The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/numbers/3.htm

According to the census of the Levites in chapter 3, there were 22,000 Levites assigned to the duties of the Tabernacle. The Levites were of the Tribe of Levi, and were given those special duties, include the priesthood. Moses and Aaron were Levites, and God chose Aaron to the be priest and his sons to minister during Aaron’s absence.

Chapter 3 of the Book of Numbers talks about Aarons family, the duties of the Levites, and the census that was taken.

Chapter 4 discussed the various duties within the clans of the Tribe of Levi; there were many duties including the construction and deconstruction of the Tabernacle, the carrying of the Tabernacle, the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant, etc. Remember, the child of Israel are still wandering the the wilderness, they have yet to reach the Promised Land, and whenever they move from one camp to the other, the Tabernacle must be taken down and carried to the next campsite. And the Levites were the tribe assigned to these duties.

Pay close attention to this chapter because one section deals with the duties of the sons of Kohath. Later, we will read many psalms that were written by the Sons of Kohath, and we obviously inspired because they are included in the Bible.

There are several different commands God gives Moses in Chapter 5. The first pertains to the isolation of “unclean” people. Those with leprosy, which by the way, still exists today, those affected with some kind of discharge from a sore, those who have touched a corpse, God commands these people be isolated and taken from the camp so they do not “defile” the camp.

Knowing there is a reason for everything, do you think that taken them outside the camp was a punishment, or was it to prevent the spread of disease Was God protecting the healthy and preventing a “pandemic” or “epidemic” if you will?

You may think, “that person simply had a boil, why isolate them?” We now know to day that many “boils” are actually MRSA and are highly contagious. We know leprosy was contagious. And why were corpses unclean, was it possible that the corpse might have a disease that could be transmitted to the person who touches them? They didn’t have latex gloves in those days, they didn’t have N95 respirators to protect themselves, so God protected them.

And as far as the world “defile”, and as one of my favorite pastors says, “I can’t prove it, but you can’t disprove it”, what if you substitute the word “Infect” in place of defile? “Isolate those people so they do not “infect” the rest of the camp.” Everything God does is for a reason, and mostly that reason is to protect us, often times protecting us from ourselves.

Another section in this chapter talks about confession and restitution. I personally do not feel it is sufficient to pray, “Lord, forgive me for my sins”, I think we need to be specific so the Lord knows that we understand our sins. Furthermore, if we specifically pray for forgiveness, it may hurt us to confess what we’ve done. It’s easy to pray, “Forgive my sins”, but it is much harder to pray “Forgive me for getting angry with that person in line at McDonalds”, “Forgive me when I had immoral thoughts about the beautiful woman I saw at Walmart”,, “Forgive me for accepting too much change at the Dollar Tree and I kept it instead of returning it.” If we specifically acknowledge our specific sins so that we actually care enough to take the time and acknowledge our sins, rather than throwing out a blanket “forgive me” which is very easy to say.

Furthermore, the chapter goes into detail about restitution you must make to the one you sinned against. If we know the person we sinned against, we should confess our sin to them as well, asking for their forgiveness. And if it was a sin that may have cost them, we should make restitution to them. “Aunt Mary, please forgive me when I became angry with you at the family reunion last weekend. I let my emotions get in the way of my thinking.” Or, “Forgive me George, I borrowed your weedeater the other day and broke it; here’s some money to have it repaired and if not, let me know and I’ll buy you a new one.”

Can you imagine the faith you share by doing that. We simply cannot profess to be Christians, we must show people we are Christians, we must let God’s light shine through us.

Please also read the final section of this chapter, today’s blog is getting too lengthy to review it as well.

As always, God bless everyone, and study your scriptures, and pray for wisdom and understanding from God. He will not lead you astray, Satan will, but God will not. He is a loving, merciful God who wants nothing but the best for us.

Amen.