Silver Trumpets

Num 9:18-10:7         11/5/2017

God instructed Moses: Two silver trumpets are made to give signals from the priests to the people. The trumpets were only to be used by the priests, although the trumpets were used for a wide range of various signals; including breaking camp – which apparently is why they are mentioned here.

A system for calling people to action. The trumpets were used to call the people to move the camp, or to prepare to engage enemies, or call the leaders for council or call the people to celebrate a feast. In this way, the trumpets were a form of immediate communication. Their sound required the people to respond.

In the life of any community, there are times when word of mouth is an appropriate means of communication. One speaks, another hears, and the message is passed down a line. But, there are times when the coordination of effort requires information be broadcast. A bell for dinner. A call to mass or prayer. A siren declares an emergency – get out of the way.

We hear. We know what to do.

God is the God of all creation. He is always present to all being. He speaks to you – personally. He makes Himself available to you – personally.

Yet community also shares in being. So He communicates with us. He makes Himself available to us.

He chooses to use leaders; pastors and bishops and the magisterium, to broadcast a call to action.

It is up to me to respond.

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe Heb 1:1

Ritual Grace

Num 9:7-17         11/4/2017

God made special provision for the ceremonially unclean and the traveler to celebrate Passover at an alternative time.

What does God’s willingness to make special provisions for unavoidable circumstances say about Him – and about me?

Unnamed men approached Moses because of the recent death of their loved ones.  The bodies of their dead had to be attended, which left them unclean. As a result, they were unable to celebrate the Passover, the first commemoration ever, with the rest of the people. God made a way.

Centuries later, Jesus was visiting a foreign city when he was approached by a Syrophoenician woman who begged for healing for her daughter.   Jesus initially refused her explaining that He had only been sent to the children of Israel. Undeterred she countered Jesus with a demonstration of extraordinary faith. He healed the child.

By grace.

There is no law above the law of love, manifest through grace. This is the nature of God.

It was always there. It will always be there.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; Eph 2:8

Commissioning Levites

Num 8:10-20         11/02/2017

The Israelites lay hands on the Levites – the Levites are offered to God to perform the tabernacle services.

God had dictated that the Levites would be set apart for service to the tabernacle. This in exchange for the Israelite lives not taken at the Passover in Egypt.

It’s only a year after the Israelites left Egypt. According to the rite, the Israelites laid hands on the Levites symbolizing the wave offering of first fruits. The Levites belonged to the Lord for service as the substitutes for the first born amongst the tribes. All the Israelites agreed to this. The Levites were the wave offering of first fruits to the Lord.

Representative. First fruits.

The priests and the Levites were representative. They were taken from the nation at large. They weren’t special people from outside the community who couldn’t understand the struggle and challenges of being an Israelite.

Jesus was likewise, a real, human person. Fully human…and fully divine. Representative.

Representative. First fruits.

You are understood. You are loved despite your moral failings. You are redeemed for relationship with the God of all creation.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. Heb 4:15

Voice and Angels

Num 7:88-8:9         11/01/2017

Moses heard God talk. In fact, “he heard the voice addressing him from above the cover on the ark of the covenant, from between the two cherubim”.

Hearing God – everyone I’ve known who has an interest in God, has wanted to hear from God. To know with certainty what’s on His mind, what He would have me do, what He would have you do; we all seem to want that.

So the ark’s gone. The tabernacle is gone. The temple is gone. There’s no going back to temple worship.

Elijah once decided to return right to the source. He went back to the Mount Sinai to hear from the God of Moses. Perhaps to his surprise, he found a “still, small voice”. He found that hearing God has more to do with listening for God than with finding a god to listen to.

God says, “Be still and know that I am God”.

Being quiet is the beginning of hearing.

“…Be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

Extravagant Gifting

Num 7:75-87         10/31/2017

The tribes give extravagant gifts beyond what’s strictly required by Moses.

Although much of the animal sacrifices given by each tribal leader was required by God in the law given to Moses, the silver platters, basins and golden bowls filled with incense were not required by this law. These were given as expressions of love and devotion by the tribes.

It’s funny how a young man might not have two nickels to rub together but somehow he can still come up with a gold ring as a marriage gift. The ring is a custom – it’s not actually required for marriage. So why does he do it?

His ring is a symbol. It is a physical manifestation of the value he associates with the relationship. And it’s all relative: A man with a lot of money will not be satisfied with a simple gold ring. Instead, he’ll find an extravagant ring that conveys the extraordinary value he finds in the relationship with his wife.

The tribal leaders brought the sacrificial offerings of this commemoration not with basic containers, but with the finest gold and silver, as a way of conveying their love and respect for God. It was a gift.

It’s a challenge for us today.  An old woman gave two pence – but it was everything she had. It was extravagant. But, the extravagance was in the attitude of gifting. I give my tithe or a few hours of my time? Is it a mere duty fulfilled – an obligation? Is my heart lavish toward God?

It’s only time and treasure. (And yeah, I know, it’s all I have) But the stuff won’t make it out of this life. The attitude will.

So, lavish the one’s you love.

Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Cor 9:6-7

Tribal Celebration

Num 7:60-74         10/30/2017

During the dedication of the Tent of Meeting, each day for twelve days, the leader of a different tribe, from amongst the tribes of Israel, offered the exact same sacrifice on behalf of his people.

