Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night.
Given a chance to time travel, most of us would probably choose our teenage years to go back to. Marked with fun, friends, and freedom, t’was all benefits without much responsibilities, yet. And the little we’re assigned to, say chores, validated our idea that staying home was b-o-r-i-n-g, and our parents, killjoys. We all had our shares of schemes to escape their snares. My excuse of piano practice was a triumph over dishwashing. Yours probably ranges from studying-for-an-exam-tomorrow to not-feeling-well to i-swear-i-didn’t-hear-you-call. We had a great laugh with our peers thinking those wits prevailed. Now we know better that it wasn’t our parents' loss at all, nor were they ever clueless to those lame alibis.
If there’s a temple task which probably was most unpopular to young Levites in biblical times, it was the gatekeeper’s job. More like today’s security guards, the assignment calls for one to man the entrance-exit doors, makes sure no one or nothing unclean comes in, and nothing valuable goes out. You’re up all night as watchman, and first to wake up for the keys. Yours is the prelude and the postlude, but never the main thing. All the important happenings are inside, and you can’t participate, can’t even peek. You’d wish you’re a musician instead. Their place is always on the forefront, if not upstage. Their task seems more like a hobby than a job. And hear this: they’re exempt from all temple duties! No inventories, no cleaning stuff. I know the feeling. As a non-singer in Windsong, my tasks in a concert is setting up tables, carrying big, dirty CD boxes, and manning the booth. It’s nothing ‘glorious’ compared to my friends in their make ups and costumes, and be congratulated after. But their exemption from menial tasks is not because God granted them a special pass of excuse. Musicians were exempt in one because they were responsible for another. They too had to work day and night. It may seem flawless on stage, but it came from years of training and discipline rods. They may look very privileged to sing praises in the very presence of God, but have we considered the weight of maintaining such high, righteous standards?
When David uttered ‘I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked’, he wasn’t referring to a positional task in extreme low compared to his kingly post. What he was saying was anywhere, even that outside the temple, is THE better place because God is in it. In verse 20, a man named Phinehas was mentioned as in charge of the gatekeepers and that ‘the Lord was with him’. Let us realize then, that whatever God assigned us to do, the prominence ingredient is not our side of the work, but God taking His place. In His kingdom, He measures our worth not by our occupational profession but on our profession of faith in Christ. To that, no pride nor poverty can serve as an excuse. He may exempt you, but He will not exclude you. No post is nearer to God. That’s no alibi. You may just have chosen to walk farther away.
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