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God is
a God of order. He does things decently and in
order. We see His order and design throughout
nature, in the elegant laws of nature, the beautiful
and precise mathematics that permeates the created
universe. How fast does light travel? In a vacuum,
light always travels at a speed of 299,792,458
meters per second - roughly 186,300 miles per
second. It traveled that fast yesterday, and very
likely it will travel that fast tomorrow. We also
see order and design in the way that God organized
His Holy People.
We are
still B’Midbar - in the wilderness, which is the
name of this book in Hebrew. It’s now the second
year after Israel has left Egypt. It is time to
organize and number the people, from which we
get the Christian name of this book, Numbers.
The people were numbered in the first three chapters.
Now, in chapter 4, the three families that make
up the Levites are numbered, and the duties of
the three families of the Levites, and their various
responsibilities, are described.
When the
camp of Israel needed to move, the priests were
the ones responsible to take everything down,
but the three families that made up the Levites
carried them. Each of the three families had their
various items of the Tabernacle that they were
responsible for.
The family
of Kohath was responsible for the Holy Furnishings,
like the Ark, the Table of God’s Presence, the
Menorah, the Altars and the Vessels used in the
Holy Place.
The family
of Gershon was responsible to carry the actual
Tent itself, along with its its curtains, and
all its coverings.
The family
of Merari was responsible to carry all the boards,
bars, pillars and sockets.
All the
men from these three families that made up the
Levites, who were 30 to 50 years old, and did
the work, numbered 8580.
Our God
who does things decently, and in order, and we
must too. Our synagogue should reflect God’s orderliness.
We need to be organized in our leadership. We
need to have our accounting and finances in order;
out doctrine in order. Our worship services must
be conducted decently, and in order. There needs
to be life and variety, and some freedom and spontaneity,
but all done within the overall context of decency
and order. I think we’re striking the right balance.
Chapter
5 tells us that those among the holy people who
were unclean - the lepers, those having discharges
of various bodily fluids, and those who were unclean
because they came into contact with a dead body,
needed to move outside the camp. The reason given
is so that they would not defile the camp, since
the Holy God dwelt in the middle of it.
Remember,
the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, was the place on
planet Earth where the presence of the Living
God was most powerfully manifested. The God of
Israel is so holy, that anything that defiles,
must be removed from His presence. In this case,
it was those who were ritually unclean - the lepers,
those with discharges and those who had come in
contact with the dead.
And, let
me say that there is another kind of unholiness
that God will not tolerate near Him - the unholiness
of all of those who remain in the sins. Ultimately,
everything unholy, and everyone who is unclean,
will be removed from the eternal presence of the
Living God. Nothing unclean will ever come into
the New Jerusalem, and defile the city of infinite
and eternal Holy God.
And, when
someone is unholy among us, and engaged in sexual
promiscuity; or believers fornicating with each
other, or committing adultery, or lying or stealing,
they must be removed from the camp until they
get clean. Otherwise, they will defile us. They
will interfere with the dwelling of God in our
midst. As individuals, and as a community, we
must strive for that holiness, without which we
will not see the Lord.
That brings
us to verses 5-10, which gives us a very important
principle: the principle of restitution. When
a person sins, he must admit his sin, and confess
it. Then he must make restitution in full, and
add an additional 20 percent penalty. If it wasn’t
possible to restore the thing that was damaged
or stolen to the original owner, or a close relative
of his, then it was restored to the priests.
We should
be practicing something like this today. When
you do something wrong, you don’t just say “I’m
sorry.” That’s not enough. You attempt to restore
what you can. You ask the person, “what can I
do to make things right?” If someone steals something
from a store, it must be restored to the store,
and I would encourage you to add 20 percent as
well. You have hurt the owner of the store, and
so you give him 20 percent extra for causing him
hurt.
If for
some reason you can’t find the one that you damaged,
than maybe give to the synagogue, the church,
or a good charity.
The holy
people, with the holy God living in their midst,
must be holy, separate from sin, pure, in their
sexual relations. Sex in marriage is a good thing,
but sex outside of marriage defiles us. We must
not defile ourselves with sex outside of marriage,
since it makes us dirty and unclean. The rest
of chapter 5 describes the laws for dealing with
suspected unfaithfulness in marriage.
If a man
suspects that his wife may have been unfaithful
to him, he brought his wife to the priest. She
was given some barley meal, which was to be given
to the Lord as a grain offering. The grain offer
represents our labor, so she was declaring that
she was working hard, carrying out her responsibilities
as a good and faithful wife. The priest also took
dust from the floor of the Mishkan, and put it
in some water. Then, she had to take an oath,
calling down this curse and say, “amayn amayn
- it’s true, it’s faithful” - swearing that she
has been faithful and had not defiled herself.
Curses
were written on a scroll, and then the ink used
to write the curse was washed off into the same
water. Then, she drank the water with the dirt
and the ink of the curse. If she was innocent,
the Lord would bless her and she would conceive
children. If she was guilty, the Lord would curse
her with a swollen abdomen and legs that wasted
away.
The lesson
for us today? We must not defile ourselves sexually.
The Lord still knows who is being faithful and
clean, and who is being unfaithful and unclean.
