In Today's Email:
Numbers 8 Notes
This chapter is the consecration of the Levites to the Lord’s service.
vs. 1-4- Directions for lighting the Golden Candlestick within the Temple. See Exodus 30:8.
vs. 5-22 – The Levites are consecrated so they can begin their service. They were to be sprinkled with the water of purifying (we’ll learn more about that in Chapter 19), to be completely shaved of their hair, and their clothes washed. A bullock is offered to make atonement for their sins.
vs. 23-26 – The Levites were to serve from ages 25-30.
Numbers 9 Notes
This chapter contains the first Passover after leaving Egypt and instructions for moving the camp.
vs. 1 – If you are paying careful attention, much of the information we have seen so far in Numbers is not chronological. Verses 1-14 of this chapter take place before 1:1. This is not uncommon in Jewish writing. They have a tendency to group things thematically rather than list them chronologically.
vs. 2-5 – The Passover is kept at Sinai, the first since leaving Egypt.
vs. 6-14 – The Law is not void of grace! For those unable to keep the regular Passover, a second Passover was allowed to be kept one month later. This alternative was not an option but rather a fallback when necessary.
vs. 15 – This refers to the setting up of the Temple in Exodus 40.
vs. 15-23 – The movement of the pillar of cloud/fire was God’s mechanism for guiding the nation of Israel during their years camping in the wilderness. When the cloud moved, they moved. When the cloud stayed, they stayed.
Numbers 10 Notes
This chapter has the first move of the camp along information about its organization.
vs. 1-10 – Silver trumpets were made to be used in sounding signals to the camp. These were blown to signal attacks, gatherings, or to mark special days.
vs. 11-28 – Here is the first moving of the camp and directions for moving. The order of the tribes as they march is given as:
1. Tribe of Judah
2. Tribe of Issachar
3. Tribe of Zebulon
4. Gershonites and Merarites
5. Tribe of Reuben
6. Tribe of Simeon
7. Tribe of Gad
8. Kohathites
9. Tribe of Ephraim
10. Tribe of Manasseh
11. Tribe of Benjamin
12. Tribe of Dan
13. Tribe of Asher
14. Tribe of Naphtali
vs. 29-32 – Moses talks his brother-in-law Hobab (means “beloved”), son of Reuel/Jethro, to accompany them to the Promised Land. He appears to have been swayed by Moses, as we see his descendants settled around Jericho in Judges 1:15 and 4:11.
vs. 33-34 – The first journey was a three-day march, led by the cloud and the Ark.
vs. 35-36 – Here are recorded two blessings or prayers of Moses that he would pronounce if moving or staying.
Closing Thoughts
It is impossible to read these chapters without noting God’s order and guidance. Israel spent a year at Sinai, receiving the Law, preparing the Tabernacle and priesthood, and sanctifying themselves. God did not move them until all was ready. But when they were ready, He begins to lead them forward. It must have been tempting for the Israelites to break away from Sinai and rush to the Promised Land, but they were not ready. Trust in God’s preparation and timing.
Hymn for Today
Our hymn for today is “The Desert Journey” by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889). It is a poetic retelling of the journey to the Promised Land with a slight Christian re-imagining. While most of it lines up well the historic journey of Israel, this poem ends at Salem. This makes the wilderness journey a metaphor for our lives until we reach Heaven.
Safe across the waters,
Here in peace we stand,
See the wrecks of Egypt
Strewed along the sand.
Safe across the waters,
Foes for ever gone,
Now we march in safety,
God our guide alone.
'Tis the silent desert,
Sand and rock and waste;
But the chain is broken,
And the peril past.
Onward, then, right onward!
This our watchword still,
Till we reach the glory
Of the wondrous hill.
For the journey girded
Haste we on our way,
The pillar-cloud above us,
Guide by night and day.
Burning skies bend o'er us,
Beneath, the burning soil;
Jehovah ever near us
In our thirst and toil.
On through waste and blackness,
O'er our desert road,
On till Sinai greets us,
Mountain of our God.
On past Edom's valley,
Moab's mountain-wall,
Jordan's sea-broad rushings,
The pillar-cloud o'er all.
Past the palm-shaded city,
Rock and hill our road,
On till Salem greets us,
City of our God!