Numbers 18:7

Later on, in Ephesians 4, Paul took this principle and applied it to the church. He said that Christ ascended to heaven, and He gave gifts unto His church, and among those gifts is the ministry. The ministry is a gift from Christ to the church to serve the people in their service of God. In the same manner, God chose the family of Aaron out from the tribe of Levi, and then gave the remainder of the tribe of Levi as a gift to Aaron so that he could carry out his responsibility by having others perform work that the priests are not going to be involved in that are necessary for the maintenance of, the transportation of, the care of, and so forth, of the tabernacle.

He is saying that the priests are a gift to Israel even as the Levites are a gift to the family of Aaron. Notice this final warning.

When the Israelites were camping in the wilderness, each side of the tabernacle had three of the tribes of Israel. Judah and two others were on the east side. I think that Ephraim and Manasseh—the tribes of Joseph—were on the west side opposite the Judahites. On the south were three other tribes, and on the north were three other tribes. The tabernacle itself was in the middle of the camp. The next time I speak we will find that one family of Levi was on the east. Do you know what that one was? That was Aaron's. The priests camped on the east side. That is where the door was.

On the south was another family of Levi. On the left was another family of Levi, and on the north was another family of Levi. We just saw what their job to do was whenever they were camped. Anybody who came near that tabernacle who was not a priest was to be put to death. It did not matter who they were. If they were not a priest, it was the responsibility of the Levites to put that person to death. Now let me give you a more modern version of that.

Paul mentions this in Ephesians 2:14 when he talks about the middle wall of partition being broken down. This is what he was talking about. He was using a wall as a symbol that separated those who were unclean from those who were clean. As far as the Israelites were concerned, the Israelites were clean, the Gentiles were unclean. Now Paul says the middle wall of partition is broken down.

Do you know that in Christ's day there was a court of the women, and no woman was allowed to go past the court of the women. Then was a court of the men—the common ordinary Israelite. No common ordinary Israelite was allowed to pass beyond the boundary of that court. Then there was the court of the priests, and only priests were allowed to go into that, and only the priests were allowed to go into the Temple itself.

I remember seeing in The Plain Truth magazine while it was being published under Herbert W. Armstrong, a sign that was in the Temple ground, because at that time the Jews had a little more influence, and there was a sign there, in modern times, that read "Any Gentile that proceeds beyond this point is going to be killed." They were following through with what they understood of what we have just read there, because to them they felt this would have taken them into the area of the Temple, even though it was not standing there, and they were going to put to death any Gentile who stepped in there. It is probably not there now because the Palestinians have gained a great deal more influence and authority over the Temple Mount. But that is what they were following through with.

In the light of what happened here, God makes very clear that He is going to hold the priests responsible, and the Levites who are with them, to guard God's dwelling place from incursions by anybody who is not qualified to step beyond the bounds that He has set.