Numbers 10:11-36 English Standard Version Israel Leaves Sinai 11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, 12 and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. 13 They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses. 14 The standard of the camp of the people of Judah set out first by their companies, and over their company was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 15 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. 16 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. 17 And when the tabernacle was taken down, the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who carried the tabernacle, set out. 18 And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their companies, and over their company was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 20 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. 22 And the standard of the camp of the people of Ephraim set out by their companies, and over their company was Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 24 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. 25 Then the standard of the camp of the people of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out by their companies, and over their company was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ochran. 27 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. 28 This was the order of march of the people of Israel by their companies, when they set out. 29 And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.” 30 But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” 31 And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. 32 And if you do go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you.” 33 So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days' journey. And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp. 35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” The day has come! It's been approximately a year since they arrived at the base of Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19:1 which said that it was the third new moon since the people had left Egypt meaning it was approximately the 3rd month. It is now the 20th day of the second 2nd month of the 2nd year--they now have Sabbaths and Feasts and a calendar to help them keep track of the passing of days, so this is much more specific date). The pillar of cloud lifts from over the Tabernacle, and the people break camp as they were commanded. The cloud settled down over the wilderness of Paran and the children of Israel for the first time move out according to the command of the LORD as He had instructed Moses (using the trumpets just created as signals).
Each tribe set out with its standard-bearer in front and led by its chief--first the tribes of Judah, Isaacar and Zebulan that were camped on the East side of the Tabernacle. Notice in this that even though Judah was not the oldest of Israel's twelve sons, he was the one that was chosen to lead his people--the tribe from which the rightful kings would come from and the tribe from which the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Messiah would come from. Then come the youngest children of Leah (the wife of Jacob to whom he was married first but whom he favored less than Rachel). So then we even see the Biblical principle of the last shall be first. Once the Tabernacle had been taken down, the Levites who were of the clans of Gershon and Merari who carried the Tabernacle (the actual tent itself) set out next. Remember that these were two of the tribes who were given oxen and carts to care that things that were not considered holy and did not need to be carried on poles. Following them were the tribes that camped to the South of the Tabernacle--Reuben, Simeon and Gad. Levi, Reuben and Simeon are also children of Leah and Gad is the firstborn son of Leah's servant Zilpah (a custom of that time when the wife could not bear children). So then God is continuing to show His favor towards Leah and her children even though she and her children were not treated well by Jacob. These children not only lead the people, but get to protect the very Tabernacle of the LORD. Next came the Levite clan of the Kohathites who carried the holy things (the Altar of Burnt Offerings, the Altar of Incense, the Golden Lampstand, the Table of Showbread, and all the utensils that accompanied them) on their shoulders. This put the holy things of the Tabernacle in the center of the people.. At the rear of these holy objects were the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh , and Benjamin who camped to the West. Ephraim and Manasseh were the "double portion" of the inheritance given to Joseph as his first two sons were given an equal share as to what his share would have been, and Benjamin was the other son of Rachel. These tribes were moderately faithful to the LORD, but each had their issues with leading the people into rebellion and idolatry at times. Ephraim will be largely responsible for the political rebellion of the northern 10 tribes of the divided kingdom. Part of the tribe of Manasseh will refuse to take its inheritance from the other side of the Jordan river because they want to continue to identify with their Egyptian nationality and heritage and they will at times fail to fight alongside their brothers (sometimes fighting against them), and they will fight for the throne of the northern kingdom which did not belong to them, for the throne belonged to Judah. Benjamin was the only one who pledged allegiance to Judah when the kingdom split after Solomon's reign. However, they also would also fall short. However, this is the tribe that the apostle Paul would later come from. Notice that there are no Levites that move out between this group and the