Compare The Original Ordination Service with the last one at your church.

Numbers Chapter 8: The Levites are Consecrated

Numbers 8:1-26

I dubbed yesterday (May 1) my personal “Independence Day”. I had decided enough was enough. I will no longer let elitists and globalists turn me into a dumb sheep just because they have an agenda. I started going out and living life as normally as I could with whomever would join me. I recently invited members of my small group to join me this Sunday morning at the time of our regular service in the church parking lot, sitting in our respective cars and reading our bibles and praying. They will have to bring their own coffees. In the meantime, my enforced isolation is over. I’ll stay in long enough to continue my study in Numbers and share it with you.  So, hang in there and read on.

The Passage

 After the lamps were appropriately mounted in the tabernacle the first time it was set up, Moses was to take the Levites and “cleanse” them. This involved sprinkling purified water on them, letting them use a razor over their whole body, and washing their clothes. That would make them clean (vs, 7)

Verses 8-13 describe the ceremonial offering involved for the consecration of the Levites. Verses 14-22 describe again how the Levites belong to the Lord in lieu of all the first-borns of all the sons of Israel (we studied that in an earlier chapter). It is only then that the Levites can go about doing their work in, for, and with the tabernacle.

In verses 24-25, Moses is told that the Levites can only work in their calling from age 25 to age 50, and after that they can assist their brothers still working, but they themselves can do “no work”.

Thoughts on the Passage

Stepping back for a moment we see that this is a passage about the consecration of the Levites which feeds into the Sanctification through Worship that the Israelites had to go through, which in turn is part of a broader Sanctification and that in turn, is part of the Preparation of the Old Generation to inherit the promised land.

Notice, the lamps were in place. It was time to consecrate the Levites unto the Lord. Think of this like an ordination service for the Levites like you have for new pastors in your church. And it was also a time to clarify their term or duration of service – 25 years. We know that they could assist after that (and may before that), but in no way were they to actually carry out the official duties of the priesthood as outlined in the earlier chapter. What did God know about the appropriate age of a minister that we don’t?

We need to point out, in case you noticed a discrepancy with earlier chapters about their length of service, that David Guzik reminds us “A Levite's time of active service was to begin at age thirty and last until fifty according to Numbers 4:3, 4:23, and 4:30.  Yet their formal training began at age twenty-five, with a five-year apprenticeship.”

Matthew Henry tells us to pay particular attention to verse 10 were we read that the Levites were presented before the Lord, “and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.” This didn’t make the people the “consecrators” but rather just indicated their willingness to give up this tribe from among them in order for the Lord and His tabernacle to be served.  And God accepts them as such, as ‘His’ in verse 14.

Ministers who truly belong to God in every aspect that God intended them to are a very special, rare, and precious human commodity. We who are not must recognize that, but I also believe that we have a responsibility to make sure there is enough evidence of God being pleased with their ministry and with their lives. Where that is lacking, some of us will find it difficult to keeping on trusting them. Others of us, will recognize that such failure is also partly our fault as members and adherents of the congregation because we failed to encourage them, we failed to pray fervently for them, and we failed to recognize their needs. May God help us to do our part with respect to our parts and may we pray that they will continue to work closely with Him.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Consecrated or devoted anyone or anything to God lately? Here's the fine print.

Leviticus Chapter 27: On Consecration, Tithes, and Conclusion

Leviticus 27:1-34

Day 31 of self-isolation. A beautiful sunny, but cool, day here in Toronto. Everyone is hearing rumors of areas in the world opening up again and we’re all itching for our local government to give us the go ahead. In the meantime, let’s take advantage of our ‘downtime’ as best we can. A friend of mine who knows I have been studying Leviticus sent me this picture earlier today, just in time as we look closely into the last chapter of the book.  I knew there was another reason for doing this. 

The Passage

The majority of this passage is about consecration. You would do best to open a modern translation of your Bible and read it for yourself before we dig into it. Alternatively, I have tried to summarize the key points for you below.

Verses 1-8 discusses the consecration of persons. Verse 2 reads: “When a man makes a difficult vow, he shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the Lord.” Then verses 3-8 go on to describe that ‘valuation’ based on age and gender.
Verse 8 reads: “But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be placed before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the means of the one who vowed, the priest shall value him.”

