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Context No. 3035 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 3:21-26: in context

21Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites. These are the families of the Gershonites. 22Those who were counted of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, even those who were counted of them were seven thousand five hundred. 23The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward. 24Eliasaph the son of Lael shall be the prince of the fathers’ house of the Gershonites. 25The duty of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting, 26the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the court which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, and its cords for all of its service.

As the Levites are counted and assigned, the clan of the Gershonites is given its place and its charge. They camp on the west side of the tabernacle, and their duty is the fabric of it: the tabernacle coverings, the tent, the screens for the doors, the hangings of the court, and all their cords.

Each Levite clan had its assigned charge, and the Gershonites' was the cloth and cords of the tabernacle. It sounds humble, hauling and caring for coverings, curtains, and ropes, but it was a God-given, specific service, essential to the whole. Not every calling is dramatic; some are the cords-and-coverings work, keeping the ordinary things in order so that worship can happen at all. And it was assigned, not chosen. The Gershonites did not pick the glamorous task; they received their portion and did it faithfully. God's work needs those who tend the cords as much as those who offer the sacrifices.

Am I content to do the "cords and coverings" work God has assigned me, the humble but essential service, without envying a more visible task?

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