next one. The next group to break camp and move out were the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali. There's not much good that I can say about this group. The tribe of Dan is actually responsible for the spiritual apostacy of the Northern 10 tribes and appears to have no inheritance in the New Jerusalem (heaven). He is the "father" of all those who are apostate and turn back to worship the golden calf--a god that we fashion and say "these are our gods" and worship in the way that the pagans worship their gods that we know to be demons. Not much is said about the tribe of Asher, they are largely unremarkable, but they are in bad company here. Along with Naphtali, they will form the northern border of the Promised Land of Canaan. The tribe of Naphtali is called a land of spiritual darkness even in the Old Testament. This land would become a place that was so secular that they would seem to lose all religious and cultural identity as being Jewish and it wasn't easy to tell them apart from their Gentile neighbors to the north and east. Yet it is in this very area that Mary and Joseph lived in a town called Nazareth (remember how the religious Jews said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"). Out of this great darkness would come a marvelous light--the Light of the World. So then, it seems that even how God groped the camps and positioned them around the holy and sacred people and objects--He knew exactly who they were and what they would become. Finally in the rear was the family of Moses' wives--his father-in-law Rael (also known as Jethro), the priest of Midian. They would have no inheritance in the Promised Land and were simply "along for the ride" until Moses dies. Moses seems to indicate that Jethro should tell them where to camp, but the LORD is already taking care of that by letting HIs Presence come to rest at the place where they are to make camp. However, Moses is correct that Jethro and his family will experience all the blessings that God gives to the people of Israel as long as he travelled with them. You can see already in his answer though that Jethro knows that the land does not belong to him or his people and he desires to return to his homeland of Midian when it is time. We did not talk about Moses, Aaron or Aaron's sons. Moses would be out in front of the people and it would seem that Aaron and his sons would be carrying the Ark of the Covenant out in front of the people. They would also be the priests that would also have their musicians and the choir out in front of the people so that even as they went into battle, they did so with the Presence of the LORD and the Ark of the Covenant always in front of them and priests leading them in worship to remind them that battle belonged to the LORD and the LORD must fight and win the battle for us. We do know that the Levites had swords and spears in places where they fought with zeal for the LORD in Exodus 32 and Numbers 25, but we seem to have an indication that the priests and other Levites were not counted as part of the "fighting men" in the census and that these priests out front were probably bearing instruments and not swords. You would normally think of the lead elements as being your "special forces" that would have special training, special weapons and special tactics, and in a way, that is exactly what is going on here as the training, weapons and tactics that these priests brought to the battle were the weapons of spiritual warfare as they kept the people focused on God and reminded the people of His covenant and all that the people needed to do was put their faith in the LORD and watch Him win the victory for them (most of the time that's exactly what happened as the LORD would drive the enemies away or hurl great hailstones at them or would confuse the enemy so that they killed themselves or brought a plague on them or something similar). What do we take away from this? God had an order to things and while we may not understand all of His reasons for the order that He established, he did understand everything. The order that He put in place may make no sense to us--we may have imagined that the troops should be led from the oldest to the youngest, but we'd probably no imagine that the people should be led by priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant and that the Ark should be out front where it was exposed to enemy attack--logic would dictate that something valuable should be kept in the center of the ranks where it could be protected by everyone. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. "My LORD knows the way through wilderness. All I have to do is follow." Numbers 10:1-10 English Standard Version The Silver Trumpets 10 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. 3 And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 4 But if they blow only one, then the chiefs, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. 5 When you blow an alarm, the camps that are on the east side shall set out. 6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow a long blast, but you shall not sound an alarm. 8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 9 And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. 10 On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the Lord your God.” The last item that the LORD has Moses make before the people head out has nothing to do directly with the Tabernacle, but has to do with what we'd call Signals and Communications. The LORD commanded Moses to make two silver trumpets (not like the trumpets made of ram's horns used for other signals like the beginning of Yom Kippur or when the walls of Jericho will fall down). These trumpets would have a unique tone that wouldn't be mistaken for anything else.