Verses 9-13 deal with the consecration of animals, primarily as offerings to the Lord, making the person presenting the offering ‘holy’. However, if one is not sure it a clean animal, the priest decides, and puts a value on it, which would need to be paid if the one who owned wants to redeem it, and a one-fifth amount of the value would be added to the redeeming price.

A person can also consecrate his house to God and the priest will put a value on it (14-15) and if the person wants to redeem the house – take it back for his own use, he would need to add one-fifth of the valuation price.

Fields could also be consecrated (16-24). The passage talks about how that is done, and how the value varies depending on when it is done. It also talks about the fact that it cannot be redeemed if once consecrated, it is sold. And when the year of jubilee comes around, it does not go back to the one who consecrated in the first place, but rather to the Lord, the original Owner and passed over to the priest. The section goes describes how if someone consecrates a field to the Lord that he has bought, it requires a valuation by the priest and at the year of jubilee returns to the person from whom he bought it.

Verse 25 may stand on its own or may be applicable to all the consecrations identified earlier in the chapter.  It reads: “Every valuation of yours, moreover, shall be after the shekel of the sanctuary. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs.”

Verses 26-27 deal with the commandment that first-born clean animals already belong to the Lord and cannot be consecrated by man. Unclean (first-born) ones (e.g. a horse) can be redeemed and/or sold if not redeemed.

Verses 28-29 is about devoted things: “Nevertheless, anything which a man sets apart to the Lord out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the Lord. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.”

Verses 30-33 deal with tithes. This section talks about how we are to tithe on the land and its produce, and the herds or flocks. It also says that if a man “wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it.”

And the last verse (34) closes off the chapter and whole book of Leviticus by stating “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai.”

Thoughts on the Passage

This is a difficult chapter to make heads or tails out of, not only as to what God expected of the Israelites in those days, but what it may be saying to us today. Let’s start off with a modern (Wikipedia) definition of the word ‘consecration’:

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word consecration literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups.

Chuck Smith says this whole chapter is about us “being totally serious” when we commit something or someone (like ourselves) to God. We need to think about it, because going back on that commitment has an incredible cost. Sometimes we dedicate our children or animals and they turn out to be so good in some other area of life, that we want them back for ourselves. I think of parents who dedicated their children to the Lord, and they grow up to be doctors who want to serve in a third world country, but the parents want them to stick near home now that they’re doctors. God says, “okay, but it will cost you a 20% premium.” He doesn’t like this changing of our minds back and forth.

The consecration of persons. David Guzik suggests a person could dedicate themselves to God, or their children. I would assume that the Israelites could dedicate their slaves to God’s work, too. Valuation of those individuals was assigned as per God’s instruction. This was according to their age and general usefulness or potential contribution to society. More importantly, even a poor person could if they wanted to, give their life to the Lord, and the priest would assign a special value for them. I would assume that this value was in case one changed their minds and had to buy back their consecration as discussed above. Matthew Henry seems to indicate that some of the “redemption” may have been due to an over-supply of manpower for the tabernacle. Certainly not the case we find ourselves in today. Also, we note that females were less esteemed in those days, but that changed with Christ and the New Covenant for we know, “in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:28).

The consecration of houses. Sometimes people would sanctify their houses to be used for God’s service.

Verse 25 implies a fee of some sort, but little information or commentary can be found on that. [Do let us know if you are more successful.]

For animals and First-born clean animals – see me thoughts in the passage section above.

Devoted things. David Guzik talks considerably about this as he writes:

To devote something to the Lord was a further step than consecration by a vow; it often had the meaning of destroying the item (or executing the person) so that it could not be utilized by anyone else, and all of its [deemed or assessed] value was given to God.  Joshua 6:17 among other passages, translates this word ‘devoted’ with the word ‘accursed’ – because that thing devoted to God would be destroyed, being used for no other purpose. For these reasons, an item devote to God could not be “bought back” by giving its value plus 20% to the tabernacle treasury; it had to be given – and presumably destroyed – unto the Lord. . .. In this sense also, one could not escape execution by being “bought back” from the Lord; they had to face the penalty [that God had set] for their crime.

