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NUMBERS
CHAPTER 17

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. 3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. 4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. 5 And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.

Actually chapters 17 and 18 run together. Chapter 18 is the answer
to a question posed in chapter 17.

Here God speaks to Moses and instructs him to take a "rod" from each
of the tribe's leaders. The "rod" is a staff, or a long pole. Rods
varied in length and size according to their purpose. Some were long,
some were short, some thick and dome slendor. For instance, if the
owner was a shepherd, his rod may have been as much as 7 feet long
with a crook on the end. If he were a soldier, the rod may have
been much thicker to use as a weapon.
These that God called for were ruler's rods. They were
actually used as showcase items. Probably each rod had family
ancestry carved into it. And they may have even special stories
engraved upon them.
Each tribe's ruler is to bring his rod, and Aaron is to bring his.
God says He will squash the "murmuring" of the people by performing
a miracle with the rods. Some of these people were still fighting
against God's chosen high priest. Moses is to just put all the rods
in the tabernacle and one of them will grow sprigs and blossom
overnight!

6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. 8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. 9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

The next morning Moses went into the tabernacle and brought out
all the rods. Aaron's rod had sprouted, blossomed, and further,
had even born almonds!
This miracle symbolizes the fact that Aaron's family is indeed
chosen of God for the High Priesthood (Psalm 92:13-15).
The dead stick was bearing fruit!!
So is the church today (John 15:16).
This miracle also prophetically speaks of Christ (Messiah). He,
as a human branch, will become the fruit-bearing High
Priest of all humanity (Isaiah 53:2,Zechariah 6:12).

10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not. 11 And Moses did so: as the LORD commanded him, so did he. 12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. 13 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

God tells Moses to put Aaron's rod in the ark as a testimony
that Aaron and his descendants are to retain the priesthood.
This would (or should) stop the "murmurings."

Now the people became fearful. Isn't it amazing how witnessing
a miracle will cause people to change their attitudes, but then
the next day they go right back to griping & complaining?
Do WE need to see God constantly performing miracles in
order to remain obedient?

These folk are afraid so they ask, "How can we even come
close to the tabernacle: we'll surely die if we do?"
In other words, they're saying "It's perilous to try and
draw close to God!" It IS isn't it? We, after all,
ARE sinners! Indeed, how shall we draw close to God?

This is where chapter 18 picks up. In it God explains that the
sanctity of the tabernacle is the responsibility
of the Levites.

CHAPTER 18

1 And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

In answer to the question, God says, the priest shall
"bear the iniquity of the tabernacle." In other words, Aaron and
his descendants are given the awesome responsibility of the
sanctity of the tabernacle! The priests are to stand between
the people and God!
This typifies, and prophetically speaks of, Christ. He is our
ONLY High Priest. He bears our iniquities (Isaiah 53:6).
He intercedes with God on our behalf (Isaiah 53:12, Hebrews 7:25).

2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

The rest of the Levites may help about the tabernacle, and
with the carrying of it, but they may not come in to minister
before the veil! The real "servant" job belongs to the High
Priest. (See Isaiah 41:8, 43:10, 44:1, Matthew 12:18)

3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die. 4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. 5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. 6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

The job of serving God with sacrifices, oblations, etc. was the
job of the priests. But the job of the Levites was to serve the
priests. How appropo to the church!
Jesus, our High Priest, makes all offerings acceptable to God by
His blood. And we are His servants. We are to serve
the Lord, Jesus.

8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. 9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. 10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee. 11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee. 13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. 14 Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. 15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. 16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD. 18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine. 19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee. 20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.

In 1Corinthians 9:13-14, Paul says these priests who served at the
altar lived by the altar. God provides for them some
rewards for their service.
The priests have all "My heave offerings" (verse 8). Then, God
enumerates or lists them. Look at the list and see that God richly
rewards their service.
All service to God is spiritual warfare, and the warrior does not go
to battle without his reward!
Heave offerings, first-fruits, sin offerings, wave-offerings - all
belong to God. But He graciously gives them over to the priests so
that they might have more than enough.
Notice verse 20. Neither the priests, nor the Levites were to have
any of the land of Israel as a possession.
They had enough being the inheritance of the Lord!

Don't we have enough knowing that we belong to Jesus?
Need we be involved overmuch with the world? We are IN
the world, but we are not OF the world.

21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. 23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. 24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

Now the Levites are well-provided for. They are to receive the
tithes of Israel. Notice that with those tithes they
are to keep the tabernacle (verse 21).

25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe. 27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress. 28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD's heave offering to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. 30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

However, out of all the offerings the Levites receive, they are to
offer from that unto God.
Even the Levites were to TITHE.
They were to pass on a tenth of the tenth to Aaron. Only then would
they bear no sin in having the things that God gave them.

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation. 32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.

Why is it that people revolt against tithing? Could it be that they
actually worship money or self more than God?
Notice in verse 32 that if the gifts coming to the sanctuary are not
kept holy, then the Levites "bear the sin."
In other words, it is SIN to not keep things holy that are
brought into the tabernacle. "WHAT? Know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye
have of God, and ye are not of your own?" (1Corinthians 6:19)
Also, we might look at these verses: 1Corinthians 3:16-17.
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of
God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which
temple ye are."

When we really belong to God, all that we HAVE is actually
a gift from God to us. And He dwells in us by His Holy Spirit.
Therefore, if we don't tithe, we are actually making our temple
UNHOLY!
YES SIR! IT IS IMPORTANT TO TITHE!

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