Num 1-6
Key Verse 6:27 "So they will put my name on the
Israelites, and I will bless them."
Introduction: while Israel was serving Egypt as slaves, God
freed them from slavery through inflicting 10 plagues upon Egyptians, the last
one of which was the death of all firstborns. Being forced by fear, Egyptians
urged Israel to go out to worship their God. Since then God led about 2
millions of Israel through the desert for three months and reached at the Mt.
Horeb. (1/3m/1yr Exo 19:1). There God offered a contract based on His promise
to Abraham.
Exodus 19:4 'You yourselves have seen what I
did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then
out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the
whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
In this way, God and Israel had an agreement; God to be
their God and Israel to be God’s treasured possession among all nations of the
world; priesthood nation. In this
agreement at the Mount Horeb, God came down and gave them directly the Ten
Commandments, and along with other laws. Also to be their God meant that God
would be with them literally. To do so, God gave them how to prepare a place
for Him, the tabernacle. When all are finished according the design that God
showed to Moses, God came down on the tabernacle in the midst of the Israel
camp. In this way, the relationship in covenant between Israel and God was
solidified. This made the end of recording of Exodus. From this point on, what
would be the next movement? The next step of this newly formed ‘nation with
God’ or ‘a kingdom of priest’, was to move forward to pursue the land of God’s promise
to Abraham (Gen 12:7; 15:16-21).
So this newly formed kingdom of priests was to move forward
to take the possession of the Promised Land as their everlasting possession. The place where they were, i.e the Mount
Horeb, was in the middle of desert in Sinai Peninsula. From there to the land
of Canaan was about 500 miles, passing through desert, and other nations. The
motif of this travel and final occupancy of the Promised Land are the
underlying themes of the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua.
The book Numbers starts immediately after God coming down in
the tabernacle among Israel (1/2m/2nd yr) and ends when Israel
reached to the plane of Moab by the Jordan River on the first day on 11th
month of 40th years. At the plane of Moab, Moses readdressed to the
new generation on their Covenant with the Lord. This part is the record of the
book of Deuteronomy.
So the book of Numbers is mostly historical in nature and
records what happened during the journey in the wilderness spanning over about
38 years and 9 months.
Ch 1-10 is about a preparation to depart for a journey at
Mount Sinai. This section is divided into two; first part (ch1-6) is about how
to set up the camp and how to keep the camp in a blessed way. The second part
(ch7-10) is how to maintain a right relationship with the Lord, the commanding
general or king of the camp. Today’s
message will be on the first part.
1.
Do census and camp around the tent of the
meeting (ch. 1-2)
The first step to prepare for the journey was to do the
census. So God said this to Aaron:
2 "Take a census of the whole
Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one
by one. 3 You and Aaron are to count according to their divisions all the men
in Israel who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army.
Aaron with the help of one from each tribe did the census of
all men above 20 years old and the result was this:
45 All the Israelites twenty years
old or more who were able to serve in Israel's army were counted according to
their families. 46 The total number was 603,550.
This included all tribes except the Levites. They were
excluded from the census so that they might be in taking care of the tabernacle
of the covenant law—over all its furnishings and everything belong to it.
(47-50)
After taking census, each tribe set up their tent around the
tabernacle as God said:
2:2 "The Israelites are to
camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under
their standard and holding the banners of their family."
“2:34 So the Israelites did
everything the LORD commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under
their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of
them with their clan and family.”
In looking this carefully, it is noted:
·
on the east: under the standard of Judah are Issachar,
Zebulon; all children of Lea
·
on the south: Under the standard of Reuben are Simon,
Gad; all children of Lea, except one,
Gad, a son born through her maid Zilpah
·
on the west: under the standard of Ephraim are Manasseh, Benjamin; all children of Rachel,
·
on the north under the standard of Dan are Asher, Naphtali. (first son
from concubine by Bilhah) ; children of
Rachel through her maid Bilhah and one from Zilpah.
As we see here, sons through Lea lead East and South, sons
through Rachel lead East and North. Since Rachel had only two sons, north
standard is under Dan, a son through Bilhah, the maid of Rachel, representing
the sons of concubine.
Order of birth was important and counted, and heritage from
birth(mothers) was counted, good and bad characters was taken into consideration
in particular character/work commendable to God’s perspective. In this way, this camp was set amazingly
equally.
Out of all these, two things that are important to note. As
we know, the direction of the movement was toward the east. This means that
the standard of Judah was set to head the way of the entire camp. It should be the first son Reuben’s standard. But his
standard was pushed back behind Judah’s. The obvious reason is found in
Jacob’s blessing to his children;
Genesis 49:4 Turbulent as the waters,
you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch
and defiled it.
