed, all their manifested life purified according to the purification of the sanctuary, their ways suited to the service of God. After that the whole people laid their hands upon them, and they laid theirs upon the sacrifices. In the offerings which accompanied their consecration there was no peace-offering, because it was a question of service and not of communion; but the sacrifices which represented the efficacy of the atonement, and the devotedness unto death of the Lord Jesus, were offered, and characterised the ground and nature of their service. They are the double character of the death of Christ. The meat-offering was there also with the burnt-offering; all that constituted Christ as an offering to God, glorifying God in death as regards sin, bearing sins, and also in living perfection and devotedness fully tried in the fire, were found. In the application the sin-offering comes first.
The people's identification with the Levites
The children of Levi belonged to Jehovah as His redeemed, having been saved, when He judged sin, and themselves offered as an offering to Jehovah. The laying on of hands identified with the victim the person who did so. If it were an offering for sin, the offering was identified with the sinner in his sin; if it were a burnt-offering, the offerer was identified with the value of the consecration to God's glory of the victim in respect of sin. Romans 15: 16 is an allusion to this consecration of the Levites, and considers the church as thus offered to God from among the Gentiles. The Israelites having also laid their hands upon the Levites, the whole people were, so to speak, identified in this consecration with them, as an offering made by them to Jehovah, so that the Levites represented them before Him.
We find here again, what we have already seen, that the Levites were given to Aaron and his sons, as the church is given to Christ, the true Priest and Son over the house of God, to be used in the service of the house. They were first offered by Israel to Jehovah for His service by Aaron the priest (ver. 11); it was a wave-offering (tenupha); that is, they were presented before the Lord as consecrated to Him. Then (ver. 13) they were set before Aaron and his sons, and so under their hand given to the Lord, wholly given to Him instead of the firstborn (vers. 16-19). How solemn and perfect is the offering up of the servant of the Lord to Him, according to the purification of the sanctuary and all the value and true character of Christ's offering of Himself to God, and the divine judgment of sin. [3]
Israel under the difrect Fatherly government of God in the wilderness
The passover, the memorial of redemption, and in consequence the symbol of the unity [4] of the people of God, as an assembly redeemed by Him, is obligatory during the journey through the wilderness. [5] Only God makes a provision, in grace and forbearance, for those who were not able to keep it according to His will, to whom it had reference.
But these provisions of forbearance and grace kept continually present the idea of a redeemed people and one under the direct fatherly government of God. Besides this we have the precious declaration that God Himself conducted His people by His presence. At His commandment they pitched; at His commandment they journeyed. They kept the charge of Jehovah, according to the commandment of Jehovah. God grant that we, who have His Spirit, may thus be led in all things, to stay or to go entirely under His immediate direction! If we are near God in His communion, we shall be guided by His eye; if not, we shall be guided by His eternal providence, as horses, and mules, with bits and bridles, that we may not stumble.
[1] The introduction of this type at this place shews how much the order of the types, and their introduction in such or such a place, refers to the things typified and to their moral order.
[2] The leper was washed, not merely sprinkled. He was outside the camp, wholly unclean before God. It was cleansing, not consecration; he had been, before the washing, brought under the blood-sprinkling—the full abiding efficacy of Christ's work in itself. Then he was washed with water, cleansed personally in the power of the Spirit and word, according to that water that came out of Christ's side. His clothes or outward demeanour were even cleansed too, and all that could harbour defilement removed. Here it was the consecration of those who, in an ordinary sense were clean and within. The sprinkling was a sign calling to remembrance consecration according to Christ's death, what was fit for the sanctuary, bringing them into that conscious separation to God's service; and so their clothes, their outward demeanour, were washed. It was all of the same nature—the water—but with the leper it was the body of sin destroyed, cleansing from it so as not to serve it. Here it was consecration too.
[3] They served from 25 to 50, the first five years a kind of noviciate, as after 50 they ministered, but were not charged with the service.
[4] In Israel this unity was simply that of a people redeemed together to the enjoyment of a common portion, not a body as the church.
[5] Yet those who had only wilderness character were not in a condition to keep it. None born there were circumcised till they came to Gilgal across the Jordan.