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Numbers 6-8
Dedication and
Blessings
Psalm 21:5-13 Trusting For Protection and Pleasure
5.His glory is great in Your salvation. You lay honor and majesty on him.6.For You make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in Your presence.7.For the king trusts in Yahweh. Through the hesed/loyal love of the Most High, he shall not be moved."8.Your hand will come upon all of your enemies. Your right hand will come upon those who hate you.9.You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.10.You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.11.For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.12.For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.13.Be exalted, Yahweh, in your strength, so we will sing and praise your power."Observations
21:6.The chief blessing, from David's perspective, is joy in the presence of God, which yields peace, security, and stability.
21:7-13.
Because David trusts in God, He blesses and helps him, giving him not only protection, but glory, honor, and joy in His presence. God's hesed to those who trust Him results in destruction for the enemies of the righteous, for which the righteous sing God's praises.
Application
Trusting God to fulfill His covenant obligations (hesed) to us opens the door to protection, prosperity, joy, and praise. If any of those items are lacking, you might want to see if you're being loyal to your obligations to God, particularly that of dependently trusting Him.
Prayer
God of all pleasure and power, I trust that You know what's best for me, and will bless me as I seek to be loyal to You; please protect me and cause me to find enduring pleasure in Your presence. Thanks. Amen.
Proverbs 6:6-11 A Large Lesson from a Little Ant
6.“Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;7.which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,8.provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.9.How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?10.A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:11.so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.”Observation
6:6-11.A little laziness leads to a large loss (armed robbers take all your stuff). Leaders don't need someone telling them what to do, because they tell themselves what to do, like planning and getting things done before they're due.
Application
Where are you neglecting the little things? See Saga of the Sorry Sluggard for motivation in overcoming procrastination (if you can get around to it).
Prayer
God of creatures great and small, help me be wiser than an ant. Amen.
Numbers 6-8 Dedication and Blessings
Numbers 6 Nazirite Vow and Trinitarian Blessing
1."Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,2.Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh,3.he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink...4.All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine 5... no razor come on his head: until the days be fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh, he shall be holy; he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long. 6... not come near to a dead body.7.He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother...13.when the days of his separation are fulfilled14.he shall offer his offering to Yahweh, one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for peace-offerings,15.and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings.18.The Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings. 20... and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.22.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,23.Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, In this way you shall bless the children of Israel: you shall tell them,24.Yahweh bless you, and keep you:25.Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you:26.Yahweh put/lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.27.So shall they put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them."Observations
6:1-27.The Nazirite vow (Hebrew for “to separate”) was a voluntary vow of dedication consisting of: no wine nor grapes, no haircuts, and no contact with dead bodies, even if family members died. It parallels life in the Garden: forbidden fruit, natural grooming, and no death. Samson and Samuel were the only two examples of it in the OT. John the Baptist and Paul with some companions (Acts 21) are examples in the NT. It's interesting that one of the most famous blessings in Scripture occurs, seemingly out of context, after the Voluntary Vow of Extreme Dedication.
6:24-27. In order to be blessed, first the Israelites needed to be under the name of Yahweh (His people), then God blesses them. This blessing has three progressive parts of increasing length.
- Bless and keep/protect - A general plea, to the God who loves to bless, for blessing and protection.
- Face shine and be gracious/merciful - Three times Ps 80 equates “face shine” with salvation from the consequences of their rebellious sin (80:3,7,19 Cause us to return, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.) In saving His people from the consequences of their sins God shows Himself to be merciful (most common translation of “gracious”).
- Face lift and peace - Ps 16:11 “You will show me the path of life. In your presence/face is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” (quoted in Acts 2:28), describes the blessing of God lifting up His face upon His obedient servant. Peace is a covenantal blessing for zealous obedience (see Phinehas, the hero of Numbers 25).
Application
Where are you on the Blessing Progression mentioned in the last Observation above?
Prayer
Gracious and Good God, may I be wholly dedicated to You and experience the supreme joy of living in Your presence. Amen.
