Why did God order the clean to be separated from the unclean? How could one make restitution for wrongdoing? Does Numbers 5 advocate for abortion? How were women protected from jealous husbands? What was the purpose of the Nazirite vow? Why did the Nazirites have to abstain from wine, cutting their hair, and touching dead bodies? Should we praise our leaders? Why is Numbers written in a non-chronological order? Did the Israelites deserve praise for following God? What do the seven lampstands symbolize? How were the Levites separated? Could a priest retire?
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My name is Christian Ashley, a seminary student and servant of God, and you are listening to the Let Nothing Movie podcast, a proud Anazelle Ministries podcast. Welcome back, everyone. To the next episode of the Let Nothing Movie podcast, I'm your host Christian Ashley. As we continue on through the Book of Numbers, today we're going to be covering Numbers 5 through 8. I'm back in my regular recording environment, had a great time. We use my brother's sister-in-law and niece, but it's nice to have my room back. I'll say that. The unfamiliarity of being in another place, especially with the bad internet, I hand out there, is it's a way now. Now I can just be wherever I want up here in my Fortress of Solitude before I head off back to the dorms again for the next semester, the final semester, if all goes well, for my seminary training. So, like I said, we're going to be in Numbers 5 through 8. We're going to be starting in Numbers 5 today versus 1 through 4. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is lepers, who has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You should have put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp in the midst of which I'd well. And the people of Israel did so and put them outside the camp, as the Lord said to Moses, that the people of Israel did." At this stage, the people of Israel are about to leave Mount Sinai behind. We'll go to commands in chapter 10, if I remember correctly. But in order to do this properly, they're going to have to separate those who are clean and unclean. Now, if you remember, for those of us who've been with us in Leviticus, we saw just how important these concepts are to God, and they're not meant only for the sake of human cleanliness, but also to show that they, as a people, must be spiritually clean as well. These people who were being brought out, whether it was for an infectious disease that they had, or they had touched their body, or they had done something else to make themselves for showing clean. It didn't make them less than it didn't make them worthless. It meant that they had to be for a time separated from the rest of the people because of how God viewed purity, how God viewed cleanliness, and how the people themselves had to separate these things, not only from the outward perspective, but also from the inward perspective and failure to comply with this command, which showed that their hearts were not set on him and is prevented those suffering from disease, or the other things that I mentioned, from being cared for properly. So if they're not in the environments they're supposed to be while they're in this mess, they can't be looked after well, or they will spread what they have to other people, or they will cause other people to become unclean, which means any sacrifices they make are null and void, or any vows that they make to God are null and void because they're not following him with all their hearts. So by following him and all of his commands, they're doing something good for the sake of themselves and for the sake of people. So that is why this is being done, and this command also was made, not just for men, but for men and women who are going to be subject to its ruling. So anyone attempting to win sympathy, based on gender, was to be ignored. The whole purpose of all of you are under this law means all of you are under this law. There's no little wiggle room for anyone to get out, you know, no one to bat their eyes and say, "Well, I'm ceremony unclean, but I mean, do you really want me to go outside the camp, at least?" No, it is everyone is subjected to the same rules, so follow through with what God has commanded. And a big part of what we're going to see in these chapters, not only in the ones that came before, but also ones that come here, is real following through with what God says to do. That's kind of one of the major themes that Moses is building up here. That's going to be why he writes some of these things out of sequence as we'll discover in a later chapter of building up okay, why was there a need for this, and how were the people actually doing what they were supposed to be doing? So just keep that in mind and back your head as we continue on through the rest of these verses, this time going through verses 5 through 10. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the people of Israel, when a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed, and he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. But if the man has no next to him to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong should go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of a toment with which a toma is made for him. Every contribution of the holy donations of the people of Israel which they bring to the priest shall be his. Each one shall keep his holy donations whether anyone gives to the priest, whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his." Now we see here any criminal or sinful action that required the priest to intervene meant that the offender needed to admit their guilt openly to the people and then to offer restitution for their crimes. This system was put not solely as a way of shaming the offender but as a means to act as a deterrent to prevent people from sinning given the high cost of what they had to do when it was found out or when they had to go to conscience about it but as all could have been avoided if you had just listened to this rule. Now the goal was to make sure those who were harmed in any way were cared for and for the people to be reminded that they needed to have a right relationship with God who they also needed to reconcile with after they had sinned. So that is why there is essentially a tax given to anyone who sins in this way. This is not just you know sort of priests can line their pockets with gold and animals or anything like that but to make sure that the people knew that there was a cost to the sinning and the people who were doing what they were supposed to be doing which is supposed to be the priest were rewarded for faithful service not once again to get greedy or to make themselves lords over to people but to hey because of what happened here I have to give up this many cows or I have to give this much money away which can be used to be given to the poor or it can be used to improve not a state of the homes around the area or something like that that's the purpose of this money that's the purpose of making restitution here it's like wrong has been committed here's how I'm going to make it up and we're going to put it into the law. I'm going to go to a very different topic by going to verses 11 through 31. When the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel. If any man's wife goes astray and breaks faith with him if a man lies with their sexually and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is undetected though she has defiled herself and there is no witness against her since she was not taken in the act and at the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife though she has not defiled herself then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her a tenth of an evil of barley flour he should pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it for it is a grain offering of jealousy a grain offering of remembrance bringing iniquity to remembrance and a priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen way of vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into water and a priest shall set the woman before the Lord and unbine the hair the woman's head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance which is the grain offering of jealousy and in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings to curse then the priest shall make or take a nose saying if no man has lain with you and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority be free from this water of bitterness that brings to curse but if you have gone astray though you were under your husband's authority and if you have defiled yourself and some other man some man other than your husband is lain with you then let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people when a Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swill may this water that brings to curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swill in your thigh fall away and the woman shall say amen amen then a priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings to curse and a water that brings the curse shall enter in her and cause bitter pain and a priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn on the altar and afterwards you'll make the woman drink the water and when he has made her drink the water then if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband the water that brings to curse shall enter in her and cause bitter pain and her womb