February 13, 2025 - Numbers 17-19

“[The Levites] shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die. . . . And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel” (18:3-5).  That’s the Lord speaking to Aaron about service at the tabernacle.  God’s desire?  That Israel would know him, follow him, realize her great redemption, and never again be the subjects of wrath.  God desired good for his people, and he desires good for us.  The narrative continues by laying out the gifts for the Levites.  The Lord said to Aaron:  “I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting” (18:6).  The priests would be given no land or property when the people came into the land of promise.  Rather, God provided for them through the gifts brought to the tabernacle:  “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due” (18:8).  May I just say that I hope they handled those offerings better and more honestly than has our government in handling all the tax money we provide.  But whether it is delivering us from wrath or providing our daily needs, like Israel and the priests, we can sing:

Every day the Lord Himself is near me

With a special mercy for each hour.

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counselor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid.

“As your days, your strength shall be in measure,”

This the pledge to me He made.   --Carolina Sandell Berg (1997)