Day 65— We have begun the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.
Day 65 – Numbers 26 – 27 (A new census, Passing the baton)
Chapter 26 is maybe a bit tedious to read with all its names and numbers. But it was very important to Israel. They are now about to conquer the Promised Land, and it will be divided up among the 12 tribes according to their number; bigger areas to bigger tribes, etc.
This census was also to determine that ALL of those who rebelled against God 38 years earlier and refused to go into the Land were dead. Remember at this point, only Joshua and Caleb (in their 80’s now), and their families, plus Moses remained. (26:64-65)
In the count of tribes, SEVEN had grown in size, while FIVE had decreased. The total number of Israelites 20 years of age and older (suitable for the army) was 1,820 fewer than the tally in chapter one. The Levites, who would receive no land as inheritance since the LORD Himself was their inheritance, had increased in number by 1,000.
Chapter 27 begins with a new problem. Five women, daughters of one man, came to Moses saying that their father had no sons and had died in the wilderness. Was their family to lose the rightful inheritance because there was no sons? Moses inquired of the LORD, Who said that the daughters were correct and they were given their father’s inheritance.
Then a NEW LAW was written for Israel about the Land and the absence of male heirs. The inheritance would first be given to the daughters, or, if none, to the diseased man’s the brothers, and then uncles. If none of these were alive, the “nearest kinsmen” of the tribe would possess it. (This very law will come up in the book of Ruth.)
Then, THAT time comes. God tells Moses to set apart Joshua to lead Israel in his place – because of his sin of “failing to uphold God as holy in the people’s eyes” at the waters of Meribah. So Moses takes Joshua before the high priest, Eleazar in the presence of all the people, and lays his hands on him as a symbol of passing his authority and leadership. And so, in the eyes of God and the people, Joshua is officially commissioned to lead the people into the Land when the time came.
Moses was not to die yet, but the people had confidence that they would not be left without a leader when he did.
Day 63 & 64— We have begun the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year now! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue till the end of the year. (Note: SUNDAY’s reading is combined with MONDAY’s)
Day 63 – Numbers 21 – 22 (War begins, snakes, singing, a prophet & donkey)
Numbers 21. After mourning for Aaron a month, the people begin the Canaanite campaign. The king of Arad attacks and takes some captives. Israel prays and they completely destroy them at Hormah. (Where 40 years earlier they’d try to do it against God’s will and been soundly defeated. (14:45))
Next they began the trek AROUND Edom and get impatient. They again complain against Moses, and the desert, and no food, and no water, and they are sick of Manna. Enough! God sends fiery serpents among the people to bite and kill them. Eeek! They repent and beg Moses to pray for them.
He does. God tells him to make a representative snake out of bronze and put it on a pole. He tells Moses that if the people LOOK on (not worship) the bronze snake in faith they will be healed. Moses did, they did, and they lived. (Jesus referenced this pole in John 3:14-15, saying that HE would be lifted up on a pole like that bronze snake, and people who looked on Him in faith would have eternal life.)
(Note: later Israel did begin to worship that bronze snake and it had to be destroyed. 2 Kings 18:4)
Perhaps with the excitement of finally approaching the Promised Land and defeating enemies and surviving poisonous snakes, Israel is seen/heard singing, first about a well that God provided for them, and then a song of anticipation of defeating Heshbon and Moab, and King Og of Bashan and Sihon, king of the Amorites.
Chapter 22 begins the confusing, and sometimes humorous story of King Balak and the seer/diviner Balaam. The king offers to pay Balaam to curse the hoard of Israel that he sees coming toward his land. Balaam inquires of the LORD, who says, NO, in no uncertain terms. They offer him more money, and he asks the LORD again, who says, Okay, you can go, but say only what I tell you.
(Why does God change his mind? Always for His glory we know! But after a firm denial, why say, okay. Well, isn’t Balaam like us? We don’t like a “no” answer, especially if we are losing a profit, and we keep praying (pestering) God who maybe says, Okay, go ahead, but it won’t be good. Perhaps that is happening here.)
