NOTES for Num 18:1-32
Negligence in the sanctuary during service to God is considered a serious sin. Yet negligence often means things that today we would associate more with petty formalism than with anything essential. But the old and well-known rule that we so often forget today applies here: there are no trifles in spiritual life. The point is no longer whether a particular rule is minor or important; what matters is whether we follow it or not.
The principle is simple: either follow it, and then do so with the utmost care, or disregard it, but then do so completely. Such an approach may, of course, seem like needless perfectionism, especially given that no system of religious rules is ever perfect and that any such system inevitably lags behind life as it exists at a particular moment. Yet the issue is not the perfection of the rules; it is our decision and our resolve.
Simply put, the question is whether we consider a given system of rules binding upon us or not. We may, of course, decide from the outset that we exclude certain norms and rules for ourselves, but then this must be decided at the very beginning, so that we do not later “adjust” them as we go. The mere possibility of omitting something at will weakens us—first our will, and then the whole person.
Of course, it is difficult to be completely attentive to every action, every word, every thought, and every glance cast at another person. Yet such concentration is absolutely necessary for a full spiritual life, simply because we never know exactly when we will need that fullness of inward, and perhaps outward, effort which cannot be attained without complete concentration.
There is only one way not to lose it: to learn to maintain spiritual readiness constantly, just as, without even noticing it, we constantly maintain the physical readiness without which we could make no physical effort. In the same way, no serious spiritual effort can be made unless we constantly maintain spiritual readiness within ourselves. This is what the Book of Numbers reminds us of—for such readiness is needed not only by the priests who served at the Tabernacle or in the Temple.