Numbers 3: The Levites set apart for the work of God's Tabernacle

Numbers 3

New International Version (NIV)

The Levites

 ¹ This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses at the time the LORD spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai.

 ² The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ³ Those were the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. ⁴ Nadab and Abihu, however, died before the LORD when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.

 ⁵ The LORD said to Moses, ⁶ “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. ⁷ They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. ⁸ They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. ⁹ Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him.^[a] 10 Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.”

 ¹¹ The LORD also said to Moses, ¹² “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, ¹³ for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am the LORD.”

 ³⁹ The total number of Levites counted at the LORD’s command by Moses and Aaron according to their clans, including every male a month old or more, was 22,000.

Daniel’s Thoughts:

The first aspect of this passage that stands out as significant to me is that God has set apart an entire tribe of Israel for the primary purpose of serving in his sanctuary. God has set apart thousands of men to serve him. I can’t imagine what tasks that many men could accomplish and how that many were needed to do the work of the tabernacle.

This is significant to God that his people take his tabernacle his sanctuary seriously. This many men were called by God to serve and take care of the tent of meeting. Do we take God this seriously? If we did then I think we would honor God far better with our bodies the temple of God, our hearts and our lives. I know I don’t take this seriously enough that I am dead to sin and I should be living only to Christ.

I am so thankful that I have read Hebrews and know the fulfillment of this imperfect system and the levitical tribe/aaronic priesthood. Christ came and died tearing the veil so that our relationship with God was restored and God could be with us in all places and times. Jesus is our high priest forever completely fulfilling the duties that the tribe of Israel the priests and particularly human high priests the firstborn descendant of Aaron.

Daniel’s Prayer:

Lord

Let us take seriously

That you are holy

That we are your temple

That our hearts are yours

That we are to dead to sin

And

Alive to Christ

Let me serve faithfully as did the Levites before me.

Thank you for calling each of us

As priests to serve you Lord

Knowing that you are our high priest

Forever!

You have paid the ultimate sacrifice

Of your body and life.

We are made holy by your blood and sacrifice.

Let us live a new life in you!

Amen

Numbers 21:1-8 The Bronze Snake: God's salvation from the snakes

Numbers 21:1-8

New International Version (NIV)

Arad Destroyed

 ¹ When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. ² Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy^[a] their cities.” ³ The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.^[b]

The Bronze Snake

 ⁴ They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,^[c] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

 ⁶ Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

 ⁸ The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

Daniel’s Thoughts:

Think about the experience of Israel and how they come to be in the desert when this event happens. Israel has been saved from the land of Egypt by the very hand of God. God’s very presence has led their way in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of smoke by night. Then as his people grumbled against him he answered their prayers and God has provided for them in the desert. For food he rained manna from heaven in the morning and sent the quails in the evening. God provided water from the rock.

Even in this very same chapter of Numbers Israel asks the Lord to bless their conquest and the Lord hands the Canaanites over to them.

Yet the Israelites easily turn their backs on God and forget. Not only that they complain about the blessings God sent them.

And so God punishes them by sending poisonous snakes! Yet when they confess their sin and turn back to God he answers. It is significant that the Israelites pray for God to take the snakes away. They pray like we do asking for God to do it all and make things easy. But what happens when God does answer? Israel forgets and turns from him again. I know I do the same, I fail to give thanks to God and remember his faithfulness.

But God is wise and instead of taking the snakes away or even making them no longer poisonous, God leaves the poisonous snakes and offers salvation another way. God has Moses make and raise up a snake on a pole.

Let us take this understanding to the Christ and the Cross.

John 3:14-17

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”^[g]

 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

In God’s wisdom his plan for our salvation was the cross. This is foolishness to the world but the very power of God to those who are being saved.

Let us remember the Cross and Christ so that we might not live in sin but live to Christ in righteousness.

Daniel’s Prayer:

Lord

You have done great things!

In my life and in the world

Let me not forget or turn from you

In the trials and hardships in my life

Let me remember your faithfulness.

Thank you for most amazing gift

Sending your son Jesus

To the Cross grave and resurrection.

Let me never forget that sacrifice.

I want to live a new life to you Lord

Amen

Numbers 2: The Camp of Israel Centered on the Lord

Numbers 2

New International Version (NIV)

The Arrangement of the Tribal Camps

 ¹ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: ² “The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.”

 ³ On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab. ⁴ His division numbers 74,600.

 ⁵ The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar. ⁶ His division numbers 54,400.

 ⁷ The tribe of Zebulun will be next. The leader of the people of Zebulun is Eliab son of Helon. ⁸ His division numbers 57,400.