Tithing. Smith says you need to understand that God just takes claim of one-tenth of everything. There’s no room for quibbling here. Image how much better off the world would be if every person in it just followed that one commandment. And we are not to borrow on our tithes – keep our hands off of it, God says. If you do borrow, you need to add 20%. That’s some interest. What do I mean by borrowing? Well, perhaps for some of us it means delaying paying out title – especially our regular title to our local church. Perhaps this interest penalty should apply to us?  Hey, I’m not making this up – it’s right here in God’s Word and the concept of tithing has not disappeared with the New Covenant.

Last words. Guzik reminds us that these were not mere traditions and customs, though men began to attach traditions and customs to these commandments; these were - and are - the commandments (not suggestions) of the LORD. Woe to us who may neglect the ones that can be and were intended to continue with the New Covenant.

I have found Leviticus to be much more interesting than I expected. I hope you did as well. Next time we embark on the study of what many may consider the least interesting book of the Bible perhaps because of its name – Numbers.  That’s it. Numbers. Well, some people find numbers to be fascinating. Let’s find out.  Thanks for joining me on these studies. Let me leave you and Leviticus with these words from Chuck Smith:

Now as we go through the book of Numbers, whenever you get into the numbers, just skip [them] if you want. It's not required reading. When you get into the genealogies of the families, skip those, they're not required reading. I'll let you off on that, but there are some neat little nuggets buried in some of these genealogies, and truths, and thoughts.

I look forward to finding those gems with you.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

How has your church dealt with the "consecration" of your pastor or pastoral team?

God’s Details, Not Moses’, and certainly Not Ours Today

Leviticus 8:1-30

The first thirty verses of this chapter refer to a “consecration” that God commanded Moses to carry out (verses 1-5). It involved cleansing the Priests with water (verse 6), donning them with special garments (verses 7-9), anointing them with oil (verses 10-13), and consecrating them with blood (verses 14-30).

Thoughts on the Passage

Now that the tabernacle had been completed, it was time to consecrate those that would work in it and serve the people as priests. 

First, we note that God commanded this consecration of the priests.  And secondly, that it was to be done in the presence of the “full congregation” which was to be assembled at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

Second, this involved all the priests, from father Aaron down to his last son.

Third, the priests were to have special clothing which included a place for the Urim and the Thummin, which were to help them determine God’s will for a particular issue or question posed. Today, as believers and all part of the Royal priesthood, each of us is clothed in Jesus Christ and His righteousness (Revelation 3:5). David Guzik says these ‘clothes’ are given freely by Jesus but received and ‘worn’ by us in faith.

Clearly, this was a ceremony which demonstrated that the priests were being “set apart” and part of that was the need for the atonement of their sins, as well as a committing of their entire lives to the ministry and service God was calling them to.

Finally, of noteworthiness here is the fact that this whole ceremony was not done “à la Moses” but rather according to God in every detail.  Sometimes we do things in our churches attempting to replicate a ceremony we note in the Bible, but we often choose to add our own touches. We need to be mindful that whatever we do – we do not add or subtract from what the Bible teaches us was done by God in the O.T. or Christ in the N.T.  I suppose the whole way our churches observe the Communion meal will come to mind for many of us. And perhaps it should.

How has your church dealt with the "consecration" of your pastor or pastoral team?

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Been to Any Effective Ministerial Ordainations Recently? Exodus 29 Sets the Pattern.

-->

Exodus 29: Sacrifices for the Consecration of Priestly Garments; the Daily Offerings.

Exodus 29:1-46: In chapter 29 of Exodus, God gives detailed instructions for each of the items listed in our heading. Please read your preferred version of Scripture in parallel. Below we simply highlight some of the key features of the chapter for our study.

The first nine verses of this chapter instruct the children of Israel as to how they need to consecrate or ordain their priests.  This included a special sacrifice, dressing the candidates with their special priestly garments, and anointing their heads with oil.

Chuck Smith suggests that the first order of business was a sacrifice by Aaron, “because he is to be serving for the people before God, he had to have his sins taken care of. So the first thing was a sin offering to take care of the sins of Aaron, washing him with water, putting on these robes, anointing him with oil, and then the offering of this sin offering.” The message is simple we cannot really and effectively minister for God unless we ourselves have been ministered to by God.

Verses 10-18 give the details of a bull and a ram sacrifice.  Verse 18 talks about the burning animal being a burnt offering and “a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.”