shall swell and her thigh shall fall away and the woman shall become a curse among her people but if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean then she shall be free and shall conceive children this is the law in case of cases of jealousy when a wife the one her husband's authority goes astray and defiles herself or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife then he shall set the woman before the lord and the priest shall carry out for her all this law the man shall be free from his iniquity but the woman shall bear her iniquity no all of that is a lot so let's walk through the process here so the ideal marriage is one where neither spouse has any reason to believe the other is cheating on them however given that we live in a world full of sin where passions can be led astray by lust if we're not careful god added provision in the law to account for moments like this and instructed the people on what to do when it did happen because guess what it's gonna happen because people are people the purpose behind this ritual was for divine intervention to come into play when infidelity was suspected and prove whether the wife was innocent or guilty of the sin this was designed to prevent the husband from further ruining the wife's reputation and from having him take abusive action against her before this was done whether physical or emotional in nature this is in the law if you suspect infidelity you are not to hurt your wife in any way shape or form if you have actual reason to suspect this bring it to the priest bring it to god there is a specific way for this to be done and a jealousy here let's talk about that jealousy real quick this jealousy there's two types there's a jealousy of a righteous husband who thinks that something is being done or has enough evidence in his own mind suggests this has happened and him respecting his marriage wants the truth to be brought out so he brings this situation in front of the priest and which means everyone else is going to know about it too because it's going to be fairly public and we're going to find out if she is or not then there is the jealousy of the heart not of that comes from wanting to have a loving successful marriage one from a possessive man or one who is very much led astray by his own passions and is maybe even looking for an excuse to get rid of his wife or to seek out elsewhere or maybe even putting on something that he's been doing on her this is also designed to protect the wife in that scenario from that husband who is acting in a sinful manner as goes he because if he's fine if he hasn't committed the sin then supernaturally she is protected from what happens to the woman who is actually sending who is actually causing problems in their marriage and the whole community is going to know about it which is something that could have been avoided if that husband had actually spoken with his wife had maybe trusted his wife a little better so we see in a scenario like yes both men and women are being protected in this moment from different scenarios that can happen which imagine that God looking at all these things and trying to protect the people that he loves it's almost like he loves us he's almost like he doesn't want bad things to happen to us even though he knows they do even though he allows bad things to happen to us he still provides provisions away from this evil sinful deed because we look here and we see that the dust from the tabernacle is what's going to be used in this ceremony in this ritual because that dust had been in the very presence of God himself inside of the tabernacle as his spirit dwelled in the most holy place God was not centralized there there was he it's not like he was only in that place but it was enough of a presence to affect the things around it so that is why the dust is being used and this dust mixed in this ritual is going to act as a divine censor that would either acquit the woman of any wrongdoing or showcase her guilt and how her body responded to the ritual and it has as many steps as it does it is as complicated as it is not for the sake of complexity but for the sake of giving multiple opportunities for a guilty conscience to speak up first before anything can happen because if the people are being taught properly they know what's going to happen if this goes sour so if the woman is the guilty party she has multiple opportunities to admit to the infidelity multiple opportunities to say oh no this is on me I send I'm so sorry please forgive me let me make the proper sacrifices let me get things right with God but what it would take for someone who knowingly engaged in sin and knowingly is going through all this ritual is an especially wicked woman to not only go through all this but to take the grain offering that is supposed to symbolize fellowship with God enter the drink of water mixed with the dust of the tabernacle that had experienced God's holy presence and for her not this entire time to confess what she's done you got to be so far away from God to think well I'm going to get off scot free like maybe she doesn't even believe in God for that to happen that is who this is supposed to harm this ritual is not for harming women this is for harming sinful women who are unrepentant now we can also see here which I had never once heard this before until a couple of years ago because I've read this text multiple times over and I still don't really understand where people are getting this from unless it okay so let me just put it this way God's punishment on the unrighteous woman here in this passage has unrighteously been used as an example of God approving of abortion or there being a ritual in scripture for the process of abortion and God saying that's exactly what I designed it for let me just tell you this is patently false and it takes a really twisted mind bent on destruction and bent on evil to even suggest such an idea the punishment that God delivers here has been interpreted as directly causing a miscarriage which is a very poor translation and nowhere close to the truth and let me give you my citations here and give you a good old original Hebrew we see in verses 21 and 22 words being used here are vedekek which is a modified form of the word Godek which can mean thigh loins or side the second word primarily used here is bit neck which is derived from the root word but then which can mean womb body or like a belly or the innermost part once again Hebrew being a very multifaceted language that's where confusion can come in that's why even some translations right miss miscarriage into their translation of this passage the point being made with these words in the original Hebrew is not that a child is going to be lost through this process it presumably the child of the man that the woman cheated on her husband with but rather it refers to the woman's womb being rendered useless and to make her infertile supernaturally as a punishment for the crime with no children's lives being lost in the process you cannot lose a child if a woman is infertile that's not how it works no child is being murdered in this ritual nothing is mentioned at any time of what happens you know in the cleanup after this fact because it's not there and the fact that anyone has ever even made this a thing astounds me because not once over the many times i've read through this book has that ever been something oh what do you think God's saying here is he he's saying oh well he's going to kill a child in the womb it's like what where do you have to be in your headspace where that's an acceptable interpretation to take from this the mental gymnastics needed to jump from a womb being cursed into infertility by god into then god murdering a child in the womb are so incredibly far apart from each other that i simply don't have enough faith to believe in such a ludicrously stupid an idea that god is somehow advocating for abortion here which has nothing to do with the text and has nothing to do with the point of the laws being observed here the point is to prevent adulterous affairs and to prevent jealous husbands from needlessly accusing their wives of improprieties because a successful use of this ritual will shame him and not her because he made this a big deal when they could have just talked this out trusted each other and you know whatever before airing their dirty laundry for the entire nation to witness conversely a successful usage of this ritual would mean that the woman sins are brought to light and she's not going to live much longer because there's punishments for adultery the stoning kind as we shall see so now the entire nation knows as well that she sinned against her husband and she did this willingly and went through an entire ritual designed to sniff this out that maybe if she confessed maybe that would have been figured this maybe there would have been a sacrifice to cover her sins but now it's too late so if you know anyone out there like reading through this and that's what they're saying like that this is about abortion in any way shape or form like I get some head check because it's not there and when we bring something into the text it isn't there that's on us not on god and guess what i've been guilty of bringing things in it to text that aren't there i've had false ideas before that i've had to repent of like that there's never been a single Christian alive who has had exactly everything right about this scripture and that's okay but we need