So… Balaam goes along with the kings men, but says he will only say what God tells him (Boy, won’t THAT be true??) As Balaam is merrily riding along on his donkey, perhaps thinking of that huge monetary reward from King Balak, God’s anger is revealed. He sends what seemed like one of his mighty angels, but could be a very manifestation of God Himself to stop Balaam.
Balaam is blind to God in front of him, just as he was deaf to God’s instructions. But the DONKEY could see very well and shied away three times, making Balaam absolutely livid. (He must have looked so foolish to the kings men, not able to even control his own donkey! Tee-hee.)
He beats the donkey in anger, until God allows that animal to SPEAK! And then, BALAAM ARGUES BACK WITH THE DONKEY!!! (I wonder if the other men could see/hear what was going on, or if they only perceived Balaam as being totally crazy… or perhaps speaking to unseen spirits.) Anyway, Balaam finally is able to see the fiery being with a drawn sword. He confesses he has sinned and offers to go back home. But God, perhaps observing Balaam as more compliant now, sends him on, emphasizing again that he will only (be able to) speak what God says.
Once he arrives, and after King Balak makes a bunch of sacrifices, he takes Balaam up a high hill where he could view a fraction of the hoard of Israelites (To be continued tomorrow.)
In chapter 25, we left Balaam and King Balak on a hill overlooking a portion of Israel’s camp, but before he proclaims any curses, Balaam insists on seven bull & ram sacrifices and King Balak complies. (One wonders to whom or what they are sacrificing.) Then Balaam goes higher up the hill “to get the Word from God.” He returns and tells the King and the princes of Moab, “How can I curse what God has blessed?”
The King is understandably angry. “WHAT??? That’s what I’m paying you for!!
They try a different view, from Mt. Pisgah and offer another seven bulls and rams. Balaam inquires of God and returns with –
“God is not a man that He should lie,
Or the son of man that He should change His mind.
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?
Behold, I received a COMMAND to bless
He has blessed and I cannot revoke it.”23:19-20
King Balak is furious. “Don’t bless. Don’t curse. Don’t speak at all!” But….. he takes Balaam to another hill, ditto on the sacrifices, but this time Balaam just begins his “blessings” on Israel, ending with part of the Abrahamic covenant, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you.” 24:9b
Anger fills King Balak, but Balaam reminds him piously that he cannot but speak GOD’S WORDS. Then almost as a final jab, he prophesizes about how Israel will overcome their enemies…. including Moab. The two men part ways and return to their homes.
But Balaam, ACTS in favor of King Balak even though he cannot SPEAK curses. According to Numbers 31:16, he instructs the Moabites and Midianites how to provoke God’s anger against His own people, and they send in beautiful, seductive (idol-carrying) women to entice Israeli men.
And in Chapter 25, they fall for it. Sure enough, God’s anger is provoked and He instructs Moses to take all the chiefs (elders?) of the people and “hang them in the sun.” So as they were told, the judges of Israel kill those men who had yoked themselves to the idol Baal, via the women. But God also sends a plague among them.
Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, zealous for the LORD, takes a spear and goes after Zimri, the Simeonite, an arrogant man, who openly brought a Midianite woman into this tent in front of all the people in defiance to God. Phinehas thrusts the spear through the two of them while they were in the act.
God was pleased with Phinehas’ zeal and jealousy for His holiness, and stops the plague. God also blesses Phinehas’ line with a perpetual priesthood.
Day 62— Today we begin the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.
After the last few days of Levite rebellion and God’s swift punishment & affirmation of Aaron & Moses, it’s suitable in Chapter 18 for God to review the duties of Priests and Levites, and their compensation for service. The LORD reminds them that in the Promised Land, they will get no real inheritance of property, but will have Himself as their inheritance and provider.
Chapter 19 reviews the laws of purification after touching a dead body. (Remember in chapter 16, how God’s plague killed 14,700 rebels. Lots of handling and burying!)
Chapter 20, (as the end of the 40 wilderness years approaches) lists several SAD, but necessary, things. First, Miriam, Moses’ oldest sibling, dies and is buried in the Wilderness of Zin.