And, He will reward the one and punish the other.
Even though
the entire nation was to be a holy nation, and
in one sense an entire kingdom of priests, chapter
6 makes provisions for extra levels of holiness.
If an individual wanted to dedicate himself to
the Lord, he would make a special vow, a vow of
the nazir. Nazir comes from a Hebrew root means
to separate, to withdraw oneself, to restrict
oneself, to abstain from, to devote, to consecrate.
For a specified period of time, the Nazarite,
the separated one, would separate himself or herself
from wine, and strong drink; from anything that
comes from grapes; they could not cut their hair;
they could not touch a dead body.
At the
completion of his or her vow, special sacrifices
were offered. A sin offering, to cleanse from
any sin that might separate him from God; a burnt
offering, dedicating his life once again to God;
a peace offering, declaring one’s peace and fellowship
with God; and a grain offering of sanctified labor
- his work was honest, and done to please the
Lord. His hair was shaved, and place on the fire
on the altar, under the peace offering.
Some famous
nazarites: Sampson, Samuel and John the Baptist,
who were separated ones for their whole lives;
and Rabbi Paul, who took this vow, and offering
the sacrifices that accompanied, years after he
became a believer. This tells us that Messianic
Jews in the First Century, like Paul, were still
zealous for the Torah, and that it’s OK to lead
a Torah observant life even today.
How do
we apply the vow of the Nazarite to our lives
today? We may voluntarily choose to abstain from
various things for a time, to separate ourselves
from some normal activities, in order to devote
ourselves to the Lord - more time for mediation,
contemplation, study, prayer, witnessing.
All believers
are holy, but some may willingly choose to be
more separated from the world, more separated
from its pleasures, for a time, so that they can
be more devoted to God, and the work of His Kingdom.
Chapter
six ends with the blessing that the mediators
between God and Israel - the cohaneem, were instructed
to use to bless the holy people.
The Lord
(the Holy God, the only true God, the One who
is the Source of Being, Existence and Reality)
bless you (doing good things for you, bringing
good things into your life and the life of those
you love), and keep you (protect you, watch over
you); the Lord make His face shine on you (like
the face of the sun shines on the Earth, bringing
warmth and heat and light, making life grow and
flourish, making sight possible) and be gracious
to you (adding His chen - His grace, His unmerited
favor to your life, doing lots of good things
to you that you really don’t deserve, but He does
it anyway); the Lord lift up His countenance
- His face - on you (God will lift up His face
in recognition and with approval, as a good and
generous man lifts up his face when he sees a
beloved family member, or a dear friend that he
is pleased with, and wants to do something nice
for them) and give you peace (shalom - restore
wholeness, well-being, peace, and add integrity
to your life, and supply you with everything that
you need for life and godliness).
When God’s
representatives prayed this blessing, this blessing
put the name of God on the people. It brought
God’s presence closer to the people. And if the
people were holy, and God’s mediators put God’s
name on the people, God would truly bless us by
doing these good things for us.
Chapter
7 describes how the leaders of the 12 tribes made
a special, generous offering, that was given to
the Priests and Levites, to help them in their
work: six covered carts, and twelve oxen,
Two carts
and four oxen were given to the family of Gershon,
to help them carry the Tent itself, its curtains,
and all its coverings.
Four carts
and eight oxen were given to the family of Merari,
to help them carry all the boards, bars, pillars
and sockets.
No carts
or oxen were given to the family of Kohath, since
they were responsible for the Holy Furnishings,
like the Ark, the Table of God’s Presence, the
Menorah, the Altars and the Vessels used in the
Holy Place, and these Very Holy Objects were to
be carried on their shoulders, and not on carts.
You might remember the incident in the time of
King David, when we were moving the Ark up to
Jerusalem, and instead of carrying it, it was
placed on a cart. While they were making their
way to the new capitol, the oxen nearly spill
the Ark from off the cart, and Uzzah reached out
to steady it, and Uzza, no doubt meaning well,
reached out to prevent it from falling. But he
touched this Most Holy Object, and the Lord was
angry, and killed him instantaneously! It’s good
to be careful about the things of God my friends
- to know what God has told us to do, and then
to do them carefully.
Over a
12 day period, they each gave a silver dish, a
silver bowl, both full of fine flour, for a grain
offering, showing the Lord that their work was
dedicated to God. They worked in order to please
the Lord. There was a gold pan, full of incense,
symbolic of their prayers, asking God to accept
their prayers and praises. There was a bull, ram
and male lamb for a burnt offering of dedication,
showing that their lives were dedicated to God;
a male goat for a sin offering, to remove any
sins that might hinder them from drawing near
to God; two oxen, five rams, five male goats,
five male lambs for peace offerings that were
eaten and enjoyed by many, who were at peace with
God, and enjoyed His friendship.
It’s wonderful
when God’s people are in a right relationship
with the Lord, and they want to be generous with
the Lord, and support the Temple of God.
The parasha
ends with these incredible words: Now when
Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with
Him, 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, so He spoke to
him. That is so amazingly cool! And you know
what? I believe it! I believe that the Living
God really spoke with Moses, and that Moses later
recorded the truths that the Lord communicated
to Him, and that’s how we get this amazing Book
of Books!
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