365 Reflections

Numbers 8:14–16 (ESV)   “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. 15 And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. 16 For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. Numbers 8 shows Moses consecrating all the Levites to the Lord for His service and to shelter His tabernacle from intruders. Something interesting happens. The Levites are substituted for the firstborn sons of Israel. From now on, they will be the "living sacrifices" before God from among the people. This is a further reason to believe that the Old Testament Levites point to the New Testament believers. Numbers 8:17–18  (ESV)   For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I s...

If Israel was to be a successful nation, it would be because they had God among them. So far in Exodus we have seen God give the plans for the Tabernacle and the people follow the plans to the letter. In Leviticus we have seen the amazing amount of detail that goes into the Tabernacle and its sacrifices and standards. Now here in Numbers, as the people are counted for battle, God makes clear, the Levites are not to be counted, they have a job to do. Numbers 1:47–50 (ESV) 47 But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. 48 For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. 50 But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle. God is teaching His people th...