The tribe of Levi, thousands in number, were set apart by God specifically for full time service in the temple. In terms of practicality and efficiency for the whole nation of Israel, this does not make sense. That’s about 8%~9% of “unproductive” population, who are themselves consumers, and add to that, are key people in the sacrifice of animals and produce. Hahaha! I just love it how God’s ways are so strange compared to man’s understanding. In spite of this, or I believe, it is because of this “setup” the nation of Israel was blessed. It shows trust and dependence on God’s goodness. And it allows God to prove it that yes, He is good!

Each group/family in the tribe had their specific assignment. To me it looks similar to how the Church has different parts and how the Holy Spirit gives us different gifts in order to fulfill our part.

One particular assignment that struck me was “guarding” the temple. I understand that the temple is central to the life of the Israelites, and that it also contains some monetarily valuable items. It should be guarded from theives, robbers, desecrators, etc. But what do we know about the temple so far? That with one wrong move, even those who are ministering are struck dead in an instant. So maybe they are not really guarding the temple from people (God, of course, is more than capable of defending himself), but are guarding (protecting) people from the temple. Which is an analogy of what Jesus eventually did for us. Jesus made sure that we, as imperfect beings, will be acceptable to the Holy God. That we are able to enter His presence and not face fire.

It’s amazing how the Bible pieces together like that.

Didn’t ride the train yesterday. No train time, no quiet time? It shouldn’t be the case. But at least now I’m sure, I have another two years’ worth of train time – quiet time. : )

Look to God in your spiritual journey. Look intently, expectantly, attentively. There will be people who, intentionally or not, will look at you with contempt. Some will mock or scorn, some publicly, some privately.

Now that you know that this is just part of human nature – it was true in the psalmist’s time, it is still true today – you can refocus your anxiety. Look to the Master. He is just and merciful, He knows what is best. He is able to guide you and give you strength. If you abide in Him, He will bring about from you “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22, 23 ESV).

Keep your eyes focused on God.

Children who obey their parents in the Lord will receive a special blessing. I believe one blessing is the growth of their faith even at a young age. They learn early on that trusting God produces a faith that is strong – as they have more chances to experience God’s faithfulness.

How does a parent bring up a child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, without provoking them to anger? Nobody, especially children, likes to be disciplined. The key, I think, is love. You can’t get angry at someone who you know genuinely loves and cares for you. I want to have that kind of relationship with my son.

King Hezekiah, Nooooo…

What just happened? He was just given a new lease in life, and the sun (and all thing in the universe related to it) just moved in reverse for Hezekiah. Then he makes this move of showcasing everything in the kingdom to these envoys sent by the king of Babylon. Isaiah confronts him, then prophesies one of the hardest times in Israel’s history. Hezekiah says to this “it is good”, thinking “anyway it’s not going to be my problem”.

?!?

I… I don’t understand God’s people. Yes, even myself. The Bible is full of stories of men who have spiritual highs then immediately followed by spiritual lows. What strange, strange creations we are.

I learned about the following insight before and it has always amazed me. Did the Israelites have an idea why all the specifics about the consensus, the formation of the tribes, why the raising of banners was necessary? Probably not. Again, we might not understand, we might not see God’s plan, but He has one. Obey, and be a blessing.

I’ll just paste this here:

From spiritandtruth.org

Using the populations given for the four camps, the ratios of their relative sizes would have been: Judah (1.0); Reuben (0.81); Ephraim (0.58); and Dan (0.85). Assuming the Levites encamped in a square and a uniform width for each camp extending strictly outward in the four cardinal directions, the view from above, as Balaam saw it (Num. 23:9) may have resembled a cross:

Camp of Israel

This assumes a uniform width for each camp—which cannot be known with certainty. If the boundary between each camp was taken to be on a diagonal (e.g., northwest, northeast, etc.) then the formation of the camp would have not been that of a cross. Even so, this does not adversely affect our main point—that the camp of Israel is a shadow of the heavenly throne.