MOVING THROUGH NUMBERS CHAPTER SEVEN
Today’s lesson will take us from a call to the altar of God, with a journey to atonement and then straight toward a season of joy.
Welcome to our every-Thursday bible study called COME AS A CHILD. Today we will be studying from Numbers Chapter Seven. If you are just joining in with our study, we are walking through the bible together page-by-page. A few years ago we started in The Book of Genesis, and now we are studying our way through The Book of Numbers.
It has been a great journey so far!
We are definitely not in a hurry here. Each lesson is self-contained, but will have references to other related lessons from the past at the end of each post.
MINING THE HIDDEN GOLD
I’ll start by telling you that it is very hard to move on past Chapter Six of Numbers right now.
Moving too fast would be a huge mistake because there is so much hidden meaning resting in the Old Testament chapters of Numbers six and seven.
All of the wisdom from the patterns presented in the stories here could also relate prophetically to us today.
Many current-day prophets are looking closely at Chapter Six and Chapter Seven of Numbers because they see some mysterious and prophetic passages that seem to be full of hidden meanings.
PEEKING INTO A NEW DOORWAY
Today we will open a few doors even wider by peeking into the passages found in Numbers, Chapter Seven.
Right away, I will ask you to please carefully read the whole Chapter Seven passage of The Book of Numbers.
Close your eyes after you read and try to see what was actually happening in a physical sense during the days of Moses.
We will look at this first; then we will try to discover the hidden symbolism that will take us all the way up to the future and into the coming days of Christ’s Second Coming.
THE OFFERINGS OF THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL
In the first layer of our readings of this chapter we can see that after the tabernacle was fully anointed, consecrated and sanctified and after all the instruments of worship were prepared for holy worship, including the altar; the Princes of Israel came together and brought their offerings before the Lord.
There were twelve chiefs/princes/heads of each tribe of Israel. We have discussed who these men were and what tribe they each hailed from and why they became their tribe’s leaders in many of our past lessons. You may wish to go back and review a few of these.
Individually and one-day-at-a-time for the length of twelve days; these leaders of Israel brought a total of six covered wagons and twelve oxen, golden and silver vessels for serving, plus many other sacrificial, sin, peace and praise offerings to the tabernacle.
Each man brought the same offerings to God; no more than the others, no less than the others.
The items they brought as offerings were recorded in the records of Israel as their gifts to God from each individual tribe of the nation.
GOD ACCEPTS ISRAEL’S OFFERINGS
Moses refused to accept any offerings until God gave him the word to take them.
God told Moses to distribute the wagons and the oxen between the two tribes of Levites who were carrying the materials of the wilderness tabernacle including its furnishings every time they broke camp and traveled through the wilderness.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF OFFERINGS OF SERVICE
The two tribes who received the wagons were the Gershonites and the Marari.
The Kohaths also transported the furnishings for the Holy of Holies; but they were required to carry these things upon their shoulders and not by carts or wagons; so Moses did not give them a wagon to use.
The Gershonites and the Marari also received the oxen to pull the wagons that held the materials for setting up the tabernacle. The Gershonites transported the heavy cloth dividers and the Marari carried the golden boards and pillars.
PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE
For just a moment try to imagine Jesus standing where Moses stood and visualize the true Church of God in the place of the congregation of Israel. (This isn’t replacement theology by the way; it is actual prophetic truth given from the scriptures.) The Church does NOT replace Israel in God’s eyes; but it DOES continue the pattern of why God created Israel; to form a holy nation for The Kingdom of Heaven. Israel was the physical pattern. Today the True Church and Israel together carry out the pattern in a spiritual sense. All of this is represented in the offerings of Judah and Ephraim as the wilderness tabernacle prepares to meet God in person.
Before the second coming of Christ; God will set up things on this earth and put them into place for the special event; just as He did in the days of Moses at the beginning of the use of the wilderness tabernacle.
Christ will be returning from the Heavens; but a part of Him, which we call The Holy Spirit, will be living inside each true member of God’s end-times tabernacle.
That end-time tabernacle will be made of saved, sanctified, redeemed and glorified holy people who will become like living-stones forming a spiritual tabernacle that will be carrying God’s Kingdom into a new day and time. At that time, the people, the redeemed Body of Christ; will be the Temple.
THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR
Ancient Israel was said to have been bringing their sacrifices to God on the first day of a new sacred year. This is Tishrei 1 on the Hebraic calendar.
So too will the people of God, in the end-times, bring the sacrifices of the things they have overcome and present them before God as offerings for His Kingdom. Every crown that each leader is given will be taken off and cast down to the feet of God as an offering of praise and thanksgiving.
Just to get a vision of this future event you can re-read chapter seven and replace the name of Moses with the name of Jesus and the name of the Israelites with the church. Replace the names of the twelve princes with the words “one disciple/or world-leader.”
That will give you a vague clue into the prophecy that evolves from this simple, but long chapter of The Book of Numbers.