Next, at the “Waters of Meribah (“questioning”), the people – yes, this newer generation – again grumble about not having water for themselves and their animals, and yearn for the figs, grapes, and pomegranates of Egypt. (YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, how can they even remember that?) And Moses loses it.
God tells him to take the staff (Aaron’s rod that budded?), assemble the people before a rock, and SPEAK to the rock, which will yield abundant water for them all. Moses is so fed up with these people (he’s 120 years old and has been with the grumblers for 40 years), that he, 1) gets the staff, 2) takes the people to the forementioned rock, and 3) speaks…. but NO! Moses STRIKES the rock, not once, but TWICE!!
God is faithful. Water flows to the ingrate people, but Moses’ fate is sealed. He WILL NOT lead the people into the Promised Land, but die at its boarder. Wow. Seems harsh, right? I mean, which of us wouldn’t be as frustrated at those millions of “babies” and lose our cool? Why would God condemn him for this ONE little human mistake?
Well, it is abject disobedience, of course, before the Priest and all the people. Punishable for a leader.
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But I’d like to consider a few other possible things. I’m thinking that in striking the rock this time, Moses “ruined” the “picture” or “type” of Christ’s work on the cross. Jesus our Lord is often called our ROCK of our salvation. He’s referred to as the corner stone. Jesus died for sin and experienced the wrath of God ONCE, on the cross. God approved and raised Him to life again. After that, Jesus told His disciples they could pray to God for anything in his name. They could (and should) confess their sin and ASK for forgiveness, and God would hear and answer (for Christ’s sake).
Jesus did NOT have to be crucified (sacrificed) again and again, like the bulls and rams in Moses’ time. He – once and for all time – took the wrath of God for sin, and whoever believes in Him can have eternal life (rivers of living water).
Picture Jesus as that rock at Mt. Horeb, struck once, and yielding abundant water for Israel. Then, Moses was just to SPEAK to the rock (ask, if you will) and water would flow. But he STRUCK the rock. It could be seen as having to crucify Jesus again to receive that eternal life.
This is how I see Moses’ sin. It does not say specifically in God’s Word that this is so, so take it as a possible suggestion. And also remember direct disobedience of a leader of God is very serious in it’s own right.
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After this incident, Moses continues to lead Israel toward the Promised Land. They are taking the route to the East of the Jordan River Valley/Dead Sea, which will take them right through the land of Edom. These people are descendants of Isaac. Esau/Edom was Jacob’s brother, so these would be their closest relatives. Moses asks permission to move through the land – NOT march forward as against enemies – and Edom refuses twice, and then brings out their army.
God had told Moses (Deut. 2:5) NOT to wage war on their “brothers” or even take any food or water from them, so Moses leads Israel the long way, around Edom and Mt. Seir, the land God had given to the descendants of Esau.
But before they start, at Mt. Hor, on the boarder of Edom, God tells Moses to take Aaron and his son Eleazar to the top of the mountain, remove the priestly vestige from Aaron and put it on his son, for Aaron will die there. It seems he was involved in some way in striking that rock, so he also could NOT enter the Land. Moses obeys, and when the people see him coming back with only Eleazar in priestly garb they know Aaron is dead, and they weep for him 30 days.
Day 61— Today we begin the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.
Day 61 – Numbers 16 – 17 (Rebellion among the elite & Aaron’s budding staff)
Yesterday, we left the camp of Israel defeated, despondent and angry. They’d been promised the Promise Land, but failed to enter. Now they face 40 LONG years of desert wandering. (The one year at Sinai was bad enough!) They’d even tried to elect a new leader and go back to Egypt.
Grumble, grumble. In Chapter 15, the rebellion goes to a higher level, to the Levite priests, to the elitist of priests, the ones responsible for the holy objects in the Tabernacle, including the Ark of the Covenant. The Kohathites, led by Korah.
They assemble themselves against Moses and Aaron. “You’ve gone too far!” They claim. All the congregation is holy, not just you!
