I found myself in the book of Numbers today... not, I confess a book of the bible that is etched on my memory but I'm trying to read through the whole bible a few pages at a time and round about now I'm in Numbers and I read about the Kohathites.
"Very good Caroline, so what?" I hear you ask
Well, to explain, the Kohathites were a clan of the Levite tribe of Israel and they had the special task of clearing up the mess after the priests had done their bit. Very important I'm sure but not what I'd call a great career move. And that was when it struck me... their work was chosen for them because of their birth not because of some career choice plan. How far removed we are from parts of the bible. Could you imagine young people today accepting that their role in life was determined by their birth - no get out clause, not career progression, no professional development...
As I write that, of course I'm reminded that the great majority of the world are condemned by poverty or oppression to live out one particular role. But that's part of my point, I suspect that most of the people reading this post would see being consigned to one particular role because of their birth to be an oppression, to be a negative, to be something wrong. But the Kohathites were called to be the clearer-uppers, whilst other clans were called to be the carriers of tent fabric or tent poles. This wasn't a negative thing this was just their place within the economy of God's people.
Today, we all have careers. They may not be very exciting careers, in personal hygiene, social or healthcare but no matter how lowly, we are encouraged to see our work as a part of a career, and to seek opportunities for training, developing and bettering ourselves. We are to seek progression, moving up the ladder, achieving ambitions, fulfilment.
The Kohathites, on the other hand, just had their place within the economy of God's people, they cleared up after the priests. I guess they were 'paid' for their work, maybe some of them became leaders of clearing teams. Might they have had shifts? "Oh good grief, it's Eleazar on duty tonight; he always makes more of a mess with the sacrificial lambs than his father does"...
and a question starts to wrestle it's way to the front of my mind
if the economy of God's people is based on people being in their place, and doing their work because of their calling (and not because of some desire for bettering themselves and progressing their careers) might we occasionally damage the church when we go about developing our careers?
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