Gershonites

Hey, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it from Numbers, Deuteronomy, through the book of Hebrews. So Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews this year. Let's have some coffee and we'll pray and get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to get to read your word. What a joy it is to get to hear from you. Lord, we pray that you would help us to read your word this morning and that we would understand what it says, but also that your Holy Spirit would apply it to our hearts. In Jesus's name, Amen. All right, so we are at Numbers chapter three, beginning at verse 14. We're going to read through verse 26. So here we go.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, Number the children of Levi by their father's houses, by their families. You shall number every male from a month old and above. Now this is interesting, right? In previous senses, it was all the fighting men, but not the Levites here. Now this is from one month old up. So Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord.
As he was commanded, these were the sons of Levi by their names, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. So Levi had three sons. So Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families. Libni and Shimei, the son of Kohath by their families. Amram, Izehar, Hebron and Uzziel, and the sons of Marari by their families, Mali and Mushi.
These are the families of the Levites by their father's houses. All right, so we've gone from Levi and his three sons. So they're going to be kind of like three camps of the Levites. And then we're going to have the sons after that. Let's get into the first of those three sons, the Gershon.
From Gershon came the family of the Libanites and the family of the Shemites. These were the families of the Gershonites. Those who were numbered according to the number of all the males from a month old and above, of those who were numbered were 7,500. The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward. and the leader of the father's house of the Gershonites was Eliaseth, the son of Lael. The duties of the children of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting included the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, the screen for the door of the court, the hangings of the court, which are around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, according to all the work relating to them." So you have just over 7,000 Gershonites. What is this about? So A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So A, what is this about?
God has commanded Moses to number the Levites now, and Levi has three sons, and so he's He's numbering all of them from one month old and above. Not all of them are going to be ready for service yet, but the point is that's how God wants them numbered. So there's going to go through those three families.
So first is the Gershonites. Now each family in Levi has a job to do. And so what's the job of the Gershonites? The job of the Gershonites is to take care of all the tapestry, like this tabernacle is like a giant tent. And so they're the ones who are going to take care of the tapestry, and they're going to take care of all the cords and all that type of stuff, right? They're in charge of the skins. That's their job. That's their thing. That's what God puts them in charge of. There's 7,500.
And interestingly, it also tells us where they're to camp, right? So you had the different tribes of Israel all around the tabernacle. Now, right at the tabernacle, you have on the westward side, on the backside of the tabernacle, That's where the Gershonites are going to camp. Even these three families in Levi have a specific place to be while they camp. So that's the Gershonites.
What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, that's a tough one. I would probably say verse 21, from Gershon came the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shemites, who were the family, these were the family of the Gershonites. But that doesn't really get at what they were supposed to do, does it? So I would, to do that, you would have to underline verse 23, verse 24, verse 25, verse 26. So I have a whole bunch of little things underlined rather than one verse. Maybe verse 24, or 21, sorry, was the best one.
What family are we talking about? We're talking about the Gershonites, that's 7,500 sons of Levi. So what does this call us to do? Well, the Gershwinites had a great privilege. Not everybody got to handle the tabernacle. And that's their job. They get to camp close to the tabernacle. They get to camp right next to it, on the backside, right? And they get to carry all the tent stuff. They don't have to go to war. Instead, they get the job of being able to do that.
Now, why I'm bringing that up is for a moment, we're gonna find out later on in the story, not everybody's content with their place in the kingdom of God, but it's the Lord who orders it. I've met a whole bunch of people who become discontent that they want to do something else. It's outside of their gifting and outside of where the Lord's put them. And so one of the things we have to wrestle with in our heart is, hold on, am I being a faithful steward of what God has given me to do?
Instead of covening what other people's jobs are, covening, right? The Gershonites could covet the Kohathites, and the Kohathites could covet the sons of Aaron, right? And they could all covet each other's work. And of course, the sons of Issachar could be really mad, because they're all the way out there.
They're not allowed to camp right next to the tabernacle. Or do each one of us recognize our station in life? And are we thankful that the Lord has called us at all, especially we who are Gentiles? We have no right. to come anywhere near this tabernacle. And yet, our Lord Jesus Christ has us go to the tabernacle, which is not made by human hands, but which is in heaven. And he tells us to enter into the tabernacle, not just carry the stuff, but to bring our lives as a living sacrifice and to come to him and pray. What a blessing. It's quite a joy. Do we thank Him for that? And are we faithful with what He's entrusted for us to do?
Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much that You have given us any work to do. Lord, we would rather be those who just keep the doors of Your house than to go keep company with the wicked. And so, Father, we pray that You would please help us. Help us, Lord, to Be filled with joy at the fact that you would even take notice of us. Thank you that you have numbered us in your book of life where we believe in your son. We pray in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.