The family of Merari, though smaller than either of the other
families of Levi, yet had a greater number of able men than
any of them; for out of 6,200; males of a month old and
upwards, we find 3,200; who were neither too young nor too old
for the service of the sanctuary; which was more than
one-half of their whole number. In this the wisdom and
providence of God appear most conspicuously; for the
Merarites were charged with the heaviest part of the
sanctuary, as the boards, bars, sockets, etc; and though
waggons were afterwards provided for them, yet the loading
and unloading of the sockets, and other things of great
weight, would require much strength, both bodily and
numerical. (Compare ver. 36, 40, with ch. 3:22, 28, 24.)
Thus God ever manifests his wisdom, in fitting men for the
work to which they are appointed, whether with respect to
number or gifts: "For to one is given, by the Spirit, the
word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same
Spirit; to another faith, by the same Spirit; to another the
gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; to another the working
of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of
spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the
interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one
and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as
he will."
3:34 De 33:25 1Co 10:13 12:8-12 2Co 12:9,10
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