to be vigilant and we need to understand what's going on here so that we don't make the same mistake so that we don't claim things that have nothing to do with what god says he's doing here so when we're talking about themes that happen in these parts of scripture we're just not making something up because it sounds nice or because it fits the sermon that i have today or because i think it'll bring more people into the pews into the chair so what have you the purpose of all of this is to bring glory to god how does it bring glory to god for a child to be murdered in this scenario it doesn't let me say well christian what about what happens in canon and all the other people well we've already been over a hundred times before i don't know how many times i can say it the candy lights had all the time in order to repent and if their children had lived i guess it's going to turn out exactly like their parents oh oh you say well that's a what if no that's not a what if because the people of Israel didn't do what they were supposed to be doing and because they let people live they encouraged years or lights in the sin and worshiping false gods that wouldn't have happened had they done their job there's a huge difference between the two things so don't ever try to try to equate them they have no place here quit bringing agendas into something that has doesn't have the agenda you are trying to make it have and i say that to me i say that to everyone who is interpreting scripture if i screw up on this i need to be called out if you screw up on this i need to call you out so we're working together so we can understand these things as best as possible knowing we have a limited amount of information knowing we don't have the original authors right next to us saying it's exactly what i meant here we good we're good could continue on this time going through chapter six doing verses one through twenty one and the lord spoke to most of saying speak to the people of Israel and say to them we either a man or a woman makes a special vow the vow of anezerite to separate himself to the lord he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink he shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes fresh or dried all the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine not even the seeds or the skins all the days of his vow separation no basis shall touch his head until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the lord he shall be holy he shall the locks of his hair of his head grow long all the days that he separates himself to the lord he shall not go near a dead body nor even for his father or for his mother for brother or sister if they die shall he make himself unclean because the separation of god is on his head all the days of his separation he is holy to the lord and if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head they shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing on the seventh day shall shave it on the eighth day shall bring two turtle doves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting and the priest shall offer one for his sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make a torment for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body and he shall consecrate his head that same day and separate himself to the lord for the day of his separation and bring a male and a year old for a guilt offering but the previous period shall be void because the separation was defiled and this is the law for the Nazarite when the time of his separation has been completed he should be brought to the entrance of the tent to meeting and he should bring his gift to the lord one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering and while you lamb a year old without blemish has a sin offering and one ram without blemish has a peace offering and a basket of unleavened bread loves a fine flower mixed with oil and them leaven wafers smeared with oil and their grain offering and their drink offerings and the priest shall bring number four to lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the lord with the basket of unleavened bread and a priest shall offer as also its grain offering and its drink offering and a Nazarite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent to meeting and she'll take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that it's under the sacrifice of the peace offering and the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram when it is boiled and one on leavened loaf out of the basket and one on leaven wafer and she'll put them on the heads hands of the Nazarite after he has shaved the hair of his consecration and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the lord they are a holy portion for the priest together with the breast of his way and a thigh that is contributed and after that the Nazarite may drink wine this is the law of the Nazarite but if he offers an offering to the lord a thousand offering to the lord above his Nazarite palace he can afford in exact accordance with the vow that he takes then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazarite so we see here the Nazarite vow is something that is intended for both men and women to pursue as both equally have the right to seek out and serve god and to concentrate themselves for his service everyone in israel is expected to serve god but this vow has met was made to set the vow were apart even more than their comrades so that they devoted themselves even more to the god who had made them and loved them beyond what was expected of them and we even see here this wasn't even something that had to be a lifetime commitment but it very well could should the vowels see that this was where god desired them to be never see in the cases of you know samsung and samuel and john the baptist like they were meant to be lifelong Nazarites but it was not a you know condition that this had to be lifetime if a man or woman who took this vow you know had done their time as it were and you know they were needed to start a new family or they had a business prospect they had to go to then once the time was done they cut their hair presented before god made the proper sacrifices they were done but why why are these stipulations here why why we got forbid these things from them what like they're forbidden from drinking wine or even even associating with grapes in general which is what's something a lot of people forget to bring up here they're forbidden from cutting their hair or touching a dead body all these things that stay be unclean so let's go systematically through these so wine in general was not forbidden from the israelites why is that well because it would have been a really stupid stipulation by god if he had said don't drink wine because it held for a while it was pretty much cleaner than anything else they had has some good uses as well for health used appropriately and not drunk in this so banning that completely would have led to a lot of debt as you like it's meant to be this useful drink that's good for them to use appropriately responsibly and it's meant to be used for their pleasure guess what it's okay it's drinking alcoholic beverage when you do it responsibly when you don't make it complete not a fool of yourself and lose your faculties which is why there's a ban on drunkenness because that leads you to not being controlled but then that's why it's not even supposed to have great juice so i don't know all of the southern baptists in a room are so upset well guess what god is an all or nothing kind of god if he says don't do this and he lists off things that you're not supposed to do but that's probably because someone's going to try and finnego their way to somewhere they're not supposed to be just to skirt the rules there's nothing wrong with grapes i'm not the biggest fan of all i'll drink grape juice and i'll drink i'll eat raisins especially give me those raisinets which are worse for me because of the chocolate especially with the reads and diagnosis but just just looking context here there's nothing inherently wrong with the item it's how it's being used and Nazarite is forbidden from having these things because the Nazarite is denying themselves in a service to the holy and living god that they are proclaiming that they are going to vow their service to for however long the vow lasts so to prove this god adds stipulations in addition to everything else that it's supposed to do stipulations that not all these things are supposed to be things that the people of Israel follow now the dead you know not to dead people yeah you made richer than clean but especially so for someone who's supposed to be pure pure were than everyone else not because they're so great but because they have taken on about that supposed to mean something if you don't follow these rules you're not following the meaning behind them so what about forbidding you know cutting your hair you know you've seen a lot of more evangelical circles like you're long hair on a man it's just evil and sinful and you know i don't think it's sinful i just don't think it's a good look for most of the people that i know like some men can pull it off i it's just not for me i try to keep my hair as short as possible for the most part unless i'm really short on money and i need to wait a long time in between haircuts but i just don't like it it's just too much work but that's for me like there's nothing inherently wrong you know