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Day 59: Obligations to God
Chapter 8:5-26: The Dedication of the Levites
The Levites have replaced the first-born sons of the Israelites as the lesser ministers of the Sanctuary (Num 3:11-13, 40-51). They are now responsible for guarding, dismantling, moving, and re-assembling the Sanctuary on the march to Canaan as well as assisting the chief priests in the Sanctuary courtyard (Num 3:14-39). However, before those Levites who have been numbered in the census as fit for service can assume their duties, they must be qualified by a three-fold ritual of purification and sacrifice.
The instructions for the dedication of the Levites in Numbers 8:5-22 are divided into three parts:
- Yahweh's divine commands (Num 8:5-13).
- The historical reasons for the dedication of the Levites (Num 8:14-19).
- An obedience formula and summary (Num 8:20-22).
Numbers 8:5-13: Divine Instruction for the Purification of the Levites: The purification and laying on of hands
The Sanctuary was not big enough to accommodate the entire assembly of Israel; therefore, any ceremony that the entire community was to witness had to take place at the entrance to the Sanctuary. The first part of the ceremony for the dedication of the adult male Levites began at the entrance and then moved to within the Sanctuary.
Moses was commanded to purify the Levites who were fit for service that had been numbered in the second census of the Levites.
Question: What does the "wave gesture" coupled with the elders laying hands upon the Levites suggest?
Answer: In this case the gesture, coupled with the laying on of hands by the community representatives, indicates that the Levites are transferred from the community of Israel to become the possession of Yahweh. They are given into God who in turn gives the Levites into the service of His chief priests in the holy Sanctuary.
The entire ceremony of the ordination of the high priest and the chief priests was conducted by Moses in Leviticus chapter 8.
A new section begins with in verses 14-19, in which Yahweh gives the historic rationale for the service of the Levites in the Sanctuary. These verses are linked to the previous section by the arrangement of a chiastic pattern in Numbers 8:12-19:
A. To make expiation for the Levites (Num 8:12)
B. To do the work of the Sanctuary (Num 8:15)
C. The Levites are given to God (Num 8:16a)
D. Dedicated in place of the first-born sons (Num 8:16b)
E. Recalling the events of the first Passover (Num 8:17)
D*. Dedicated in place of the first-born sons (Num 8:18)
C*. The Levites are given to Aaron (Num 8:19a)
B*. To do the work of the Sanctuary (Num 8:19b)
A*. To make expiation for Israel (Num 8:19c)
Numbers 8:14-19 Instruction of the Offering of the Levite's Sacrifices
Question: How is this passage the key to understanding the Levities as a substitutionary sacrifice for their brother Israelites?
Answer: This passage establishes the substitutionary nature of the Levites' mission in serving God in the Sanctuary. Verse 19 is the key verse. The Levites are a living sacrifice offered on behalf of their people who will be protected from disaster in profaning the Sanctuary by touching "holy things" or by trespassing and incurring God's wrath by the ministry of the Levites. The Levites now risk their lives by guarding and carrying the holy things on the march.
Numbers 8:20-22 The Commands for the Dedication of the Levites are fulfilled
Once again we see the obedience formula that has been repeated in various ways since the narrative began: Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites dealt with the Levites exactly as Yahweh had ordered Moses concerning them ... Unfortunately, the Israelites' perfect expressions of obedience will not last.
Numbers 8:23-26 Age Limits for Levitical Duties
Question: What are the Levites two kinds of work/service?
Answer:
- The physical labor in dismantling, carrying and reassembling the Sanctuary.
- The guard duty around the Sanctuary.
Chapter 9 is divided to two unrelated sections:
- Commands concerning the observance of the commemorative Passover (verses 1-14).
- The function of the Glory Cloud in the march out of Sinai (verses 15-23).
The events in the first part of Chapter 9 take place in the first month (Abib) of the second year. Section I of Numbers 9 is divided into three parts:
- Instructions for observing the first Passover in the wilderness (verses 1-5).
- The complaint by those who were unable to keep the commemorative feast because of ritual uncleanness through corpse contamination and Moses' submission of their petition to Yahweh (verses 6-8).
- God's divine decision concerning the celebration of Passover a month later and designating those who are eligible for the exception (verses 9-14).
Numbers 9:1-5 The Date of the Passover
In this passage, the time frame is still the early spring in the month of Abib, in the second year after leaving Egypt, as it was in Chapters 7 and 8.
Question: What was God's warning to Moses?
