Numbers 5-6

So, what to discuss today…

We could talk about the importance of confession of sin, along with how making restitution might compare with penalties like prison time. (Num. 5:5-10)

Or we could dive into the quagmire of the “test for adultery” with its attendant battle of the sexes coupled with a hint of the Spanish Inquisition. (Num. 5:11-31)

Or we could look at the Nazirite vow (Num. 6:1-21), but as interesting as that might be, it does not get much further press. (The only person in the Bible who is specifically called a Nazirite is long-haired Samson, but he is a horrendous example. We’ll see his story in Judges 13-16. Otherwise, we have only hints of this practice with Samuel in I Samuel 1:11, John the Baptist in Luke 1:15, and Paul in Acts 18:18. See also Amos 2:11-12.)

Or we could focus our attention on the true highlight of these chapters, what has become known as the “Aaronic Blessing:”

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

“So shall they put My name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Numbers 6:22-27

I’m guessing that most of us are somewhat familiar with the blessing itself, “The LORD bless you and keep you…” It is quoted frequently to this day, both in synagogues and in churches around the world. Parents pray this blessing over their children at bedtime. We use it at St. Andrew’s as a farewell when those dear to us are called away to some other location. These words are well worth meditating on and well worth memorizing to drive deep into your soul so that you can pray them readily.

But what strikes me here is that even though we call it the “Aaronic Blessing,” it is not Aaron’s idea. Rather, the LORD Himself gives the instruction to Aaron to pronounce this blessing over the people. The LORD, of course, is free to bless whomever He chooses, whenever He chooses — with or without our prayer. But He tends to like to involve people in the process, so He invites (commands) Aaron and his sons to participate.

So it is with us with regard to prayer in general. God is fully capable of administering His universe without a single suggestion from us as to what His priorities ought to be. He knows our needs before we ask Him. (Mt. 6:8) In fact, He knows much better than we do. (Rom. 8:26) But in His love for us He delights in giving us a role to play, a way to participate and not just spectate. He invites our prayers and supplications, and He encourages us to bless one another. To me, this interplay between us finite creatures and our sovereign God is a mystery that I cannot fully comprehend, but it is a beautiful one nonetheless. “So shall they put My name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Numbers 3-4

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be Mine, for all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for My own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD.”

Numbers 3:11-13

The LORD here hearkens back to the original Passover, reiterating His claim on all the firstborn, and substituting the entire tribe of Levi in place of those firstborn.

The LORD then asks for a census of the Levites, not those able to go to war, but every male from a month old and upward. I expect that our “numbers guy,” Fred, noticed that if we add up the Levite clans, we get 7,500 + 8,600 + 6,200 = 22,300, which is 300 more than the total of 22,000 given in Lev. 3:39. The traditional explanation of that “discrepancy” is that those 300 are themselves firstborn males and cannot do “double duty” by also serving as substitutes for non-Levite firstborns and so are subtracted out of the total. The census of non-Levite firstborn males gives a total of 22,273. As a result we end up with 273 “excess” non-Levite firstborns who have no one-for-one substitute and must therefore be redeemed at the price of 5 shekels of silver each.

In all of this the LORD confirms the ordination of the Levites for ministry and assigns them duties for the care of the Tabernacle and protection of the priests. But He is also protecting the people. He is calling the Levites to serve as mediators between a holy God and a not-so-holy populace.

In like fashion, we too need a Mediator. We too need a Substitute Who can take our place and can stand before God the Father, interceding for us, for we cannot approach this holy God on our own.

For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

I Timothy 2:5-6

Numbers 1-2

Congratulations! You made it through Leviticus.

Today we start the book of Numbers, which gets its name from, well, all the numbers. We pick up the story of the Israelites just a month after where Exodus left off. (See Ex. 40:2; Num. 1:1.) It’s been a year since the Israelites walked out of Egypt, most of that time camped out at the foot of Mount Sinai, making the Tabernacle and all the other implements of worship. As we know, the Tabernacle is now complete, the LORD is in residence, and the priests and the people are beginning to implement this new way of life.

