Levites 501, 502...

Numbers 3

A little family time with Aaron and Moses.

Moses gives us a brief recap of Nadab and Abihu... those "strange fire" guys- you can read our original discussion of it here:http://chiphall.blogspot.com/2009/09/strange-fire-leviticus-10-day-one-of.html

As a result of these firemen's escapade, Aaron was left with two sons to serve as priests. Nadab and Abihu were childless, so Aaron's line continues completely through Eleazar and Ithamar.

God tells Moses to "bring" the Levites to Aaron- they are his to aid in tabernacle duties- including furnishing the Tent of Meeting. Only Aaron and his sons can approach the sanctuary- anyone else who does is to be put to death. I assume this would allow for sanctuary duties for male offspring of Eleazar and Ithamar, but it's pretty ambiguous.

God takes claim to the Levites. He says that since He struck down the Egyptian firstborn, all firstborn in Israel, man and animal are His. He's claiming the Levites instead of the Israelite firstborn.

So, apparently to make sure that He claimed the right number of them, he institutes a Levitical census. And then the structure of the tribe is laid out. The opposite of fascinating.

Levi had three boys, so there are three groups in the tribe which each have separate clans. It's like reading taxonomy in biology class.

Gershon had the Libnites and Shimeites- 7500 males. They were to camp west of the tabernacle. Eliasaph was in charge. They were "responsible for the care of the tabernacle and tent, its coverings, the curtain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, ²⁶ the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, and the ropes—and everything related to their use."

Kohath got the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites and Uzzielites- 8600 males. Elizaphan was in charge. They took care of the sanctuary and camped south of the tabernacle. They were "responsible for the care of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain, and everything related to their use."

Finally, Merari got the Mahlites and the Mushites- 6200 males. Zuriel was in charge. They camped north of the tabernacle. They were "appointed to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, bases, all its equipment, and everything related to their use, ³⁷ as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs and ropes."

Moses, Aaron and their children camped to the east. They took care of the sanctuary.

So every male a month or older totaled 22,000. So to make sure He claimed enough of them, He had Moses count the firstborn Israelite males a month or older. When Moses did, he got 22,273. So God told them to take up a collection to make up for the 273 firstborn not accounted for- five shekels per extra firstborn.

So Moses did, and as commanded, the money went to Aaron and his sons.

What's weird to me about this passage is that the Levite numbers seem to be rounded off. It would be weird if all three tribes had round numbers of males. This rounding wouldn't be odd if they weren't being compared to Israelite firstborn whose numbers obviously weren't being rounded off.

Maybe it was just a weird coincidence and those numbers are exact. Maybe the individual clan numbers are rounded- but when you add the actual numbers, they come out to the round total. Maybe Moses realized after the Levite count that an exact sum was needed, and paranoid about ripping off God, he gave the exact numbers of firstborn Israelites.

Whatever the reason, God seemed to be ok with it all.

Rand McMoses

Numbers 2

Lots of recapping from last chapter. As exciting as it was the first time, it was even less so this time.

What's added here is the blueprint of camping for the tribes. East part of the camp is for Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. They set out first.

On the south is Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. They're second.

On the west, Manasseh, Benjamin, and Ephraim. They go third.

On the north, Dan, Asher and Naphtali. They go fourth.

In the middle is the Tent of Meeting and all of the Levites.

The chapter also points out who is in charge of each tribe. I'll spare you that list.

That's it. Chapter two is action packed!

I am curious, though, as to the mindset behind who went where. Was it an attempt to balance the population? Looking at the numbers, they're kind of balanced- although the western flank has fewer people.

Did God try to group people who would get along? Joesph and Benjamin's offspring are together, so that could be part of it.

I wonder what the reaction was. It feels kind of like preparation to me. After all the talk of soldiering in chapter one, I would wonder, were I an Israelite youth, if this structure was war preparation.

Or maybe it's just like assigned seats the first day of school.

Either way, it's not too exciting.

The Bible for Obsessive Compulsives

Numbers 1

Buckle in folks, Numbers may be a bumpy ride. If you are fascinated by counting, if you're a bit OCD, or if you don't have an affinity for dramatic build- this might be the book for you.

So- On February 1st on the second year of Egyptian freedom (or the equivalent based on our calendar), God tells Moses that it's census time. There's a master list to be created of every man categorized by clans and families. Surprise, surprise- they apparently didn't count the women.

It seems the main motivation may be to count the number of men fightin' age. Anyone twenty or older who could serve in the army is to be counted.

Someone from each tribe is assigned to help with the counting of that tribe- each appointed man is the head of his family. Apparently, even then, the gender stereotype was that boys were better at math.

