We have here -

I. THE SPECIAL SERVICE WHICH THE LEVITES RENDERED TO ISRAEL. This was four-fold.

1. Assisting at the service of sacrifice. They were "to set forward the work of the house of the Lord" (ver. 4); "their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord," etc. (vers. 28, 29); "to offer [i.e. to help at the offering of] all burnt sacrifices," etc. (vers. 31, 32).

2. Rendering the service of praise. "Four thousand of them praised the Lord," etc. (ver. 5). These were to stand every morning and evening to thank and praise the Lord (ver. 30).

3. Administration of civic business and pacification: "officers and judges" (ver. 4).

4. Guardianship of the gates; preserving from profanation, and so from Divine displeasure: "porters," i.e. gatekeepers (ver. 5).

II. THE CHANGES WHICH OCCUR IN THE FORM OF SERVICE. Even under the same dispensation occasional changes occurred of the way in which God was served. An instance and indication of this is found here. The Levites had no more need to carry the tabernacle from place to place; they thus laid down one of their most solemn and important functions (vers. 25, 26). They were also henceforth to be numbered from twenty (instead of thirty) years of age (vers. 27, 28). And, further, they entered now on the service of instrumental music, systematically arranged (vers. 5, 30). If such minor changes occurred in the same era of religions history, how much greater changes in the order of service might we expect to find when one dispensation gave place to another, when the Law was lost in the gospel? Such we do find. We look, therefore, at -

III. OUR CORRESPONDING SERVICE UNDER CHRIST.

1. In the matter of sacrifice, the Levites cannot properly be said to have any successors; for, the one all-sufficient atonement having been offered, there is no sacrifice to be presented, and, there being no officiating priest and no altar "in Christ Jesus," there is needed no ministering Levite. Only that we are all to be priests and Levites in that we are all to present "spiritual sacrifices" of prayer and praise, and of "doing good and communicating," continually unto him. However, there are humbler services to be rendered, needful work to be done, "for the service of the house of the Lord" (ver. 24); and in this useful and worthy ministry, those who take their part cheerfully and do their work faithfully are "approved of him."

2. In the matter of praise, the Levites find their successors in

(1) those who teach and lead in the service of song in the Christian sanctuary;

(2) all who join in and thus encourage others in that service. And they who do their best to perfect the praises of God - understanding by that not only attaining to the perfect scientific form of service, but reaching the moral and spiritual ideal of a service in which the music of the instrument and of the voice is subordinated to the melody of the heart (Ephesians 5:19), - these render an invaluable ministry to the Church of Christ.

3. In respect of administration (officers and judges), as ecclesiastical law has given place to civil law, this function of Jehovah's servants has passed into other hands; yet perhaps they who are peacemakers between their fellows and help to decide disputes between brethren may be said to be the "judges" of the present time.

4. As to guardianship of the gates, with the open throne of grace and access at all times to all men, there is little room for us to perpetuate this work of the Levite. But we can, and should, take great pains to preserve the spirit of reverence and pure devotion in the hearts of all who come to worship Christ. - C.

I. THE OBJECT OF MUSIC. "To praise therewith" well expresses the attitude of the Bible towards music. Plutarch says: "The chiefest and sublimest end of music is the graceful return of our thanks to the gods." In these words the wisdom of the Bible representation is vindicated. A worthy conception of God is the only thing which can give the true inspiration of music, and keep it pure and noble through all its strains. Thus music and religion ought never to be divorced.

II. SOME OF THE FEATURES OF THE REVELATION OF GOD WHICH THE BIBLE GIVES, AND SEE HOW THEY AGREE WITH THE BEST FEATURES OF MUSICAL LIFE AND GROWTH.

1. The Bible reveals God to man, and man to himself; it opens up depths of meaning which ordinary life cannot sound; it calls man the son of God; it bases itself upon the love of God, which passeth knowledge; it speaks of things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. If we allow music any rights of its own, they must be based upon its claim to give expression which is beyond the power of words, and to utter conceptions which thought cannot formulate. It has the power to take them out of the surroundings even of the deepest thoughts, to lift their aspirations where nothing else can go, to carry them into the presence of a power of harmony and order more fundamental than the skill of the hand or the logic of the mind can represent.

2. Then there is the universality of religion. It is meant for all men: there are all grades and kinds of reception of it. The gospel of Christ is for all men; it has truths for the simple, and doctrines for the wise; it meets all nations of men, each according to its nature and its needs. So music in one way or another affects the simplest and the most cultured, appeals to the joyful and to the sorrowing, defies lines of nationality and of language, and is appropriated by all according to the needs of each.

3. The object of religion is harmony — harmony between heaven and earth, between man and man, harmony in the life of the individual, with its varying experiences. The power of man to appreciate harmony finds a response in the growing resources of the musical art; and the yearnings of man for a better existence, where life shall not clash with death, joy with sorrow, and love with hate, finds an answer in a revelation which destroys death, comforts sorrow, and makes love seen everywhere. There could be no better expression for heaven, aa the place where such a revelation finds its completion, than as the place of music.

(Arthur Brooks, D. D.)