The trumpets were made to give various signals such as:
The trumpets were also blown on the days of gladness and thanksgiving (the Holy Feast Days) and at the beginning of each new month. They were blown over the sacrifices and burnt offerings and peace offerings as a reminder to all the people that the LORD, He is God, and they are His. So then, these trumpets would communicate a message to the people of Israel, but would also be heard by their enemies. There are many instances in the Old Testament where Israel uses these trumpets to rally troops for battle, to remind the people that LORD is fighting for them, to call the people to a solemn assembly where the LORD wishes to speak to them, to call out to the LORD in times of thanksgiving, but there are also times where God condemns the people for not responding to the trumpet blasts when they are all supposed to gather together--they refuse to assemble to listen to Him or to fight alongside their brothers because they don't see themselves as needing to be involved, or they forget to be thankful for the gifts of food, continued life, and atonement that they are to celebrate. However, we also see God use trumpets like these to signal His people. We see in Zechariah 9 that on the Day of the LORD, the LORD will sound the trumpet. He will go forth in battle to fight for His people (see verses 14-17). We're told in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 that there will be a single trumpet blast used to gather all those who are in Christ--both the living and the dead. Even God will use a single trumpet blast to call all the congregation together to meet at the entrance of His Heavenly Temple when it is time for Him to gather all of His people home, and to announce the time of celebration of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, but to also announce the beginning of the war that He is going to carry out against those that have chosen to be His enemies and the enemies of His people. Numbers 9:15-23 English Standard Version The Cloud Covering the Tabernacle 15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. 17 And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. 18 At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 19 Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they remained in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they set out. 21 And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. 22 Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. 23 At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses. A reminder here that the "cloud" that is being talked about here is the glory of the LORD (what the Jews would call the Shekinah glory) that was manifested as a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that led the people through the wilderness. Up until this point, the Presence (another name for the glory of the LORD) did not have an official "resting place" in the camp, but they always set up camp around where the glory of the LORD came to rest. Now, the glory of the LORD rested on the Tabernacle and covered it and at times filled it to such a point that no one could even go in and minister because it was so full of the Presence of the LORD.
God's Presence was both Guide and Protection for the people. Where God used the cloud to guide the Israelites and to reveal His plan to them, He used the same cloud to conceal and confuse the enemies of Israel like He did to the Egyptians at the Red Sea. All the people needed to do was follow God's lead and to keep their eyes fixed on Him--there is no indication here that there were any verbal commands to tell them to break camp or set up camp, but that everyone was responsible to keep their eyes fixed on the LORD so that when He moved, they moved and when He rested, they rested. Sometimes the glory of the LORD only told them to rest for the night and to set out again the next day. Other times, they stayed in one place for days or weeks or even a month or more at a time. God knew exactly why they needed to be there and how long they needed to be there and exactly when was the right time for them to move and where they next place was that they should move to. Imagine us being so in-tune with the presence of the LORD that it was as if we too were following a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that told us every step we should and should not take! Yet, it is amazing in all this, with the visible manifestation of God (not that different from Christ being the visible manifestation of God) that the people so often rebelled and were dissatisfied with the times that God had set and the places in which He took them and they grumbled (a key word in the book of Numbers) and complained against Moses (God's chosen leader) and Moses would almost always turn it back around to ask why they were grumbling against the LORD. It is more clear here maybe than we see in Romans 13 or 1 Peter 2, but it is the same principle that God selects leaders who should follow His lead, and the people should follow the leaders that He's put in charge. If the leaders are bad, God will take care of them--we'll actually get to some of those exact issues later in the book of Numbers and the book of Deuteronomy. Numbers 9:1-14 English Standard Version The Passover Celebrated 9 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” 4 So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. 5 And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. 6 And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. 7 And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the Lord's offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” 8 And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.” 9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. 11 In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. 13 But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the Lord's offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. 14 And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.” So, why stop the story here? Why is this such a major milestone in the people's history? Let's give a small recap of where we've been so far. The people spent about 400 years in bondage and slavery in Egypt. Before that they were simply "sojourners" living in Egypt away from the land of Canaan with the permission of the Pharaoh--one people living among a people of a different kingdom (much like how we are today as the Church living in the world though we are not of the world). Skipping ahead in the story, God has prepared Moses to be the one to lead the people out of slavery and God reveals Himself to Moses in a way that He has not revealed Himself to anyone else--by telling Moses His holy Name (I AM, usually translated as "the LORD"). Moses speaks to the Pharaoh for God to tell him that the LORD said, "Let my people go." God used many plagues to bring judgment against Pharaoh and his people, but He saved the children of Israel from all of them. The last plague, the tenth plague, was for Egypt the plague where all of their firstborn died, but for Israel, that same event that brought death to Egypt brought redemption and life to them, the children of God. They received a new identity and were now a nation, and they had a new holiday that not only celebrated their freedom, but God as their Redeemer (a name they had never used for Him before). The name of this feast which they were commanded to keep every year (a feast which pointed forward to person and work of Jesus Christ) is called Passover, because the angel of death passed over all the houses marked by the blood of a lamb without blemish. Death and judgment were not for those who were marked by the blood of the Lamb.
