From the giving of the law till the building of Solomon's temple, a space of about 500 years, the Lord at no time "dwelt in any house, but walked in a tent and in a tabernacle" (2 Samuel 7:6). The sanctuary was a moving tent, and one principal part of the business of the Levites, the most honourable function assigned to them, was the carriage of it from place to place. Moses, who regulated so exactly the order of all the tribes, both for the march and the encampment, did not omit to appoint to every division of the Levites its duty in relation to the tabernacle and its holy furniture - what each was to carry, and in what order they were to pitch their tents. In this chapter of detailed regulations, special interest attaches to the law laid down regarding THE LEVITES' PERIOD OF SERVICE in carrying the tabernacle. It was from thirty years old till fifty (verses 3, 23, 30). This must be taken along with Numbers 8:24, where the age for entering on service is fixed at twenty-five. The explanation of the seeming discrepancy, no doubt, is that the first five years were a kind of apprenticeship. Certain other sorts of work about the tabernacle the Levites might do between twenty-five and thirty, and these they might continue to do, so far as their strength served, long after fifty; but except between thirty and fifty they might not bear the tabernacle and its vessels. When David gave to the ark a permanent abode at Jerusalem, and the service of the Levites was readjusted accordingly, the age for entering on duty was lowered to twenty, and at that point it thereafter stood (see 1 Chronicles 23:27; Ezra 3:8). The principle underlying the law was still the same. The service of God, especially in its most sacred parts, requires and deserves the best of Our years, our strength, our affections. His soul desires the first ripe fruit. There are three errors men are apt to fall into in this matter of service; I refer more especially to official service.

1. Some enter on it too young. No hard and fast line can be drawn for all men and every service. One kind of service demands greater maturity than another, and one man ripens earlier than another. But the rule here prescribed to the Levites is a good one for the average of cases. To speak only of the Christian ministry: few men under twenty-five are ripe for it, and places of special trust would require a man of thirty. Undue baste is neither reverent nor safe. The first sermon of our blessed Lord was not preached till "he began to be about thirty years of age" (Luke 3:23); a touching and most suggestive example.

2. Some delay entering fill they are too old. This is most frequently seen in unofficial service. Many men, not destitute of piety, think it incumbent on them to give their prime so entirely to "business" that they have no time for anything else. Church work, home mission work, charity services, participation in these they look forward to as the employment of their leisure, after they shall have retired from business. That, at the best, is giving to the Lord not the first-fruits, but the gleanings. It will be found that, as a rule, it is not these tardy labourers whom God honours to be most useful. He honours those rather (thank God, they are many, and increasing in number) who consecrate to him a fair proportion of their strength when they are at their prime.

3. Some do not know when if is time for them to resign. The Levites' period of active service, whether it began at thirty, or twenty-five, or twenty, always ended at fifty. Not that the law thrust them out of the sanctuary when their term expired; that would have been cruelty to men who loved the service. They might still frequent the sanctuary, and perform occasional offices (see Numbers 8:26). But after fifty they ceased to be on the regular staff. Here too the rule has to be applied to the Christian Church with discrimination. For services which are characteristically mental and spiritual, a man's prime certainly does not cease at fifty. Nevertheless, the principle at the root of the rule is of undying validity and importance. The Levites' maintenance did not cease at fifty; and any Church system which does not make such provision as enables its ministers to retire when their strength fails is unscriptural and defective. On the other part, it is the duty and will be the wisdom of the Church's servants to seek retirement when they are no longer able to minister to the Lord with fresh vigour. - B.

There are few chapters which will so amply repay patient study as this. It might be styled the directory for the pilgrim priest, and therefore it is of great importance to us who wish to retain our priestly purity in the midst of the wilderness of this earthly life. The first verse tells us that it is addressed to Moses the lawgiver, and to Aaron the priest. We therefore at once expect to find here a linking of duties and privileges. If you want to know what was the great duty of the pilgrim priest, it was to carry the tabernacle throughout the wilderness, so that wherever the children of Israel pitched they might have a meeting-place where they might commune with God. And so this great work in which we are engaged may be summed up in these words, To carry Christ with us throughout this wilderness; and as the Levite's motto might be, To me to live is the tabernacle: so to me to live is Christ, to carry Christ where'er I go. Some of us may be entrusted with what the world considers the more important service — with the holy vessels; others may have the heavier burden, or the little vexatious duties, but they are all for this great purpose, that the children of Israel may constantly hold communion with their God. Nay, mark you, more: not only does the great High Priest appoint each of us to service and burdens — both passive burdens and active service — but in the case of Merari there was to be a special inventory of everything entrusted to their care, so that they might not consider for one single moment that their part of the work was of less importance. The 16th verse brings before us not so much the responsibility as the privilege. To the office of Eleazar the priest pertain these four things — the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the daily meat-offering, and the anointing oil. As Christian men and women, are they not, spiritually speaking, just the four things you need now in your daily life?