Genesis 49:8 "Judah, your
brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your
father's sons will bow down to you.
We understand that through the process of his brothers’ reconciliation with Joseph, Judah
played the key role by putting his life as a prisoner on behalf of
Benjamin. Through him, the 10 brothers were reconciled to Joseph. Repentance,
and forgiveness leading to reconciliation were the key spirit that ran through
Judah’s line. God blessed Judah’s tribe and made it to lead the whole camp. The
standard of Judah represents that spirit and God wanted that spirit to lead the
whole march toward the land of God’s promise. One more, here Levites were not included in
the census and not under any camp. This will be discussed in the next.
Over all what does the layout of the entire camp teach us?
First, there are two circles surrounding the tabernacle with a
distinctive purpose of each circle. The
four division camped surrounding the tabernacle with some distance so that the
Levites may form the inner circle of camps. In this way, in the warfare, the function or role of outer circle is to fight
enemies and the inner circle is to support the tabernacle, the residing place
of the command, the Lord. The
difference in purpose of these two is shown in the census
as well. The 12 tribes were to do census on all men over 20 while the Levites of
the age from 30 to 50 were to work.
Second, the basic layout of this camp is for the
wars against all hostile enemies.
This purpose was revealed when God told them to do census for the people
who were to serve as army. Also positions of the four divisions, as well as four
camps of the inner circle Levites to protect and to serve the tabernacle, and
putting Judah’s division, the most powerful (166,400), at the front, two next powerful
divisions on both flanks (Reuben 151450; Dan 157,600) and the weakest one in
the rear (Ephraim 108,100)
Third, the tabernacle is at the center. This is the head quarter where all commands
come out and these two circles of camps are to protect the tabernacle in two
different ways. One is to protect from
the outside enemies and the other is to uphold within.
Paul called believers as soldiers of Christ. (2 Tim 2:3; Phm
2) So the spirit of soldier and journey motif are important part of Christian
community. Along this war analogy, Paul said that we have won the victory
against our war against the power of death(1 Cor 15:55,57) John said the similar
thing(1 John 5:4) Ultimate victory will be rewarded with the right to eat from
the tree of life in the paradise of God (Rev 2:7)
2.
Levites
is dedicated to serve the Lord (ch 3-4)
God directed Moses to have Aaron and his descendants to serve as priests. They were:
2 The names of the sons of
Aaron were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 3 Those
were the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to
serve as priests.
Here first two sons of Aaron died when they made an unauthorized
fire before the Lord. The other two, Eleazar and Ithamar were to serve as
priests. Also God directed Moses this regarding the Levites.
5 The LORD said to Moses, 6
"Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist
him. 7 They are to perform duties for him and for the whole
community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. 8
They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling
the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. 9
Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given
wholly to him.
The Levites were to
assist Aaron and his descendants to serve at the tent of meeting by doing the
work of the tabernacle. For this purpose
God told Moses not to do the census along with the other tribes. Why did God
choose the Levites among all the tribes?
11 The LORD also said to
Moses, 12 “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of
the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine,
13 for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in
Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or
animal. They are to be mine. I am the LORD.”
When God saved all the firstborns of Israel from the angel
of death, He had taken their lives as God’s. Since they were as good as dead
but were let to live by God’s grace, their lives were not anymore theirs but
God’s. In this way God had full right to claim the firstborns of Israel as His.
Now in
place of the firstborns of Israel, God wanted to take Levites as His.
Why did he choose the Levites among all the tribes? The answer can be found in
the Golden-calf incident at the foot of the Mount Horeb. While Moses was
receiving the Ten Commandments from God at the top of the Mountain Horeb, at
the foot of the mountain, Israel people made a golden calf as their God and
indulged in orgies. When Moses came down, he said this;
Exodus 32:26 So he stood at the
entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me."
And all the Levites rallied to him….
It was not easy to kill their brothers but the Levites was
zealous for the Lord and came forward and killed all those who were involved in
idol worship.
29 Then Moses said, "You have
been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and
brothers, and he has blessed you this day."
The third son Levi’s tribe committed themselves to the Lord
against their brothers. God wanted those whose hearts were fully committed to
the Lord and He counted Levites’ zeal for the Lord and assigned this tribe to
serve the tabernacle, the most honored position.