The LORD instructs Moses to take a census of the people, and they arrive at a total of 603,550 men from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel, not counting the tribe of Levi. Adding in women and children, we can extrapolate a total population of perhaps 2,400,000 — an astonishingly large number. Naturally, scholars have questioned this number for decades (if not centuries), suggesting that the real numbers should be 5,550 men with an extrapolated total population of 22,200 (but that view relies on a peculiar interpretation of the Hebrew, coupled with multiple copyist edits scattered over a wide range of verses). Rather than trying to address this debate directly here, let me refer you to this well-balanced discussion on “Got Questions.” Suffice it to say that we should not be overly troubled by the debate; our faith does not depend on the particular numbers, as interesting as they may be.

Note that the Levites are not included in the general census of men able to go to war. Instead, their role is to care for the Tabernacle. The designation of the Levites for this duty goes back to the Golden Calf incident and their response to it. Not that the Levites didn’t participate in that debacle — Aaron himself was right in the thick of it — but when Moses returned and asked who was on the LORD’s side, the Levites stepped up and were subsequently ordained for the service of the LORD. (Ex. 32:25-29) We all fail, sometimes quite deliberately, but repentance is everything.

As we have seen before, distinguishing the Levites in this way points to holiness, as does the arrangement of the camp. The Levites surround the Tabernacle in the center of the camp, forming a buffer between the Tabernacle and the rest of the people. Yes, the LORD dwells with His people, but His holiness is never to be forgotten.

Leviticus 25:35-27:34

There is much to think about today for ourselves and for our culture, but let me just say this: Remember Leviticus 26 as we move through the rest of the Scriptures.

Leviticus 23-25:34

Today we read instructions for the appointed feasts of the LORD. (Lev. 23:2) I cannot begin to explore the full meaning of these feasts, what they represent and what they foreshadow. I’ll leave that for a much deeper level of study than we can do here. Instead, I’d simply like us to use these feasts to examine our own hearts.

Honestly consider for a moment your own internal reaction to the instructions for these feasts. How do you receive them? Do you see yet more rules and regulations? Do you hear the voice of a stern Deity demanding particular forms of worship? Or do you hear an invitation to celebrate the goodness of a loving God? It’s all a matter of perspective and attitude.

Now zoom forward to ourselves and consider Christmas and Easter. How do you feel about them? Perhaps more appropriately, how does a child see Christmas and Easter? And how does that compare to your reaction toward the LORD’s instructions for His appointed feasts? Is there a difference? Why?

How about the rest of the liturgical calendar (e.g., Advent, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Pentecost)? What comes to mind when you read or hear “Holy Day?” How about “holiday?” What’s the difference? Why?

The majority of the text regarding the appointed feasts of the LORD describes annual events. But there is another appointed feast that the LORD seems to be even more interested in, and it occurs every week: the Sabbath. (Lev. 23:3) So, since we’re asking questions… For you, personally, how is your Sabbath? Do you see the commandment to rest on the Sabbath as a burden or as a gift?

Leviticus 19-22

There it is in today’s reading. Do you see it? Admittedly, it’s a bit inconspicuous. There are no neon signs pointing the way. There is no thundering voice from heaven, no trumpet call to draw attention. It’s just there in the midst of other rules and regulations. It’s a short little statement, not even a whole verse. It is almost just casually thrown in. Yet it is utterly foundational: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Lev. 19:18)

Jesus says that to love the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) is the greatest commandment and that this commandment to love one’s neighbor is like it, adding, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (See Mt. 22:35-40; Mk. 12:28-34; Lk. 10:25-37.) Saint Paul likewise affirms that idea, saying that the whole law is summed up in loving one’s neighbor. (Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14)

Sometimes the most important things in life are hidden away in plain sight, lost in the midst of other details. So it is here. How easy it would be to miss this second greatest commandment! We need to pay attention. We need to diligently search for truth and wisdom, as for treasure. We need to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to truly seek the heart of God as we read through the Scriptures.

