This section of the Bible lists the duties of the Levites. Each family of the tribe of Levi had distinct responsibilities concerning the tabernacle. The sons of Kohath transported the holy objects from the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The sons of Gershon transported the curtains and coverings for the tent of meeting. Finally, the sons of Merari transported the structural elements of the tabernacle. The Levites were numbered from one month of age through their lifetime, i.e., they belonged to the Lord for their entire life. Their years of active service were from 30 years until 50 years of age.
Included in this portion of the Bible is the so-called “Aaronic Blessing”.
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace. (Numbers 6:23-26)
In this way, the priest “put” the name of the Lord in the sons of Israel, and God promised to bless them.
So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them. (Numbers 6:27)
One of the more obscure subjects included is this portion of the Bible is that of special vows that one could make to dedicate himself/herself to the Lord for a period of time. Such a vow required that the person abstain from anything that would alter their minds, i.e., no strong drink, no wine, no grapes, not even raisins. They were prohibited from altering the appearance that God gave to them, i.e., they didn’t cut their hair and I assume harm their beards in any way. Finally, they were strictly prohibited from going near any dead person. This should speak to a generation that insists on altering the way that God has created them.
Normally, vows were made for a specific period of time. Some vows were lifelong. The judge, Samson, was a lifelong Nazirite. I am intrigued with the events surrounding the announcement of the birth of Samson. His mother and father encountered an individual whom they assumed to be just another Israeli, but, instead, he was an angelic messenger from the Lord. After delivering his message to the parents-to-be, Manoah, the father, prepared a burnt offering to the Lord. The angel ascending in the flame of the offering into heaven. Manoah and his wife fell to their faces as they realized that they had just experienced an awesome supernatural event. This event is one of the numerous accounts of beings that are transported from space-time directly into the heavenly realm. These events occurred within a relatively small geographical area of Israel. (See my book “Israel – God’s Interdimensional Portal).
The interaction between God and Moses is very unusual.
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:10)
Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him. (Numbers 7:89)
We believe that all Scripture are inspired by God and therefore profitable for revelation of the person and purpose of the Lord.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:16-17)
Yet the obvious intimate interaction of Moses with the Lord should signal to every believer the awesome significance of those books of the Bible attributed to Moses. They go beyond teaching to testimony.
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