From there, the people followed the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, crossing the Red Sea, and travelling through the Wilderness of Sin to Mount Sinai. That trip took them roughly two months. Moses was then on the Mountain for 40 days during which time the people build a golden calf, the original stone tablets containing the Law were broken, and Moses goes up to meet with the LORD again for another 40 days to receive a new copy of the stone tablets. When he comes down, construction of the Tabernacle begins and takes nearly 7 months to complete (we just saw the end of that construction in the last couple chapters). It has now been a full year since the people left Egypt as this is their first Passover they will celebrate as free people, and the Tabernacle has just been completed in time for the celebration. This is the month of Abril, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, and Passover happens on the 15th day of that month (exactly halfway through since all Hebrew months are 30-days long, following the lunar calendar). The people are almost ready to leave Mount Sinai (that will happen at the end of chapter 10), but even that will be a couple of months time frame as the people will have spent an entire year camped at the foot of Mount Sinai before they break camp to head to the Promised Land. We don't normally think about their Exodus in those terms. We typically think they immediately got from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, and the Law and the Tabernacle just "poofed" into existence somehow for us, and then they wander around for 40 years while a bunch of people other than Joshua and Caleb died (maybe talking about Rahab and the spies as part of this) and the next thing we talk about is them crossing the Jordan River, like somehow they should remember and make the connection to them crossing the Red Sea (though the implication of the 40 years of wandering is that this is a new generation who never saw the plagues or the Passover, or the crossing of the Red Sea--or they were too young to remember it). The book of Numbers is going to tell us about the end of one generation who had everything revealed to them, but yet failed to live in a way consistent with that revelation, and how they died in rebellion. They also failed to adequately train up their children, even though holidays like this were given to them to force them to remember and to tell the stories to each generation, and even though the blessings would be given to that next generation, we will see that they would not turn out any better than the fathers because their fathers misunderstood the covenant to be a covenant of works instead of the covenant of grace and faith that it was always meant to be. To our text today, Moses had to remind the people of what the date was on the calendar and that it was time to keep the Passover as the LORD had commanded. Already, it seems that they had forgotten the covenant they had made with Him as they were leaving Egypt to always remember and always celebrate the Passover. The people needed to prepare themselves to be clean and holy to celebrate the Passover, for they were not allowed to participate in it if they were unclean--in this case, some of them had touched a dead body that day and they would not be considered clean in time to take the Passover. They understood this feast to be a big deal that everyone was supposed to participate in, but they did not understand why their uncleanliness kept them from participating. God did not really answer the question that they asked (He did not explain Himself to them, because He doesn't have to), but He did make an accommodation for them and for their descendants that if for any reason a person was unclean or was too far away to celebrate the Passover on the 15th day of the 1st month, then they were to make arrangements to celebrate it on the 15th day of the 2nd month, and it would be important for them to make every arrangement to be at the Tabernacle/Temple that day as that was the only "make up day." God then reminded them how they should keep the Passover and the meaning for them at this time of all the elements they would partake in (though these same elements have new and different meanings to us as Christians as we celebrate what we call the Eucharist, The Lord's Supper, or Communion). Anyone who fails to keep the Passover is to be cut off from the people as celebration of this holiday was tied directly to the people's identity, and if you didn't celebrate it, then you were not one of God's people. Even the aliens and sojourners in their land (foreigners who were there for a little while or a long time) were commanded to keep the Passover as well, but everyone who participated in it was to be consecrate themselves and to be pure and holy that day, so as to not eat in an unworthy manner. We are told that the reason that the person would be cut off is because they didn't bring the sacrifice at the appointed time that would provide atonement for them--so then Passover is not