Guarding the Sanctuary Insight from FFOZ

Guarding the Sanctuary                                                       Insight from FFOZ

"[The Levites] shall be joined with you and attend to the guarding of the Tent of Meeting..." (Numbers 18:4, Literal Translation)

It was the Levites' job to guard the Temple from intruders. But more than simply protecting the Temple's assets, the Levitical guards were to protect the Children of Israel from inadvertent trespassing. As Korah's followers discovered in Numbers 16, a step too far in the wrong direction could be fatal.

The Levitical guard was meant to insure that the common man did not make that misstep. In the Mishnah, we are told of how the captain of the Levitical guard would keep his watchmen awake at their posts by surprising them like a thief in the night. The man in charge of the Temple mount would go around to every watch post carrying lighted torches before him. When he found a watchman which was not standing at his post he would say, "Shalom Aleichem (Peace be with you.)" If the man was sleeping, he struck him with his staff, and he had the right to light his garment on fire.

The people would say, "What is the noise in the courtyard?" "It is the noise of a Levite being beaten and his clothes being burned because he fell asleep at his post." Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said, "One time they found my mother's brother sleeping and burned his garment." (m.Middot 1:2)

The threat of having your clothes lit on fire was probably good incentive to stay awake. In Revelation 16:15, Yeshua refers to this custom of the Temple guards.

Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame. (Revelation 16:15)

Messiah comes like 'the captain of the Temple guard' who, in turn, 'comes like a thief in the night.' That is why He says, "Blessed are those servants whom the master will find on the alert when he comes...whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves." (Luke 12:37-38) Stay awake!

Stay alert, and keep your clothes!

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