When the Levites couldn’t carry the big loads anymore, they could still care for those who could.
When is a person in their prime? Some people think when you’re 18 or so. Here’s what medical experts say. Visual development: birth to 12 months; emotional attachment and sensory development: birth to 18 months; language development: birth to 12 years. There you have it. At 13, you’re over the hill! Of course, that’s what we would expect if we believe the Bible. The minute we’re born, we begin to die. But wait! There’s more to the answer than that. It’s true that a baby can perform contortions no gymnast can match. And an infant can learn a foreign language—or two or three, at the same time—without any formal lessons. But we adults have something babies don’t have. Hopefully we’ve learned lessons from life and, if we’re believers, we’ve been taught “the wisdom that is from above” (Jas 3:17). At salvation, we’re given a spiritual gift, receive the indwelling Spirit, and have many other resources. Christians should be in their prime all the way to heaven. Those sitting in a senior’s home can do their life’s greatest exploits through prayer! So what does this have to do with Numbers 8? The last three verses tell us: “This is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting; and at the age of fifty years they…may minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of meeting, to attend to needs, but they themselves shall do no work” (vv 24-26). Ah, there’s something to consider. Certain things we do in our prime will one day have to be passed on to younger people. So first, if God has given you something to do—do it now! And second, start training young people so they can take the baton from you when the time comes. Two key lessons!