One way or another, God wanted His 'first-borns' from all Israel, but see how generous He was.

Numbers Chapter 3: The Organization of the Priests – Part 1

Numbers 3 – The Levite Census, their Ministry

Today marks the completion of our five weeks (35 days) of self-isolation due to the coronavirus outbreak and our government’s response to it. Some places around the world have re-opened; others have not. Here in Ontario, Canada where I live the premier has promised to put a re-opening plan together but there is no word as to when that will be ready and when it will be implemented.  Meanwhile it is cold (minus 1 Celsius this morning and minus 7 with the wind factor) and thus we can’t even go out and do some work in the garden.  So, we press on – inside.  And studying God’s Word. 

The Passage

This chapter begins God’s instructions for how the Levites are to be organized to get their work done within their own ‘camp’ arrangement.
Chapter 3:1-39 describes the separate census as related to the Levites and their ministry.
Chapter 3:40-51 describes the ‘substitution of the Levites for the first-born’ and we repeat it here for further study and comments below:

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ^[a]make a list of their names. ⁴¹ You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded him; ⁴³ and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the Lord. ⁴⁶ For the ransom of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, ⁴⁷ you shall take five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty ^[b]gerahs), ⁴⁸ and give the money, the ransom of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” ⁴⁹ So Moses took the ransom money from those who were in excess, beyond those ransomed by the Levites;⁵⁰ from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365. ⁵¹ Then Moses gave the ransom money to Aaron and to his sons, at the ^[c]command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 3:40 Lit take the number
2. Numbers 3:47 I.e. A gerah equals approx one-fortieth oz
3. Numbers 3:51 Lit mouth

Thoughts on the Passage

I would be remiss if I were not to mention that each of the sub-groups of the Levites had been given special responsibilities with respect to the tabernacle and with respect to Aaron’s needs, as their overseer. You can check those out by reading verses 1-38 of the chapter. In Numbers 3:39 we learn that there were 22,000 Levite males from one month of age and upwards.

In verse 40, God wanted Moses to number the ‘first-born’ males of those 22,000. Those belonged to God. He would accept them rather than all the ‘first-borns’ of all the Israelites. The same was the case for cattle. God would have as His all the cattle of the Levites, as a substitute for all the first-born cattle of all the Israelites. Some may argue that God was easing His original terms here. Perhaps He was.

In verses 42-43 we learn that the ‘first-borns’ of all the males in Israel (not just the Levites) totalled 22,273. That’s 273 more than the number of Levite first-born males one-month of age and older (vs 40). So, by the old system God would have had 273 more first-borns given to Him. He would be short-changed.  Hold that thought.

We need to point out that once the Levite first-borns were counted, a similar census needed to be done again for the other tribes of Israel. You will remember that in chapter 1 of Numbers the males that were counted were from age twenty years and up. Now, these non-Levite first-borns had to be counted from age one month and up in order to be able to compare apples with apples (or first-borns with first-borns).

Before we go on, let us point out David Guzik noticing a discrepancy in the numbers and writing:

The total of 22,000 Levites given in verse 39 does not tally with the totals of the individual Levite clans given in verses 22, 28, 34 which come to 22,300. The discrepancy is most easily explained as textual corruption in verse 28. The number of Kohathites may originally have been 8,300. 3 (Hebrew sls) could quite easily have been corrupted into 6 (ss)." (Wenham)

Robert Jamieson suggests some other reasons for the difference, but in essence ends up including Guzik’s reason as a possible cause, when he writes:

The omission of the three hundred is variously accounted for--by some, because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God and could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because in Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The most probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for another of like form but smaller value.

If Guzik is correct, then the figure in verse 43 is the one we need to use – 22,000.

In verses 46-47 God wanted Moses to collect as ‘ransom’ five shekels for each of the 273 first-borns that were in excess of the 22,000 males. One question that arises in my mind is how one determines which ones specifically were the 273 that would not be accounted for by the 22,000 first-borns of Levites, and from whose fathers Moses needed to collect the ransom. It appears that Robert Jamieson may have an answer for us when he writes:

Every Israelite would naturally wish that his son might be redeemed by a Levite without the payment of this tax, and yet some would have to incur the expense, for there were not Levites enough to make an equal exchange. Jewish writers say the matter was determined by lot, in this manner: Moses put into an urn twenty-two thousand pieces of parchment, on each of which he wrote "a son of Levi," and two hundred seventy-three more, containing the words, "five shekels." These being shaken, he ordered each of the first-born [of the non-Levites]to put in his hand and take out a slip. If it contained the first inscription, the boy was redeemed by a Levite; if the latter, the parent had to pay.

