Dedication and Consecration

Today's reading is in Numbers 7 & 8

One of the final things to occur while camped at Sinai are these two acts that involved Dedication and Consecration.

First the dedication of a set of gifts for the Tabernacle. It involved the same things in exact measurement from each tribe - none gave more than another - none gave less. It is a beautiful picture of all that involves setting apart gifts to give to the Lord's work. These gifts are measured, intentional, and offered as to God, not men. The chapter ends with these words:

"When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the lord spoke to him."

What the Lord speaks to him in chapter 8 is the second act: the consecration of the Levites for service. The Tabernacle itself is now complete, and ready for use. So now the servants of God for the Tabernacle are called, set apart, and consecrated for their service. I think it must have been a beautiful site for the Israelites to have beheld. There by the Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, where God would meet with his people, stands several thousand Levites - 1/12 of the tribe - set apart to oversee the Spiritual service of the nation. In a 24/7 style, they would minister before the altar of the Lord and keep the relationship with God the primary objective of what the nation was all about.

It's interesting how my active service would have been over with for 11 years already according to the command of the Lord at the end of chpt 8:

"The lord said to Moses, "This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer."

One can't help but note that this is a change from the earlier statement of age 30 to 50. At age 50 they were not retired as such, but stepped back from the active service of day by day. God had a much more generous retirement system in place than we could have imagined!

Peace


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