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Full Episode
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. After yesterday's demonstration where God validated Aaron's position as high priest, God addresses Aaron directly today. This is rare. God usually addresses Moses and has him pass things along to Aaron, but there are a few times where God speaks directly to Aaron and this is one of them.
He sets out some new rules and reiterates existing rules about how the priests and the Levites are supposed to care for the tabernacle. The priests, Aaron and his two sons, are to guard the tabernacle on the inside near the holy vessels, and the Levites are to guard the tabernacle on the outside to keep everyone out.
And God makes it clear, if a Levite passes into the part reserved for priests, they'll both die. God tells them all this in an effort to spare them the wrath he has to pour out when they rebel against him. God also unpacks something he's hinted at before. The Levites will have no inheritance among the people of Israel.
No land and no cattle and nothing to bank their futures on apart from the promise of God that he would provide for them through his people. The other 12 tribes brought a tithe, which literally means one-tenth of their income to the Levites. Of that tithe, the Levites gave 10% back to God, who said it should be given to the priest. This was God's plan of provision for everyone.
The Levites are giving their lives to serve the people, taking care of them, and the people are giving back their tithe to the sanctuary, taking care of the Levites. In chapter 19, we get a few more laws, particularly laws pertaining to death and being clean afterward.
This is timely, not just because of all the death that happened recently in the camp, but also because we're at the onset of roughly 2 million people dying in the camp over the next 38 years. They need to know how to handle it. A lot of time passes between chapter 19 and chapter 20, roughly 38 years.
We're almost at the end of the Israelites' time in the wilderness, and you're probably breathing a sigh of relief to hear that. But a lot of sad stuff happens in this chapter as we prepare to finish out their time. First, Miriam dies. She was a prophetess and the highest regarded woman among the tribes.
After her death, the people encounter another spot where there's no water and they complain again. But for most of these complainers, it's likely their first time complaining. The older generation is mostly dead now. even though they've inherited their parents grumbling and they long for an Egypt they barely knew if at all, their complaint is real. There is no water.
So God tells Moses and Aaron how to handle it. Go get the staff, likely Aaron's budded staff, from before the Lord, likely the Ark of the Covenant, then take all the people to the rock. Then while they're all watching, speak to the rock and tell it to release water. Easy peasy, right? So they get the staff and gather the people by the rock and Moses tells all the rebels to pay close attention.
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