just about redemption, but about atonement as the blood of the Lamb "covered" their sin so that they would not be judged. If their sins were not atoned for, then God would possibly judge their sins and they would be a danger not just to themselves, but to everyone else around them as God told the people to keep the Passover so that none of the plagues that were visited upon Egypt would be visited upon them. The stranger and sojourner (people just passing through and permanent residents without citizenship status) were also invited to celebrate the Passover too, but they had to celebrate it in exactly the same way--offering the same sacrifices, eating the same bitter herbs and roasted lamb (eating all of it and burning what was left), eating fully dressed with their sandals on their feet and staff in their hand like the people that were ready to depart at a moment's notice, and of course they had to apply the blood of the Lamb to all three sides of the door leading into their house. There would be one Law and one Passover for both the citizen and the God-fearing Gentile. So then in this we already beginning to see that the gospel was to the Jew first, but also to the Gentiles. Numbers 8:5-26 English Standard Version Cleansing of the Levites 5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. 7 Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. 8 Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering. 9 And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. 10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord. 12 Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. 14 “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. 15 And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. 16 For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. 17 For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, 18 and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel. 19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.” 20 Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. 21 And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. Retirement of the Levites 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. 25 And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. 26 They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.” The Levites were to be holy and set apart from all the other people and so there were ordained in a special way with a ceremony of cleansing. They were to have the water of purification sprinkled on them, they were to shave all the hair from their bodies and they were to wash their clothes and bathe themselves (remember that water is something hard to come by in the desert and it was usually more important to drink water to stay alive than to use it for bathing.
There were also required sacrifices and offerings--a grain offering, a bull for a sin offering and another bull for a burnt offering, and the Levites themselves were offered as a wave offering before the LORD. Only after they had been cleansed and dedicated to the LORD could they go into the Tabernacle to offer service to the LORD. They were the LORD's possession in the place of the firstborn that belonged to the LORD after the 10th plague and they would be given to Aaron the High Priest in a similar way as to how the LORD's Elect would be given to Jesus, our Great High Priest (see John 17). The Levites (and specifically the priests) were to make atonement for the people so that no plagues would come upon the people if they would approach God to worship Him in an unworthy manner (without having atonement made or in a way that was self-serving and not glorifying to God). Moses and Aaron and the Levites followed all these instructions that the LORD had given. There is another short passage here that I'll end with because it seems too small to have it's own article. That is, that the LORD set the time of service for the Levites to be from the age of 25 years to the age of 50 years. God did not mean for men to go into a lifetime of ministry and never have a plan of succession. Each generation was forced to take the baton and run with it, and there were times and dates set for when they should retire. All they were to do when they retired from service was to help keep guard over the Tabernacle, and the Levites and their families that lived around the Tabernacle and worked in the Tabernacle as assigned by the LORD. Numbers 8:1-4 English Standard Version The Seven Lamps 8 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” 3 And Aaron did so: he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand. This is one of the final instructions that the LORD gives to the people before they leave Mount Sinai. This seems like an odd place for such instructions as it might seem like these instructions would be better served in the book of Exodus when the description of Golden Lampstands was given or in the book of Leviticus when the priests when God gave the operators manual for Tabernacle to Aaron and his sons (I won't call it an owner's manual because God was the owner).