But in replacing the firstborns with the Levites, there was
a problem. The Levites were 273 short of
all the firstborns of Israel. If the Levites were to fully represent all the
firstborns of Israel then they needed 273 people more. So God told Israel to
pay redeeming money 5 shekels for each for 273 firstborns. By doing so, the
Levites could fully represent all the firstborns of Israel. In this way, not
only in number but also ‘redeemed’ status, the Levites took the place of all
the firstborns. In this way they were better positioned than the rest the
tribes. In addition, if the firstborns are the strength of the father (Gen
49:3) then we can assume that God prefers the ones whose hearts are committed
to those who had the best strength of a man.
Do the census of the
Levites: Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Gershon’s clans
were to camp on the west and to take care of the tabernacle and tent. Kohath’s
clans were to camp at the south and to take care of the sanctuary. Merari’s
clans were to camp at north side and to take care of the frames of the
tabernacle. In this way the three clans
of Levite’ children camped around the tabernacle. Regarding the entrance to the
tabernacle, i.e. the west side, God said this:
38 Moses and Aaron and his sons
were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, in front of the
tent of meeting. They were responsible for the care of the sanctuary on behalf
of the Israelites. Anyone else who approached the sanctuary was to be put to
death.
Aaron and his children, i.e priests only were to camp at the
entrance to the tabernacle and they were only allowed to enter the sanctuary.
Here by the positions of their camps, a clear order of command was established;
Aaron, his children as priests, to the Levites and then to the rest of the
tribes camped outside of the Levites. The authority is not related to their
abilities or talents but about how close they were or how much they committed
to the Lord, or how much their spirit was in line with the Lord.
3.
The
camp must be pure (ch. 5-6)
Having arranged the camp for each tribes, God directed Moses
to purify the camp. To purify the camp, God told Moses to do three things:
a.
Send away anyone who has defiling diseases
1 The LORD
said to Moses, 2 "Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone
who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is
ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. 3 Send away male and female alike;
send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where
I dwell among them."
b.
he guilty must repent and make restitution;
5 The LORD said to Moses, 6 "Say to the Israelites:
'Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the
LORD is guilty 7 and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make
full restitution for the wrong they have done by adding a fifth of the
value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged. To other men, it
is full restitution and to God it is an atonement for the wrong doer. There shall not be any wrongs left unresolved
in this camp.
c.
Unfaithful wife/unfound jealousy
This severs the trust between a husband and wife. This will
surely breakdown families, the basic building block of the community. The unity
in trust, though it is often invisible, must be kept up as the unity of the
camp was to be upheld through the holding the banners of their family. Since the
problem is more often hidden or secretive, it is difficult to uncover. Here a
complicated process was ordered to find the source and to punish the wrongs.
But after all, God will determine who’s wrong. If a wife is wrong, her
offspring will not survive and her offspring will be cut off from the
community.
d.
Nazirite vow
Nazirite vow is from anyone of the camp. Once one made such
vow, he must take a very stringent procedures. They must separate themselves
from three things; wine, the application of a razor to their head, and a
dead body. If he came into contact with a dead, then he had to make the
prescribed offerings necessary for the removal of ceremonial defilement and
then restart all over again. All these were to make sure that he is clean
acceptable to the Lord. If this is to be
made, it must be genuine and according to the absolute purification law or
procedure or God’s holiness. Overall, Nazirite
vow opens a door for an individual to access God’s blessing and was to promote
each individuals commitment to the Lord, apart from the set
structure—tabernacle and its lawàLevitesàeach tribes and its
governing rules. Nevertheless, the quality of purity shall not be
compromised and must meet as this entire community was set for the purpose. We
have to note the following; it is available
for each individual apart from the system, i.e. Levites and priests. Also it is
temporary. Nazirite vow does not move one from under the standard of their
family. Despite of the fact that this is allowed to all and it is special, the
purifying process shall not be compromised and must meet fully as if going
through the prescribed route of getting to the holiness. What does this tell
us about this camp? The writer allotted the whole length of the chapter to
describe Nazirite vow. So much it is important and commended for the purpose of
keeping the community holy and acceptable to the Lord, suggesting that all or
each member of this community must strive to be pure and holy, seeking God’s
mercy.
What might be purpose of these four commands? All these
commands are for the purpose of making the community holy as God is holy.
They are stated not meant to define what is wrong or not to prevent for them
from violating the law but to redeem or to rectify the wrongs so that they be
included in the holy community and at the same time this community may be holy
as the Lord is present among them. As for the Nazirite vow, the author devoted
this issue on the whole chapter, far more than other issues on purity; it was important
to promote the holiness opening an access to the Lord among the people, apart
from system or through the Levites. In other word the whole community must make
all efforts to be holy as God was present among them. Holiness is in keeping the position in order
and receiving the blessing flows from the tabernacle through Aaron. This is
readiness of the community for the journey and war. Yet no matter how purely devote oneself to
the Lord, it cannot be permanent; they were as they were as God set and
determined.