Verses 19-25 speak of the second ram being slaughtered and some of its blood being put on the right ear lobes, right thumbs, and right toes of the priests (Aaron and his sons). This was very important and symbolized a special “life” consecration.  Smith describes it as follows:

"I consecrate my ear to hear the voice of God. I consecrate my hands to do the work of God. I consecrate my feet to walk in the path of God." A life of consecration unto God. "That I may hear His voice, that I might do His work, that I might walk in His path." 

Their lives were indeed to be “set apart” – there’s no getting around that when we serve the Lord.  So many of us try to have our right foot in God’s service and our left foot on the golf course; our ears are listening to the Word of God while we’re enjoying rock music or a Hollywood movie in the background.

Verse 21 talks about consecrating their garments.  Some of the cakes of bread and other things were to be waved by the priests as a “wave offering before the Lord”.

Verses 26-28 give us instruction about the breast of one of the rams (Aaron’s to be precise) along with the thigh of the “heave offering” (which is not explained earlier in the chapter; although some believe it is so named because it was heaved up in the air in addition to it being waved). These become the priests’ portion thereafter. All these animals had to die because “sin brings about death” and their sacrifice is symbolic of that.

We are also told that the duty of the priests was for a week at a time – seven days and they had to wear their priestly garments each time they entered into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

Verses 31-34 speak of Aaron and the priests eating the ram and bread (left at the doorway of the tent of meeting) by which atonement was made in their ordination and consecration. The layperson was warned not to eat them because they were holy. What is left over for the next day was also to be burned and not eaten, for the same reason. Smith suggests that once something has touched the altar, it is consecrated to God and you could not take it back. “It then belonged to God; whatever was laid on the altar it became God's. If you laid your life upon the altar, then it becomes God's; it isn't yours to take back again. It no longer belongs to you.” So many of us try, especially when things get tough, and while I believe you alone can ultimately make the decision to abandon your faith just as you were free to enter it, the outcome is not what you will want in the final analysis.

The next few verses give instructions for seven daily offerings that will make the altar itself purified and consecrated for its service.  Thereafter it would be holy and anything that touches it would be holy. I wonder if today there is something to be said for “consecrating” articles to be used in God’s service such as a building, a vehicle, a printing press, etc.

Verse 38 instructs the Israelites to, from that point forward, offer two one-year old lambs each day, continuously. One is to be offered in the morning and one at twilight. This is a pretty big order indeed even before we get to how the lambs are to be prepared. It requires much cooperation of the volunteers from among the people of Israel to be able to keep up with it.  Makes one wonder how well our volunteers are doing in diligently keeping up with the details of the ministry they are involved in.

And then in verses 42-45 God repeats His desire and intention to meet with and speak to His people at the tent of meeting. Verse 45 indicates that not only do we consecrate and ordain people and things to God’s service, but so does He. And it is thus that He “will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God” (verse 45).

And the result of all this is made clear in verse 46: The people, God says, “shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.”

Matthew Henry takes this chapter to its next level by showing us how it foreshadows the good things that were, and are, to come for the believer with the following thoughts:

·      Our Lord Jesus is the great high-priest, called of God to be so, consecrated for evermore, anointed with the Spirit above his fellows (whence he is called Messiah, the Christ), clothed with the holy garments, even with glory and beauty, sanctified by his own blood, not that of bullocks and rams, made perfect, or consecrated, through sufferings.

·      All believers are spiritual priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices, washed in the blood of Christ, and so made to our God priests. They also are clothed with the beauty of holiness, and have received the anointing. Their hands are filled with work, to which they must continually attend; and it is through Christ, the great sacrifice, that they are dedicated to this service. His blood sprinkled upon the conscience purges it from dead works, that they may, as priests, serve the living God. The Spirit of God (as Ainsworth notes) is called the finger of God . . . and He effectually applies the merit of Christ to our souls, as here Moses with his finger was to put the blood upon Aaron. It is likewise intimated that gospel ministers are to be solemnly set apart to the work of the ministry with great deliberation and seriousness both in those who do the ordaining and in the ordained, as those that are to be employed in a great work and entrusted with a great charge.

·      The daily service appointed near the end of the chapter:

o   Typified the continual intercession that Christ ever lives to make . . . for the continual sanctification of his church: though he offered himself once for all, yet that one offering thus becomes a continual offering.