However, as we described earlier this is a very significant representation of something in heaven, and we are told in the book of Revelation that the seven lamps represent the seven churches (and the church being the light of the world). Right now, Israel is "the Church" ("the congregation" or "the assembly" is used to refer to them in the Old Testament, which when translated in the Septuagint is the same word used as "the Church" in the New Testament), the people of God, the sons of God, and the ones who were given the responsibility of showing and telling the gospel to the whole world. They will even be told that they are to be "a light unto the Gentiles" in the Prophets. So, then the question may be, "What is in front of the Golden Lampstand that is so important that it be kept illuminated all the time?" The Golden Lampstand was in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle where Aaron and his sons ministered day and night, and it had to always stay lit because their ministry never ended because atonement needed to constantly be made for sin. While the ministry of Christ as our Great High Priest is never-ending, it is not because He is constantly applying blood to the Mercy Seat-Aaron and the other High Priests only did that once a year, but Jesus has done that once forever. No, the reason that the Golden Lampstand was kept lit night and day is because the work of the people of God, the Church is also never ending as we shine light into the darkness and illuminate the person and the work of Christ that is represented by the Table of Showbread. Jesus tells us that the unleavened bread represented His onw body (though the Church is also called The Body of Christ in the epistles and we see that there are always 12 loaves of Unleavened Bread representing the 12 tribes of Israel, the Body of Christ at that time, but also representing the whole Church--everyone who is in Christ and died with Him in the likeness of His death and was raised with Him to walk in newness of life). The Golden Lampstand was also responsible for giving light to the Altar of Incense which represented the prayers and petitions of the people--specifically for the atonement and forgiveness of their sins. Night and day incense was to be offered to represent the prayers of the saints being offered up to the LORD and the priests were always to keep the wicks lamps of the Golden Lampstand trimmed and to keep the lamps full of oil so that there would always be light in the Holy Place, though the incense that represented the prayers of the people offered a covering, an atonement, which was part of the process of the forgiveness of sins--not just the blood sacrifice, but our prayers for our sins to be forgiven. We see this same imagery used in the book of Revelation to describe the prayers of the saints as being stored in golden bowls and being offered before the throne of God (represented by the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle). You can see this in Revelation 5 and 8. We see that prayers of confession for atonement are also made constantly today by 1 John 1:9 and that the Spirt and the Son are working together to constantly bring our petitions and requests before God and to intercede on our behalf, but there also seems to still be some component of us praying for ourselves and for others so that sins may be forgiven. I think this is something else connected to the gospel that the Golden Lampstand is also supposed to shine light on. It was also the only light source to provide light in Most Holy Place on The Day of Atonement. As the sacrifice was made the represented the actual sacrifice that Christ made on the cross to die for the people that belonged to Him so that their sin could not just be covered up, but actually removed--all of their trespasses, transgressions, and iniquities that we collectively call "sin," because they all miss the mark of God's holiness. This too is something the Church should be shining light onto as it too is a central part of the gospel and is central to our Great Commission that we have been given. So then this Golden Lampstand (you may also know it as the Menorah) seems to me to represent the work of the Church (at this time "true Israel") in sharing the gospel to the entire world. It is currently something that is hidden in secret inside the Tabernacle that not even the common people fully understand as it represents the secrets that at the time only heaven knew--for the Tabernacle was fashioned to represent the heavenly Temple (we know this by the book of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation where we learn that Temple will be our eternal dwelling place called The New Jerusalem). In these times though, the gospel has been made known to all of us who are in Christ as we all have become priests in the service of the LORD and the mystery of the gospel is being revealed to us. We are now to shine our light before men so that they will see our good works (our priestly ministry that we just talked about) and glorify our Father in heaven. So then, these instructions that were to Aaron and his sons are also for us--always make sure that Church is shining its light on the person of Jesus Christ and His work of atonement for us and His intercession for us as they see how we pray, how we take Communion, and they see our hearts--the throne of God--where the Power of God to bring about miracles--event he miracle of Regeneration (the budding rod of Aaron that brought the plagues), the Provision of God (an omer of manna that never rotted), and the Law of God (a copy of the stone tablets) are hidden out of the sight of the common man, but our faith and our actions show people what we know to be on the inside. The Golden Lampstand that is the Church both individually and universally is responsible to be known in all this and to make this known in how they show and tell the gospel continually, both day and night--wherever God may lead, just like the people and the Tabernacle followed the leading of the angel of the LORD (Christ) and the Shekinah glory of the LORD (the pillar cloud/fire). Numbers 7 English Standard Version Offerings at the Tabernacle's Consecration 7 On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings and had anointed and consecrated the altar with all its utensils, 2 the chiefs of Israel, heads of their fathers' houses, who were the chiefs of the tribes, who were over those who were listed, approached 3 and brought their offerings before the Lord, six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two of the chiefs, and for each one an ox. They brought them before the tabernacle. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, 5 “Accept these from them, that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting, and give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service.” 6 So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. 7 Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service. 8 And four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 9 But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder. 10 And the chiefs offered offerings for the dedication of the altar on the day it was anointed; and the chiefs offered their offering before the altar. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, “They shall offer their offerings, one chief each day, for the dedication of the altar.” 12 He who offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah. 13 And his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 14 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 15 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 16 one male goat for a sin offering; 17 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 18 On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, the chief of Issachar, made an offering. 