We just read yesterday of how David was disciplined by God for counting his warriors with pride—but in this case, David is counting with the right motivation of the heart!  He is counting how many Levites are still living among them so that he can reestablish their anointed service to God for the Tent of Meeting that has been set up in Jerusalem until the Temple can be built later by Solomon. This is another part of the prep work David is doing for Solomon, his successor.

David is passionately leading Israel to return to all of God’s Law that includes specific directions for worship of God. Daivd counts the Levites in order to place them back into positions of worship, sacrifice, and maintenance as written in the original Law of “Levitical practices” so to speak.  This time, David’s counting had nothing to do with his pride but everything to do with the worship of God!  David wanted to get it right with orderly worship that pleases God according to His Word.

The purpose here had nothing to do with kingly pride and everything to do with preparing the people to function as a worshiping community of God Alone—the first commandment given to them by Moses!  “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Read and observe how David “does the math” to reorganize the Levites, putting them back into their designated positions of service, called of God, which began with Aaron!  God appointed Aaron and his descendants to forever serve him as his priests as the ones anointed and chosen to offer sacrifices for the sins of His people. 

1 Chronicles 23

The Levites

When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

² He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. ³ The Levites thirty years old or more were counted, and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴ David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges. ⁵ Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”

⁶ David separated the Levites into divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

Gershonites

⁷ Belonging to the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.

⁸ The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the first, Zetham and Joel—three in all.

⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran—three in all.

These were the heads of the families of Ladan.

¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Ziza, Jeush and Beriah. These were the sons of Shimei—four in all. ¹¹ Jahath was the first and Ziza the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; so they were counted as one family with one assignment.

Kohathites

¹² The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel—four in all.

¹³ The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever. ¹⁴ The sons of Moses the man of God were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵ The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶ The descendants of Gershom: Shubael was the first. ¹⁷ The descendants of Eliezer: Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.

¹⁸ The sons of Izhar: Shelomith was the first. ¹⁹ The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰ The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first and Ishiah the second.

Merarites

²¹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.  ²² Eleazar died without having sons: he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them. ²³ The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth—three in all.

²⁴ These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families as they were registered under their names and counted individually, that is, the workers twenty years old or more who served in the temple of the Lord. ²⁵ For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever, ²⁶ the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.” ²⁷ According to the last instructions of David, the Levites were counted from those twenty years old or more.

²⁸ The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God. ²⁹ They were in charge of the bread set out on the table, the special flour for the grain offerings, the thin loaves made without yeast, the baking and the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size. ³⁰ They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening ³¹ and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals. They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.

³² And so the Levites carried out their responsibilities for the tent of meeting, for the Holy Place and, under their relatives the descendants of Aaron, for the service of the temple of the Lord.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

No more moving around!  How the Levites functioned as priests would change but their purpose would not.  The main functions of the Levites, which dates back to the Exodus, had always revolved around the care and transport of a moveable place of worship, the tabernacle—The Tent of Meeting. The tent and everything in it had specific directions from God for tear down and set up—like a church plant that rents a multi-use building and must do the same set up/tear down!  Reverence for the tools of God in the worship of God was/is mandatory to help us remember why we do what we do—worship God only! 

Sometimes we have observed traditional, long-established churches with more permanent buildings, who do not have to set up/tear down each Sunday, lose sight of the reverence we should have for God’s house. We take for granted the people who lovingly serve and take care of God’s instruments for worship. Sometimes, in the hurried efforts to come to church; we can even lose our hearts’ desires with only the worship of God alone on our minds!

David desire is to follow God’s Law.  The Levites duties, however, would become more residential, since the temple would later replace the tabernacle tent as the place that reminded the people of God’s Presence. We must always remember, particularly if we have been involved in the construction of a beautiful church building, that God “does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). God is never contained in a building, though He may choose to display His presence in powerful ways at times (see Exodus 40:34–38). 

We are the Temple that our living and active God desires to dwell within daily! The Apostle Paul explains this miracle of God’s Holy Spirit living in us; “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)  At the moment of believing, repenting of sin, and accepting Jesus who died and rose again as the one and only Savior who forgives and sets us free; God’s Holy Spirit enters into our being with His power, wisdom, and strength. He fills our hearts with His Love, renews our minds with His way of thinking, refreshes our souls with His tender mercies, and continues to daily restore the joy of our relationship—He in us and we in Him—reconciled and reconnected!  He is the Vine; We are the branches.  We love Him because He first loved us. We serve because of this Love for our Father.

Because God’s Spirit dwells within each one of us who believe Jesus; we carry God’s Holy Presence with us wherever they go.  “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:21

Pause in prayer to reflect with God’s Holy Spirit who leads us to Truth. 

How am I treating God’s Temple, my body, as a holy space for Him to dwell? 

How graciously do I invite His Holy Presence to come and lead me each day?

Am I listening for God or telling Him what to do?  Forgive me, Lord.

Is God a part of me or the whole of me?

Lord,

I pray the psalm of David to you with a grateful, willing heart—

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:10-12

In Jesus Name, Amen