3/24/11
Numbers 18-20
Responsibility of Priests and Levites
Numbers 18:1 The Lord said to Aaron: You and your sons and your ancestral house with you shall bear responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, while you and your sons alone shall bear responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. 2 So bring with you also your brothers of the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, in order that they may be joined to you, and serve you while you and your sons with you are in front of the tent of the covenant. 3 They shall perform duties for you and for the whole tent. But they must not approach either the utensils of the sanctuary or the altar, otherwise both they and you will die. 4 They are attached to you in order to perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; no outsider shall approach you. 5 You yourselves shall perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that wrath may never again come upon the Israelites. 6 It is I who now take your brother Levites from among the Israelites; they are now yours as a gift, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service of the tent of meeting. 7 But you and your sons with you shall diligently perform your priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and the area behind the curtain. I give your priesthood as a gift; any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.
The Priests’ Portion
8 The Lord spoke to Aaron: I have given you charge of the offerings made to me, all the holy gifts of the Israelites; I have given them to you and your sons as a priestly portion due you in perpetuity. 9 This shall be yours from the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs that they render to me as a most holy thing, whether grain offering, sin offering, or guilt offering, shall belong to you and your sons. 10 As a most holy thing you shall eat it; every male may eat it; it shall be holy to you. 11 This also is yours: I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due, whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the elevation offerings of the Israelites; everyone who is clean in your house may eat them. 12 All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the choice produce that they give to the Lord, I have given to you. 13 The first fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it. 14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15 The first issue of the womb of all creatures, human and animal, which is offered to the Lord, shall be yours; but the firstborn of human beings you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, you shall fix at five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary (that is, twenty gerahs). 17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall dash their blood on the altar, and shall turn their fat into smoke as an offering by fire for a pleasing odor to the Lord; 18 but their flesh shall be yours, just as the breast that is elevated and as the right thigh are yours. 19 All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the Lord I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and your descendants as well. 20 Then the Lord said to Aaron: You shall have no allotment in their land, nor shall you have any share among them; I am your share and your possession among the Israelites.
21 To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for a possession in return for the service that they perform, the service in the tent of meeting. 22 From now on the Israelites shall no longer approach the tent of meeting, or else they will incur guilt and die. 23 But the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear responsibility for their own offenses; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. But among the Israelites they shall have no allotment, 24 because I have given to the Levites as their portion the tithe of the Israelites, which they set apart as an offering to the Lord. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no allotment among the Israelites.
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 26 You shall speak to the Levites, saying: When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them for your portion, you shall set apart an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. 27 It shall be reckoned to you as your gift, the same as the grain of the threshing floor and the fullness of the wine press. 28 Thus you also shall set apart an offering to the Lord from all the tithes that you receive from the Israelites; and from them you shall give the Lord’s offering to the priest Aaron. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall set apart every offering due to the Lord; the best of all of them is the part to be consecrated. 30 Say also to them: When you have set apart the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the wine press. 31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households; for it is your payment for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 You shall incur no guilt by reason of it, when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy gifts of the Israelites, on pain of death.
Ceremony of the Red Heifer
Numbers 19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2 This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid. 3 You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 The priest shall take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson material, and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he may come into the camp; but the priest shall remain unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening. 9 Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification offering. 10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.
This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them. 11 Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days. 12 They shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if they do not purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day, they will not become clean. 13 All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves, defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. Since water for cleansing was not dashed on them, they remain unclean; their uncleanness is still on them.
14 This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel with no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches one who has been killed by a sword, or who has died naturally, or a human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt purification offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel; 18 then a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on whoever touched the bone, the slain, the corpse, or the grave. 19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean ones on the third day and on the seventh day, thus purifying them on the seventh day. Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean. 20 Any who are unclean but do not purify themselves, those persons shall be cut off from the assembly, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Since the water for cleansing has not been dashed on them, they are unclean.
21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. The one who sprinkles the water for cleansing shall wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for cleansing shall be unclean until evening. 22 Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.
The Waters of Meribah (Ex 17.1—7)
Numbers 20:1 The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? 5 Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 8 Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.
9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and by which he showed his holiness.
