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The Israelite Camp
the Levites shall stand guard around the Tabernacle of the Pact
Numbers 1:53b (Tanakh)
[Dissertation: Protecting the Tabernacle and Covenant (Numbers 1:53b (Tanakh))]
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The twelve tribes are as follows: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh. Notice the absence from the census of the Levites, as well as their function on setting up camp:
47 The Levites, however, were not recorded among them by their ancestral tribe. 48 For the LORD had spoken to Moses, saying: 49 Do not on any account enroll the tribe of Levi or take a census of them with the Israelites. 50 You shall put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Pact, all its furnishings, and everything that pertains to it: they shall carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it; and they shall camp around the Tabernacle. 51 When the Tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death. 52 The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each man with his division and each under his standard. 53 The Levites, however, shall camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, that wrath may not strike the Israelite community; the Levites shall stand guard around the Tabernacle of the Pact. (Numbers 1:47-53 (Tanakh))
The Tabernacle is the dwelling place of the Lord God:
8 And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. 9 Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it. (Exodus 25:8-9 (Tanakh))
The Tabernacle is God's existential dwelling place amongst His people. It is a real place, not some abstract concept or future reality - though it does contain the promise of a permanent future reality in the Promised Land.
Having said that, at the psychological level God's mobile home addresses the people's need for a place, and God's presence wherever they may travel. They need a place where God can be with them and close at hand. Later, God's mobile home here on Earth will give way to a fixed abode in Zion. The problem then becomes the loss of God's presence when they go out into the world on His behalf. Likewise, those not living in Zion will be deprived of the benefit of God's close presence - a psychological and practical disadvantage. For lots of reasons, it isn't possible for everyone to go and live in Jerusalem! But look at what happens to Jerusalem with the shift of worship to the Spiritual Level!
5 I looked up, and I saw a man holding a measuring line. 6 “Where are you going?" I asked. “To measure Jerusalem," he replied, “to see how long and wide it is to be.” 7 But the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him. 8 The former said to him, “Run to that young man and tell him:
“Jerusalem shall be peopled as a city without walls, so many shall be the men and cattle it contains. 9 And I Myself—declares the LORD—will be a wall of fire all around it, and I will be a glory inside it." (Zechariah 2:5-9 (Tanakh))
Understanding Zion at the Spiritual Level, means that those who are away from the Sanctuary, travelling perhaps, still have access to it.
Nevertheless, there is still an either/or situation regarding God's dwelling place. God's dwelling place is either mobile, or it is fixed in place in Jerusalem.
David's Tent provides an early fix for the mobility/immobility problem. It predates the building of Solomon's Temple.
1 He had houses made for himself in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the Ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David gave orders that none but the Levites were to carry the Ark of God, for the LORD had chosen them to carry the Ark of the LORD and to minister to Him forever. 3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of the LORD to its place, which he had prepared for it. (1 Chronicles 15:1-3 (Tanakh))
1 They brought in the Ark of God and set it up inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they sacrificed burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before God. 2 When David finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. 3 And he distributed to every person in Israel—man and woman alike—to each a loaf of bread,a cake made in a pan, and a raisin cake. 4 He appointed Levites to minister before the Ark of the LORD, to invoke, to praise, and to extol the LORD God of Israel: (1 Chronicles 16:1-4 (Tanakh))
The tent which David erected in Jerusalem as a home for the Ark of the Presence, was, at one and the same time, static, but capable of being moved at the Lord's direction. This tent containing the Mosaic Ark of the Covenant, is called David's Tent. It is static, but can be moved as required by the Lord God.
[Dissertation: David's Fallen Tent.]
[Assignment: Confirm the layout of the Israelite Camp.]
What is the significance of the layout of the Israelite Camp, and can it be mapped to the New Jerusalem?
The walls of the New Jerusalem
[Assignment: Verify the layout of the walls of the New Jerusalem, as shown in the above schematic.]