In response does Moses argue? No! He falls on his face (in horror?) He says that God will decide in the morning whom He chooses. “You’ve gone too far, sons of Levi.” It’s against God you grumble, not Aaron.
“Who made you a prince over us?” they yell back.
Next morning Korah and all his gang meet at the entrance to the Tabernacle. God’s glory appeared to them all, and God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves and all the “innocent” congregation from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan & Abiram (leaders in the high-rebellion).
Moses then puts a test before them. If nothing happens to these, then you will KNOW that I am not sent of God. But if the LORD opens the ground and swallows up them and all of theirs, then you will KNOW that they have despised the Lord.
Immediately the earth under them opened and swallowed the three men up, with their households and all the people and goods that belonged to them. Then the earth closed over them completely. And fire from God came down and consumed the 250 Kohathites with them who were falsely offering incense. Yikes!
AND STILL!!! the people grumbled against Moses & Aaron. God send a plague that quickly spread through the came. Moses told Aaron to take fire and incense from the alter and go among the people. He did, and as High Priest stood between the living and the already dead. And the plague from God that had killed 14,700 Israelites stopped.
Plagues!! These were supposed to be on the Egyptians, not the Children of God. Oh, how far they had strayed.
In Chapter 17, God further affirms Moses and Aaron as His chosen leaders before the people. A staff (a dry wooden pole) was gathered, one each from all the heads of tribes. These twelve, along with Aaron’s were placed in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle – next to the Ark of the Covenant, where the presence of Almighty God dwelled. The next day, the one marked with Aaron’s name had brought forth buds, blossomed, and bore ripe almonds. Overnight. Fruit from a dead stick. Proof positive.
(His staff was then stored in the Ark along with the tablets of stone and the jar of manna…. as a remembrance.)
And the people wail that they are “undone” by what they had … done. “Are we all to perish?” they cry.
Day 60 — We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.
Day 60 – Numbers 14 – 15, Psalm 90 – (Turning Back, Defeat, Promise, and a psalm of Moses)
Yesterday we saw the rebellious Israel turning from the Promised Land out of fear of the “giants in the land.”
Numbers 14 take up where we left off. Not only does Israel fear to go into the Land, the want to kill Moses, choose a new leader and GO BACK to Egypt. (Are you guys crazy??)
Joshua and Caleb plead with the people to enter the land, testifying that their God will surely give them victory. But the people decide to stone them. Only the appearance of the Shekinah Glory of the LORD stops them. God offers Moses a SECOND chance to become the progenitor of His people, and he refuses, stressing God’s honor and glory that is involved. He begs that God will PARDON their sin according to the greatness of His mercy.
God hears Moses’s intercession for these rebellious ingrates, and pardons them. But there is a consequence they must endure – 40 years of desert wanderings until THAT generation (age 20 and up) all die. Only their teen and young children will have the chance to receive that Promised Land. (Joshua & Caleb and their families will also be exempt.)
So, TURN AROUND and head into that dry and barren land……
But still the people rebel!! “No, we were wicked,” they confess. “We will go in as directed!” But it is too late. As they swarm forward – against God’s word, without Him, the Ark of the Covenant, and Moses – they suffer absolute defeat from the Amalekites and Canaanites, giving those pagan enemies a chance to gloat, deride, and shame the LORD God Almighty.
Can’t you just see God dusting his hands of them all and turning his back on Israel? But no. God, our God, is ever faithful to his promises and his people. Instead in Numbers 15, He speaks of WHEN the people of Israel come into the Land to inhabit it, which HE is giving them.
Whoa! Such grace and mercy. Sure, they will endure consequences of their sin. Sure, it will be their children who go in and conquer the land. But God does not utterly desert them. He even describes the offerings they will make to Him with the produce of that Land. He also distinguishes unintentional sins from outright defiance, giving grace to the one and harsh punishment to the other.
He reaffirms the importance of keeping the Sabbath sacred to Him, as He’s directed. And He tells ALL the people of Israel (not just priests) to make tassels on the corners of their garments, with a blue cord binding them, to remind them of all the commandments of the LORD which they are to obey and so be a holy nation go God.