In noting our need to search for hidden gems, let’s not miss the actual commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Let me just say that it is much more challenging to love the person next to me — my neighbor — than it is to convince myself that I love everyone. Loving “all those people out there” is easy. They are all just imaginary. Or maybe I can just write a check to support some distant program. Truly loving my annoying neighbor, though, whose dog barks in the middle of the night and poops in my yard, well, that’s a different story…

Leviticus 15-18

Today we are once again confronted by God’s holiness — and His grace. Remember the structure of the Tabernacle’s Tent of Meeting. It is divided into two sections, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (or the “Holy of Holies”). The Most Holy Place lies behind a thick veil and contains the Ark of the Covenant. Atop the Ark is the Mercy Seat, where God figuratively “sits.” Only the priests are allowed inside the Tent of Meeting, and they have daily duties within the Holy Place. But no one is to enter the Most Holy Place except the High Priest (Aaron) on one single day of each year, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.

I think we modern Westerners tend to see all this as overly harsh and restrictive on God’s part. Only the High Priest? And only one day a year? Surely Moses got it wrong! But that is the voice of arrogance, not humility. If we think about it honestly, what is truly remarkable here is that the LORD allows any access whatsoever, and furthermore, in that access, He makes provision for atonement, for cleansing. But the atonement of Yom Kippur is merely a foreshadowing of the full Atonement that Christ makes with His own blood on the Cross, at which point the veil in the Temple is torn from top to bottom. (Mt. 27:51; Mk. 15:38; Lk. 23:45)

So when you think to approach God, remember that it is not your right to do so. It is His gift to you, bought at the price of the Cross.

Leviticus 13-14

Today we see the LORD’s care for the people of Israel expressed in very practical terms: disease control and prevention. With our recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the notion of testing an individual for disease and then declaring that person “clean” or “unclean” sounds remarkably familiar. Both then and now, isolating the contagious person serves to protect the broader community from infection.

Note that here “clean” and “unclean” do not carry any moral implications. That is, there is no sin in being “unclean.” Obviously, “clean” (healthy) is better than “unclean” (unhealthy), but it is not a character issue (at least not here). Nevertheless, conforming to the restrictions imposed on the “unclean” is a character issue — just like how crashing a party while actively carrying COVID would be bad behavior.

That’s a bit of what I see in these chapters. How about you? What do you notice? Does anything strike you as interesting? Please share your thoughts with the rest of us.

Leviticus 10-12

For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:45

This command (or promise!) for the people of Israel to “be holy, for I am holy” is given (in one form or another) five times in Leviticus. (See Lev. 11:44, 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26.) It is also repeated specifically for priests in Lev. 21:8. God’s desire for holiness in His people pervades this book, and it lies at the core of today’s reading.

The priests have a responsibility to be particularly holy, set apart from the common people, but Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, step out of line and do their own thing, offering “unauthorized” (or “strange” or “profane”) fire before the LORD. (I am not exactly sure what that means, but I am quite sure that it is not just an “honest mistake.”) The LORD makes an example of them, and they pay for their unholy action with their lives. The LORD says, “Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.”

Holiness is not just for the priests, though. God wants the entire nation to be distinctive, set apart from all the nations around them — just as He is set apart from all else. Israel is to behave differently, and that distinctiveness is to run through practically every aspect of life. We see that in the regulations for the “clean” and the “unclean,” emphasizing over and over again that God draws distinctions.

We are similarly called to holiness. We are not to be conformed to the world around us, continuing to do things our own way. As Saint Peter tells us:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

I Peter 1:14-16

So what does that look like for us? Are we to take on the Kosher dietary laws? Are we to consider new mothers to be “unclean?” And all the rest? No, but perhaps we need to think long and hard about our lives, and as we move through the Scriptures we can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how we need to change so that we might indeed be “set apart” from the world. One thing is sure: holiness is not an option. As God’s children we are all called to be holy. And the reason for us is the same as it was for Israel: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”