Passage through Edom Refused
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us: 15 how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors; 16 and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17 Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King’s Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
18 But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, or we will come out with the sword against you.” 19 The Israelites said to him, “We will stay on the highway; and if we drink of your water, we and our livestock, then we will pay for it. It is only a small matter; just let us pass through on foot.” 20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large force, heavily armed. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through their territory; so Israel turned away from them.
The Death of Aaron
22 They set out from Kadesh, and the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. 23 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, 24 “Let Aaron be gathered to his people. For he shall not enter the land that I have given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up Mount Hor; 26 strip Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar. But Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the Lord had commanded; they went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation. 28 Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
Rufus King was born this day, March 24, 1755. He was one of the signers of the U.S. Constitution, Minister to England; and a Senator from New York. A Harvard graduate, he was aide to General Sullivan during the Revolutionary War. At 32 years old, Rufus King was one of the youngest delegates at the Constitutional Convention. In a speech made before the Senate at the time Missouri was petitioning for statehood, Rufus King stated: “I hold that all laws… imposing… [slavery] upon any human being are absolutely void because [they are] contrary to the law of nature, which is the law of God.”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
It is better to live in the desert
than with a nagging, irritable wife.
In the home of the wise are fine treasures and oil,
but a fool quickly devours it.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Decreasing into his purpose
He must increase, but I must decrease. --- John 3:30. Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
If you become a necessity to a soul, you are out of God’s order. As a worker, your great responsibility is to be a friend of the Bridegroom. When once you see a soul in sight of the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been in the right direction, and instead of putting out a hand to prevent the throes, pray that they grow ten times stronger until there is no power on earth or in hell that can hold that soul away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we become amateur providences; we come in and prevent God, and say—‘This and that must not be.’ Instead of proving friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say—‘That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him.’
Beware of rejoicing with a soul in the wrong thing, but see that you do rejoice in the right thing. “The friend of the Bridegroom … rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” This is spoken with joy and not with sadness—at last they are to see the Bridegroom! And John says this is his joy. It is the absolute effacement of the worker, he is never thought of again.
Watch for all you are worth until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another. Never mind what havoc it brings, what upsets, what crumblings of health, rejoice with divine hilarity when once His voice is heard. You may often see Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it. (Cf. Matt. 10:34.)
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Careers (Not That He Brought Flowers)
Fifty-two years,
most of them taken in
growing or in the
illusion of it--what does the mem-
ory number as one's
property? The broken elbow?
the lost toy? The pain has
vanished, but the soft flesh
that suffered it is mine still.
There is a house with
a face mooning at the glass
of windows. Those eyes - I look
at not with them, but something of
their melancholy I
begin to lay claim to as my own.
A boy in school:
his lessons are
my lessons, his
punishments I learn to deserve.
I stand up in him,
tall as I am
now, but without per-
spective. Distant objects
are too distant, yet will arrive
soon. How his words
muddle me; how my deeds
betray him. That is not
our intention; but where I should
be one with him, I am one now
with another. Before I had time
to complete myself, I let her share
in the building. This that I am
now - too many
labourers. What is mine is
not mine only: her love, her
child wait for my slow
signature. Son, from the mirror
you hold to me I turn
to recriminate. That likeness
you are at work upon - it hurts.
Thomas, R. S. Selected poems, 1946-1968
Pesaḥim 50b
We live in a world that is very complex. In order to try to make sense of it, we often fall into the trap of simplifying things. Issues are black or white, people are good or bad, countries are allies or enemies, statements are true or false. But experience teaches us that life is not so simple. Truth is to be found in many places, in many shades.
There is a well-known tale called “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” Four men, unable to see, are led to an animal they know nothing about. One touches the trunk and concludes that the elephant is like a hose. Another feels the tusks and assumes that the animal is as hard as a rock. The third pats the body, and thinks the beast is like a mountain. The fourth blind man holds the tail and conjures in his mind the image of a rope. Which of the four was right? They all were correct. There was truth in what each thought, but alone, each had only part of the truth. The total story could be discovered if they accounted for their own limitations and sought to share what they knew with their fellows.
There was truth in what Bet Hillel thought and truth in what Bet Shammai thought. Both of their teachings contained the words of the living God. The secret of Bet Hillel’s success was that it understood that arrogance and self-righteousness only blind us to discovering the whole truth. By admitting that other people have much to teach us, we open our eyes and see things that were hidden from us before. By recognizing that our answers are not the only answers, we open ourselves up to learning and understanding. Modesty and humility are the keys that enable us to search for, and find, the subtleties of truth in all places.