Psalm 90 is the only psalm written my Moses. He writes of the eternality of God, and fact that man is made from dust. (Remember Moses wrote the book of Genesis too.) He writes of God’s majesty and man’s sins (even the secret ones). Man’s life – in contrast to God’s everlasting existence – is but 70-80 years, and is full of toil and trouble, and ends with a sigh. He asks God to teach his people how to “number” their days and apply their hearts to wisdom. Then he ends with pleas for God’s presence and love and power and favor to be with and on his children.
Day 59 — We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.
Day 59 – Numbers 11 – 13 (Complaints, Gossip, Rejection)
In Chapter 10, we saw the newly organized and militarized nation of Israel leaving Mt. Sinai on their way to the Promised Land. Ideally, it was a journey of about 11 days, but they are burned, choked, delayed, and stalled in today’s reading, beginning in Chapter 11.
Verse one doesn’t say what they originally complained about, but God responded by sending fire around the perimeter of the camp. The people screamed for help, Moses prayed, and God relented.
Next the “rabble” (mixed group of Egyptians who had come out with the Jews) began to ache and moan for the juices and spices and meats of Egypt. They were complaining about God’s gracious and nutritious supply of Manna. No work, just pick it up. But they yearned for… Egypt, weeping and wailing like a bunch of babies. (But, oh, am I like them too at times!)
Even Moses seems to have had ENOUGH of these two million cry babies….and did a little crying himself. “I’m not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me.” “Kill me at once!” You wonder why God didn’t brush his hands and walk away from the sorry bunch. Why? Because of His promises to Abraham, and God doesn’t lie. Instead He has Moses gather 70 elders of Israel (the beginning of the Sanhedrin?) and puts some of His Spirit on them. They will help carry the burden of the people (because they can’t walk, it seems).
But the people are not done (and either is God!). They whine and moan for meat, tired of “this manna.” And God sends them guail, lots of them, three feet deep, and spread out a day’s journey beyond the edges of the camp. They ate meat till they were sick of it. And God brought a very great plague on them, and they buried many corpses there. They named the place Kibroth-hattaavah (graves of craving.)
Chapter 12 tells of Miriam & Aaron (Moses’ older siblings) complaining about Him, and God struck Miriam with leprosy. (Why not Aaron too? Remember he was the high priest of Israel. He needed to say “clean” to offer sacrifices.) Moses prayed for Miriam and God healed her, but she had to stay outside the camp for the days of ritual cleansing. While she was there, the entire nation remained in one place.
In Chapter 13 Israel reaches the boarder of Canaan, their Promised (by God) Land. God told Moses to send a representative of each tribe in to check out the people and produce of the land. He does, including Caleb from Judah and Joshua from Ephraim. They are gone 40 days, “testing” the Land and bringing back huge produce to show off.
However, their report is divided. Joshua & Caleb say “Let’s go! We can do it! Let’s take the Promised Land!!” But the other ten collectively shrink back in fear and tell of the “giants” who made them feel as small as grasshoppers. (A slight exaggeration, guys, don’t you think??) So……. what did they do?
Day 58 — We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.
Day 58 – Numbers 8 – 10 (Levites,, Passover, the Cloud, Bye-bye Sinai)
In chapter 8, Another ceremony is instigated of setting apart of the whole tribe of Levi, as the representatives of God’s “first born.” God also sets the age of retirement for priests at 50 years old. They may still guard the Tabernacle, but no long serve in it.
In chapter 9, the whole of Israel celebrates Passover the first time since the original one the night of their escape from Egypt. Some people were worried, that if they had become unclean from, say touching a dead body, they weren’t able to celebrate on that day. God gave lenience and said they, and whoever might be on a long journey, could celebrate it a month later. (How kind is our God!)
Directions were made clear also about the “cloud” or visible presence of God with Israel. When it rested, covering the Tabernacle, they were to remain in that encampment. However, if it lifted, they were to pack up and follow wherever it led. Whether it rested in one spot two days, a month, or even longer, Israel was not to move, but to always to look to God for their direction.
