[Numbers 4] Are You Willing to Go All the Way Out? In Numbers 4, God instructs the Levites in how to break down the camp and move with the cloud of glory when it journeys on. The meanings of the names of the families tasked with this process speak to us about what it takes to be PREPARED to MOVE ON with God. Many times, God makes changes in our lives we are not ready for. If we aren’t adequately prepared, we can find ourselves clinging to our traditions and to old alliances, thereby missing out on the things we have asked God for years to allow us to be a part of. In this chapter we will see in the journeying preparations of the Ark of the Covenant truths about moving on with God when it is time.
[Num 4:1-49 KJV] 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers, 3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. 4 This [shall be] the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, [about] the most holy things: 5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the Ark of testimony with it: 6 And shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over [it] a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. 7 And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: 8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: 10 And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put [it] upon a bar. 11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: 12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put [them] in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put [them] on a bar: 13 And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: 14 And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, [even] the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it. 15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear [it]: but they shall not touch [any] holy thing, lest they die. These [things are] the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. 16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest [pertaineth] the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, [and] the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein [is], in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: 19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: 20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die. 21 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 22 Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families; 23 From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. 24 This [is] the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens: 25 And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers’ skins that [is] above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 26 And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which [is] by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. 27 At the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens. 28 This [is] the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge [shall be] under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 29 As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them after their families, by the house of their fathers; 30 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. 31 And this [is] the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof, 32 And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. 33 This [is] the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 34 And Moses and Aaron and the chief of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites after their families, and after the house of their fathers, 35 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation: 36 And those that were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. 37 These [were] they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, which Moses and Aaron did number according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 38 And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon, throughout their families, and by the house of their fathers, 39 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation, 40 Even those that were numbered of them, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty. 41 These [are] they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron did number according to the commandment of the LORD. 42 And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, 43 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation, 44 Even those that were numbered of them after their families, were three thousand and two hundred. 45 These [be] those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 46 All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chief of Israel numbered, after their families, and after the house of their fathers, 47 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation, 48 Even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore. 49 According to the commandment of the LORD they were numbered by the hand of Moses, every one according to his service, and according to his burden: thus were they numbered of him, as the LORD commanded Moses.
In this chapter, God gives Moses greater detail of the service of the tabernacle performed by the families of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The specific tasks were appointed for those between the age of 30 and 50. The Hebrew peoples believed, according to Jewish scholarship, that before 30, a man had not reached the peak of his strength and that after 50, one’s strength began to wane.
This chapter is all about what took place when the pillar of God’s glory lifted up and moved away from the encampment. The people were to follow, and the first thing to do was to breakdown the tabernacle and properly stow the sacred artifacts because no one could move without the Levites going on ahead carrying the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the other tribes in their proper arrangement. The tribe of Judah could not say, “we are going on ahead now – you catch up when you can.” The entire encampment could only wait watching the cloud of glory move away while the Levites busied themselves preparing the Ark and the other artifacts of the tabernacle, including the tent and the pillars, poles, and sockets for travel.
It must have been frustrating for the people at times because when the cloud moved, they were no longer shielded from the heat of the sun. When the pillar of fire moved, they were no longer warmed against the cold desert night. There are several ways of looking at this from a revelatory perspective. From one viewpoint, the Levites represent the whole of the church, and the remainder of the tribes represent humanity. Until the church moves, nothing will change for the world. If the church gets separated from the glory of God, the world suffers. The most helpful and loving thing you can do for the whole of humanity and the earth is to keep moving on with God. The Lord told Abraham that through him, “all the nations of the earth would be blessed” (Gen. 12:2). When you falter in your service to Jesus, your high priest, the world falls into disarray. When you are moving with the cloud of Glory on God’s timetable and God’s agenda, the world is blessed and benefitted as well as you are. It should give us pause, therefore, before we blame unbelievers for the ills of the world. Unbelief doesn’t move until God’s faithful servants move. When He comes, it will not be because the cup of unbelief is full. He will come because, in His coming, He desires and expects to find faith in the earth.
[Luk 18:8 KJV] 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Imagine a Levite faltering in his responsibility, suffering from the heat because the cloud has moved on – the Levite shakes his fist at the tribes around him, blaming them for how hot it’s getting! It isn’t the fault of the other tribes; it is HIS responsibility, and by extrapolation, OUR responsibility to move on with God because we as well are kings and priests unto God! If you move on with God, things will change. If you move on with God, you and all the world around you will experience the fact that the SKY ISN’T FALLING the KINGDOM is COMING!
Before the three families of Levites could come in and pack the tabernacle up, Aaron and his sons first came and covered the Ark of the covenant, the lampstand, the table of showbread, etc., each with a blue cloth. Where does the covering come from? Aaron is a type of Jesus. Only Jesus is the HIGH PRIEST, we are priests unto God, but He is a priest unto men and unto us. Aaron, as a type of Christ, provided the coverage needed when it came time to move. In Christian culture, we tend to look to man for the coverage that only Christ can provide. We know instinctively we need alignment and covering, but we falter through unbelief, choosing the limited, insufficient religious covering of man rather than the approbation and affirmation that only comes from God.
