Numbers 1:1-4:49

Preparation for Camp

Who or what is the center of my life? The Sunday School answer is “Jesus”. But what is the main focus of My time, My thoughts, My energy, My actions? Around what/whom does my life revolve? God organized the Israelites around the Tent of Meeting/Tabernacle. God is literally in their midst. He is the center of everything. The presence of God was to be the heart of everything the Israelites did. If they were to be successful, God needed to be at the center. If we are to be successful spiritually and eternally, God needs to be at the center of our lives. Our lives are to be oriented around God! Is my ENTIRE life camped around the presence of God?

God commanded Moses to count every male 20 years or older. God had promised them the Land of Canaan but Canaan was already inhabited. The Israelites would have to conquer and defeat these people. The census counted 603,550 men. The Levites had a different task and were not included in the census count. How did the count occur? The men cue up and their names were written down. Every name was recorded and counted. How mind boggling is that? As a believer, my name is written in the BOOK OF LIFE.

This is a picture of how our lives are to be oriented around God. The arrangement of the camp is about who is in the center of the camp/our lives.

1. God is the God of order – there is no randomness.
2. God is wise. Without God’s direction, there would have been utter chaos in the Israelite camp. God knows our human nature. Everyone would have been jockeying for position, or whining about why they had a particular task to do. Think of our church potlucks – even there, people push and shove to get in line first.
3. God is compassionate. Without God, the anxiety and fear of moving all the time for the Israelites would have been unbearable. God has removed all that by giving them an assigned spot. They knew where they belonged and they knew their neighbors.
4. God is relational. He wants a relationship with His people. Everything in the camp – everything – Focused on – Revolved around – Was oriented toward God.

The Levites were given specific duties by God. Aaron and his family were to be the priests. The other Levites were to do the work in the Tabernacle

The Kohathites carried all the things that were inside the Tabernacle (lamp stands, Ark of the Covenant etc.)

The Gershonites carried the curtains.

The Merarites carried the frames of the structure. God has a work for each of the Levites. Each Levite was to do the specific work God had assigned to them.

God has a work for each individual to do for Him.

We read nowhere in the Bible that the Levites said “No” to God. They did not question their assignment. There was no whining of being assigned one task rather than another; there was no discussion of not being worthy to do a particular task.

How about you? Do you question your assignment?