Numbers 10. Also, because they were to be traveling, God told Moses to tell them about a series of trumpet blasts, as a sort of message, especially to those camped at a distance. Different trumpets and blasts would be used to summon the people together (say for an important meeting), and at other times, the blasts would signal the breaking of camp. And also, the different blasts would signal how each of the four encampments would set out – decently and in order, as aways.
And finally, just after Passover (as in the first time) the now “nation” of Israel (complete with spiritual leaders and army) was to set out in stages from Mt. Sinai towards the Promised Land. Judah, with Issachar and Zebulun set out first, Next the Gershonites and Merarites, two of the Levite clans, would leave with the Tabernacle structure . After them, Reuben with Simeon and Gad left, followed by the Kohathites caring the Holy furnishings of the Tabernacle. (Except the Ark of the Covenant, which would lead everything.) Next Ephraim with Manasseh and Benjamin would follow, and finally Dan with Asher and Naphtali would march out, as Israel’s rear guard.
And so they set out on a three-day journey. I can imagine the great joy and excitement they felt, as the newly consecrated and organized people of God, with His laws and ordinances firmly set in their minds, finally realized they were now heading toward their destiny, the Land that God had promised to Abraham so many years before. It was happening at last! What could go wrong?
Day 56 & 57 — We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue. (SUNDAY’s reading is combined with MONDAY’s)
Day 56 – Numbers 5 – 6 (Confession & restitution, a test for Adultery, The Nazirite Vow)
God again tells Moses to instruct Israel on how to deal with uncleanness, and how to make restitution for sins against others. They must confess and then make things right.
Also in chapter 5, are the details solving the problem of jealousy by a husband towards what he thinks may be his cheating wife. It’s a bit frightening, involving certain offerings and a drink of holy water mixed with dust from the floor of the Tabernacle, and ink that the curses were written in. It was called “the water of bitterness that brings a curse.” The suspected adulteress was to take an oath. When she drank the water, THE LORD ALONE KNEW HER GUILT OR INNOCENSE, and would judge her with … 1) nothing, which proved her fidelity, or 2) a curse of bitterness, swollen bowels and a rotted thigh. (Definitely a strong deterrent to sleeping around)
Chapter 6 covers the rules concerning whether a man or woman wants to voluntarily make a special vow to the LORD, the Nazirite Vow. The requirements for keeping this vow are even more strict than the ones governing the priests’ lives. Grapes (any part and in any form), hair cutting, and being near a dead body were all forbidden. If any of that happened, the person would have to begin the period of their vow again from the start. Samuel, Samson, and John the Baptist were men in scripture with life-time Nazirite Vows.
Day 57 – Numbers 7 (Israel’s offerings)
The very long chapter 7 covers in DETAIL the many varied and abundant offerings that the people brought to the House of the LORD, tribe by tribe, for it’s use and the support of the Levites.
First the chiefs of all the tribes brought six wagons and twelve oxen to pull them. Two wagons with their oxen to the Gershonite clan of Levi (They were the ones who transported all the cloth materials of the Tabernacle and courtyard). Four wagons with their oxen went to the Merarite clan of Levi (They carried the poles, bases, and structural pieces of the Tabernacle). No carts or oxen was given to the Kohathite clan, for they were to carry the holy objects on their shoulder by the attached poles.
After that EACH TRIBE (listed in order they were set in camp, Judah first) gave THE EXACT SAME THINGS for the support of the Levites and the Tabernacle — a silver plate and bowl full of fine flour and oil (a grain offering); a golden dish full of incense; a bull, ram, male lamb for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs for the peace offering.
And then Moses went into the Tent to speak with the LORD, and the voice of the LORD spoke to him.
Day 55 — We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.
Day 55 – Numbers 3 – 4 (Counting Levites for service, delegating duties)
Yesterday, only the other twelve tribes of Israel were counted (20 years and up) for military service. Today the Levites will be counted in two ways.
