Today's reading has a lot of name and technical details. Read the first six verses, then skip down to verse 24 and read to the end of chapter 23. The rest consists of each father and his family being given each task.
Thought to Guide Your Reading
Notice how important worship is taken.Summary in 100 Words or Less
David, now an old man, transitioned power to Solomon. David called all of the Levite men thirty and older for assignment in service to God: worship in the sanctuary, officials and judges, security, and musicians.Since Israel was at peace in their own land, the Levites no longer needed to carry the Tabernacle. They could fully dedicate themselves to God's House. They became in charge of everything related to worship.
When the individual tasks were given out, all men were treated equally: young, old, teacher, student. Each task was chosen by lot.
How Today’s Reading Contributes to the Gospel: God is Setting All Things Right
David wants to set everything right for his son before he takes over.
David knows his life will end soon. In a nice gesture, he wants to make sure everything is set for Solomon to transition easily. Help leaders of the next generation begin their jobs with ease.Israel takes worshiping God seriously.
The Levites were chosen by God to be Israel's priests. David wants to make sure worship is done properly and done well. So he takes the 38,000 men and sorts them into every aspect of worship. Even the music of worship has an orchestra of 4,000 people. These were not Toms, Dicks, or Harrys asked to pick out a few songs ten minutes before worship began. They were masters at their art commissioned to perform before Israel and God. Worship of God should be done with foresight and led by those who have mastered their art, not last minute frantic searches for who's here.Each job in worship was chosen based on chance, not according to age.
"The families of the oldest and youngest brothers were treated the same" (24:31, The Message). Even the musicians were chosen by chance.They were well-trained in the sacred music, all of them masters. There were 288 of them. They drew names at random to see who would do what. Nobody, whether young or old, teacher or student, was given preference or advantage over another. (25:7-8)If we had this type of delegation in churches today much of the culture wars would be mitigated. Notice, though, they did not ask the security guards come and play music. Each was a master at their own task. Each person should be included in worship as they are gifted—then chosen by chance to do what they are gifted to do.
Do you purposefully arrange worship?
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