Responsibility of Being Set Apart

    After the dedication is when the people that had been set apart kind of took over.  They had to take responsibility for the people from that point.  It began with the lamps.  God's holy lamps were never to go out.  They had to refill the holy oil in them every 12 hours.  That meant that they had to wake up during the night to take care of God's property.  Being set apart can make things uncomfortable.  If a person could not do that, then they can't be responsible for the spiritual welfare of the community.

    The Levites had to stay ceremonially clean at all times.  They never knew when people would need them.  It is kind of like the essential workers of today.  The people looked to them for security and direction.  They were supposed to know what to do and live at a higher standard.  

    The Levites kept their bodies shaved and their clothes clean.  That way they were always presentable before God.  They would do firstborn sacrifices.  That means they would sacrifice something to represent the firstborn and redemption.  They would work the arduous hours in the temple from the ages 25-50.  

    During that time, they physically lived separated from the people so not to be distracted or influenced. People are always influencing or being influenced.  People have a pack mentality, even if you are an introvert we gravitate toward people.  God designed us to need each other, but Satan likes to twist what God made perfect into something bad.  We have to stay in a close relationship with God not to be influenced by what is wrong with the world.

Numbers 8