This money was collected and given to the chief priest, Aaron, and his sons (vs. 48). And verse 49 says that Moses took the money from those that “were in excess” – but it is not clear of what they were in excess of. We do know that ransoms had been paid for those first-borns not in excess from the Levites. (Confusing, I know.). Verse 50 says he collected 1,365 shekels (5 X 273) and he gave it to Aaron and his sons as God had commanded (vs. 51).

In closing our study of Numbers 3, let us absorb the words of Matthew Henry which he penned at the end of his commentary on this chapter:

The church is called the church of the first-born, which is redeemed, not as these were, with silver and gold, but, being devoted by sin to the justice of God, is ransomed with the precious blood of the Son of God.

What more could we ask for? And it isn't by drawing 'lots'.  

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

The God of Order and Organization.

Numbers 2:1-34 How God Wanted the Various Tribes to Camp Around the Tabernacle

Day 34 of our self-isolation. The world is slowing opening up. My daughter’s southern U.S. is opening its beaches today and some non-essential businesses as long as some precautions are taken to avoid the spread of the virus. The big issue these days seems to be those local government (municipal and state/provincial) that are encouraging “snitches” to report violations. I’m all for reporting crime. The so-called ‘crime’ these folks want reported is activity that has been banned in opposition to the Constitution in the U.S. and the Charter of Rights in Canada. At the very least they oppose our right to not be enslaved in our own homes. As I wrote on one of my social media walls, “Most Canadians know it is the foot in the door to further totalitarianism. My response and hopefully that of others will be NYET and NEIN.”

Still we press on. Today we look at Chapter 2 of Numbers which outlines for us that God cares about where we ‘stand’ and where we ‘camp’ to best perform the work and responsibilities He has for us.

The Passage

The 34 verses describe where each tribe was supposed to camp around the tent of meeting or tabernacle. They were to display their own specific banners and were to keep their distance from the tabernacle. The Levites would be in the midst of all the other camps.

Thoughts on the Passage

What was interesting to me here was that God wanted each family member to join their father’s household and then their broader family, and camp with them. There were no “sleepovers” elsewhere.  Everyone had to be in their place because everyone had to be accounted for when the time came to move camp.

Chuck Smith also points out how important it is for God to be in the center of our community. We in the western world, for the most part, have thrown God out of our communities – at least out of schools, governments, official public meetings, sports events, and to a certain extent out of our justice systems. Having “In God We Trust” or the equivalent on our coins as the U.S. still does, has almost become a hypocrisy on its own.

David Guzik tells us that the taking of Canaan, if God had His way (and He always does), would not be accomplished by a mob, but by an organized and orderly group. He tells us that God is a God of order and that there is a limit to what we can unorganized and none of nothing is done without order if it is of the Lord. (Oh, how we need to remember that at some of our church annual meetings.) Secondly, we are to accept the fact that God orders and organizes things in accordance to His wisdom, not ours.  We are to seek the wisdom of God and get on board. Guzik ends his comments on this chapter with this:

“The tribes of Israel camped around four banners, which were said to be a lion, a man, a calf, and an eagle. We find the same four creatures surrounding the throne of God in Revelation.”

Don’t know if we’ll ever get that far in our study but it is amazing to at least note that an early Old Testament book is linked to the promise of what is to come and what we are to enjoy as we’re told in the Bible’s very last book. What amazing “master writer” God is!

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

Never thought an O.T. census would mean so much.

Numbers 1:1-54 The First Census

Day 33 of self-isolation. Protests to end the shutdowns are increasing as people realize they’ve been duped, and we have over-reacted to this particular virus, as serious as it is. Most of us see light at the end of the tunnel. Most important for the Christian right now is to discern what God is saying to the world and to each of individually. We press on. Thanks for joining me in the study of Numbers.

The Passage

Verse 1 provides the time in history that this census occurred.

Verses 2-5a provide a description of how the counting is to take place and who is to be counted.

Verses 5b-16 provide the names of those who would have stood with Moses, who are called from their congregations, as the heads of divisions of Israel.

