…And this tribe of Levi is to serve the Lord as his chosen possession. “The Levites are mine; I am the Lord,” he says in v. 45. So the Levites served at the whim of the Lord. So, while all the other tribes could go out and plant their fields and raise their livestock, the Levites had to camp around the tent of meeting and carry out all their tasks related to the tent of meeting, as God described in verses 14-39, which we’ll discuss in a minute. But we first need to understand that Levi was obligated to serve the Lord in this way because they were redeemed by God, and he paid the redemption price.
Now, in the new covenant, all believers in the new covenant have been redeemed by the Lord.
1 Peter 1:18-19 …knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
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2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
So, since we have been redeemed not with perishable things like silver and gold, that the Levites were redeemed with, but rather the very blood of Christ, we are now put into service like the Levites. We are not free to live our own lives. We serve the Lord at his discretion. This doesn’t mean that he won’t allow us to build a house, or farm land, and carry out the other normal practices of live, but that we serve him at his command, we are his. So the opening and closing verses of this chapter give us the framework for this redemption, because the Lord takes full possession over those whom he has redeemed.
If we are in Christ, then Christ died for us, and has redeemed us. Therefore, we are God’s possession, to live for him. When God saves us, by the Father’s will, the Son’s work, and the Spirit’s application, he saves us unto service, for we become God’s own possession…
