We shall next consider the Merarite feature of character; for, although the family of Merari does not stand next in order in the chapter, yet there is a kindredness of spirit, as it were, arising out of the very nature of their service, that would link them together in the mind. But, not only is there this intimate connection between the services of these two classes of Levites, which would lead us to link them together thus, the Lord Himself presents them to us in marked unity of service, for we read, "And the Kohathites set forward bearing the sanctuary; and _the other_ (i.e., the Gershonites and the Merarites) _did set up the tabernacle against they came_" (Num. x. 21). Here, then, we see that it was the great business of these two families to pass onward through the desert in holy companionship, bearing with them, wherever they went, "_the tabernacle_," and, moreover, the tabernacle as looked at in its character of outward manifestation or testimony; which would, as a matter of course, put those who carried it thus into a place of _very laborious_ discipleship. "And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords" (chap. iii. 36, 37). Here, then, was what Merari had to do: he had to take his place here or there, according to the movement of the cloud, and _set up_ the boards of the tabernacle in their sockets of silver--and all this, be it remembered, upon the sand of the desert.[13] [13] It has been well observed that in the tabernacle God was seen bringing all His glory into immediate connection with _the sand of the desert_: and when the high priest went into the holy place, he found himself in the very presence of that glory, _with his feet upon the sand of the desert_ likewise. In the temple, however, this was not the case, for the floor of the house was _overlaid with gold_ (1 Kings vi. 30). So is it with the Christian now; he has not as yet his feet upon the "pure gold" of the heavenly city, but his deepest and most abiding knowledge of God is that which he obtains in connection with his sorrow, toil and conflict in the wilderness.