The Levite transformation begins in 1 Chronicles 23:1–32, and then we see it again in 2 Chronicles 5:1–14. Moses had Levites under Aaron. Under David, worship changes some. There is a Davidic reformation in worship, and God ordains changes in the public worship of the church in a way that things are ordered, as Jerusalem becomes the centre of the revealed religion. And some of that work includes change in the way that the Levites function. Under Moses, God had Levites caring for the tabernacle, which moved about, and caring for the worship and the implements of worship. And then under David they are bound even more to a physical temple. But they are also called to care for the people of God in the Old Testament as well.

Deacons in the New Testament: We know that in the New Testament we don't have a temple. This isn't Los Angeles Reformed Presbyterian Temple. There are no sacrifices that go on here. We don't have an altar; we don't have a priesthood; we don't have any of that stuff. But in the New Testament there is a temple. What is the temple in the New Testament? It's you! You are the temple. The church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So God resides in you the way He resides in the Old Testament in the physical temple.

And in the Old Testament, the Levites are giving their care over the physical property of the temple, and they are showing that mercy is centred here and that physical care is centred here. And as tithes are given, the temple had these big boxes for the collection of tithes. You would drop your money in, and it would be the Levites that would empty that money. If you have ever been to an old Presbyterian Church, or even old Dutch Reformed churches still have a drop box instead of collection. On your way out you would drop your tithe in a box. And that is reflective of the drop box that was in the temple, as people would come and worship. They would give their tithes. Somebody has to empty the drop box! It is the Levites. It is the Levites that oversee the care of not only the temple, but the mercy needs of Israel as well.

In the New Testament, we see that it makes sense for the continuity between Old Testament and New Testament. As the diaconate is set apart as an office, it is nothing innovative on the part of the apostles. The apostles aren't saying, We have a new religion, and we are going to do things our way, and we are going to do things new. No, they don't do that. They look to God's Word for instruction, and they see this office of Levite, which had care in mercy and care for the poor and care for the physical needs and care for the tithes, and that the deaconate is that continuity.¹

Nathan Eshelman