GOD KEEPS GOOD ACCOUNTS
Numbers Seven is one of the longest chapters of the Old Testament.
One thing that makes the chapter so long is the fact that God had the names of all the leaders who brought offerings and the contents of each of their offerings recorded individually; in the order that they brought them to the altar.
God never forgets an offering and he always remembers the heart of each giver. He writes these things down in his books and keeps them. No prayer or sacrifice or offering has ever been given by anyone that wasn’t recorded in God’s books along with the name of each giver.
You can see from this reading that all offerings are not in the form of money or gold or silver; though gold and silver were definitely included and appreciated.
Much of the offerings were given in the form of material goods that were used in the work of the tabernacle by the priests who were in charge of transporting.
THE BUSINESS OF “TRANSPORTING”
Did you realize that priests of today are also in the business of transporting?
I hope that doesn’t sound too new-aged to you! I had a flash of the Star-Treck characters being beamed up for just a moment; but this transporting is a bit different.
The true priests of today are called to help prepare souls to be transported to heaven.
This thought gives the reputation of the transportation industries of today a whole new significance. They too could be full of similar patterns that physically show how a soul develops and travels closer and closer to God; until it makes its way all the way up to the Throne of God in Heaven where it attains the privilege of looking upon The Face of God.
The whole process requires a large amount of justification, salvation, consecration, sanctification and glorification. One step builds upon the next and it is a long process of transformation for a human being involving many layers and different types of worship.
THE OFFERINGS OF ISRAEL
In light of all of these divine things that a soul can receive from God; the ancient Israelites brought their sacrifices and offerings of all types to the dedication of the altar.
Offerings specifically named are:
Wagons/carts,
oxen
silver plates that weighed 130 shekels each
silver sprinkling bowls weighing 70 shekels each
fine flour and olive oil (grain offerings)
gold dishes weighing 10 shekels each
incense
bulls, rams and male lambs a year old (burnt offerings)
male goats (sin offerings)
oxen, rams, male goats and male lambs one year old (fellowship offerings)
USEFUL FOR THE TABERNACLE
So Moses took two wagons (or carts), and four of the oxen and gave them to the Gershonites who transported the boards and pillars of the tabernacle.
He gave four of the wagons (carts) and eight of the oxen to Ithamar, the son of Aaron who was head over the Merari Tribe who transported the fabric of the tabernacle.
To the Kohaths Moses gave nothing because they were to bear the tabernacle upon their own shoulders. These men had the most important job because they personally carried the most sacred items; but they also had the hardest work and the most responsibility.
The work the Kohaths did took great personal and individual as well as team efforts. They had to be physically strong and mentally sharp. These men had to be patient and diligent and able to get along with others.
THE FIRST TRIBE OFFERED ON THE FIRST DAY
The leader of the tribe of Judah came first on the first day of the offerings in the order of the days of the dedication of the altar.
Each tribe came forth with their offerings consecutively after Judah, each on their individual days; all of them bringing one silver charger weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels. Both vessels were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, along with one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense: Each brought one young bullock, one ram, one ram of the first year, for a burnt offering, one kid of goats for a sin offering, and for peace offerings; two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five lambs of the first year.
A HUGE AMOUNT OF OFFERINGS WHEN COMBINED
You can see from reading the above that there were all types of offerings and plenty of them by the time that all twelve days of the dedication of the altar had passed.
In terms of today’s measurements of money each tribe’s offerings would have been worth at least $30,000.
That would have made the total worth of all the offerings of Israel during those twelve days at least $360,000.
This was a huge accomplishment for a bunch of former slaves; but God had blessed them that much.
FREE MEN DO NOT OPERATE WITH A SLAVE MENTALITY
God expects his people to give from their abundance with cheerful hearts.
He had released the Children of Israel from slavery as well as a slave mentality.
A slave is constantly worried about where his next provision will come from because he has no control over the days of his own life.
These people of Israel were now free and God had blessed them tremendously. They had abundant material blessings and God expected them to give from what he had so graciously provided. They no longer needed the mentality of a slave; but now they could operate out of the place of a free nation with abundance.
When they gave from a cheerful, free heart; God blessed them even more.
HOW GOD SPOKE THE BLESSING THROUGH HIS PRIESTS
We can see in this book of Numbers how the priest were instructed to pass on God’s blessings as commanded by pronouncing the Aaronic blessing at the end of all of the dedication and consecration ceremonies.
THE NEED FOR FELLOWSHIP OFFERINGS
There was also another reason for having so many offerings.
The animal sacrifices were also ample provisions for a feast day for the nation; The Feast of Trumpets and The Feast of Tabernacles were coming; along with The Day of Atonement which stuck right in the middle of the time frame for both of these festive feasts.
The people would have a special meal before God (a feast) with the blowing of the shofar called The Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah; then in the days between this feast and The Day of Atonement, the people would prepare, get ready and repent.
They would consecrate their lives before God so that, hopefully, on The Day of Atonement; God would show them divine mercy and forgiveness and record them in his book for yet another blessed year of life on planet earth.
