Exodus 30:11-16 Census and Ransom!

11Then the LORD said to Moses, 12“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered. 13Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.

14Everyone twenty years of age or older who crosses over must give this offering to the LORD. 15In making the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives, the rich shall not give more than a half shekel, nor shall the poor give less. 16Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will serve as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD to make atonement for your lives.”

Census and ransom!

Israel belonged to God and God ordered them to be numbered and a ransom to be paid. Later the “ransom” became the annual temple tax.

“The Lord commanded that every male over twenty years of age should pay half a shekel as redemption money, confessing that he deserved to die, owning that he was in debt to God, and bringing the sum demanded as a type of a great redemption which would by-and-by be paid for the souls of the sons of men.” (Spurgeon)

“The rich were not to give more, the poor not to give less; to signify that all souls were equally precious in the sight of God, and that no difference of outward circumstances could affect the state of the soul; all had sinned, and all must be redeemed by the same price.” (Clarke)

“The half-shekel was not a gift in the sense of a free-will offering. It was a recognition of redemption, a sign of atonement, made and received. Here the rich and the poor stood upon a perfect equality.” (Morgan)

The ransom money was given into the service of the temple.

“It must have weighed something over four tons, and this was dedicated to the use of the tabernacle: the special application of the precious metal was to make sockets into which the boards which made the walls of the tabernacle should be placed.” (Spurgeon)

That’s a lot of silver! Everyone in the census contributed to the temple!

How would your church be if everyone paid a ransom and it was used for the construction of the church?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 30:1-10 Prayers of the Saints

1“You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense. 2It is to be square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high. Its horns must be of one piece. 3Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it. 4And make two gold rings below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it. 5Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

6Place the altar in front of the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you. 7And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps. 8When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he must burn the incense perpetually before the LORD for the generations to come. 9On this altar you must not offer unauthorized incense or a burnt offering or grain offering; nor are you to pour a drink offering on it.

10Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”

“The altar of incense stood outside the veil, in the holy place (not in the most holy place). Therefore, it was fairly close to the Ark of the Covenant, yet separated by the veil.” (Guzik)

“The table of showbread represented communion with God, the lampstand spoke of testimony to the world, and now the golden altar speaks of the offering of adoration.” (Morgan)

Revelation 5:8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 8: 3Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.

Prayer doesn’t save us, prayer is a reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Prayer is having communion with the Lord, giving thanks for His blessings, talking with God.

Let Him know what’s on your mind including your troubles. Not that He doesn’t know them already, He just wants to hear it from you. Most importantly, He wants you to turn them over to Him.

What are prayers of the saints?

https://www.gotquestions.org/prayers-of-the-saints.html

Blessings, David

Exodus 29:45-46 Price to Pay!

45Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46And they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.

I am the LORD their God.”

There is a price to pay for being fully surrendered to God. The ceremony of consecration was long, bloody, and it took persistence to complete. Yet the reward was far greater than the cost - the glory of the LORD was revealed not only to the consecrated priests, but to the people in general. (Guzik)

Likewise, there is a price to pay for being fully surrendered to Jesus.

John 15: 18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

Are you hated by the world? 

If so, don’t forget verse 19!

Blessings, David 

Exodus 29:38-44 For the generations to come!

38This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old. 39In the morning offer one lamb, and at twilight offer the other. 40With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. 41And you shall offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

42For the generations to come, this burnt offering shall be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you. 43I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory. 44So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests.

How long did these sacrifices continue?

Luke 1:8 Now it came to pass, in his fulfilling the priestly service before God in the order of his division, {Zacharias (the father of John the Baptist) was ministering the morning sacrifice}

How long before the Lord got sick of meaningless sacrifices?

Isaiah 1:13 Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.

When we go before the Lord without a contrite heart it’s no different than a meaningless sacrifice. 

Don’t be guilty of pious meetings!

Blessings, David 

Exodus 29:29-37 Peace Offering and Communion!

29The holy garments that belong to Aaron will belong to his sons after him, so they can be anointed and ordained in them. 30The son who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place must wear them for seven days. 31You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. 33They must eat those things by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no outsider may eat them, because these things are sacred. 34And if any of the meat of ordination or any bread is left until the morning, burn up the remainder. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.

35This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all that I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. 36Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. 37For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.

For seven days they remained in the temple and ate the bread of consecration and the ram of consecration, having communion with the Lord.

“The Lord’s part was consumed with fire upon the altar, and another portion was eaten by man in the holy place. The peace offering was thus an open declaration of the communion which had been established between God and man, so that they ate together, rejoicing in the same offering.” (Spurgeon)

Some Christian faiths serve communion weekly and others monthly.

Do you have communion with the Lord remembering His sacrifice for you?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 29:22-28 The Wave Offering!

22Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh (since this is a ram for ordination), 23along with one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. 24Put all these into the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering. 25Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar atop the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma before the LORD; it is an offering made by fire to the LORD.

26Take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it before the LORD as a wave offering, and it will be your portion. 27Consecrate for Aaron and his sons the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the heave offering that is lifted up from the ram of ordination. 28This will belong to Aaron and his sons as a regular portion from the Israelites, for it is the heave offering the Israelites will make to the LORD from their peace offerings.

The Wave offering!

After the blood anointing and the burnt offering to the Lord we have the wave offering. It is the priests portion, their food supplied by the Israelites because the priests sole function was to serve the Lord and make atonement for the Israelites.

“Let not this distinction be forgotten; the eating of the sacrifice is not intended to give life, for no dead man can eat, but to sustain the life which is there already. A believing look at Christ makes you live, but spiritual life must be fed and sustained.” (Spurgeon)

We feed and sustain our physical life by eating and we sustain our spiritual life by feeding on His word.

Are you feeding and sustaining your spiritual life?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 29:19-21 Consecrated With The Blood 🩸

19Take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. 20Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Sprinkle the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. 21And take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, as well as on his sons and their garments. Then he and his garments will be consecrated, as well as his sons and their garments.

Priests are consecrated as His and the blood 🩸 put on the right earlobe, the right thumb and the right big toe. 

But why the right side of the priests? 

Could it be because most people are right handed and the right side is the strongest? 

God demands the firstborn, the first fruits. Then why not the strongest part of man?

“Yes, brethren, we need to know that double anointing, the blood of Jesus which cleanses, and the oil of the Holy Spirit which perfumes us. It is well to see how these two blend in one… It is a terrible blunder to set the blood and the oil in opposition, they must always go together.” (Spurgeon)

Have you been cleansed (consecrated) with the blood 🩸 of Jesus?

Blessings, David