Numbers 7 Twelve Days of Giving
1.It happened on the day that Moses finished setting up the tent, and had anointed it and sanctified it, and all the furniture of it, and the altar and all the vessels of it, and had anointed them and sanctified them;2.that the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers` houses, offered. These were the princes of the tribes, these are those who were over those who were numbered:3.and they brought their offering before Yahweh, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they presented them before the tent.4.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,5.Take it of them, that they may be [used] in doing the service of the tent of meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service.89.When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then 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: and he spoke to him.
Observations
7:1-88.Second longest chapter in the Bible, records twelve days of giving the identical gifts by each tribe. ("Just what I always wanted...like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and...") The voluntary offerings of each tribal leader are publicly recorded along with its value (this the book of Numbers). See outlines on Giving to God under Digging Deeper below.
7:89. The God who spoke on Mt. Sinai, is now heard in the Holy of Holies. God is dwelling and communicating with His people who have honored Him.
Numbers 8 Purification of Levites
1.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,2.Speak to Aaron, and tell him, When you light the lamps...6.Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.7.Thus shall you do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation on them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.8.Then let them take a young bull, and its meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bull shall you take for a sin- offering.9.You shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting: and you shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel:10.and you shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites:11.and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave-offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.20.Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the Levites: according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses touching the Levites, so did the children of Israel to them.21.The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes: and Aaron offered them for a wave-offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.22.After that went the Levites in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they to them.23.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,24.This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the tent of meeting:25.and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting on the work, and shall serve no more,26.but shall minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites touching/concerning their charges.
Observations
8:11.A really tragic verse. God had intended that the entire holy nation be a kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) contingent upon covenant obedience (Ex 19:5).
Exodus 19:5 "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation."
Now, instead of the firstborn of each family representatively serving God, the Levites were their substitutes, actually guarding the unsanctified people from God. What happened after Exodus 19? The Ten Commandments and the Golden Calf. In Ex 20:19 the people don't want to directly hear God's voice (although listening to His voice was a prerequisite to blessing), and then repudiated God in worshiping the Golden Calf (Ex 32). It was in Ex 32 that the Levites demonstrated holy loyalty to God, and thus received the priesthood and its blessings.
8:21.
Note the self-cleansing and purification necessary to serve God.
Application
This means you!
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: 10 who in time past were no people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul”
Prayer
God of Light, thank you for not only calling me out of darkness into Your light, but entrusting me with the privilege of serving You, the Most High God. Amen.
Digging Deeper
I'm not a real fan of missing the direct application of the text to the original audience, to make allegorical interpretations to NT audiences, but whenever I see God mentioned three times in a passage, I do pause for thought. So for those of you who like this kind of thing, one could draw the parallel between the three aspects of “The Blessing” and three aspects of a believer's relationship with the Triune God.
- God the Father – generally blesses and preserves people, especially those who believe in Him (Gen 1).
- God the Son – The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 saves those who go astray and demonstrates the mercy of God in rescuing the disciplined and repentant (Ps 80).
- God the Holy Spirit – Guides God's people in the paths that lead to Divine presence and pleasures as well as the inheritance blessings of peace and other good stuff (Ps 16).
You could have found these same correspondences by using a concordance to find out where the same words or vocabulary are used in Scripture.
God in a nutshell: God is worthy of the best we can offer Him, not just our stuff, but more importantly, ourselves.
Us in a nutshell: We miss out on the privileges of being in God's presence by wanting to hear His word through intermediaries. We have the opportunity to engage in extreme dedication for extreme blessings.
Bonus Application
There is nothing in the Scriptures that says you can only read the Scriptures (or DailyTruthbase) once a day, or only in the morning. Just like God required morning and evening sacrifices, giving God some AM and PM time just might enhance your spiritual life and make enrich your service to Him, and consequential blessings.
Where to go for more
Truthbase.net
Get a grip on getting and giving money by skimming the series on
Faithfulness with our Treasure/Money Pt 1
Faithfulness with our Money Pt 4 Giving to God
It's got five parts (you might have to hunt for all of them), but considering the amount of your time spent in the acquisition and use of money, it might be wise to have God's perspective on it. Actually, it'd be foolish not to.