The Lives Without Record

Thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi. The Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.” — Noum. i. 49, 53.

4 HOU shalt not number the tribe of Levi.”

Here was apparently a neglected set of men — a class overlooked in the enrolment of the people. They were to be uncounted, discounted. A spectator would have said they were a specimen of those unfit for survival. In all the work of the nation they had neither part nor lot. We read, in the parable, of the Levite passing by on the other side; but here the Levite seems to be passed by. He is left behind by the stream of the world’s activities; and, with the prophet, the beholder is disposed to say that his way is hid from the Lord and his judgment overlooked by his God. And yet the beholder would be wrong. These men have

not been overlooked, have not been shunted from the race of life. If they are left behind by the stream it is because there is a special duty to do which can only be done by those who are left behind. That special duty is to wait and watch. The Levites are to “keep charge of the tabernacle” — to see that no harm comes to the ark and what it contains. It seems a poor service when contrasted with the work of the numbered. In reality it was the greatest service of all. If anything had befallen the tabernacle, Israel would have collapsed immediately. The loss of ten thousand of her soldiers would have been nothing to the puttingout of her altar fire; the one might have weakened her strength, but the other would have killed her hope. These humble watchers and guardians of the altar fire were not on the communion roll; but they were doing service without which the roll would have been dismembered. They did not build the houses nor fight the battles nor plant the vineyards; but they watched over the safety of that for whose sake all houses were built, all battles fought, all vineyards planted — the inner shrine of the sanctuary — the consecration of the hearth and home.

Thou who art unnumbered among the people, thou to whom there has been assigned no active work, there is a message here for thee. There is a service for the unnumbered — for those who only stand and wait. There are Levites as well as priests in the temple of thy Father. There are those who have been laid aside from active duty — who have no district to visit in, no church to preach in, no mission to serve in. Through sickness, through poverty, through the requirement to attend on others, they have been retained indoors — their names are not enrolled. Weep not that thou art among these! Lament not that thy life has been lived behind the scenes! It is behind the scenes that all great things are born. There is no influence like that which lights the domestic fire. I know something better than to be numbered among the people; it is to fit men for being numbered. That work may be thine. Where are men made fit for being numbered? Is it not just by the household fire, around the family altar. Within that sphere the most broken human life is often the most powerful educator. Many a patient sufferer has trained her son to be a soldier — trained him by the very sight of her patience. Many a fireside existence has taught the belief in immortality — taught it by the mere spectacle of moral beauty. Jacob has gained more by his night vigil than by his merchandise. His deeds in the exchange never touched the world; but the world has been wakened by his vision on the couch of clay. He has bloomed in his brokenness; he has conquered in his concealment; he has flourished in his frailty; he has soared in his silence; he has reigned in his repose; he has prevailed in his prostration; he has found his ladder in a lowly place. Despise not, my soul, the days that have no record!