• Teaches us to offer up to God the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise every day, morning and evening, in humble acknowledgement of our dependence upon him and our obligations to him. Our daily devotions must be looked upon as the most needful of our daily works and the most pleasant of our daily comforts. Whatever business we have, this must never be omitted, either morning or evening; prayer time must be kept up as duly as meat-time. The daily sacrifices were as the daily meals in God's house, and therefore they were always attended with bread and wine. Those starve their own souls that keep not up a constant attendance on the throne of grace.

After studying this chapter and reading the thoughts of some insightful commentators as we have, we need to stop and ask ourselves a very important question: "Just how faithful am I being to the consecration that God and others bestowed on me when I became a Christian?"

 

-->

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Also, I’ve read some good books and make some great recommendations for you at http://astore.amazon.com/accorconsu-20  which you can purchase right from there.  Finally, check us out at Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Does Moses Add His Own Condition Regarding Consecration? -- Exodus 19:14-15

So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments.  And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”
 

Every once in a while we are presented with a text in Scripture that some of us may find a little problematic or at least one that we need to dig deeper into.  This is one such verse for me, as you will see.

After God tells Moses that He wanted him to consecrate the people and to prepare them for His coming down “on Sinai”, Moses does return to the bottom of the mountain and consecrates the Children of Israel.  The people did indeed wash their garments as a symbol of their willingness to present themselves as being clean before God, but what about their hearts, their minds, and their lives or behavior?  The answer seems to reveal itself in later chapters and books of Scriptures.  While washing our clothes, we would do well, Matthew Henry suggests, to be thinking about washing our souls by repenting from the sins we have committed since our deliverance. He also writes, “It becomes us to appear in clean clothes when we wait upon great men; so clean hearts are required in our attendance on the great God, Who sees them as plainly as men see our clothes. This is absolutely necessary to our acceptably worshipping God.”  Note he is not saying we need our “Sunday best” to be worn at all times, but is calling for the equivalent in clean hearts.

But the real problematic part for me was the issue of whether or not the message of the need for consecration was only for the men?  Is that why Moses warned them “do not go near a woman” again until we have met with God?  If not, why was that said?

Commentator Chuck Smith simply states that this was spoken to men with respect to their wives.  That is, they were not to have sexual relations with them for this short period of time.  They were to just really set themselves aside for God, and God alone.  And perhaps since it was the men who in those days dominated the sexual relationships between husband and wife, Moses addressed this statement to them, while the whole consecration matter was intended for all the Children of Israel.

Moses was saying, “Look if you want to have done all you could to be ready to meet God when He comes down on Sinai, you need to focus on Him and that means no sex with your wives until after that – it’s only two days.”  You may think that what Moses was asking for was a little too much.  Well, maybe.  I must admit I am a little puzzled by it especially as we have no record here of God demanding this.  However, in I Corinthians 7:5, the apostle Paul writes the following: “Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”  That’s the New Testament take on the same matter.  But it is addressed to both the husband and the wife.  Society had changed much on this topic from the day of Moses to the time of Paul.  The matter of equality of husband and wife, before God, continued to evolve as a concept in the New Testament, and neither Jesus nor the Apostles taught against this progression.

There is an excellent book on this very development, as well as two others, in Scripture written by William J. Webb. It is entitled Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring The Hermeneutics of Culture Analysis.  Intervarsity Press, 2001, is the publisher.

Did Moses add something here on his own initiative?  Perhaps he did, but God allowed it to remain as part of His Holy Word.  And Paul supported it many years later.  Did Moses do this because he felt it was appropriate and/or what God would expect?  Not sure.  This was not the last time that Moses was to act on his own.  And when he did so another time it cost him dearly.  However, here, clearly, even if he acted on his own initiative as a leader, God did not disapprove of his action.

Here’s the bottom line for me.  If we want to meet with God on the mountain and hear His voice and get His directions for our lives, it cannot be on a spur of the moment type of thing.  Great preparation is necessary.  And that means physical, mental, and spiritual consecration.  Sometimes I fear far too many of us are guilty of simply wanting what God has for us, but not willing to do our part to receive it.  Salvation may be a free gift of God that we cannot deserve or earn, but walking closely with God and benefitting from His being our Lord and Master, Teacher and Friend, requires hard work.  Just ask Moses or the host of other saints God has used mightily through the ages.

_____________________________________________________________________

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.