 ⁹ All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first.

 ¹⁷ Then the tent of meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in their own place under their standard.

 ³² These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All the men in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550. ³³ The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.

 ³⁴ So the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.

Daniel’s Thoughts:

Israel is a mighty nation as they travel through the nations and the desert. Their army of men numbers 603,550. This nation must have looked fearsome as they set out and looking upon their camp. Not only was their army and nation vast, but their God was with them. The Lord God of Israel protected his people Israel. He gave them food and water in the desert to sustain them. The very presence of God was with Israel and did not leave them, God’s presence was visible in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22)

As they marched the Tent of Meeting marched with Israel. They camped and marched around the Tent of Meeting at their center, yet they had to keep their distance. Only the Levites could camp close around or carry the Tent of Meeting. The Levites were an entire tribe not counted in this number because they had other work to the Lord. Lets say maybe a low estimate of 20,000 able men in the tribe of Levites. That is a massive group of people wholy devoted to serving the Lord!

Israel camped and marched as the Lord commanded through Moses. They marched when God commanded and camped when he commanded. For now Israel followed the Lord as they were led by Moses.

This passage says the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded! What a testimony to how present God was and how for a time these people were faithful to God.

Daniel’s Prayer:

Lord

Guide me with your plans

Let me center my plans and future on you.

Reveal your will

Help me to follow everything you command!

If you are calling me to do ministry specifically with IV

Please reveal your will and call in this over the next year

I want to commit my whole life and career to you

Whether you call me to ministry or engineering or whatever.

All glory to you Lord!

Amen

Numbers 1: Census of Israel 603,550 for Israel’s army!!!

Numbers 1

New International Version (NIV)

The Census

 ¹ The LORD spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: ² “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. ³ You and Aaron are to count according to their divisions all the men in Israel who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army. ⁴ One man from each tribe, each of them the head of his family, is to help you. ⁵ These are the names of the men who are to assist you:

 ¹⁶ These were the men appointed from the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of Israel.

 ¹⁷ Moses and Aaron took these men whose names had been specified, ¹⁸ and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The people registered their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one, ¹⁹ as the LORD commanded Moses. And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai:

 ²⁰ From the descendants of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel: 
   All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. ²¹ The number from the tribe of Reuben was 46,500.

 ⁴⁴ These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. ⁴⁵ All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families. ⁴⁶ The total number was 603,550.

 ⁴⁷ The ancestral tribe of the Levites, however, was not counted along with the others. ⁴⁸ The LORD had said to Moses: ⁴⁹ “You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites. ⁵⁰ Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the covenant law—over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and encamp around it. ⁵¹ Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who approaches it is to be put to death. ⁵² The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each of them in their own camp under their standard. ⁵³ The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the covenant law so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the covenant law.”

 ⁵⁴ The Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Daniel’s Thoughts:

God keeps speaking to Moses and Aaron and his people Israel through them. He has laid out the law for sacrifices and priests and other laws in the book of Leviticus.  Now God begins a new chapter in the history of his people and his relationship with men.

How does this new chapter begin? Not with the most glorious of moments. God commands Moses and Aaron to count his people. Specifically the men who are of age to be in the army of Israel. God tells them who he has prepared to help them in this task. God takes the time to make sure Moses and Aaron know they have been called to help them in this service. This may not be most glamorous job, but it is the work of the Lord. God calls these men even though they were already the leaders of their tribes. God gives them a specific calling naming them in the task.

In total there were 603,550 men fit to be in the army of Israel

What is the significance of Ephraim and Manasseh being split apart and mentioned separately as the sons of Joseph but numbered separately?

Genesis 48:

⁵ “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

So these two have become adopted sons of Israel (Jacob) and so are considered tribes. This would make the number of tribes 13 except that the Levites are considered separate and are not to be counted as a tribe as this passage says in v 49.

The Levites are not counted and kept separate for the work of the Lord to take care of the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord. From this people God chose his priests to serve him.

The Israelites did all of this just as the Lord commanded! This may seem simple but from my life I know it is not easy to follow God especially not to the letter and with my whole heart.

Daniel’s Prayer:

Lord

You took one man and made his seed into a nation.

From one man Abraham there is now a nation.

That nation is Israel God’s people.

There army numbers 603550 men.

God you are powerful and mighty.

I want to believe and trust in you Lord

For you are in control and you are doing mighty deeds

Lord I believe help my unbelief.

As you have called the Levites in the past

Let me live into the calling you have for me

I believe that is college ministry with IV for now

Reveal and confirm your calls on my life

In whatever you command and call me to

I want to submit

Let me do everything just as you command

With my whole heart

Amen