Answer: The Israelites needed to be prepared to celebrate the commemorative celebration of the event of the sacrifice of the Passover lambs and kids that first took place in Egypt in association with the last Egyptian plague. The commemorative feast was to take place on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib as it did in the first Passover.
| List of other Passovers Mentioned in the Bible | Scriptures Passages |
| 1. The observance of the Passover at Sinai before beginning the journey to Canaan. | Numbers 9:1-5 |
| 2. The observance of Passover and Unleavened Bread after crossing the Jordan River and entering the Promised Land. | Joshua 5:10-12 |
| 3. The Passover and Unleavened Bread feasts after King Hezekiah of Judah instituted religious reforms. | 2 Chronicles 30:1-27 |
| 4. The Passover and Unleavened Bread feasts after the religious reforms of King Josiah of Judah. | 2 Kings 23:21-23; 2 Chronicles 35:1, 18-19 |
| 5. The celebration of the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread after Israel's return from the Babylonian exile. | Ezra 6:19-22 |
| 6. The Passover when Jesus began His public ministry and cleansed the Jerusalem Temple. | John 2:13-22 |
| 7. The Passover in the second year of Jesus' ministry when He fed the 5 thousand men traveling to Jerusalem for Passover. | John 6:1-15 |
| 8. The Passover in the third year of Jesus' ministry when Jesus instituted the Eucharist during the Last Supper on the night of the sacred feast of the Passover victim, which was the first night of Unleavened Bread. | Matthew 26:17-29 Mark 14:12-25 Luke 22:7-20 |
| Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2010 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved. | |
Numbers 9:6-8: A Complaint within the Community
This passage gives a better idea of the time frame of the command to keep the Passover. Milgrom suggests that there were Israelites who may also have been defiled by coming in close proximity to a dead person.
Question: According to the Law, what was the purification ritual for becoming contaminated by close contact with a corpse? How does the Law concerning the length of the period of defilement help to define the time of the month the complaint was taken to Moses and Aaron? See Lev 7:20/10-21/11; 21:1-4; Num 5:2-3; 19:14-16.
Answer: According to the Law, someone contaminated by a corpse had to submit to a seven day ritual of purification before being declared ritually cleansed and able to attend liturgical worship on the eighth day. It is apparently less that a week before the 14th of Abib.
Question: What complaint did the men make to Moses?
Answer: They wanted to keep the Passover/Unleavened Bread remembrance celebrations but their ritual contamination prevented them for participating. They felt it was unfair that they should be excluded.
In their exclusion from celebrating with the community of Israel, they would have been classified like the uncircumcised foreigners who were not members of the community and were barred from participating in the liturgy of the Passover sacrifice. Resident aliens (men) who had submitted to circumcision and joined the covenant were allowed to participate in the liturgical celebrations with their families, but visiting foreigners and all men who were not circumcised were forbidden to attend (Ex 12:43-51).
Question: What did Moses propose?
Answer: He promised to take their petition to be allowed to keep the Passover despite the problem of ritual impurities to Yahweh.
Numbers 9:9-14 Yahweh permits an Alternated Date for Passover
Question: What does God's gracious acceptance of the people's petition illustrate?
Answer: It illustrates that God's Law is meant to benefit the people and not to be an unreasonable burden. It is the spirit of the Law that is more important than rigid, blind obedience without compassion.
Question: What instructions for the remembrance celebration of the Passover and Unleavened Bread from Exodus 12:46 are repeated?
Answer:
- The Israelites are to eat the meal of the Passover victim with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
- Nothing of it must be left over until morning.
- They must not break any of the bones of the Passover victim.
Question: How does St. John record that the final command was fulfilled in Jesus' death? See Jn 19:31-36.
Answer: The Roman soldier broke the bones of the other two men crucified with Jesus, but he did not break Jesus' legs, fulfilling, as St. John wrote, the words of Scripture in Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12.
Joshua Passing the River Jordan with the Ark (Benjamin West)
The Glory Cloud
Section II of Chapter 9 prepares the reader for Numbers 10:11 when the Glory Cloud will arise from the Tabernacle on the 20th day of the second month in the second year after leaving Egypt. The Israelites will then set out on their march away from Mt. Sinai and toward the Promised Land.
Numbers 9:15-23 The Glory Cloud
Numbers 9:15 reminds the reader of the events in Exodus chapter 40:34-38 when the Sanctuary was erected on the first day of the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt and when Yahweh, in the visible form of the the Glory Cloud, filled His Dwelling/Tabernacle. Two sets of key Hebrew words/phrases are repeated seven times in Numbers 9:15-23:
- "Dwelling/Tabernacle" (Num 10:15 three times, and once each in verses 18, 19, 20, and 22)
- The phrase "at Yahweh's order/at the command from Yahweh" (Num 10:18 twice, verse 20 twice, and verse 23 three times
Question: These repeated words/phrases point to what main theme in this passage?
Answer: The Tabernacle where God dwelled moved when God decided it should move and came to rest when God decided and not when the people wanted to move or to camp.
Question: By what appointed sign did God lead Israel on the march? In what way was the sign manifested, and what was was the understood signal to the people?
Answer: God led Israel on the wilderness march not by His voice but by His appointed sign-the Glory Cloud:
- The Glory Cloud appears as a cloud-filled pillar by day
- The Glory Cloud appears as a fiery pillar by night
- When the Glory Cloud arose from the Tabernacle and moved to the head of the camp, the Israelites broke camp and prepared for the march. Whenever the Glory Cloud stopped, the people stopped, and whenever the Tabernacle was reassembled, the Glory Cloud descended to envelop the Tabernacle.
