Exodus: Stopped Clocks

When we encounter the Levites in the New Testament they are dry, colorless and lifeless lawyers interested only in picking apart Jesus. That was not how they began but is what they had reduced themselves to over time. Originally, they were the special forces for Moses who turned to them for punishing those in their own families who had worshiped the golden calf. For their loyalty they were given an odd inheritance. “The Levites do not get a portion among you because the Lord is their inheritance.” That might sound more like a disinheritance when you hear it at the reading of the will. “All this I give to your brothers and you get nothing but the opportunity to work for and be dependent on them. Hopefully, they have forgotten about that unfortunate incident in the wilderness when you killed 3,000 of them.”

They are sprinkled throughout the other tribes and not concentrated in one place. There is no place they can call their own but they are salt and light. As one person has said “God set up a candle in every room of his house.” They were to be living  examples of a holy life for the people to see – not reclusive monks concentrated in one place with their own special interests. There was no headquarters or monastery. They lived and worked with the people they served and only spent the time necessary in Jerusalem to serve a limited term staffing the Temple before returning home. 

Even their career was limited. They began at the age of 30 but there was mandatory retirement at 50. After that, their responsibility was to assist the next generation in their work.

You would think such an arrangement made them marginal but it was just the opposite. Because they were supported by all the tribes, they had an interest in the prosperity of all of them and the economic health of the whole nation was important to them. Because they were resident in the cities of every tribe they were connected throughout the nation. They were the networks of their day or the county extension agents picking up not only news but best practices for isolated and protective tribes.

They served as judges, physicians, professional musicians, authors and librarians, architects, artists, builders and financial managers. They were the creative class and knowledge workers of the nation. 

When God relieved them of the responsibilities of owning the land and protecting the interests of a particular tribe, he enabled them to become examples not just of a holy life but a creative and productive life filled with variety and learning. They were the first examples of what Jews have become everywhere they have gone – the leaders in culture, the arts, the professions and finance. What seemed like God being unfair in depriving them of their fair share of land as an inheritance was his giving them a role they could never have played otherwise. They inherited the support of the other tribes which made them free to become those with the most interesting work all at the same time.

What happened? 

John Gardner would say they stopped renewing themselves. “It’s a puzzle why some men and women go to seed, while others remain vital to the very end of their days. I’m talking about people who - no matter how busy they seem to be - have stopped learning or trying..The famous French literary historian Charles Augustine Sainte-Beuve said, “There are some people whose clocks stopped at a certain point in their lives.””

Yes, they were relieved of the responsibility of ownership but not from their role to assist the next generation. That is not limited to helping them with their Temple duties. It means helping them to become what God intended for the Levites – to be the creative class of the nation. I think that is why God retired them when they were still vital and learning. It means becoming mentors to the next generation of a whole tribe of connected, creative and competent people.

Neither were they free from their first calling: rallying to Moses and the commandments when the people had become corrupt. That is the other side of the coin for today’s Levites - pastors and teachers. It is easy to be a comforter for people but not easy at all when the people have given themselves over to corruption and the worship of false gods and golden calves. The Levites – then and now – are still called to do the hard things that no one wants to do. 

It’s a three-fold inheritance. There is the responsibility to serve with no other inheritance by being dependent on others. The responsibility to continue to grow and then contribute to the growth of others. Finally, the responsibility to call those we serve to accountability when they have become corrupt and begun to worship other gods. Levites are never done. They never fade away. There is always a calling for them wherever they are.

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