Verses 17-19 describe how Moses worked with these men to register everyone that was to be counted.

Verses 20-43 give a listing of all those counted under each tribe.

Verses 44-46 remind us that those counted were only males who were 20 years old and up, and able to go to war.  Their number in total was 603,550.

Verses 47-49 describe how the Levites were not to be counted.

Now the rest of the chapter:

⁵⁰ But you shall appoint the Levites over the ^[a]tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall also camp around the ^[b]tabernacle. ⁵¹ So when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But the ^[c]layman who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵² The sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. ⁵³ But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So, the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.” ⁵⁴ Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 1:50 Lit dwelling place, and so throughout the ch
2. Numbers 1:50 Lit dwelling place, and so throughout the ch
3. Numbers 1:51 Lit stranger

Thoughts on the Passage

I find it interesting that these instructions from God came to Moses as he was in the “tent of meeting”. You can read more about that here: the tent of meeting.

Now it appears that the census was only of males twenty years of age and up and able to fight in an army. That no females were included may be a concern to many today, but that was not the case at the time. God wanted them to know (for He didn’t need a census to tell them) how many able-bodied men they had that could fight for Israel, preparing them perhaps for what was ahead. Matthew Henry points out that by virtue of counting all those “who were able to go out to war” (verse 3), the aged, those with bodily infirmities or chronic diseases, blind, or lame, were also excluded. God was interested in primary Israel for what was ahead.

And Moses was, of course, to have help in taking this census. Now when God says you need help, you need help. Don’t try to do it all by yourself. God will provide the help you need if you sincerely ask for it and are patient. In this case, God even names the individuals of each tribe that are supposed to help Moses. Chuck Smith says the names of those men chosen that day were very important and thus he writes:

So, let's take a look at the names of these men. In verse five Elizur is the first one and Elizur means, "my God is a rock." In verse six, Shelumiel; his name means "at peace with God." In verse seven, Nahshon means "a diviner." In verse eight, Nathaneel means "the gift of God." In verse nine, Eliab means, "my God is Father." In verse ten, Elishama means, "my God has heard" and then also in verse ten, Gamaliel means, "my God is a rewarder." And in verse eleven, Abidan means, "my Father is judge." In verse twelve, Ahiezer means "brother of health." In verse thirteen, Pagiel means "event of God." Verse fourteen, Eliasaph means "God addeth" and then the last guy, Ahira doesn't have too good a name. It is "brother, his brother is evil." So, he probably had an older brother that wasn't of too good a reputation, so he picked up the name "his brother is evil."

Imagine that, “God knew their names” and what they were like, just as He knows your name and my name, and He knows what we are like.

The text actually gives us the number of the men counted that day by tribe. Chuck Smith tells us that one needs to note how each tribe either grew or decreased in number throughout the forty years in the wilderness. We will be able to arrive at those numbers for comparison purposes when we get to the second census in the book. But for those that are impatient may I refer you to this link: men by tribe just before entering Canaan.

David Guzik speaks to this:

At the end of the Book of Numbers - 38 years later - this census is repeated. The total number of available soldiers will be almost the same - only a loss of some two thousand. But the numbers of each tribe change significantly, and there is meaning in what happened to each tribe over these critical 38 years.

David Guzik also makes some most interesting points about this census. He says it is the first step in “taking the promised land”. And when you are in the wilderness (your personal wilderness), you can come up with hundreds of schemes to get out of it – but only God’s way works. Guzik says God wanted them numbered by families because the strength of Israel was determined by looking at the strength of individual families. And that is true about the Church today – it is only as strong as we keep our individual families, in the faith. Some of us are not doing that well, are we?

Verse 46 tells us the number of able-bodied young men over 20 able to fight in an army for the Israelites was 603,550. And the Levites were excluded from that number. They had a different role to perform for God and the Israelites.

One may also ask why all the numbers of the tribes ended in 100’s or in the case of Gad’s tribe in the 50’s. There were no tribe numbers that went to units or tens. Matthew Henry suggests that earlier Moses had divided the people into 100’s and 50’s and appointed rulers over them as stated in Exodus 18:25. And thus when census time came, it was easier to count them by the number of rulers.  Makes sense to me.

Verses 50 and 51 tell us that the Levites had full charge and full responsibility for the tabernacle wherever it was moved to and wherever it was set down.  And they did the moving. They were to dismantle it and to put it together again.