There is no temple within the walls of the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God and Jesus are its Temple:
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22 NIV)
Of particular interest is the absence of the Levitical Priests from the New Jerusalem. Following their defilement of the Covenant and their rejection of Jesus, the office of Levitical Priest was demoted to the ranks, together with the Levitical Servitors, who supported them. Thus they will bear their shame. The precedent is set by the Zadok Amendment to the Covenant. As for their guard duties, they are replaced by an honour guard of angels (compare to Ge. 3:24):
[12] It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. (Revelation 21:12 NIV)
The angels at the gates of the New Jerusalem may be mapped back to Jerusalem at the Spiritual Level. Watchmen [Priests in the Order of Melchizedek] will stand upon the walls around Jerusalem::
6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen,
Who shall never be silent
By day or by night.
O you, the LORD's remembrancers,
Take no rest
7 And give no rest to Him,
Until He establish Jerusalem
And make her renowned on earth. (Isaiah 62:6-7 (Tanakh))
Since the Covenant is unenforcable at the Physical Level, this links directly with Jerusalem at the Spiritual Level:
5 I looked up, and I saw a man holding a measuring line. 6 “Where are you going?" I asked. “To measure Jerusalem," he replied, “to see how long and wide it is to be.” 7 But the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him. 8 The former said to him, “Run to that young man and tell him:
“Jerusalem shall be peopled as a city without walls, so many shall be the men and cattle it contains. 9 And I Myself—declares the LORD—will be a wall of fire all around it, and I will be a glory inside it. (Zechariah 2:5-9 (Tanakh))
The Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek is an everlasting priesthood, with Jesus as its Great High Priest.
And the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek is commemorated for eternity in the two Olive Trees which stand on either side of the Temple in Heaven - or, to change the metaphor, the Cypress and the Myrtle.
The two Olive Trees:
1 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. 2 He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." 4 I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
...
11 Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" 12 And a second time I said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which pour out the oil through the two golden pipes?" 13 He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." 14 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth." (Zechariah 4:1-5,11-14 NRSV)
The Cypress and the Myrtle:
13 Instead of the brier, a cypress shall rise;
Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.
These shall stand as a testimony to the LORD,
As an everlasting sign that shall not perish. (Isaiah 55:13 (Tanakh))
Physically, the original Temple stands in the Heavenly Realm, and may be approached by those exiting the New Jerusalem through the ever-open gates. But equally, at the Spiritual Level, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple within the New Jerusalem.
[Dissertation: The Temple.]
Having verified the layout of the twelve tribes and the walls of the New Jerusalem, it is now possible to overlay the layout of the twelve tribes with the walls of the New Jerusalem:
The placement of the 12 tribes overlaid by the walls of the New-Jerusalem.
The unity of the twelve tribes is shown by their collective inscription on each of the gates in the New Jerusalem:
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. (Revelation 21:12-13 NIV)
[Assignment: Verify and discuss the overlay.]
Paul wishes his life away:
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:6-8 NIV)
Paul writes to the Philippians:
[23] I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; [24] but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (Philippians 1:23-24 NIV)
[Essay: Wishing one's life away.]
[Essay: Dwelling with the Lord God in Zion.]
The person who is truly committed to the Covenant is a person who is dwelling with the Lord at His Place here on Earth. Although, in this life, we may never ever visit Jerusalem, we can still make it our home, and can dwell at the Spiritual Level with the Lord in Zion. Recall that when we make Jerusalem our home within the Covenant Framework, our names are entered in the Register of Zion in the Book of Life:
The Lord will write in the register of the peoples [the Book of Life]: "This one was born in Zion." (Psalm 87:6 NIV)
[Assignment: The central placement of Jerusalem among the nations.]
[Assignment: The placement of the tribes in the original nomadic Israelite Camp.]
[Assignment: The function of the tribes as standing in the gates of the New Jerusalem as illustrated in the 'overlay' above.]
[Assignment: Dwelling with the Trinity in Zion in this life increases potentiation which, in turn, will increase the yield of fruit.]
[Assignment: The Register of Zion captures the spirit of David's Tent and, at the same time, that of a fixed home.]
[Assignment: The support offered by the Register of Zion.]
[Assignment: The association of the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek with God's original Temple in the Heavenly Realm, confers an everlasting degree of authority never given to the office of the Levitical Priesthood.]
[Assignment: Life in and around the New Jerusalem.]