Even if for the wrong reason, eventually it will be for the right reason.
Text / Rava contrasted two verses: “It is written: ‘For Your faithfulness is as high as heaven’ [Psalms 57:11], but it is also written ‘For Your faithfulness is higher than the heavens’ [Psalms 108:5]. How is this possible? In the latter case, it refers to those who do [a mitzvah] for the right reason; in the former case, to those who do it for the wrong reason. This follows Rav Yehudah, for Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: “A person should always occupy himself with Torah and mitzvot, even if for the wrong reason, for eventually it will be for the right reason.”
Context /
I will praise You among the peoples, O Lord;
I will sing a hymn to You among the nations;
for Your faithfulness is as high as heaven;
Your steadfastness reaches to the sky.
Exalt Yourself over the heavens, O God,
let Your glory be over all the earth!
(Psalms 57:10–12)
I will praise You among the peoples,
O Lord, sing a hymn to You
among the nations;
for Your faithfulness is higher than the heavens;
Your steadfastness reaches to the sky.
Exalt Yourself over the heavens, O God;
let Your glory be over all the earth!
(Psalms 108:4–5)
Rava notices two biblical verses which are identical except for one word. This seeming discrepancy in the book of Psalms allows Rava to ask: Is God’s faithfulness as high as the heavens (as Psalms 57 attests) or higher than the heavens (as Psalms 108 claims)? (The translation uses “Heaven/the heavens,” but the verses use the same Hebrew word, shamayim, for both. This word can be translated either way.) This inconsistency allows Rava to expound on the verses and make a point.
If one does a mitzvah for the wrong reason, then God’s faithfulness to that person is as high as heaven. However, when one performs a mitzvah for the right reason and with the correct motivation, then God’s faithfulness extends higher than the heavens.
Rav Yehudah explains that it is best that one live a life of Torah and perform mitzvot with the right intentions; but it is better to do a mitzvah even with the wrong intentions than not to do one at all, for “even if for the wrong reason, eventually it will be for the right reason.” That is, even if one performs a mitzvah without the proper intent or with totally wrong intent, that person may, by virtue of having done a mitzvah, eventually learn to do the mitzvah for the right reason.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. --- John 17:11
How [does] this prayer give evidence of Christ’s tender care and love to his people?
1. His love and care was obvious in the choice of mercies for them. He does not pray for health, honor, long life, riches, and the like, but for their preservation from sin, spiritual joy in God, sanctification, and eternal glory. No mercies but the very best in God’s treasure will content him. The rest he is content should be dispensed indiscriminately by providence, but these he will settle as a heritage on his children. See the love of Christ! Look over your spiritual inheritance in Christ, compare it with the richest, fairest, sweetest inheritance on earth, and see what poor things these are to yours.
2. He pleaded your concerns with God at a time when a world of sorrow surrounded him on every side, a cup of wrath mixed and ready to be delivered into his hand. At that very time when the clouds of wrath grew black, a storm coming such as he never felt before, one would have thought all his care, thoughts, and diligence would have been employed on his own account to mind his own sufferings. No, he forgets his own sorrows to mind our peace and comfort.
If Christ so amply showed his care and love for his people in this his parting hour, then we conclude the perseverance of the saints is unquestionable. Do you hear how he pleads! how he argues! how he chooses his words and sets them in order, how he winds up his spirit to the very highest pitch of zeal and fervency? Can such a Father deny the persistence and strong reasonings and pleading of such a Son? O, it can never be! He cannot deny him. Christ has the art and skill of prevailing with God. If the heart and hand of God were hard to be opened, yet this would open them, but when the Father himself loves us and is inclined to do us good, who can doubt of Christ’s success? --- John Flavel
(27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.The Lost Rest: Hebrews 3:7–11
This New Testament passage is a divine commentary on the event we have just reviewed. Hebrews 3 also contains one of the clearest explanations of our personal responsibility to God today.
The writer of this passage quotes from Psalm 95:7–11, which focuses on the attitude of the Israelites who came out of Egypt. Their hearts were hardened against God, and they were “always going astray.” But for us: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried Me and for 40 years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, “Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.” So I declared on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
that today you would listen to his voice!
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people
whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.”
Therefore in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
(323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.