Matthew Henry provides some reasons as to why God wanted the census taken. He suggests the following:
1. To prove the accomplishment of the promise He made to Abraham, that God would multiply his seed.
2. To put a difference between the true Israelites and the mixed born among them. (Only true Israelites were counted.)
3. To prepare the entire congregation for easier marching as well as to facilitate the administration of justice among them.

In verse 52, God instructs how the different tribes are to arrange themselves in the camp. They were to stick together by tribe. The Levites, however, were to be protected by these armies and in turn protect the tabernacle as they camped all around it.

Guzik reminds us that God counts things. He counts the stars and has a name for each one (Psalm 147:4; Isaiah 40:26). God even counts and knows the number of hairs on your head! (Matthew 10:30). “He who counts the stars and calls thenm all by their names, leaves nothing unarranged in his own service.” (Spurgeon)

And Moses got the sons of Israel to do all of this as God had commanded.  So, we have a good start. There was obedience to God and to the leader He had appointed, Moses.  Whatever could go wrong? Stay tuned.

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

Fascinated by 'Numbers'. No, not the 'math' kind. The 4th Book of the Pentateuch -- an intro to its gems.

Day 32 of our self-isolation and we’re all hanging in.  Well, some of us more than others. I must admit I am very confused as to the authenticity of what we are told is going on. Everything I read and hear is putting to this being another fraud or scandal of the global elitists. Yes, people are dying and yesterday we received word of the second person that we could identify with that had died of Covid-19.  The first was a medical doctor and parent of our grand-daughters close friend at university. The second was my wife’s maid of honor. This is real. But does it merit the actions taken by government? Will it merit the use some will make of it to bring us closer to being totally under their control? That remains to be seen. Part of my frustration is that our church leaders are being ever so quiet about the whole thing.

We press on. I’m excited today to introduce you to the fourth book of the Old Testament – Numbers. We’re going hunting for gems together.  Hang in there.  Here goes.

An Introduction to the Book of Numbers

(I am indebted here to the publishers of the New American Standard Bible for the following comments on this, the fourth book of Moses.)

Numbers is a record of the wanderings of the Israelites after God led them out of Egypt and slavery. Its name comes from the two numberings (census taking) they experienced. The book’s lesson is very clear: While we may have to pass through the wilderness, we do not need to end up living there. Unfortunately, it took the Israelites 40-years to learn that lesson, the length of what otherwise would have been an 11-day journey back then.

There is, once again, sufficient ‘external’ and ‘internal’ evidence to support the belief that Moses was indeed the author. Even the use of the third person in parts was a common practice in the ancient world. Caesar was a prime example of such writing.

While Leviticus covered a timespan of only one month, Numbers covers almost 39 years (c. 1444-1405 BC). Its record covers Israel’s movement from the last twenty days at Mount Sinai, their wanderings, and finally their arrival in the plains of Moab in the fortieth year. According to the census in the book, over 2.5 million people were involved. Miraculously, God fed and sustained them, as well as preserved their clothing in the desert, no less.

Believe it or not, we will actually see Christ being referred to in this book. But we may have to wait until chapters 21 and 24 to discover the reference.

The ‘key’ word in the study of Numbers is the word “wanderings”. This is the story of the failure of Israel to believe in the promise of God and the resulting judgment of wanderings in the wilderness for forty years. I often wonder if we are all suffering from the “judgment of wanderings” in our world today because we fail to believe in the promise of God – not so much by what we say or what we think we believe – but by how we live. Until we make that believe the very modus operandi of how we walk and breathe each day, maybe we’ll never get out of our personal wilderness. Hopefully, we will learn to do that from the experiences of the Israelites.

There are some very key verses in the book which we will discover, and I’ll point those out when the time comes.  And even before that, we’ll come to the key chapter of Numbers and a critical turning point in the history of Israel.

Remember, throughout this book of Numbers, we see Israel changing dramatically. It begins as an infant nation in one sense (only 13 months after the exodus) but at the same time it is made up of the “old generation” described in Numbers 1:1-10:10. It then moves through a tragic “transitional period” (Numbers 10:11-25:18), and finally ends with the “new generation” (chapters 26-36) at the doorway to the land of Canaan.

Join us next time as we venture into this journey together.

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.