outside of cultural context like we'll see later on in the epistles where that was a sign of debauchery and sexual sin and stuff like that but for right here and now there's nothing wrong with a man out you know growing his hair out it's unusual which is another thing that's supposed to be an outward sign of an inward spiritual change which is why god forbids it not because you know it's just to look cool you know not because it's like oh that guy's a natural right well he's just better than us say no it's supposed to be a sign that you are dedicating yourself to god and this is an out obey of everyone around you knowing no his hair wasn't always that long why is that they took a Nazarite vow oh wow he's an example of all of us like that's something we should all look up to she did the same look like she always had long hair but this one's on camp this one's way longer than before it's like oh why did she do that she took a Nazarite vow it's like oh oh yeah women can be godly too you know this praser for what she's doing that's the goal is like not to just hype up the person but to hype up what they're doing and why they're doing it devoting themselves to god so by doing something unusual it's gonna bring attention which should make people think oh how am i devoting myself to god this isn't like oh wow now i need i need to become a Nazarite it's like oh did i forget that sacrifice that was supposed to do oh did i not make recompense for that sin that i committed oh i need to make things right between me and god that's what it's supposed to inspire people living out their lives in service to god now the forbearance of dead bodies you know even the relatives was to prevent the Nazarite from being unclean you saw all the many ways in the vidicus how someone can become unclean that was one of them being touching dead bodies well this is like hey keep it on your mind you are forbidden from doing these things because i need you to be the representative to the people of what pure and clean looks like in service to me so the fewer times you're ceremony unclean the better you look the more time you have devoted to serving god yeah this is someone saying all right lord i'm making a Nazarite vow and then they sit around in their house and do nothing and just grow out their hair and you know not eat grapes or whatever like no they're actively serving in some way shape or form they're doing work that's not expected of them as they are reaching out to god saying how can i get closer to you and how can i bring people closer to you this is not for the lazy this is not for the faint apart this is for someone devoted to him and denying yourself when a relative dies is something that not even the priests are expected to do if you recall from earlier they're allowed to touch the dead body to make themselves richly unclean but the Nazarite isn't because of how important a vow is completely separated from everything else in the law to show their devotion and love and submission to god that's why these things exist and look hey we don't need to make Nazarite vowels today now if you want to if you want those people it's like you know they're cool with following you know some of the old testament laws whether i don't recommend it but it's not like the worst thing you could possibly do like if you actually committed to doing something like this and it brought you closer to god and it allowed you to do things that you wouldn't have if you weren't thinking in the same way i'm not going to stop you but we're also kind of missing the point of why this exists in the first place to set these specific people who made the vow away from who they used to be and apart from their own people as they were bringing glory to god and their service to him that hopefully inspired other people to get better about their service to god so when we do get to samsung later on in judges when we do get to samuel uh probably bring it up next time i think i brought it up in luke for john the baptist and that was forever ago so correct me and if anyone actually remembers because i don't but like just be thinking why would these specific people make that vow what is it that god's asking me to do like is he asking me to like give up of my time is he asking me to be gentler as a person is he asking me to give up money or whatever it is asking like what do you want me to do in my service to you where do you want me to go who do you want me to talk to how can i be a better example for the christians around me so that i can inspire them to follow you as seriously as i want to follow you right now and once again not because i am so great or you're so great but because we have a genuine desire in our hearts to go to him and say lord where do you want me how do you want me to serve which can then inspire others to go and do the same sometimes that's what it takes people have been in the church their entire lives and never know god until someone makes a commitment to him and actually lives it out and has a bit of a spiritual jealousy that goes there and goes wait oh why am i not acting that way what's wrong about me and then hopefully they go and work out the relationship with god and then go and do it and hopefully that inspires someone else like we are supposed to inspire each other not to put people on pedestals saying that Billy Graham you know is you know greater than St. Augustine who is greater than Justin martyr or what have you is like no that's like using them as an example these men and women devoted themselves to christ how can i be like that and how am i different from them how does god want me to be me so just ask yourself that question and ask him too and guess what you're going to get the answers he's going to tell you where he wants you let me go from there versus 22 through 27 the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to Aaron and his son saying thus you shall bless the people of Israel you shall say to them the Lord blessed 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 so a curious movement away from where we were before now keeping once again in mind you know these chapters and verses that we have here you know weren't written by the original authors they are created for years beyond what they originally written for our benefit in a good way of modifying scripture of helping to figure out where things around so we can go okay well I know we're you know first chapter 6 22 is I don't know where you know that that portion of numbers we're like I think they were talking about the Nazarites and then it was like maybe something about offering it's a temple after that or tabernacle and they're talking about Aaron's blessing is I don't know what that is well guess what now you have an easier time of looking about a little segue there to justify the chapters and verses systems that we have but I think you understand my reasoning there so why is this here after we just talked about the Nazarite vowels and you know you know unfaithful and also sometimes faithful wise like what's going on well remember Leviticus because I guess these are separate books written by the same guy but they're following up on what happened before as we're going to see in the next chapter not always in chronological order but after all these things God has talked about it like organizing the people and making sure these certain rituals are followed and people are making things right with God he brings up Aaron and his sons why because it's their job to make sure that people are doing what they're doing when Aaron and his sons and their sons sons are doing what they're doing the people of Israel for the most part are doing what they're supposed to be doing so by talking to them in light of everything that's been said before now in scripture and I mean everything this is God speaking directly to them through Moses and bringing attention to them and showing how they're supposed to lead the people of Israel and righteousness so that God can bless the people of Israel and God can bless them for their hard work and dedication and endless care in the midst of what is always going to be a very difficult job look someone who has led certain portions of a church before I've never been the pastor I'm hoping to be there one day even is just a grunt in certain locations or even slightly higher than a grunt I see how poorly leadership is viewed by people in the church and some of that is because of bad leadership I've had that in the past some of it is resentment in people's heart that they need to work on and a good leader is doing a good job they need to be praised once again not for hyping themselves up and to make them prideful and think that they're better than everyone else but to know that they're doing a good job know how like you really know how you're doing a good job when people tell you you're doing it like yeah yeah I can know I'm doing something well but like it hypes me up even more when someone says hey that was a great sermon hey I understood this section better because of what you said that makes me a thousand times happier even though even knowing like yeah I did a great job today I just think about that God is praising the priests for what they're supposed to be doing and what they are currently doing don't forget that they are currently doing the things that God is telling them to do so for good leaders they need the same because yes God can speak to me God has spoken to me in the past and he has praised me