Value is visceral – we experience it in our bodies.   Experiences move from short term memory in our brains to long term memory because they are either really valuable or because they are really not valuable – meaning experiences we’d rather not have again.

Rituals create valuable experiences. We use ceremonies, rites, rituals and even holidays to accentuate important moments in our lives. Weddings, funerals, baptisms, Christmas all function this way. They make pleasant (or at least more tolerable) a new, or remembered, reality.

As the tribes took turns sending their leader with special gifts to sacrifice and dedicate to the Lord at the Tent of Meeting, they felt good. They felt pride at their tribe’s participation and rejoiced to have a special day that recognized each tribe’s unique relationship to the Lord and role in the nation.

You are no different. You need to celebrate the important things in your life. You need to pair meaningful experiences with rituals and ceremonies that focus your affections. Do not begrudge yourself the power of celebration. Rejoice!

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name” Psalm 100:4

Church and State

Num 7:44-59         10/29/2017

The sacrifices made by the leaders of each tribe mark the relationship between the political leadership of the tribes and God.

The political authorities acknowledged the sovereignty of God through obeisance and sacrifice. The authentic community is based on the quest for the transcendent yet eternal. It’s governance founded on true good. It was more than a contract.

A covenant. A recognition of reality.

A communion of might-be saints offers sacrifice and praise to the one, true, God. But the question: Will the experiment end in what man can do or will the most extraordinary possibility ever imagined come to fruition?

The curious reality is that this story is unfinished. Even stranger, the outcome is no longer left to the ancients.  Instead, you are one of the main characters.

What you and I chose to do with today will contribute to the greatest story ever told. Live this moment – this episode – well.

“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God”  Eph 2:19

Order and Sacrifice

Num 7:30-43         10/28/2017

Tribal leaders take turns offering gifts to the Lord according to their ordered position within the community. They start with Judah and systematically move clockwise around the tent of meeting through all the other tribes.

Success is about order.

You need order to be effective. In fact, the most effective people have a habitual disposition to order. They order their environment. They order their bodies. They order their minds. That’s what it means to be effective.

Effective communities are likewise oriented to order. There is order in relationship. There is order in cooperative effort. There is order in transcendent purpose.

This is the good work. This is the work that brings real, actual, good.

The children of Israel stood before the Lord, who had brought them out of Egypt, in order. This was the first authentic community – the origin of all authentic community. They ordered the camp with God symbolically and literally in the center of the community because it was necessary. They were arrayed in the camp with purpose. Their relationships were well ordered. None of this was accidental.

So, Authentic Community is essentially ordered.

“So what?” you say, “We are post-modern, existential, denigrators of essence. We decide what we are and how we are. We can’t go back. We won’t go back”

Maybe. But you also can’t go forward. It’s time to rethink this.

“but everything must be done properly and in order” 1 Cor 14:40

Leah’s Satisfaction

Num 7:16-29         10/27/2017

As the work of the tabernacle is completed, the tribal leaders wish to offer sacrifices to God in dedication.

Remember Leah, Jacob’s unloved wife?

Laban tricked Jacob into marrying her. Yet most of Jacob’s sons were born to her. Now, it is the righteous offspring of Jacob and Leah who are first in the position of special honor and leadership amongst the tribes.

It’s often not obvious why things work the way they do. We experience sorrow and joy. We gain. We lose. We can’t help but wonder what the meaning of it all might be.

Leah suffered in misery because she felt unloved by Jacob.  Despite this, eight of the twelve tribes were born out of her commitment to bear children, six from her own body.

Leah’s circumstances taught her to find her satisfaction in God. She came to understand that no matter what she might do, she couldn’t force Jacob to love her. She couldn’t force anyone to love her. Instead, she learned how to praise God despite her adversity. She learned to recognize and accept God’s unconditional love. Praising God became her satisfaction. She named her fourth son Judah – which translated means “praise”.

It’s the Exodus – five hundred years later. As the children of Israel dedicate a new relationship with the God of their forefathers, Judah leads the tribes.

Worship of God begins with “Praise”. It’s more than a pun, it’s a way to the deepest satisfaction.

Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continuously…Heb 13:15

Tribal Offerings

Num 7:3-15         10/26/2017

The tribal leaders came together and chose to offer wagons and oxen to assist the Levites in moving the tabernacle.

There is a curious moment of uncertainty in this vignette. The tribal leaders wish to offer a gift that will help the Levites transport the tabernacle in the time of movement. But Moses is uncertain of how to respond – he’s uncertain how God will perceive these gifts which were not prescribed. Of course, he makes inquiry and God finds the offering acceptable.

We come to God. As we do, we offer something to Him: praise, tithe, solidarity, worship, communion, repentance, whatever. These are prescribed offerings – not much can go wrong.

But a creative offering to God has some risk. Like Cain, He may not approve of your offering. Aaron’s golden calf image of God was roundly rejected. Nadab and Abihu died after offering “strange” fire before the Lord.  Let’s state the obvious, creativity involves risk.  The carts and oxen could have been rejected.

So why risk? Because that’s the name of the game – because authentic love is pure risk. It is cosmic and cosmologic. It is primordial and immediate. It is potential and identity. It’s collaborating with God. You were born for this.

What then, am I supposed to do? How do I come to Him?

Two suggestions:

1. Let the purpose of your offering be love of neighbor.
2. Don’t be offended if your offering is rejected.

God takes such heart offerings seriously.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn. Psa 51:18