Numbers 18:20

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel." Numbers 18:20 .

The reference is to Aaron and the priesthood. The priests were not to be landed proprietors, or in any sense a territorial aristocracy. Aaron had his position in spiritual enlightenment and spiritual honour. "Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." This spiritual allotment is symbolical. The idea is that the last result of education will be comparative contempt for all material things. Material things must of course be owned and governed and turned to good uses; still whatever is material is of necessity temporary; and that which is temporary should never engross the attention of men who are immaterial. He lives the great life who lives in thought, high feeling, and beneficence. The expression of high intellectual passion is marked by the truest disregard of all things related to time and space. The Son of man had not where to lay his head; yet he had bread to eat that the world knew not of. He who lives this inner life does not see when drought cometh, neither can famine threaten his strength. No matter what inheritance a man has, it is only valuable in so far as it is made the means of helping spiritual culture. "Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked." How ennobling the thought that we may have our inheritance in God! This is the distinct promise of the text, and it applies not only to priests but to all who live and move and have their being in God. The humblest Christian can say, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot." Even in the midst of distresses of the acutest kind, the prophet was enabled to exclaim, "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." This text will, as to its spirit and sublimest meaning, be addressed to the Christian in the hour and article of death, and the soul, answering the promise in the spirit of thankfulness and assurance, will exclaim, "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."