before he's also reprimanded me before but I don't always hear his voice in the same way so God uses people in the church to talk to people in charge to say hey I enjoy the sermon here's xyz for y hey you organized one of the best parties we've ever had in this church one of the best lunches we've had in this church this could not have been done without you thank you for what you do hey those kids were taught one of the best lessons possible today because you stepped up there and you presented the word to them and they got to know more about Jesus Christ wherever it is in church leadership no matter how infinitesimally small you might think it is when a good leader is doing their job praise them within reason don't be a flunky don't be a toady don't do it to curry favor or to lift up there you know egos but because you didn't nearly mean it we genuinely mean it and we want them to continue doing a good thing so like encouragement goes a very long way kind of one of the purposes God is making right here keep doing what you're doing that is good it is pleasing to me the Lord keep doing what you're doing let me bless you and keep you my face is shining upon you and is gracious to you you can look at my face upon you and it's going to give you peace those are amazing things to hear how many times do we tell that even to ourselves that you know God is saying these things about us you know moments like I'm so far away like I'm doing wrong I'm sending you say yes well guess why it happens all of us but you're still his child you're still his beloved child and he is looking upon you and blessing you in ways that we can't even fathom but we're going to have to go on from there because I went away long enough out for these I probably should have split these up two and two I thought we'd breeze through I was dead wrong and we've got a long chapter to go through in chapter seven we're going to be going kind of having it going one through forty seven on the day when Moses had had finished setting up the tabernacle had annoyed and inconsequated it with all its furnishings and had annoyed and inconsequated the altar with all its utensils the chiefs of his real heads of their father's houses who were the chiefs of the tribes who were over those who were listed approached and brought their offerings before the Lord six wagons and twelve oxen a wagon for every two of the chiefs and one for each and and for each one in ox they brought them before the tabernacle then the Lord said to Moses accept these from them that they may be used in a service that attempted meeting and give them to the Levites to each man according to his service so Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of gershan according to their service and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of marabi according to their service under the direction of isamar the son of erin the priest but to the sons of kohati gave nothing because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder 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 and the Lord said to Moses they should offer their offerings one chief each day for the dedication of the altar he who offered his offering the first day was not shown the son of a minada but a tribe of juda and his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and a 70 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary both an in full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bowl from the herd one ramp one mill yeah a lamb a year old for the burnt offering one male goat for the sin offering and a foot of sacrifice of peace offerings two oxen five rams five male goats and five male yam lambs a year old this was the offering of nasha on the son of a minada on the second day nathanel the son of zu hard the chief of isacam and an offering he offered for his offering one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and a 70 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary both an in full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bowl from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for the sin offering 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 nathanel the son of zu war on the third day a lyab the son of heelon the chief of the people of zebulan his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and of 70 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary both an in full of fine flour mixed with oil for an offering for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bowl from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for the sin offering 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 elyab the son of heelon on the fourth day heelizer the son of shideware the chief of the people of ruben his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and of 70 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary both an in full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bowl from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for a sin offering 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 elyab the son of shideware on the fifth day shilambu well the son of zerushadai the chief of the people of simian his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and of 70 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary both an in full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bowl from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for burnt offering one male goat for a sin offering 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 shilumiel the son of zerushadai on the sixth day alaiasath the son of duel the chief of the people of gat his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base one was 70 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary both an in full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish for 10 shekels full of incense one bowl from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for burnt offering one male goat for a sin offering 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 alaiasath the son of duel man as someone who really really hates repetition these chapters they hurt and i need to get my mind right when i'm reading through them when i'm speaking them to you because as that part of me is because uh i mean you can just like excise uh the parts here that are repeated and just focus on the other names that are new and wow that could be useful i say the nay because this is still scripture and is it the most fascinating thing i have ever read in my life absolutely not but there is a purpose behind what is being written here and this is not not me coping i'm not inhaling the copium there is a purpose behind what is being done here i'm going to explore it more when we finish this chapter all but there are things we need to discuss first and that's what i mentioned earlier and that this is the first event if i recall correctly in the book of numbers that does not take place in chronological order with everything that came before this they happen about a month before the preceding chapters if the timeline i looked up was right i'd never been a timeline guy i think i've talked about it before on the show um even in my own writing i just have to like make sure okay i said it was it was this long that time okay i'm sure the numbers are right here and it's actually this much older here is when is his birthday it's not my favorite thing in the world but other people who are smarter than me have looked through it so i'm a trust them if they're wrong well i put my faith in a wrong person but it seems that this takes place before the events of what happens so why what why is this happening well as previously mentioned before multiple times in other episodes biblical writers don't always write in chronological order because chronological writing is not a modern phenomena but it is more appreciated shall we say in more modern times and this is not to say that no writer at this point in history was ever was you was never writing uh chronologically but most of the time when it comes to stuff like this unless they're doing an explicit historical narrative and even then sometimes they can go around in places chances are they're not writing chronologically in the way that we would think because there are themes being addressed in the work that need to be discussed first before we actually talk about what happened before that is a very confusing way of writing and i couldn't have any even mentioned it uh if i had chosen to chances are most of you if not all would have said okay well i guess this is a natural continuation from what came before but i don't believe in that i believe in setting things straight i believe in giving you truth and the truth and the matter is this is not written in chronological order i don't want to treat you like you idiots i don't want to treat you like you would never care about something like this and maybe you don't that's fine but i do and i will talk about it because it's my show for right it is a purpose and how this is being written by moses like points were being made about you know why you know historical segments were being written about first so that when events that actually came before them are written about we have a greater context and understanding of the events as a whole that can still be incredibly jarring and it is when you actually understand that this is not flowing in a chronological way but there's a purpose and a direction behind it