Benedictory balm: a comment from a First Reader

Getting into the book of Numbers: What a slog this is!  All the rituals the Levites were commanded to do--no wonder some churches have rituals and special vestments. What does Christian Science have in place thereof? How to translate these things into thoughts? (Ed. Suggestions welcome.)

The ones I came across first were in chapter 4 – and they were only for the business of transporting the ark and all the accoutrements of the tent of meeting when Aaron and his sons were preparing for the census of “the Kohathites separate from the other Levites, by their clans and their ancestral houses” (Num. 4:2). The Kohathites did the carrying--verse 15.

It is interesting to note the tent of meeting was not the tabernacle*. My Bible Dictionary tells me that it was erected outside the camp, whereas the tabernacle was in the middle of the camp. It could be erected by one man. “It was a shrine for the receiving of oracles, and the divine presence did not reside permanently there but was manifested in the form of a pillar of cloud, whenever Moses entered the tent to inquire of God.” (Ed. *Some sources say that the tent of meeting was a provisional space for meeting until the tabernacle was built, and that later, the terms became synonymous.)

Chapter 5 provides for the isolation of those who were leprous, had a discharge or had contact with a corpse. The belief of contagion has been in force for a long time! Impurity wasn’t to be allowed in.

Finally, I found something I like: Numbers 6:24-26 –

The Lord bless you and 

keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine

upon you, and be gracious

to you:

the Lord lift up his countenance

upon you, and give you

peace.

What a balm after all those rules and regulations! On a personal note: I served a three year term as First Reader at a Brisbane church and I never did use that wonderful benediction. Not that I wasn’t aware of it – it just wasn’t at the back of the Bible where we find so many benedictions, I guess. 😞

Chapter 7. Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary says of this chapter: "The twelve princes, each representing his tribe, presented gold and silver vessels for use in sacrifices, sacrificial animals, and wagons and oxen for the transport of the tabernacle. The dedication of these offerings occupied twelve days, and was a service of thanksgiving." It seems the twelve tribes were not poor.

Joyce Voysey