Read Numbers
8-10 & Mark
5:1-20
To discover:
As you read consider how these events prepare the people to
leave.
To ponder:
Everything is done exactly “as the LORD commanded.” First, the
lamps are positioned so that they light the bread of the presence. The lamp
stands in Revelation represent churches (Rev 1v12ff). So here they may
represent the people in the presence of God, called to reflect his glory and be
set-apart from the dark Gentile world. This remains our calling.
The Levites
are purified with washing and shaving. Then before the tent, God and all the
people, they (presumably just the key men) are to lay hands on two bulls, and sacrifice
them as a sin offering (for unintentional sin) and burnt offering (displaying
devotion to God). Wave offerings are those presented to God by being literally
“waved” in front of him. Not being burnt, they are then given by God to others.
Here the Levites are a wave offering from the people, given to do the work of
the tabernacle, and taken in place of the firstborn God redeemed during the
Exodus. Their retirement age of fifty didn’t mean total cessation from work.
However it would ensure the men remained fit enough to do the work properly. Although
the priests not Levites offer the sacrifices, the Levites are still said to
“make atonement” because their work makes the priests’ work possible. Within
the church every member’s work depends on the others playing their part too (1
Cor 12).
In the same
month the tabernacle was dedicated, we’re told Israel
celebrate the Passover, and God’s will is sought for those unable to because of
uncleanness. They and those unable to partake because of a journey can
celebrate a month later. However, all must be done as required. Moreover, no-one
else is to miss the feast because it was the key way of remembering God’s
deliverance. For similar reasons we might consider the importance of
celebrating the Lord’s Supper (Heb 10v24-25). And Moses example of seeking
God’s will encourages us to do so in scripture, when uncertain how to act.
From the day the tabernacle was set up, God’s
presence covered it in the pillar of cloud which looked like fire at night. It
is repeatedly stressed how the people left when it lifted “”at the LORD’s
command,” and camped when it settled. This stresses the people were led only by
the LORD, once more commending his commands in scripture and his presence in
the church for our guidance.
The people
were called together or urged to set out by trumpets. They also caused the LORD
to “remember” the people when going into battle, and reflected their rejoicing by
beginning their feasts. The NT speaks of preaching as assembling God’s people for
battle like a trumpet (1 Cor 14v8); and of a trumpet calling the dead to life
(Matt 24v31).
Now jumping
forward to day twenty of the second month of the second year since the Exodus,
the cloud lifts and Israel
sets out for three days, camping in the Desert
of Paran. As commanded the first
three tribes go first, then Levites with the tabernacle, so it could be raised before
the holy things arrived (10v21). Three more tribes follow, with the Kohathites
carrying “the most holy things” (including the ark) in the middle. Then come the
final six tribes, in two groups of three. Moses persuades his brother-in-law to
come too, to help find the best place to camp when the LORD halts the march. As
with Gentiles grafted into the church, Moses promises him a share of “whatever
good the LORD gives us.”
Praying it home:
Praise God that he leads us by his word and Spirit. Pray for
his help in seeking out his will in scripture.
Thinking further:
None today.
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