All gave some. Some Gave All. Lest we forget.

Daily Devotional Monday 5th October 2020

by William Moody

Numbers 18:16–31

16 And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels1 in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 18 But their flesh shall be yours, as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. 19 All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.” 20 And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

21 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

25 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe. 27 And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the LORD’s contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the LORD; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

Footnotes

[1] 18:16 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams

(ESV)

We begin now considering some of the annual feasts the people of Israel were to observe.

The Passover (v16-25) was a week to remember God’s deliverance from Egypt. It is by looking back at the gracious and powerful actions of God that enables God’s people to grow in faith. This is one of the reasons for the Presbyterian ‘communion seasons’, in which people over several days remembered Christ’s death and sought to respond appropriately to it.

In a world of busyness, we need to pause and think on God, if we are going to grow as God wants us (see Psalm 46 v10). If we are not use to this, we need to train ourselves to do this and persevere in it.

The Feast of Weeks (v26-31) was an annual harvest thanksgiving. This principle of presenting the first fruits to the Lord, was a reminder that we owe God everything. In presenting the first fruits of the harvest to God, it also highlights how God is to have our very best in life and not just our leftovers.

We don’t run our lives and fit God in when it suits. God has to be at the centre and everything else must fit in around God.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.