I bet you can't wait for the results. Here they are:

From Reuben: 46,500

From Simeon: 59,300

From Gad: 45,650

From Judah: 74,600

From Issachar: 54,400

From Zebulon: 57,400

From Ephraim: 40,500

From Mannasseh: 32,200

That's 72,700 from Joseph for all of you math nerds.

From Benjamin: 35,400

From Dan: 62,700

From Asher, 41,500

From Naphtali: 53,400

So- the total of men to serve... 603,550. And I checked the math. Gold star, Moses. It works out. Care to look at my checkbook?

Levi wasn't counted. They were exempt from army service. Instead they were to be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony. They dealt with set up, carrying, etc. Any contact with the tabernacle was through them. If anyone else went near, it would mean a death sentence.

The Israelites were to set up camp by divisions- each man in his own camp. I assume this means tribes, though I suppose it could be military divisions. Levites weren't part of this- they set up camp around the tabernacle.

A few random observations:

Benjamin's tribe wasn't too prolific. Perhaps mostly female offspring? Was he so much younger than the rest that his offspring would have had less time to procreate? However, using this logic it would seem like Reuben would have many more. Maybe Benjamin himself had fewer children which made the tree branch more slowly.

Interesting that the priests were cleared of military service. Is this a statement about a contrast between holiness and combat? Is it a bestowing of honor to a special tribe? Is it all about Jesus coming from that tribe (and what implications exist as a result of that?)?

The census seems to be a military decision. Is there a reason that God wasn't interested in knowing how big his non-fighting squadron (women, children, aged men, Levites) was?

Why did God need a count to be made- if he knows how many hairs are on my head (a less challenging calculation daily) why didn't he know how many Israelite men there were?

Was this simply an exercise to show the Israelites how powerful they were- and by counting themselves they'd be more impressed by it?

Was it simply a test of obedience?

Something doesn't add up.

Oh, let the math puns begin.

Accounting for Israelite Finance

Leviticus 27

The book of Leviticus ends just as interestingly as it began (not very). Here we get the low-down on tithing- and it's no joke. They don't really do IOU's- or approximate, or round down- if they don't have the cash, God still gets what's His.

First, apparently they could vow on behalf of people. It's a bit vague, but the best I can tell, if they didn't have the money for their tithe, they could pledge people to God; maybe slaves, family members, unruly children. I'm not sure how your life changes if you've been pledged to God by someone else, but the chapter spells out the monetary values of these pledges. The best rate comes for a 20-60 year old male- you get much less for a one month- five year old female.

I'm not sure if it's more troubling that people could be pledged by someone else, or that there's a sliding scale based on your age and gender. If the person paying for the vow can't make the payment, they can present the person and work out a price with the priest. This is really confusing to me- I'm not sure what purpose the money and the vowed people serve- but I think I'm pretty glad to not be dealing with it on a regular basis.

If the vow is paid for with an animal, it becomes holy. Once it's submitted, it's submitted- you can't switch out a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If you try to, both animals become holy. If the animal is an unclean animal- it's presented to the priest to work out a fair price. Whatever the priest determines, is the price. If you want to buy it back, add 20%.

Same deal with your house. If you dedicate it, the priest sets the value. If you want to buy it back, add 20%.

If you dedicate land, the value is determined by how many seeds it takes to plant the land. The price will also vary depending on how close to Jubilee it is. The land can be bought back for 20% beyond what was credited. If the field is not redeemed or is sold, it can never redeemed- at Jubilee, it becomes the property of the priests. If the land was not from the seller's family, at Jubilee it returns to the original family.

Firstborn cannot be offered (Hooray for firstborns), because the LORD already owns them.

Now it seems there is another level of dedication- a "devotion" of something to God. Anything devoted cannot ever be redeemed. If a person is "devoted", they cannot be ransomed, they are to be put to death.

Everything is tithed. No keeping the best. One tenth of everything goes to God.

This is a pretty hard core system. I tend to be much looser with what I "devote" to God. I don't often think of it in percentages, and when I do, I think about post tax, in my wallet, after the insurance came out and I've already gotten a couple of Route 44 diet vanilla cokes at Sonic. This system doesn't really allow for such approximation. One tenth of the vanilla syrup isn't mine.

All frivolity aside (or at least most, all is awfully hard with me), this idea of tithing, or dedicating in our context is fuzzy at best. What constitutes a gift to God? Is it strictly what goes into a collection plate, or is the five bucks you give the homeless man part of the math problem? How about the big tip you leave at a restaurant, the money you send to help with the latest natural disaster?

I certainly don't have all the answers, but I do like to think of our context being much less about the legalistic ten percent dogmatism, and more about having a giving spirit. However, it may all just be wishful thinking.

I don't think what I spend at Itunes goes toward it, unfortunately.