This particular offering had been happening between God and His people ever since the days of Adam and Eve and Cain and Able. The people had always brought the best of their firstfruits before God in the form of an offering; always hoping that their efforts were acceptable before God. If God accepted the offerings were consumed by the fire from heaven. This same fire was the fire that lit the altar of God at the wilderness tabernacle.
Once this offering was accepted and God’s mercy was obtained for the coming year, there would be another great feast called Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles.) This feast was to thank God for His spiritual and physical blessings both now and those to come in the future.
THE GOD OF ALL OUR DAYS
So many of the meat offerings offered here at the altar of the tabernacle were used by the priests of Israel as provision for the feast days of God.
In these feasts the priest and the people ate meals together and enjoyed a festive time of worship with God as a nation.
When the scriptures talk of the offerings being offered for the dedication of the altar of the wilderness tabernacle; there is a date that is not plain; but it is implied. The cloud is said to have been resting over the congregation for a period of days, and the people did not move until the cloud moved. This Cloud of The Presence did not move during all of this time; so the people were still and stayed camped in this same place where God had lead them.
THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH
Most sages think this particular encampment of the Israelites began on Tishrei 1, or the first day of the first month of the new Hebraic year during the second year after the Israelites were brought out from the slavery of Egypt.
To put these words another way; this would mean that the tabernacle was probably raised up on the first day of the first month (on the Hebraic calendar) and then for the next twelve days each leader brought their tribe’s sacrifices.
So it is that the sacrifices of the altar were given during a special season, the end of Elul during the Ten Days of Awe between The Feast of Trumpets and until The Day of Atonement.
This first day of the first Hebraic month is always Rosh Hashanah, or The Feast of Trumpets. The tribe of Judah would have given its offerings on this first day.
AN APPROPRIATE FIRST OFFERING OF MESSIANIC SIGNIFICANCE
The day of the first offering was a special holy feast day before God.
It was The Feast of Trumpets and this feast is known (among other things) for being symbolic of the set-aside time for the coronation of a king.
The tribe of Judah (making the first offering) is the tribe from which the Messiah would eventually come to us. It was appropriate that this Prince of Judah made the first offering and set the pattern for redemption to come for all of the rest of the nations of the world.
THE DAYS OF AWE IN THE FORM OF AN OFFERING
The next 10 days of the Hebraic calendar are known as The Days of Awe.
These days would have been the days that the rest of the Princes of Israel (except one) offered their offerings to God.
GETTING ALL BEFORE GOD BEFORE THE DAY OF ATONEMENT ENDS
The last offering on the twelfth day was brought by Ahira the Son of Enan who was the leader of the people of the tribe of Naphtali.
His tribe’s last offering would have been given during the course of the time of The Day of Atonement; making all of the tribes offerings arrive before God just before the end of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement.)
This is VERY significant.
Anything that arrived later than the appointed time would not receive atonement. The doors of heaven would be closed for another year.
DIVINE ATONEMENT FOR A HOLY NATION
All of these offerings were combined together for the use of the tabernacle worship and each combination symbolized divine atonement for the nation.
If you look at what was there during all twelve days this is plain to see. Five shekels of silver was the redemption price for the first-born. All of the first-born of Israel were redeemed from the offerings that were given for the Sanctuary.
All of the offerings symbolized Jesus as Messiah in some way.
We know that silver is symbolic of redemption, and much silver was brought. It is clear that all of the offerings combined show the redemptive acts of Christ; and the divine forgiveness, mercy and love of God for His people.
The fact that they all were offered right up until the end of The Day of Atonement underlines the divine mercy that God brings to His people on this day.
GOD DWELLS WITH THE ATONED OF MANKIND
We find Moses rejoicing in the tabernacle at the end of the time after all of the offerings had been given.
At this point he is participating in a two-way conversation with God who is speaking to him straight from the Mercy Seat of the Ark for the very first time in history.
God is pleased with the offerings and sacrifices and the people are atoned.
Because of this; God has come down onto the throne of the wilderness tabernacle, to take the place above the Mercy Seat which is on top of the Ark and God sits enthroned there on this earth; amongst mankind in a wilderness tabernacle, between the two golden cherubim.
With an audible voice God speaks to Moses from the Holy of Holies.
It was after the end of the very first Day of Atonement and the nation had received God’s divine mercy.
At last!
A TIME OF JOY IS COMING
Now they could have conversations with the God who had come down to dwell among them in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Everything before had been only God giving one-way oracles and mandates. Now mankind could participate in the conversation.
What a time of joy and thanksgiving would follow such a miracle as this!
It was an amazing day; a time of complete awe and amazing glory.
All of this is crammed into that one little-bit-long chapter of The Book of Numbers.
Did you see it?
The season of joy is next! The Feast of Tabernacles always follows not many days after The Day of Atonement.
When the days leading up to this feast are done correctly and humbly before God it results in tremendous joy for all nations that participate.