“Of all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of all the Israelites, and to make atonements for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”
– Numbers 8:19
Hi James and Ellen,
Your grandmaa and grandpaa really enjoyed the time that they had with you last week while you were with them in Lancaster. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were glad that you were okay with going to the place where there is a replica of the tabernacle that God almost 3,500 years ago had His specially chosen guys build to worship Him in. What do you remember about what you saw when you saw the replica of the tabernacle? Do you remember the altar that was in the tabernacle’s courtyard? Do you remember the seven branched lampstand that was between the tabernacle’s courtyard and the small enclosed room that was at the far back of the tabernacle that was called the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place? The seven branched lampstand was in the front of the tabernacle. The area in front of the tabernacle was called the Holy Place. Have you ever thought about what was involved in killing a bull so that the bull’s meat could be a sacrifice on the altar? Your grandpaa never gave it that much thought until he began to think about what Moses wrote in what is now Numbers 8. Your grandpaa always thought that only the ordained Levi tribal clan priests – who would have been just Aaron and his four sons – Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, did all the tasks in the tabernacle. Do you have any idea how long that it takes to gut, skin and cut up an animal – like a cow, after a cow has been killed? When your grandmaa and grandpaa were the administrators of the rural resident leadership training and Bible education program in Concepción, Nuflo de Chávez – in Bolivia, and because your grandpaa had a pickup, area ranchers would sometimes ask your grandpaa to haul in his pickup from their ranches into Concepción the meat of a cow that was killed and butchered as your grandpaa watched. After roping the cow that a rancher had decided to butcher, the rancher would tie the cow’s feet tightly together causing the cow to fall on her side allowing him to slit the cow’s throat. Your grandpaa knows that this sounds like a very gruesome way to kill a cow but this is what would have been done repeatedly almost 3,500 years ago as bulls were being constantly brought to the tabernacle to be killed so that some of the bull’s meat could be burned on the altar as a sin or burnt offering. Your grandpaa would ask for the head of the cow as payment from a rancher for hauling into Concepción the meat of the cow that he had butchered along with first dibs on the liver and on the best cuts of meat.
There was absolutely no way that Aaron and his kids could do all the grunt work – such as tying up the feet of a bull to drop the bull so that the bull’s blood could be carefully collected when the bull’s throat was slit – so that the blood that had been collected could be sprinkled on the altar or waved over the Levi tribal clan guys who were being consecrated, let alone skinning and cutting up the bull and preparing the altar – like finding, cutting up and putting firewood on the altar for burning the bull’s meat as a sin or burnt offering to God – as God the Father. The guys who did the grunt work where all consecrated Levi tribal clan guys. A Levi tribal clan guy could become consecrated to help in the tabernacle after he was 25 years old. When a Levi tribal clan guy hit his 50th birthday, the guy could still help his bros as they did the tabernacle chores but he no longer could do any of the heavy grunt work that needed to be done in the tabernacle. The Levi tribal clan priests were recognized as being holy after they had been anointed and ordained to do their assigned tabernacle tasks such as sprinkling the blood of a bull that had just been killed on the altar or waving the bull’s blood over the Levi tribal clan guys who were being consecrated, while the Levi tribal clan guys – as Levi tribal clan priests’ helpers, were ascribed clean after they had been consecrated by the Levi tribal clan priests to do their tabernacle tasks. The Levi tribal clan priests literally took a bath during their ordination ceremony. The Levi tribal clan priests used the water from the courtyard laver during the consecration ceremony of the Levi tribal clan guys. The Levi tribal clan priests were given brand new clothes at their ordination ceremony. The blood of a sacrificed bull was sprinkled on a Levi tribal clan priest. The blood of a sacrificed bull was waved over the Levi tribal clan guys who were being consecrated for tabernacle duty. When Levi tribal clan guys were being consecrated to do assigned tasks in the tabernacle, they had all the hair shaved off their bodies as a symbol of their cleanness in the eyes of God. The consecration of Levi tribal clan guys to be tabernacle workers was done in front of guys from all the other Israelite people group tribal clans. Verse 19 explains why doing it this way was such a crucial component of the consecration ceremony, “Of all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of all the Israelites, and to make atonements for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”’ Before the consecration ceremony for the Levi tribal clan guys who would work in the tabernacle, guys from the other tribal clans laid hands on them and on the two bulls that were sacrificed at this time.
Because God – as God the Son – Jesus, through His atoning death replaced the requirement to kill bulls to be sacrifices and because Jesus is now the High Priest – that Aaron typed, you are today the Levi tribal clan type grunts who God chose to be His living sacrifices to prepare guys, gals and other kids for entering into His new ‘tabernacle’.
Numbers 8 (1004)