Dt. 15: Generously

Deuteronomy 15:4-5 "However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today."

So God gives these commands. Says He will richly bless you. Richly. Not enough just to scrape by. Richly bless you. Why would God richly bless people? Apparently so that they are able to give "openhandedly" to the poor among them. One reason God bestows wealth is to give it away. "There should be no poor among you," (v. 4), yet "There will always be poor people in the land" (v. 11). God's intent differs from reality. Is that God's fault? Is poverty a result of God preventing someone from living the high life? Or is poverty a result of not being careful to follow His commands? Maybe. Is poverty an indication of someone not being careful to follow His commands? Probably not, but possible.

With the seven-year rule for canceling debts, there were certain to be loopholes found..."I won't pay on my loan, because next year it will be canceled anyway," and "I'm not lending out any money, because next year it will be canceled anyway." God makes lending a heart issue. He proclaims it sin to withhold money-lending based on His seven-year debt cancelation plan.

Also in seven years, slaves are to be set free. Not just set free, loaded down with gifts as they leave. Makes me think the slavery system a million years ago was a bit different than it was 250 years ago.

Weird that driving an awl through a slaves earlobe into the door post was the ceremony that allowed a slave to stay with a master beyond the seven years. Bloody ears are listed throughout Exodus and Leviticus as part of consecrating priests (to serve) and cleansing someone. Whether there is a connection there is up for debate, but that's the only connection I can think of.

I had been wondering about what it actually meant to consecrate the first born male of the herds and flocks. I get a little more of the picture here at the end of chapter 15. Basically the sacrifice is to not put the eldest male to work...having to wait for a second one before you could plow more economically. Same with sheep. Can't produce more clothes or wool until number two comes around. It forces you to wait.

Nu. 3: We Are Levites!

We've gone through and numbered the other tribes of Israel, and Levi scarcely elicited a mention. Levi had already been consecrated in Leviticus as the tribe responsible for carrying out the temple and tabernacle responsibilities. They are to be wholly given to the LORD, which makes me think that if you were born a Levite, your future was already planned out. You were relegated to the fate of the priesthood. There were grave responsibilities as well as great reward. It was a calling to a higher, cleaner lifestyle.

A lifestyle I'm not sure I'd want, ever. I'd be too lazy. I'd hate dealing with the blood. I'd hate having instant death hanging over my head for a misstep.

The Levites were counted in a different way than the other tribes, where the focus was on men of fighting age. The Levites were numbered according to every male of at least one month of age.

Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. These are their numbers.

Gershon
Belonging Clans: Libnites, Shimeites
Number of males: 7,500
Camping Place: West of the tabernacle
Leader of the families: Eliasaph
Responsibilities: Care of the tabernacle, tent, and coverings; curtains at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and those surrounding the courtyard, tabernacle and altar; and ropes and related articles.

Kohath
Belonging Clans: Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, Uzzielites
Number of males: 8,600
Camping Place: South of the tabernacle
Leader of the families: Elizaphan
Responsibilities: Care of the ark, table, lampstand, altars, articles of the sanctuary, curtain and related articles.

Merari
Belonging Clans: Mahlites, Mushites
Number of males: 6,200
Camping Place: North of the tabernacle
Leader of the families: Zuriel
Responsibilities: Care of the frames of the tabernacle, crossbars, posts and equipment, posts, bases, tent pegs and ropes.

Moses and Aaron were to camp at the east end of the tabernacle, the entrance. Toward the sunrise. They were responsible for the sanctuary.

The Levites were taken for the LORD in place of the firstborn sons of the house of Israel. They were redeemed for those firstborn Israelites. There were 273 more firstborn males in all of Israel than there were among the Levites, and they were redeemed for 5 shekels each, and that money was given to Aaron. Did these firstborn sons not have to worry about the passover and the destroyer angel? I think not. Passover was a lasting ordinance. This was a way for the firstborn sons to remain with their families now that the Levites were God's people for carrying out his purpose when it comes to ministering and taking care of the tabernacle.

Ex. 13: Consecration of the Firstborn; A Redemptive Plan

Well, Exodus 13 opens up with another one of those "Bible" words that I memorized, that I sing in the hymns, but I don't really know its meaning. God says "Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal."

I didn't know what consecrate actually meant, but I gathered from the context of the verse that these sons were to be set apart, made sacred for God. To be given over to God for His purpose. To let go of your own plans for something, and give it to God.

Moses then reiterates to Israel what God had said about the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

You know...

• Commemorate this every year.
• No yeast whatsoever, not even in your homes, (in the NIV, within the borders)
  
• Celebrate for seven days, and then hold a festival for God on day 7.

God also says to tell their children why they do this, and of course it is to commemorate the exodus out of Egypt. So here in Exodus 13:8 is the importance to God of telling others what great things He has done.

How important is this commemoration? It will be like a sign on the hand and a reminder on the forehead that God's law is to always be on their lips, as God brought them out of Egypt in His might. What kind of might? Well, lets consider the plagues...the frogs, the blood, the flies, hail, gnats, locusts and the death of the firstborn. Who could control that type of phenomena without being the one who created it? And it was overwhelming to those it intended to punish...or teach...and separate from those who were to be protected. God can do that.

God then explains this consecration of the firstborn. They all belong to God. God kind of set this in motion with the precedent of Abraham and Isaac back in Genesis 22. When Israel gets into the land promised to Abraham, they will consecrate their firstborn sons to God. They will also set aside the firstborn of each of their livestock to God. If the Israelites want to, they can redeem a lamb for the firstborn donkey. The lamb takes the place of the ass. However, if they choose not to redeem the ass, they must break it's neck. Apparently, thats what I'm reading.

This consecration of the firstborn is done in order to remember how God took the firstborn of the Egyptians, and yet offered a way for Israelites to be spared this horror. Future generations who were not witness to this deliverance will receive this consecration as a sort of object lesson about God's power and wilingness to spare their firstborn sons.

This is the second time God has spared the firstborn...the first being the aforementioned Abraham and Isaac episode. God also provided a substitute to take the place of the sacrifice/firstborn with the blood of a sheep...or lamb. And there was much rejoicing.

So God was leading the people out of Egypt. Whether there was some sort of a visual sign, or God led them with some sort of a mystical conscious connection, that's not really the point. He led them not through the lands of the Philistines, because he knew if the Israelites were to encounter war, they freak out and want to go back to Egypt, to their slavery. Israel probably wasn't ready for war. They spent 430 years as slaves. There was no sense of fight in them, only submission. God instead led them the long way, through the wilderness and to the Red Sea.

Interesting that Moses had the bones of Joseph with him. Weird. After 430 years, Joseph still hadn't been buried in the land of his people. In Genesis 50:25, Joseph told Israel before he died that God would hold them accountable if they didn't bring his bones out of Egypt. Fair enough, Joe, you're coming with us. So they had to be stored away somewhere for all that time...

Oh, and it is written that God led Israel with a pillar of clouds during the day, and a pillar of fire during the night. So that settles that.