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Context No. 2133 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 4:34-41: in context

34Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 35from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting. 36Those who were counted of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty. 37These are those who were counted of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses. 38Those who were counted of the sons of Gershon, by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 39from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting, 40even those who were counted of them, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were two thousand six hundred thirty. 41These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD.

As Israel organizes the service of the tabernacle, the Levites are counted for their work, and a particular range is specified: from thirty years old to fifty, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. The Kohathites, the Gershonites, each family is numbered within this span. The active service of carrying and tending the tabernacle was given to a defined season of life, the years of full strength, from thirty to fifty, a limited window in which they gave their vigor to the work of God.

The detail that the Levites served from thirty to fifty marks a defined season of active service, the years of their prime strength given to God's work. Their time of full vigor was not unlimited; it was a defined window, and it was in that window that they were called to give themselves to the demanding work of the sanctuary. The season of strength was a season for service, to be used while it lasted, for it would pass. This holds a quiet reminder about the season of strength each of us is given. Our years of full vigor, of health and energy and capacity, are a defined season; they do not last forever. And they are given, in part, to be spent in the service of God and others while we have them. Like the Levites, we have a window of strength, and it is a time to give our vigor to God's work, not to squander it, for the season passes and the strength fades. Remember your Creator, the Preacher urges, in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come; the season of strength is the time to give ourselves to God, before it passes. This calls us to use our season of strength well. It is easy to assume our vigor will last, to put off giving ourselves to God's work to some later time, to spend our years of strength on lesser things. But the season is defined and passing, as the Levites' service years were defined. The time to give our strength to God's service is now, while we have it, not in some indefinite future when the strength may be gone. As we have opportunity, Paul says, let us do good; and the opportunity of our season of strength is not unlimited. This is not to say that only the strong can serve, or that those past their prime have nothing to give; God uses every season. But it is to say that the season of vigor we now have is a gift to be used for God while it lasts, not squandered or endlessly deferred. The Levites gave their years of strength to the service of the tabernacle; and we too are called to give the season of vigor we have to the work of God, using it well while it lasts rather than assuming it will always be there, that we might spend our strength in his service before the season passes.

Do I assume my season of strength and vigor will always last, putting off giving myself to God's work to some indefinite later time, or spending my prime years on lesser things, and can the Levites, whose active service was given to a defined season from thirty to fifty, remind me that my years of strength are a defined and passing gift, calling me to give the vigor I now have to the service of God while it lasts, before the season passes?

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