Numbers 3. First, every male Levite from 1 month up was to be counted and dedicated to God in place of all of Israel’s first born sons. The slight overage in number of first born sons from the other tribes would each pay the “redemption money” of five sanctuary shekels to Aaron and his sons. In this way the whole of Israel would have a part in the religious activities and service to God.
Chapter 4. Secondly, the Levites were to be counted according to their clans (the three sons of Levi), all of the men from 30 years old to 50 years old, and be given specific duties in the care and service and transport of the Tabernacle.
The Kohathites were to be in charge of the Most Holy things – all the “furniture” in the Tabernacle itself and the courtyard. When the camp set out, Aaron and his two sons would go into the Tabernacle and cover the holy pieces with different colored cloths and goat skins. When this all was done. The Kohathites would carry these things by their poles (taking extreme care not to touch them themselves).
Aaron’s son, Eleazarthe priest, would be in charge of the holy oil for light and for anointing, and the holy incense, as well as have oversight of the packing of all that is in the Sanctuary and its vessels.
The Gershonites would be in charge of packing up and carrying all the curtains and coverings and cords of the Tabernacle as well as all the hangings of the outer court.
The Merarites (largest of the three clans) would be in charge of packing and carrying the frames, bars, pillars, bases, and pegs of the Tabernacle and outer courtyard.
Aaron’s son, Ithamar, the priest would oversee the Gershonites and Merarites in packing up & carrying of the curtains, linens & skin coverings, as well as the frames, pillars, bases, etc.
All would be done “decently and in order” according to the exact instructions of the LORD to Moses.
Day 54 — We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.
Day 54 – Numbers 1 – 2 (Counting men fit for service, arranging the camp)
I’m more of a “words” person than a “numbers” person, so I’ll give you that name of this book in the Hebrew Torah. It is called “In The Wilderness” and that pretty much describes it, except for the census here and at the end.
In chapter 1, God TELLS Moses to count the men of Israel who are 20 years and up and able to go to war. They will serve as Israel’s army when they enter the Promised Land. God assigns a man from each of the 12 tribes to assist him in the registration. Right away, Moses and Aaron gathered the whole congregation together, and with the help of the twelve heads of tribes, held the first national draft.
Numbers then lists the amount of able soldiers from each tribe, naming them in birth order, and giving two tribes for Joseph (as Jacob adopted Ephraim & Manasseh back at the end of Genesis). The tribe of Levi is not counted because they were to serve the LORD in the Tabernacle, not in the army. Judah’s tribe (a Prince among his brothers”) is the largest. The total number of eligible men from all twelve was 603,550. (In a whole congregation of about 2 million people.)
Chapter 2 explains how the entire group of people would be divided and arranged. The Tabernacle, with the visible symbol of God as fire and cloud, would be in the CENTER of the camp. Around that would be Moses, Aaron, & the priests on the East, and the three clans of priests on the other sides.
After that, on the EAST side, facing the entrance to the Tabernacle court and tent, were to be the leading Tribe, Judah, along with Issachar and Zebulun. Judah and these two would lead out any march, just behind the Ark of the Covenant.
On the SOUTH, Ruben and his two brothers Simeon and Gad would camp. On the WEST (backside of the Tabernacle) would camp Ephraim with Manasseh and Benjamin. (These were the three smallest tribes.) And finally on the NORTH, were Dan with Asher and Naphtali.
When the pillar of fire/cloud (symbol of God’s presence) would rise, the Levites would disassemble the Tabernacle (by specific directions). The Ark would lead the march, followed by Judah and his brothers. Next would come the Levites carrying the Tabernacle, it’s furniture, and courtyard items. Then, like a circle uncoiling, Rueben’s group on the south, Ephraim’s on the West, and finally Dan’s on the North would follow, Dan’s group (the second largest) bringing up the rear guard.
When it came time to set up camp, they would circle, setting up the Tabernacle – it becoming God’s presence in the center – with the tribes extending out to the four directions again…. much like a cross.
Day 65 – Numbers 26 – 27 (A new census, Passing the baton)
Morning Meditations 