Chapter 8: The Warning to Remember the Ordeal of the Wilderness Years and to Avoid the Temptations of the Promised Land
In chapter 8 Moses continues to address the challenges to their faith, their loyalty to Yahweh and to His covenant that the Israelites will face after they take possession of the Promised Land. He returns to the theme that he first opened in 6:10-15 that prosperity in Canaan might lead the Israelites to believe that they are self-sufficient, that they no longer need to depend on Yahweh, and will be seduced into worshipping the false gods of neighboring peoples. In his call to "remember" and to "not forget" (vs. 2, 11, 14, 18, 19), Moses bases his appeal in this section on the memory of God's provisions for Israel in the ordeal of the wilderness years, when He provided their food in the manna and water from the Rock. The plea to "remember" and "not forget" when they take possession of the Promised Land is made at the beginning and the end of this section, and the word "land" in the Hebrew text is repeated seven times between verses 1 and 10. This section can be outlined in a reverse chiastic pattern:
A. Keep the Law so you will live and prosper; remember God (verses 1-2)
B. The wilderness and the manna (verses 3-4)
C. Keep the commandments and prosper in the land (verses 5-10)
C* Do not forget God in your prosperity in the land (verses 11-14)
B* The wilderness and the manna (verses 15-16)
A* Remember and do not forget God or you will perish (verses 17-20)
Deuteronomy 8:1-6 Remembering the Ordeal in the Wilderness
Moses presents the years spent in the wilderness as a test of Israel's faith and trust in God (Dt 8:2, 16) as Yahweh disciplined His people in the hardships they experienced like a father disciplines his children (Dt 8:5). God's discipline is always meant for spiritual profit (see Prov 3:11-12; 1 Cor 11:31-32; Heb 12:5-13). The wilderness experience taught the new generation of Israelites to have faith and trust in God and to develop the virtue of perseverance, a virtue New Covenant believers will need on their journey to salvation (Eph 6:18-20; Heb 12:7; Rev 3:10). The prophets wrote of the wilderness years as a golden age and a time of Israel the Bride's complete dependence upon her Yahweh her Bridegroom who provided for her every need (i.e., see Ez 16:8-14; Hosea 2:16).
Deuteronomy 8:7-10 The Blessings of the Promised Land
In this passage, the word "land" is repeated seven times (see the underlined words above). The seventh repetition is verse 10 in the phrase "the good land," which echoes the same phrase in the beginning of this passage in verse 7. The phrase "the good land" is repeated ten times in Deuteronomy (Dt 1:25, 35; 3:25; 4:21, 22; 6:18; 8:7, 10; 9:6; 11:17) and is a reminder of the goodness God has promised Israel when they inhabit the land of Canaan. What Moses tells the Israelites in verses 8-10 is a graphic description of that promised goodness.
As already mentioned, Moses' description of the Promised Land is similar to the description of Eden in Genesis chapter two. The Promised Land is a new Eden and Yahweh's holy Sanctuary is the new garden Sanctuary where man and God fellowshipped together.
Deuteronomy 8:11-20 Warnings not to forget God's Mighty Acts
Moses addresses the dangers to faith that might confront the Israelites in the Promised Land.
For the Israelites, the Law of God gives life, but disobedience to the Law produces death. In verse 20 Moses warned the Israelites if they failed in their vow of covenant obedience to the Law, they would suffer the same fate as the sinful people who were cast out of the Promised Land; they would be exiled from the land like Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden.
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A Daily Defense
Day 59 Praying Directly to God
CHALLENGE: “Catholics should not ask the saints for intercession. Why do that when you can pray directly to God?”
DEFENSE: If this proved anything, it would prove too much. It would wipe out much of Christian prayer. We can and should pray directly to God—the source of all gifts (James 1:17). However, it does not follow that you should pray only to God. This is a “both/and” situation, not an “either/or” one.
We naturally sense that it is helpful to have others praying for us, and down through the ages Christians have asked one another for their prayers. But this would be impossible if God wanted us to make requests only of him. The objection thus would prove too much.
In truth, God desires that we pray for each other. This is illustrated by the Lord’s Prayer, in which we pray for ourselves and others (“Give us this day our daily bread,” “Forgive us our debts,” “Lead us not into temptation”; Matt. 6:11–13); by Jesus’ exhortation to pray even for our enemies (Matt. 5:44); and by Paul’s exhortation, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men” (1 Tim. 2:1).
God also desires that we ask others for their intercession, as illustrated by Paul’s requests for his readers to pray for him (Rom. 15:30; 2 Cor. 1:11; Eph. 6:18–19; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1–2 —a request also made by the author of Hebrews (13:18). Asking the saints for their intercession merely extends the principle.
We may ask Christians in heaven for their intercession for the same reason we ask Christians on earth: It helps to have others praying for you, to not be alone in prayer. This is particularly the case when one’s prayer partners are righteous, for “the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (James 5:16b). None are more righteous than those with God in heaven.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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