Serve the Lord with Singing

Hey, good morning, good morning, welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to look at, specifically, 1 Chronicles 6, verses 31-52. Is that right? Yeah, 53.

And we're going to be talking about the sons of Levi and narrowing it down to the sons of Aaron.

And so we're going to talk about singing and musicians and the sons of Aaron. So let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the day you have given us today.

We thank you for giving us your Word in a language we can understand and time to read it with each other.

We pray as we read that you would help us, Lord.

We can't just come to your Word and think that we have all the answers, but we come curious.

We come wanting to learn, wanting to be instructed.

So, Father, teach us your way, that we might walk in it. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Here you go. 1 Chronicles 6, beginning at verse 31.

Now, these are the men whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark came to rest.

They were ministering with music before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem.

And they served in their office according to their order.

And these are the ones who ministered with their sons.

Of the sons of the Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel,

the son of Elkanah, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, the son of Tahath,

the son of Asir, the son of Abiasaph, the son of Korah, the son of Izar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel.

And his brother Asaph, who stood at his right hand, was Asaph, the son of Barakaiah, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Michael, the son of Baseah, the son of Melkijah, the son of Ethni,

the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Ethan, the son of Zimah, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Jehath, the son of Gershon, the son of Levi.

Their brethren, the sons of Merari, on the left hand were Ethan, the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Maluk, the son of Hashabaiah, the son of Amaziah,

the son of Hilkiah, the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemur, the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi.

And their brethren, the Levites, were appointed to every kind of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

But Aaron and his sons offered sacrifices on the altar of burnt offering, on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place,

and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded.

Now these are the sons of Aaron.

Eliezer, his son, Phinehas, his son, Abishua, his son, Buki, his son, Uzi, his son, Zariah, his son, Merioth, his son, Amariah, his son, Ahitab, his son, Zadok, his son, and Ahamaz, his son.

Whew, okay, so we need to ask ourselves our three questions.

A, what is this about?

B, what's the best verse to summarize this?

And C, what are we called to do about this?

So what is this passage about?

Well, it's about the singers in the tabernacle and temple, as well, or singers in the temple.

Sorry, this is after Solomon built the temple, and after David brought the ark in.

That's what it talked about.

So this is about the singers in the tabernacle and the temple, as well as Aaron and his sons in their work.

So remember, you have this, this word was going right, you have Levi, who's the father of the tribe of Levi, the son of Israel.

So you have Jacob, he has all these sons, one of them is Levi, and this is branching off from Levi.

And so when we get all the way to the, to the Solomonic era, when he's built the temple, David's brought the ark before that, you have singers in the temple, and it's giving names for those different singers, and who they were, and what tribes they're from.

Interestingly, it mentions all three different tribes there who are singing, but specifically there are two mentioned that are, are interesting names that are well known, if you know the Psalter.

So verse 39, and his brother Asaph is one of the people who are listed there, and then of the sons of the Kohathites were Heman, the singer, and the son, and so it's Heman and Asaph that really seem like they're the main two guys that this is kind of running through behind this.

But it's all three sons of Levi who are mentioned here, so you have Merari, Kohath, and, sorry, and Gershon.

So all three of, of those are, are being shown there.

But then you get to, there's a special tribe, and that special sub-tribe is the Aaronites, right?

So this is Moses' brother, and so Moses' brother Aaron, Moses himself is a Levite, Aaron is a Levite, and so Aaron's sons are the ones who are going to be the priests.

So they're the ones who are actually making the sacrifices themselves, going into the holy place, and the holy of holies, right?

They're the ones who are actually doing that.

So it's a very small subsection of Levi who's allowed to do that.

But all the Levites are engaged in a rotational basis.

We talked about that when we went through the Torah before, but all the Levites were engaged in the tabernacle and temple service according to the work that God had prescribed for them.

So that's what this is about, are the musicians in the tabernacle according to their tribes, or according to their families, as well as the sons of Aaron and their particular service in the temple.

So what's the best verse to underline?

Well, in my Bible, I would underline verse 31 and 32.

So verse 31 and 32 get at the heart of the musicians that David appointed, as well as verse 49, with a distinction that it is Aaron and his sons that are doing the actual sacrifices themselves.

So that's what I would underline in my Bible.

You could choose for yourself what you want to underline.

What are we called to do?

Well, I think it's interesting now.

And then the New Testament, as Christians, we are commanded to offer up the sacrifice of praise.

With our lips.

We are given this huge blessing now that we get to sing the worship of God.

We get to open up and I love to sing the Psalms.

And so we actually get to pick up the songs of Asaph, the Psalms of David, even one that Solomon wrote.

And we get to sing these to God himself.

We get to offer up the sacrifice of praise.

And so it's our blessing.

It's our blessing to extol him with our mouths.

It's part of the priesthood of all believers.

This is one of our great blessings.

And so that's what I would call on you to do.

To serve the Lord with singing.

Lift up your hands.

Praise him.

He is good.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you that most of all, because of the work of Jesus Christ, we are so thankful.

We pray that we might have grace in our hearts.

And that we would make melody in our hearts to you.

Lord, as we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Lord, we pray that you would please give us your spirit to worship in spirit and truth.

And Father, we just thank you.

What a blessing that even us who are Gentiles get this blessing of getting to serve and praise you.

You are so good.

Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus, your great high priest.

One even better than Levi.

And I'll see you next time.

Bye.