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| Volume 25 Number 1 January 2023 |
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| Volume 25 Number 1 January 2023 |
Page 6 |
Gary C. Hampton
Joshua and his generation knew the Lord and witnessed the way He worked to force Pharaoh to release them. They saw His care in the wilderness. Joshua’s generation remained true to God’s will. However, they seemed to have failed to tell the next generation of the Lord’s powerful deliverance (Judges 2:7-10).
The nations Israel failed to drive out were polytheists. They had no problem worshiping the true God and their false gods at the same time. Israel was to forsake all other gods (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:10-25; 13:6-18). Israel failed, though, to see the danger. She is described as laying down to prostitute herself with false gods (Judges 2:11-13). Israel committed spiritual fornication – sinning against God, its husband (Hosea 2:2-13).
God had to punish such wickedness to remain righteous (Psalm 89:14). He delivered Israel into the hands of enemies who took the spoils of its land (Judges 2:14-15). Yet, the Almighty did not cease to love the Israelites. He sent judges to deliver them when He heard their groaning (Judges 2:16). They enjoyed the blessings of deliverance but went right back into idolatry when the judge died, which resulted in God becoming angry with them (Judges 2:17-23).
We are blessed far beyond physical Israel (Ephesians 1:3). We should make it a point to emphasize those blessings to our children (Ephesians 6:4). Teach them the will of God (2 Timothy 3:15). Help them recognize the blessings to be found in Christ. We must demonstrate the love of God in all that we do. Pray our children will follow our example and not suffer the wrath of God when He is spurned.
[Editor’s Note: Everywhere – or so it seems – the churches of Christ have become shrinking and shriveling congregations composed largely of members sporting gray hair and balding heads. The combined challenge of lax biblical teaching and examples in the home coupled with relentless universal worldly pressures have taken a horrific toll on subsequent generations of Christian families. Christians urgently need to take more seriously their responsibility to, first, wholly embrace Christianity and, secondly, to immerse their children in meaningful Christianity. The Lord’s church needs an injection of conviction and conversion, beginning in the home. ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
Give Thanks Every
Morning
and Every Evening
Aaron Cozort
When the Israelites came out of Egypt, God told them that all the firstborn belonged to Him. However, He redeemed them with the Levites who would become His special tribe.
Then the LORD said to Moses: “Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. And you shall take the Levites for Me – I am the LORD – instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.” (Numbers 3:40-41 NKJV)
To the children of Kohath, Merari and Gershon – the sons of Levi – God gave responsibilities unique to them. He also gave them inheritances of cities throughout the land of Israel. Among those responsibilities was the care of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and in Canaan. “These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari…” (Exodus 6:16). “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” [“congregation” KJV] (Numbers 3:25). “And the leader of the fathers’ house of the families of the Kohathites was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. Their duty included the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered, the screen, and all the work relating to them” (Numbers 3:30-31). “And the appointed duty of the children of Merari included the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, its utensils, all the work relating to them” (Numbers 3:36).
One of the responsibilities of the three families of Levi was the transportation of the tabernacle.
So Moses took the carts and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. Two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service; and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders. (Numbers 7:6-9)
After the Temple location was established by David and the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle were brought to Jerusalem permanently (because God chose to put His name there), there wasn’t a need to transport the Tabernacle any longer. Part of the Levite’s responsibility was removed, but perhaps also part of their glory and honor among Israel diminished, too. “For David said, ‘The Lord God of Israel has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever’; and also to the Levites, ‘They shall no longer carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service’” (1 Chronicles 23:25-26).
David presented them with a new responsibility. They were to continue their service in laboring to help the priests in new ways, but he also gave them a new commandment. “To stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord” (1 Chronicles 23:30-32).
True honor and glory were bestowed upon the Levites as they rotated through the year with a singular focus: (1) Wake up every morning and give thanks to the Lord. (2) Close every day with thanks and praise to the Lord. (3) Every special day in Israel’s calendar, thank the Lord. Every day began with thanksgiving to God in Israel. Such should be true in our lives as well.