1. The first is this: "To the office of Eleazar the priest pertaineth oil for light." We recognise that God has made us the lights of the world. He bids us shine forth to the glory of God. He has given to us that high dignity. But, alas! too often our lights are going out; they do not shine as brightly as they ought. It seems as though we were hiding our light under the bushel of business or the bed of sloth, instead of putting it on a candlestick that it might give light to others. Call to your Eleazar Priest; ask Him to give of His oil; ask Him to take away sin, and to give you the oil of His Holy Spirit, for it is to the office of Eleazar the priest that pertaineth the oil for the light.

2. The second thing pertaining to his office was the sweet incense. You remember the use of the sweet incense. Whilst the children of Israel were praying in the outer court, the priest went into the holy place, and took with him the incense, laid it upon the altar, and, as the prayers ascended from the people outside, the incense ascended from the priest inside. Now, have you not ofttimes felt the necessity of that sweet incense? O Thou Eleazar Priest, do Thou purify my prayers with Thine own sweet incense, so that God may listen to my cry, and forgive the evil of my prayer: purge out the unclean selfishness of my prayer, that it may ascend up to my Father in heaven. Thank God, to His office it pertains to provide that sweet incense. You have not to provide the incense.

3. Thirdly, to his office pertaineth the daily meat-offering. You remember what that was. Every morning the children of Israel were obliged to bring a lamb for the burnt-offering, and the same every evening; but as soon as the lamb was offered upon the altar, the daily meat-offering had to be added representing the pure and spotless character of Christ. Now, in the same way, you and I have to bring the daily burnt-offering to God. Every morning you ought to say: Here I present myself to Thee, O God, to be a holy, living sacrifice unto Thee, which is but my reasonable service. Every day you ought to bring your daily burnt-offering, and put it upon the altar, and then, when you have thus dedicated yourself to God, and consecrated yourself to His service, have you not often felt — I come and offer myself to God, but what a poor offering it is! And when I consecrate myself upon the altar, how I need that which shall make my burnt-offering acceptable to God! And morning by morning God accepts you in the Beloved — not for what you are in yourself, but for what He is. What can I do for God, I am so weak and feeble? If I put myself upon God's altar, can He use me for His service? Yes, He can; because to the office of Eleazar the priest pertaineth the meat-offering, and He will make acceptable your burnt-offering.

4. One thing more: I have prayed Him co give me oil for the light. I have come to Him, and I have acknowledged that even in my prayers there is a good deal of self that cannot be acceptable to God except perfumed by the merits of my Saviour; and although I have put myself upon the altar to be used as He will, I recognise that in myself dwelleth no good thing, that I want the daily meat-offering to atone for my burnt-offering. Now, what do I want? I want power — power to serve God: I want that my life may be an influence for good. I want to be a man full of power, by the Spirit of God. To the office of Eleazar the priest pertaineth the anointing with oil, and that oil goes down to the very skirts of his garments, even to the very humblest believer. I heard only yesterday of a young girl in a house of business, only sixteen years of age, whose confirmation time was a time of grand decision for God. She went back to that house of business, where the principals were practically atheists; but I was told yesterday that that young girl, whose life had been anointed with the holy anointing oil, had such power in that business that the principal and his wife have both been converted. The principal is now a lay preacher in the Church of England, and the lady of the business holds a large Bible-class for those in houses of business; one of them traces back the blessing to the quiet, holy influence of that little girl, the power of the Holy One resting upon her. Oh, that I might thus be filled with power, have the anointing oil upon me. Is not that what you want in the midst of this wilderness journey, in the midst of all the trials and temptations of daily life?

(E. A. Stuart, M. A.)