the processions and sacrifices offered here show why there had to be a need for the organization of the Levi's to get all this groundwork done together that we see in previous chapters that actually happened after this chapter and it shows why they had to be separated as they did this is a massive undertaking like the sacrifices and gifts offered here are immense and require a lot of manpower to be cared for properly so there was a massive need to number the Levi's and the people of Israel and then set the Levi's and do specific jobs so that the next time this happened they would be more prepared as the original ceremony no doubt displayed we see this kind of runs smooth but that might just be because God was behind it not because they themselves were organized and sometimes in ministry they're going to be things that go oh man I mean like that crisis came and like we were okay but we weren't prepared for it we just kind of like like rolled with the punches and we rolled with the punch as well but maybe we shouldn't have to roll with the punches maybe we should be prepared so we can punch that thing in the face and it not be a problem and sometimes that's what it takes other times you can be prepared beforehand because someone else said hey what if this happens and you go oh man I hadn't considered that what if we're short you know by however many thousands of dollars in the budget do we have anything in savings oh man we should probably get some savings in the bank and we should be putting aside something like that or what have you in ministry like that's what we're trying this one of the things Moses is focusing on here is how to be prepared how to do things well but also as we'll get to and more in the next part of this chapter how the issues lights are being obedient you do not do these things well if you're not actually following God you can do these things you can give this stuff up and like you know a show of whatever but like every single tribe doing exactly what they're supposed to do the repeated amounts of things the same exact amount of things shows a sense of devotion that shows their devotion and love and worship to God now also I previously mentioned as a couple themes that are going here one of the major themes we're going to see is how this doesn't fit within the themes of what came before Moses was writing it now and we're going to see as I mentioned before how Israel is for a time devoted to God as opposed to how structured they were in their numbers like the first chapters are designed to display I'll get into I know that was kind of confusing I worded that poorly but it'll make sense in the next part of this chapter like these next few chapters are designed to showcase the faithfulness of the Israelites and how they responded to God's call to worship him follow him and be united as a nation that are made stronger if you're actually looking for these themes if they're written out of chronological order it's still jarring it still could have been something I could have just glossed over and everyone would have been fine but it's how it's written and we need to discuss it I'm not here to sugarcoat stuff I'm not here to like make things easy for anyone well sorry I'm here to make it easier to understand hopefully and if I'm failing on that please let me know but I'm not here I'm not here to just give you a sermon and have you walk away say okay that was fine like no there should be something that helps you understand what is happening here something that is helping you understand scripture and then having a call to what is being addressed here in our own lives to go okay that's what they did how can I do that for God now in my own context how can I do that in the church how can I do that my own life with my family what have you that's what you'd be ringing there and I raise more questions at times and then give you answers which is what a good teacher will do eventually I'm hoping that will inspire people to ask more questions to go why did I never think about that before why have I never cared about that before and then when you're on your own quiet time away from my voice you're asking more questions you're wondering okay Jesus said this Paul said that now the writer of second kings was addressing this specific sin of a specific king like what's what's the intent behind this why is it being written this way and that's going to help strengthen your faith that's going to help get you to where you need to be or closer to where you need to be because hey I hate to say it we're human we're finite we're never going to get up while we're on this rock but it's going to make our lives easier the more questions we ask and the more answers that we seek so with all that in mind God help me we're going to finish off chapter 7 verses 48 through 89 he said looking at the clock knowing this went on way longer than he thought I should know better on the seventh day Elisha the son of almihood the chief of the people of ephraim his offering was one silver plate and his weight was 130 shekels one silver base and a 70 shekels according to the shekels sanctuary both an and full of fine flour mixed with oil for grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bull from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for burnt offering one male goat for sin offering 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 alishima the son of almihood on the eighth day gamma lie out the son of padazur the chief of the people of manasa his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and a 70 shekels according to the shekels the sanctuary both an and full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bull from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for burnt offering one male goat for sin offering 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 gamma lie out the son of padazur on the ninth day abbadan the son of gidio and i the chief of the people of benjamin his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base has 70 shekels according to the shekels the sanctuary both an and full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bull from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for sin offering 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 abbadan the son of gidio and i on the tenth day a high as heir the son of amish die the chief of the people of dan his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and of 70 shekels according to the shekels the sanctuary both an and full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bull from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for sin offering 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 high as heir the son of amish die on the eleventh day pagell the son of acron the chief of the people of asher his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and of 70 shekels according to the shekels the sanctuary both an and full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bull from the herd one ram one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for sin offering 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 pagell the son of acron on a twelfth day aher the son of anand the chief of the people of naftali his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels one silver base and of 70 shekels according to the shekels the sanctuary both an and full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense one bull from the herd one ram one male goat gives gracious one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering one male goat for sin offering 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 a hera the son of anand 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 each silver plate weighing 130 shekels in each basin 70 all the silver the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary the 12 golden dishes full of incense weighing 10 shekels a piece according to the shekel of the sanctuary all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels all the cattle for the burnt offering 12 bulls 12 rams 12 male lambs a year old with their grain offering and 12 male goats for sin offering and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings 24 bulls to ram 60 the male goat 60 the male lambs a year old 60 this was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed and when mosas went into the tenor meeting to speak for 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 cherubim and it spoke to him so what was the point of all that Arunan listening a bunch of names and repeating a bunch of the same words what was the point why would god ask mosas to write this down please i need to know christian please i am so bored help me out here let me help you out let me help myself out because it shows the faithfulness of the israelites and their love and devotion to god that's why it's there you go okay sure why okay now for those of us raised in the church and maybe in some of you who've been outside the church how many times have we heard or even ourselves used i am guilty of this myself the example of the israelites as a people who just didn't get it right with god they never worshiped him is what we say we exaggerate they were always just running away from they never followed after him uh yeah we've used that a lot so is that wrong to say that yes because while the times when they were in apostasy are very notable and happen more often than they should in scripture we