19 He offered for his offering one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 20 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 21 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 22 one male goat for a sin offering; 23 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar. 24 On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, the chief of the people of Zebulun: 25 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 26 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 27 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 28 one male goat for a sin offering; 29 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon. 30 On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, the chief of the people of Reuben: 31 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 32 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 33 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 34 one male goat for a sin offering; 35 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur. 36 On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, the chief of the people of Simeon: 37 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 38 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 39 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 40 one male goat for a sin offering; 41 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 42 On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, the chief of the people of Gad: 43 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 44 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 45 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 46 one male goat for a sin offering; 47 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 48 On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, the chief of the people of Ephraim: 49 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 50 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 51 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 52 one male goat for a sin offering; 53 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud. 54 On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, the chief of the people of Manasseh: 55 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 56 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 57 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 58 one male goat for a sin offering; 59 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 60 On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, the chief of the people of Benjamin: 61 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 62 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 63 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 64 one male goat for a sin offering; 65 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni. 66 On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, the chief of the people of Dan: 67 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 68 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 69 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 70 one male goat for a sin offering; 71 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 72 On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, the chief of the people of Asher: 73 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 74 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 75 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 76 one male goat for a sin offering; 77 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran. 78 On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, the chief of the people of Naphtali: 79 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 80 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 81 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 82 one male goat for a sin offering; 83 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan. 84 This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day when it was anointed, from the chiefs of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes, 85 each silver plate weighing 130 shekels and each basin 70, all the silver of the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary, 86 the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing 10 shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels; 87 all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering; 88 and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed. 89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him. The narrative shifts here as we now start talking about the Tabernacle. Not the instructions for building it like in much of the book of Exodus, but we pick up where the book of Exodus leaves off...the Tabernacle is erected and sacrifices are offered and the glory of the LORD fills the Tabernacle so that no one can enter it. In addition to all that the people gave to build the Tabernacle, each tribe desired to give a freewill offering out of the abundance that the LORD had given to them.
First came the sacrifices of the leaders of the tribes (the ones that were listed in the beginning of the book of Numbers). Collectively they, "brought their offerings before the Lord, six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two of the chiefs, and for each one an ox." God told Moses to accept these offerings so that they could be used in the Tabernacle and to distribute these gifts to the Levites according to their duties, and the text tells exactly how the wagons and oxen were distributed among the clans of the Levites that we saw earlier in the book of Numbers. These gifts were given to help the Levites transport the items that were allowed to be carried by wagon and the oxen were to be used to pull the wagons, but since the sons of Kohath were charged with carrying the holy things that had to be carried using poles on their shoulders, they were not given any wagons or oxen (we see that King David gets this wrong later in the Old Testament when he tries to transport the Ark of the Covenant on a wagon pulled by oxen and it leads to the death of the person that reaches out to stop the Ark from falling when one of the oxen stumbles). The chiefs of the tribes of Israel brought all their gifts and their sacrifices of dedication on the altar that day, but it was too much to be offered all at once. So Moses said, “They shall offer their offerings, one chief each day, for the dedication of the altar.” The rest of the chapter lists out the chief of each tribe and the offerings that he brought from his tribe. Each tribe brought exactly the same gifts and sacrifices in exactly the same amounts, and a summary of the total contributions is given at the end. I'll give the summary here. 84 This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day when it was anointed, from the chiefs of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes, 85 each silver plate weighing 130 shekels and each basin 70, all the silver of the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary, 86 the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing 10 shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels; 87 all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering; 88 and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed. Unlike where Exodus ends, where Moses was not able to enter the Tabernacle because the glory of the LORD had so filled the Tabernacle, we see here that Moses goes into the Tabernacle to speak with the LORD, and that the LORD speaks to Moses from between the cherubim on the Mercy Seat that is on top of what is called there The Ark of the Testimony (also known as The Ark of the Covenant). |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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