Carrying a burden?

This is a post I wrote several years ago for my blog on MySpace.  I've long since abandoned the MySpace site, but fortunately this lives on in cyberspace and I've copied and re-posted it here.

Numbers is an interesting book. It begins with a census of Israel, numbering the people by tribe. (Each tribe represents the descendants of one of Jacob's sons.) The book of Exodus focused on Moses the prophet, and how God used him to bring Israel out of slavery in Egypt to be His chosen people. Leviticus details the laws given by God to Israel through Moses, to be carried out by the priest, Aaron, who was Moses' brother. Now we get into Numbers, which brings the entire community of Israel into the picture. So far, in chapters 1-3 we have seen the counting of each of the tribes.

A little history here: Jacob had twelve sons by his two wives Leah and Rachel, and his two concubines Bilhah and Zilpah (see Genesis 35:23-26 in the January 24 reading for a recap). Joseph, the oldest son of Jacob's favorite wife Rachel, was sold by his brothers into slavery. While in Egypt God watched over him and brought him into favor with the Pharaoh, so that Joseph literally saved Egypt from starvation during a seven-year famine. He also saved his own family, which is how the Israelites ended up in Egypt in the first place. Meanwhile, Jacob's "true" firstborn, Reuben, disgraced himself by sleeping with one of his father's concubines, and therefore was unfit to receive the blessing of the firstborn. This blessing passed to Joseph, who had always been his father's favorite son anyway. The birthright of the firstborn was to receive a double portion of the inheritance. This double portion passed to Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh are sometimes referred to as the "half-tribes", but whenever they are named separately in a list of the twelve tribes, it means that one of the other brothers has been left out.

In the first chapter of Numbers, the "twelve" tribes are listed, including Ephraim and Manasseh. This means that one of the others is left out: Levi. The reason for this census is to figure out how many men are available to serve in Israel's army. Since the Levites are dedicated to the Lord to serve in the Tabernacle, they aren't eligible to serve in the army. Therefore, they are left out of this list.

The Levites are divided into three clans, representing the three sons of Levi. There are the Gershonites (descendants of Gershon), the Merarites (descendants of Merari), and the Kohathites (descendants of Kohath). Moses and Aaron are members of the Kohathite clan. The Gershonites have the job of carrying the fabric of the tent itself. The Merarites' job is to carry the tent frame. The Kohathites, as the closest relatives of Moses and Aaron, have the job of carrying the furnishings of the Tabernacle: the Ark of the Covenant, the golden lampstand, the altar of incense, the Table of the Bread of the Presence, and the bronze altar from the outer court.

Aaron, the high priest, and his two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, are in charge of packing up the beautiful furnishings. Eleazar, the oldest and next in line for the job of high priest, then supervises the carrying of the items. It's his job to decide who carries what. The Kohathites are NEVER to enter the Holy Place, even for a moment, to look at the furnishings. They are to wait for them to be wrapped and packed by the priests, according to God's instructions. This command of God is for their own good. If they were to look at the uncovered altar of incense, or the unveiled Ark of the Covenant, they would die.

Now, regarding the furnishings: except for the lampstand, which is solid gold, they are made of wood overlaid with gold. They are wrapped according to God's command, first with beautifully colored cloth (blue, red, or purple, according to God's specifications.) Then they are covered with animal skins. So the burdens that the Kohathites are assigned to carry are very plain on the outside, and the Kohathites are never given the privilege of seeing the glorious beauty inside. They just carry the load assigned to them.

Application: Carrying a burden?

Sometimes God asks us to carry a burden that we don't understand. It may seem very heavy, and very ordinary on the surface. And it's possible that we may never, in this life, be allowed to peek inside and see the glorious beauty of that burden. We may have unanswered prayers or life situations that are simply difficult. But we can take comfort in knowing that our burdens were wrapped and packaged according to God's specifications, and assigned especially to us by our High Priest, Jesus. We must trust Him to choose what is best for His purposes, and what is best for us, too.

We don't have to carry the burden alone. None of the furnishings of the Tabernacle was designed to be carried by one person. The Ark had a pole on each side, so that four men would share the burden of carrying it. If we are carrying a burden alone, it is only because of our pride. God wants us to give others the privilege of helping to carry our burdens.

We don't have to carry the burden forever. At the time the Tabernacle was dedicated, there were 2,750 Kohathites available to help carry the furnishings. So it was not the same four men who always carried the Ark, or the altars, or the Table of the Bread of the Presence. I imagine it was considered a great privilege to carry these items for even a short time. So should we consider it a privilege to carry the burdens assigned to us for the short time we are on earth.

Finally, we must remember that God is present in the burden. Each of the Tabernacle furnishings represented an aspect of God's presence with the people. When God gives us a burden to carry, we can be confident that He is present in it, even if we can't see Him. Because we trust His character, we know that the burden will not break us down but will make us stronger. And we can look forward to that day in eternity when we finally see ALL of the glory of God that was inside those burdens we carried.