The Conferment

Studies in Numbers

II The Failure

B The Confirmation

2 The Conferment, Text: Numbers 18:1-32

Title: Wilderness Holiness

Introduction

Israel’s time in the wilderness was a time for them to learn who Jahweh was. God has recorded it in Numbers for our admonition because although we can quote the Westminster Catechism, ”God is infinite, eternal, and unchanging in his wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth,” we do not appreciate the significance of infinite eternal unchanging holiness in our lives and worship. So much of our living and worshiping is conducted in a manner that is careless and disrespectful. In this chapter we learn that everything about Israel’s worship was very holy. That means set completely apart. The major aspect of holy things in the Old Testament was their unapproachable nature. We start with the Holy Sanctuary, then we look at the Holy Servants, then the Holy Shares, and Sacrifices.

I THE HOLY SANCTUARY

We read about the Holy Sanctuary in verses 1-7, The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law. They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die. They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are. “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.” We once had a debate in our church about what we should permit in the church sanctuary. People kept referring to it as God’s house, in other words we can’t permit that here because it is God’s house. I hate to tell you, but it isn’t. It is a common misunderstanding that needs to be dispelled. The church building is the place where God’s people meet and as such it is deserving of respectful treatment. Having said that let’s go on to say that the actual church building is no more sacred than your house. What is holy is the body of Christ, the people who have become the habitation of God. That body should be treated with the same fearful honor and respect that was given to the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament. In our verses the sanction for violating the sanctity was death. That reminds us of what a grave offense it is to disrespect the church in our hearts and even worse, in our conversation.

II THE HOLY SERVANTS

In addition to the place of worship being holy, so are the people who serve there. This we may also observe in verses 1-7, “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.” In the process of worshiping in a tent there were strict demarcations of duty and limitations of where people could go. The Levites were the porters of the tabernacle. However, they were not allowed to touch the sacred furniture, and thus in its manufacture it was designed with rings and staves so that it could be carried without touching the actual holy furnishing. The priests alone were able to touch the furnishings and tend to them. They ministered behind the first curtain in the tabernacle proper and the high priest alone could go behind the second curtain into the holiest place, the holy of holies. The rest of the people were excluded from these areas under penalty of death. These extreme measures guarding the holy precincts may sound unduly restrictive to us in our relaxed wear anything to church culture. I have heard people talk about having the preacher for dinner and he wasn’t invited. It’s a humorous but dangerous practice. The lesson we should be learning from the wilderness is to treat God’s servants with honor and respect. It is possible because I have a lot of Korean friends and they constantly amaze me with the respect they have for their pastors. that is absent in American life. Of course Pastors sin and respecting the man is often difficult, but we should respect the office. And lest I sound entirely self-serving let me say to all pastors and teachers that the lesson of this Scripture is for us too. It teaches us the solemn responsibility we have in handling holy things like the Bible.

III THE HOLY SHARES AND SACRIFICES

The shares and sacrifices are so intimately tied together it is difficult to discuss one without the other. It is woven throughout verses 8-32 where we read: Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion, your perpetual share. You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin[a] or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy. “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.“I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the Lord as the firstfruits of their harvest. All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. “Everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord is yours. The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.“But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy. Splash their blood against the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours. Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.” The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die. It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering. Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’ “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting. By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’” The family of Levi will have no inheritance in the land. This Scripture makes clear that the Lord is their inheritance. Consequently the tribe of the Priests and Levites is spread throughout Israel. This also means they will have no visible means of support. Without any land they are totally dependent on the Lord and He will provide. God chooses to provide for them through the offerings of the nation. They will receive grain and meat from the people, and the first-fruits of the oil and vintage and the first ripe of all fruits in the land were also included. Out of these tithes which the Levites may consume, they must first tithe a portion to the priests, the family of Aaron. The families of the Priests and Levites may partake freely of these offerings but they must be ceremonially clean. We see the tremendous importance God attaches to the holiness of these offerings. When eaten they must be received not as something common but as something holy. Remember I mentioned earlier how some folks fear allowing activities in the church building because it was holy. I said it wasn’t and that is true, but it is the right attitude concerning the wrong object. We should be very concerned about protecting that which is truly holy. This is the body of Christ, and those who serve in it. The faithful care and protection of the true Sanctuary guarded against the judgments of God on the congregation of Israel, and the faithful care of the true church will do the same for us. As to the revenues of the priestly race, that is the tithes to the Levites which were a fundamental form of Israelitish taxes, levies and collections. And they may be equated with the Christian obligation to pay taxes to the state. In Israel these were voluntary unlike the IRS in the USA. We know because prophets like Malachi severely complained about the people not bringing their tithes into the storehouse. The tenth of the tenth a heave-offering for the priests was different. The Levites are parallel to the the members of the church that are most alive are the best supporters of the official pastorate. Care was thus taken that the priests did not receive these revenues directly from the people at large. The complexity and abundance of these regulations remind us in our time of the enormous importance of reverence and respect for the holiness of God, and his possessions. And to enforce this further we are informed here that these covenantal provisions are permanent. We are told in this text that it is a covenant of salt. Covenants were generally confirmed by sacrificial meals and salt was always present. Covenants were generally confirmed by sacrificial meals and salt was always present. Salt is a preservative, and is symbolic of an enduring covenant. God’s covenant with David in II Chronicles was that his throne would be eternal,. and it is now occupied by the Son of David, Jesus, the Christ. God’s holiness is not a passing fancy or an outmoded concept: it must be observed forever. The importance in our lives is also emphasized by Jesus when He tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth.

CONCLUSION

It is my hope that a consideration of the measures God took in the wilderness of Sinai to protect His holiness in that rude and difficult environment will add to our diligence in protecting His holiness in our own wilderness of this present evil generation. Let us protect it in our homes and churches, in our relationships, in our walk and our work, and especially in our worship where we often fall regrettably short.