tend to forget the times when they were doing what they were supposed to be doing and then we don't praise them for what they were doing and right now what is happening in our view of them is we just make them these wishy-washy people who never really ever followed god with their hearts but this idea is patently false it is so very easy to make fun of them and mention their failures and how they they never serve god the right way but if we do that we're focusing we're accentuating the negative oftentimes because it makes ourselves look better or because we've never been taught the right way we've never been taught by some people that they actually did their job at times that they were actually faithful to god at times so remember these chapters of being written out of sequence chronologically in order to contrast the events that are going to happen later on in the book of numbers and even you could argue Deuteronomy as you see the events are happening in chapters seven through ten which are happening before the events of 11 to the 14 and before the events of one through six oh sorry seven through eight i think it'll once oh goodness gracious sounds messing me up too sorry all right it's a kind of a lot uh time it's not my thing but the point is these are being written specifically in this way in this manner to compare and contrast one through six god tells most do something most of us does something the people do that thing or there's the censuses whether it's following the specific rules seven through ten some of which don't happen in chronological order others of which do as far as to present author is concerned at that time are going to showcase how Israel is being subservient is being loving and worshiping the god who brought them out of Egypt 11 through 14 amongst other chapters in this book but i picked those instead of closest are going to contrast that with Israel's rebellion and their unwillingness to follow after god and their denial of his promises to bring them into the promised land and to conquer the land even though there are giants in the land even though the Canaanites are armed to the teeth these people are the same exact people who in these chapters right here are following after god loving him seeking after his word and worshiping him and giving him the glory and the honor and praise that he deserves those very same people not a couple weeks months later on when they leave Mount Sinai are going to be making the decisions they make there that are going to cost them 40 years in the desert and aren't we just the exact same way in our walks i mean yeah i pivot there and you probably saw it coming from a mile away but guess what it's true it's a cliche for a reason there are times when we are on fire we've got it going on we're we're praying regularly we're looking after the people who need help we're giving our money we're giving our time we're making sure things run smoothly we're making sure people are understanding the truth of scripture we're actually reading the book to ourselves and then there are times when we say man i'm not going to get up today i don't want to go to church or i was supposed to be a small group tonight but i can skip one week we find i volunteered to help out here but i'm going to tell them i'm sick or i don't even not tell them anything at all they don't know i've been charged in my life they don't need to worry about me and we were the same person a week before on fire you know giving of ourselves giving to the people who need to help you know worshiping god openly and like raising a hand up or or just doing it in your own heart or whatever in the middle of a worship service because that's who we are as people we are wishing washing we are not as focused as we like to think that we are we're not as logical as i like to think that i am i like to think of myself as a person perfectly logical person if i'm actually doing an honest self assessment of my life that has never been true sorry not never it has not been as true as i have wanted it to be because i'm human because i'm a screw up because i'm a sinner who is constantly having to fight his baser instinct and the israelites were no different than us in that manner if anything they deserve less scrutiny than us because we have more of the picture than they do they don't know the name jesus they don't know about the missionary journeys of paul of phillip of the other apostles who gave their lives up for the gospel they don't know about king david yet they don't know of the promised messiah in the same way that you and i do and yet they slipped away but also we slip away despite having more than them despite having access to better knowledge that a lot of people this day would have killed for i send it multiple times over i'll say it again we have the internet we we have especially those of us in america i know america's not the only place i reach i'm very happy for everyone else out there listening for americans for a second look at how gifted we are at any moment in time for a very small fee in certain places we can access the internet we can look things up we can ask questions and then verify the correct answer and not just look at what the ai assisted thing on google says it's amazing and some of the other people i know and other nations out there that are listening you guys have the same ability but i also know some of you don't i don't know how you're able to listen to me i'm very grateful for that i see the analytics there i'm very grateful you come here but you don't have the same resources and i know some of you would just just not i used to kill this very poor way of looking like you would give up anything you would sacrifice anything to have what some people here have and this is not say oh oh us poor americans blah blah blah like no no no we have been gifted and whom much is gifted much is expected and i think i can use that in light of the context of the information that we have in our disposal so utilize it and also when we're looking back quit using the Israelites as the butt of a joke unless the proper context is called for it guess what israel left god multiple times over in the history of their of themselves as a nation and currently as we speak because they're not seeking after him but we do the same thing with more than they ever had and we act like we're somehow better i mean is that chronological snobbery or not i mean what other better term could be made there so just think in light of everything here they're doing but they're supposed to be doing so praise them for their hard work praise them for their devotion to god and then when we get to the other chapters later on we can also say hey you should have been better and then point those fingers back toward us and go i should have been better i should have been i'm more capable of processing these tasks that god has given me i should not have lashed out in anger when i could have easily said hold on a second let me process what you just said or let me get away from this conversation so that my head is not heated or i using all this time at my disposal don't go to those places i'm not supposed to go and instead spend more time researching or spend more time on something that's more fruitful to my service to god like my chest is bad so i use them as the butt of a joke i'm saying to me because i definitely have in the past but also praise them right now if i think we lifted each other up more fewer bad things would happen in church i'm the saying that there would never be a bad thing i'm not a prosperity gospel guy but like i think what can be done when you're more motivated to do it yeah we should all be motivated to serve god yeah we know that logically but it helps when we're called out for doing good once again i said multiple times not because we want to make ourselves look good and i think i have to repeat this multiple times because i'm very guilty of it myself but because we want to serve the kingdom and it is easier to serve the kingdom when we're being praised for it when we're doing what's good once again not for the sake of accolades but for the sake of the lord who saved us from ourselves keep that in mind we go all this all those crazy years we lied say had god's presence right there the entire time i should have known better oh yeah we we don't have it in the same way but we know better just think about that praise the good this bearish the evil but work on ourselves first before we go anyway hey there's a reason he said to take the log out of your own eye first uh brothers and sisters i gotta tell you i got a pretty long log i've had to take out of my eyes and there's some days to think oh i've got it out and there's still more work to be done that's okay we're all in process here we're all getting there and we're going to see their faithfulness continued as we go through chapter eight starting in verses one through four the lord spoke to Moses saying speak to erin and say to him when he set up the lamps the seven lamp shall give light in front of the lampstand and erin did so he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand as the lord commanded Moses and this was a workmanship of the lamp lampstand hammered work of gold from his base to his flowers it was hammered work according to the pattern of the lord had showed Moses so he made the lampstand now earlier in Exodus uh 25 fire call correctly these lampstands were made now these seven lampstands hold a a useful practical