[Jhn 5:44 KJV] 44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that [cometh] from God only?
The only value of human relationships, including the alignments that take place in the body of Christ, are as they facilitate connection to Christ within, not man without.
[Jhn 2:24-25 KJV] 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all [men], 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
You can also see that when we are on the move, when you are in a time of shift, your relationship to the holy things of God changes. You want to have every move properly covered, but it doesn’t come from man; it comes from Jesus himself. Jesus is your covering. Blue is the color of heavenly things. The blue dye was also used to make the incense that represented prayer. Have you heard of a “prayer covering”? The first prayer covering is the prayer covering of the intercession of Christ, as Heb. 7:25 tells us. Have you ever asked Jesus to cover you in prayer? I’ve never heard of such a thing, but the metaphor here in Numbers 4 is in agreement with the New Testament. Jesus lives to intercede for you. If someone walked up and told you, “I’m going to devote my whole life to praying for you…” what would be your response? If you knew this person could get prayers answered, would you make an effort to let your request be made known? I think it’s time to ask Jesus to pray some things over our lives if indeed we believe He does, in fact, pray and does, in fact, get His prayers answered!
The Gershonites were to prepare the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle for travel. The name Gershon means “refugee or exile.” It comes from a root word meaning “to divorce.” A divorce is the breaking of a covenant. We are born in covenant to the world and to Satan. The coverings the Gershonites bore were the outer layer of the tabernacle. This speaks to us of the starting place of entering into the outer court and moving toward an inner court experience. There must be a divorce. We cannot teach the gospel as an enhancement to life. We cannot teach Jesus as a condiment or additive to add spice to a life lived of your own choosing or the gospel as simply an antidote for the consequences of personal choices that are our own and no one else’s. There must be a divorce when you come to Christ. A turning away from the self-life and the autonomy of the self. We surrender self-consciousness and self-aggrandizement for God’s consciousness and taking on the role of servant sons. In John 5:19, Jesus said, “I do only what I see My Father do…” Your life is not your own; you are bought with a price, and the certificate of that price paid is a total divorce and renunciation of the self-life.
The Merarites were tasked with the custody and transport of the beams, pillars, sockets, and staves that the curtains and coverings were hung on. They constituted the barrier between the sacred precincts of the outer court and the profane or common territory outside of the tabernacle. Remember, you are the tabernacle of God. The tabernacle is a template of the Holy City John saw. Here is what John said by the Holy Ghost regarding what was within and what was without the Holy Place:
[Rev 22:14-15 KJV] 14 Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Merari means “bitter.” That is the standard of remembrance that keeps the partition between us and the past life. Kitty and I made hardcore decisions to be in the place we are at before God. In the beginning, when things were so incredibly difficult, we were strengthened in the knowledge that no matter how challenging it is to find God’s purposes in the outer court experience – we had tasted of the bitterness that was on the other side of things (in the world), and we had no intention of going back.
The Kohathites were responsible for transporting the artifacts such as the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the Altar of Incense, the Table of Shewbread, and the Lampstand.
The Kohathites then were directly responsible for the Ark of God’s Glory and the Mercy Seat thereon. This was the most sacred artifact in the tabernacle. Everything else in the tabernacle was NOTHING without this one item of divine furniture and the Glory of God that rested continually between the Cherubim fashioned thereon. The descendants of the Kohathites are known by the modern name “Cohen.” It is interesting that they are the ONLY descendants of Abraham who have ANY IDEA or scant indication that they are even of Israel. They are the only family in Israel who has an identifiable genealogical connection to the ancient Hebrew people. Every other Jewish connection is merely but ancient and religious culture and wishful thinking. None but the Cohen line can even suggest that they are of what tribe or ANY tribe for that matter. The Kohathites’ connection with the Ark of the Covenant secured their bloodline stronger than any other down to the modern-day.
Whatever “Kohath” speaks to us by definition does so by implication of the Glory of God in our lives that Col. 1:26 says is WITHIN US. The word Kohath means “Aligned, Assembled or Allied.” I ask you – where are your allegiances? Are you following the anointing, or are you setting boundaries “this far – no further.” My father pastored a church that it was revealed that the deacons were organized crime figures, part of the Syndicate. There came a day that they put their foot down and demanded my father as pastor make compromises that violated his integrity. The church, while Dad was there, had grown from less than 20 people to well over a 100, most of who came to know Christ being born again under his ministry. Dad refused to compromise and left – ultimately being led by God to establish a congregation a year later in the same town. The congregation, however, that he led to Christ refused to follow the anointing rather aligning themselves and maintained allegiance to the building, the familiar setting they had attended church in for some time, and it mattered not to them that the church was a front for drugs and prostitution – an Assembly of God church in a prominent southern city.
Where are your allegiances? Are you following the anointing? God asked me once, “are you willing to go OUT – all the WAY OUT if need be to follow where I would lead you? Are you willing to go so far that others do not even consider you a Christian and cast your name out with dispersions against your testimony, all because you obeyed My voice?” I answered “Yes,” and his ominous reply was, “We will test that theory…” We have learned to follow the cloud of God’s glory in life, and though there was a cost that still is extracted upon us daily at some levels the reward of obedience makes it worth it all.
