Rambling Through Scripture

I want to look at two chapters today, chapters 3 and 4. They go together. There are a couple of things I see in these two chapters. The first thing to see when reading these chapters is the counting of the Levites and the counting of the first born males of all the Israelites. When counting the Levites we see that every male was to be counted from 1 month old up. The total was 22,000 males in the tribe of Levi. Now the count of the First born males came to 22,273. The purpose of this count was that the Levite males were to be the substitute for all the first born males in Israel. It was a one for one substitute. The extra 273 males were bought back at a cost of 2 ounces of silver per male. This totaled 34 pounds of silver. The Levites were to work for Aaron and care for the tent of meetings. Notice that the Levites are descendants of Aaron and Moses. Aaron’s sons were specifically set aside to be the priests. If you recall and we are reminded here that Aaron’s two oldest sons were ...

Chapter 2 simply consists of laying out the placement of the tents in the camp. What we see here is an illustration of what we often hear, that of God being a God of order. Notice that as you read this passage the tents were to be set up in a certain way, facing a certain direction, under the family flag. Each family was placed on a specific side of the tent of meetings. Application Even the minor things as setting up camp God is concerned about. What seems random, is not, what seems happen chance is not. God is a God of order. He is not surprised about what happens in life. There is order and direction. The other thing we see here is that if God is interested in the placement of tents don’t you think that he is just a little interested in the things of your life and wants to bring order and direction to you. Will you listen to what he is saying to bring that order to your life?

Imagine that a book titled Numbers start off with a count. In this case the count has to do with those of military age. This is what I would call the first Selective Service registration. In verse 3 we see God tell Moses, while in the Sinai Desert that he is to list every male by name who is at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty. This count is similar to those males in the states who are of 18 years of age. The count was to be done in a specific way. Aaron and Moses were to take a specific male that God had chosen to help in the count for each tribe. Verses 5 – 15 lists these males. Every male of eligible for military duty and their ancestry was to be listed. You can read the count for each tribe in the following verses. The total eligible for military duty was 603,550. What is interesting in this chapter is that they were divided into divisions that had their own flag. If you look at our modern military we are divided into divisions. T...

This chapter talks about things and people set aside and dedicated to God. The bottom line what is dedicated to God remains dedicated or must be bought back. It is a matter of holding ones promise and one of promises that must be held the strongest is the ones we make with God. We see in verses 1 – 8 that is speaks to a person that is vowed to be given to God. The expense to buy this person back is steep. This is shows the importance of human life and of one’s commitment to God and promises made to him. In the rest of this chapter it deals with the giving of animals, homes, land etc. Overall what we see is that what is set aside to be given to God is considered holy and it must be given unless there is given an opportunity to buy back the item. It is not cheap to buy these things back. We see at the end of this chapter the first mention of a tithe to God. In verses 30 – 33 it talks about one-tenth of what comes from the land belongs to the LORD. If you buy back any part you must add on...

In this chapter we see three major sections. 1. God’s promise to those who keep his laws. 2. God’s curses for those who break his laws. 3. God will remember his promise. These are fairly straight forward when we look at this passage. We are blessed and reward because we obey God’s laws. We are in his favor. If we choose to disobey his laws there are consequences for disobeying. The consequences increase the more one refuses to deny God and walk away from him. What shows God is the same yesterday, today, and forever is the showing of grace and mercy he has. This was not a new concept because of Jesus coming we find an example of his grace in verse 40 through 46. God says that if the people will repent, confess their sins and humble themselves he will remember his promise to Abraham. Look at the end of this chapter. We see that though he forgives them there are still consequences for their sins. We often think that because we ask God to forgive us that he should immediately relinquish t...

In this chapter we are in general dealing with three sections. The year to honor the LORD, the Jubilee for the land and the jubilee for the people. The over lying them that I see in this chapter is that we must remember who’s we are and who truly owns all that we have. The year to honor the LORD was the first year that they were in the promised land. For this first year they were not to harvest. For the next 6 years they could harvest as normal. The seventh year was to be a year of Jubilee for the land. They were not to harvest or plant during this year. It was to give the land a time of rest. It is similar to working for six days and resting on the seventh. In this case it is a larger scale for the land by working the land for six years and letting it rest in the seventh. There are many other things connected to this year of Jubilee to include returning land to the one you got if from. The reminder that the Israelite did not have a permanent home but they were travelers with their onl...

Chapter 24 is divided into two sections. Section one is dealing with the duties in the tent, specifically dealing with the bread and the lamps. Section two deals with various types of punishment for various types of offenses. Most of the section deals with what requires capital punishment. The bread was to be made in a specific way with specific ingredients. The purpose of the bread was to be set aside as holy and was to be eaten only by Aaron and his sons. What strikes my interests the greatest is the fact that the lamps were to be remained lit from dusk to dawn. Providing a physical light in the physical darkness. Possibly a analogy to spiritual light in a spiritually dark world. Though I am glad that we live under grace and not under the law there is a part of me that can’t help but consider what kind of world would we have if we held to some of the laws. Specifically considering some of the punishments for ones actions spoken of in the second part of the chapter. We have a...