purpose of gifting light imagine that but they are also there to represent the holiness and perfection of god and represent his light that illuminates the world from spiritual darkness lamps are meant to illuminate they're meant to help you see what we would not be able to see without light god is the same in the spiritual darkness of the world that we live in we cannot see straight without him we think we can but we can't so we see here that seven is something not only in this context but multiple others throughout scripture is oftentimes going to be used as the number that represents perfection and that's clearly the case here as well these lamps are meant to shine on the 12 loaves also that we read about in Exodus 25 that represent god shining on the 12 tribes of Israel as their ruler and ultimate authority so that they could know the light and warmth of his love and devotion to him this is just a small sign that few people are going to see in the tabernacle and yet it has immense repercussions for god's relationship with Israel of how he looks down upon them of how he gifts them with the ability to see and how he cares for them even in the midst of darkness to give them the opportunity to see light the opportunity to repent and reach out towards him and say father help me father save me there's no other god in the world that does that it's only the one and he did it for them and he does it for us he's the only one who can illuminate the darkness around us we'll finish off today by reading verses 5 through 26 and the Lord spoke the most the same take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them thus she shall do to them to cleanse them sprinkle the water purification upon them and let them go with the razor over all their body and watch their clothes and cleanse themselves then let them take a bull from the herd and it's grain offering a fine flower mixed with oil and you should take another bull from the herd for sin offering and you shall bring the Levites before to tend to meeting and assemble a whole congregation of the people of Israel when you bring the Levites before the Lord the people of Israel shall be there lay their hands on the Levites and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord is a wave offering from the people of Israel that they may do to serve us of the Lord little Levites shall leave 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 and you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons and you shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel and the Levites shall be mine and after that the Levites shall go into server to tend to meeting when you have cleansed them and offer them as a wave offering so they are holy given to me from among the people of Israel instead of all who open the wound the firstborn of all the people of Israel I have taken them for myself for the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine both of man and of beast on the day that I struck down on the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated myself for them and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel and I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from along to people of Israel to do to serve us for the people of Israel at the tend to 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 thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel took the Levites according to all of the laws commanded Moses concerning the Levites the people of Israel did to them 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 and after that the Levites went in to do their service and attempted meeting before Aaron and his sons as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites so they did to them and the Lord spoke to Moses saying this applies to the Levites from 25 years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting and from the age of 25 years excuse me yeah yeah from the age of 50 years they shall draw from the duty of the service and serve no more 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 and assigning their duties so now as we're moving around in time here the Levites have been organized they are now consecrated to their specific services to how they were forgot and it is now a time for them to be made clean and make the proper sacrifices to God now if you recall this first happened not the rest of the Levites but to Aaron and his sons in their roles as high priest and those who would be high priest that would serve as an example in the book of Leviticus but now it is the rest of the Levites turn to do the same thing so that they can go out and serve the people and be made holy before God so that they can be making the sacrifices talk about in the book of Leviticus for the good of the people and that's what's important here is they're following the example of their leaders then they go and do the same themselves so that they can do their jobs we need to do the same when it comes to our church when it comes to learning under our pastors learning under our elders our deacons our small group leaders who have you someone qualified enough to speak to us about the truth of scripture that can answer our questions or send someone to us who can answer our questions so that we can go and make disciples so that we can make people know about the God of the universe who made them loves them and wants them to be saved from destruction that wants them to be saved from themselves and that's what they in their own context were doing they didn't understand the salvation part yet but they understood the role that they had was to care for the people and just as they care for the people we care for the people no matter where we stand in the church there's not a single one of us out there who's called to hate our brothers and sisters there's no one out there who's called to be indifferent or to say that's someone else's job it's our job and I say that as someone who is quite misanthropic who doesn't like that responsibility and yet part of serving God has taught me to deny that part of myself to reach out to people in need to give up of my time to give up of my resources so that they can be freed from whatever they're wrestling with and they can be freed from sin they could be one with the father they can repent they can turn away from that immense path that they're going on instead go down the narrow path that only a select few will ever go down and ever be rewarded for but in the context of all this God also knows that the Levites cannot perform the same duties as they age so he offers a way out based on age to let them retire from their priestly life in order to not overstressed themselves and to recuperate from having lived the life and service to God this was especially important when they were alive it was the life expectancy it was far lower than it is for us and this allowed them to live their golden years in peace knowing that they did what they were supposed to do and they could reap the benefits from doing their jobs well and being rewarded for that while also allowing the next generation to take over for them so that the process could continue now in light of Israel's history does this happen on the time no but when it was done well it was done well it was done poorly it was done poorly praise to good despair to the evil and for this time God made these rules to be followed yes but he made them for a reason that was to take care of the people who were doing his good work in the world and let us do the same for our leaders whoever they are when it's time for them to retire we bid them farewell but we also take care of them we make sure that they're doing well we make sure you know that now as they get older in years that you know offenses are fixed or finances are looked after or you know what have you to make sure that they get to actually rest after serving God for as long as they have so just be mindful of that. Be mindful of a lot a lot of pointers added today definitely went on way longer than I thought I would but we got through numbers five through eight so thank you guys for heading on this journey with me for continuing please get a chance to do a five-star review on your podcasting platform of choice with help us with the ratings there if you're interested in my own fiction and writing you'd find my works to start from raduscule.com or an Amazon by starting from the name of M.C. Ashley if you're interested in some further solid studies into the Bible and its teachings then check out the other members of the Amazon Ministry's podcasting network you can find me specifically on systematic ecology why I don't like writing that fight and some joyful noises you can contact me at another thing moving podcast at gima.com I'd like to extend a special thank you to Joshua Knoll for the editing that he does and for music he has to the podcast and with all that in mind God bless you all in accordance to his blood not mine allow me one more time to remind you let nothing move you hey guys are you interested in podcasting but don't know where to go well check out synch caster.com and go ahead and make an account there and use special promo code let nothing move you all caps that way you can get 30 percent off of your next deal to go ahead and set things up so you can figure out how to edit stuff using synch caster.com to host your stuff to get things done there so check out synch caster.com use special promo code let nothing move you all right see ya