4.
Benediction
of the Priest
God told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons how to say in
blessing for his people. This benediction was the benediction of Aaron for the
whole community.
Numbers 6:22 The LORD said to
Moses, 23 "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the
Israelites. Say to them: 24 "'"The LORD bless you and keep you; 25
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn
his face toward you and give you peace."' 27 "So they will put my
name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."
In v 22, God
told Moses to tell Aaron how to bless the Israelites. In general God gave
message to Moses and Moses delivers the message to the people of Israel.
Instead, at this time, Moses was to tell how Aaron and his sons to bless the
Israelites. In other word, this would be a general principle how Aaron and his sons,
including his descendants as priests, were to bless the whole Israel. It
was not of his own making but was what God taught him to do. It means that out of his heart, Aaron must ‘bless’
his people as the man of authority over his people and the high priest of the
nation. In this way, God not only revealed what He
hoped to see from his people but also forcing Aaron and his children to
conform their hearts toward his people according to this will of God and at the
same time pointing out what their administration must focus on. God
also further set Aaron and his descendants, i.e. priests, to lead and to control
over the entire Israel so that God’s blessing might flow from them to the
community of Israel or they might be prepared to receive God’s blessing.
For convenience, it will be divides into three parts;
it was how to ‘say’ in order
to bless. So they had to say word by word exactly as Aaron bless Israel and was
implied that no variation or modification was allowed.
Each
sentence is a compound sentence connected with ‘and’. First clauses of each
sentences are about God’s action of his favorable affects toward Israel and the
following clauses are about the result of God’s action on Israel. First one is
to bless, instead of cursing or doing
nothing. The second is for God to ‘make
his face shine’ on Israel. It moves further from simple act of ‘blessing’
to having his face to shine, an active giving of His light’ removing darkness from Israel. The next action of God is
moving further to turn his face toward Israel and looking at them with joy and smile. It is like a meeting face to
face with happiness and joy. It is like a boy hiding behind his mother because
of fear of father’s rebuke and spanking after stealing father’s money. He is in
fear of father’s rejection and punishment. Instead, that father may keep him
and move forward to shine on him the truth of life and then to give him peace
by forgiving him and accepting him fully as his son with a big smile, giving
him ultimate peace with his father. Each of these three would result in progressively
better outcome on them; from simple keeping, then to being gracious and then to
giving the peace, the best comfort in and with the Lord God. On each sentence
God is repeated as the Lord for them and as the one and only source of
blessing.
Overall,
what shall be the result of Aaron and his sons’ blessing upon Israel? Such will and words of blessing
should ‘put’ God’s name on Israelites. When God’s name is upon their
hearts, then God will bless them; God’s blessing will come upon them. This
shall be the overriding principle that they must create and lived by that this
benediction must be repeated again and again, becoming a liturgical ‘recitation’.
What
then could Israel move God’s heart? In this liturgical blessing, there
mentioned nothing that Israel should or could do. Literally there was nothing they
could do because they were all sinners and could not do anything but offending
God’s righteousness and holiness. The only thing was to seek God’s grace and
mercy from the beginning to the end. Simply Israel were to beseech God’s mercy
from the beginning to the end. Amazingly this is what God did when he sent His
son Jesus so as to forgive all sins of his people in mercy and grace.
Isn’t
it interesting to know that in such an air tight set up as God’s people for
success and blessing, where God was so close to them and yet that God was so
fearful and far away because of fallibility of men? It is interesting that they
were so powerful having the Lord of the world within them and yet they were so
vulnerable because they were so close to God of righteousness and holiness. In
this fact that God was so close and yet he was so far away and fearful to get
to because of sins of men, Israel had no choice but to beseech God’s mercy so
that they might be able to see, meet, and keep Him as their Lord for good.
The entire camp and all set up unveils this this truth. So at the birth of a
new nation under the covenant, and at the beginning of the journey to the land
of God’s promise, survival, success, and attaining to the possession of the land of God’s
promise depends on how much Israel knew her sinfulness and how much she beseech
God’s mercy.
This
is amazing grace of God, which God had shown at the fall of man and at the
beginning of a new nation of God. This was fully fulfilled and starkly revealed
through his son Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice for sinners.
We
are to know how close we are to the Lord and how far we are from the Lord in
our sins. At the same time in His grace and mercy we have become so close to
become member of His family and share even now the inheritance of him, who is
sitting at the right hand of God Almighty. In this closeness with Him, we will succeed in
our journey to the land of God’s blessing, the eternal kingdom.
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