Strike the Shepherd-- a lesson in cleaning up (Zech. 13)

  

OUT OF THE CHAOS: A study in the book of Zechariah

To see this on YouTube 

https://youtu.be/V79UxercWck

 

Shalom friends and welcome to our class today. This is the penultimate lesson for us in the Bible book of Zechariah and I hope you learn this one very well. There are many quotes you would have ‘heard’ as you read this before class from other places in the Scriptures and that’s good that their echo is still in your ears and in your hearts. I love how the Bible speaks to me through songs or a Facebook post or a note someone writes me reminding me of a verse that meant much to them. Perhaps when we cover some of this chapter today, Zech. 13, you will hear similar echoes and find comfort for your souls. At least I’ll hope so.

The chapter divides into two sections, first the cleansing from sin and second the striking of the shepherd. We’ve been zooming in on the role of the shepherd for several chapters of late, and by that term, we are not only speaking about those farm boys who look after literal sheep, but also those religious leaders in the Jewish community who are known as prophets or priests or kings. And among them is a very particular shepherd who, like the donkey-rider of chapter 9 or the pierced one of chapter 12 will have eternal significance for the Jewish people. 

Let’s jump in. 

The fountain of verse 1 is a fountain of relief. Makor in Hebrew. You might not remember that the last time I mentioned this word was in the teaching about the prophet Jeremiah. There in 9.1, we read (or it might be 8.23 in your Bible)

“Oh, that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”

 

The prophet Jeremiah is weeping like a fountain of distress, and that distress is answered 70 years later in Zechariah’s fountain of forgiveness and relief. His is a fountain of cleansing. And after the conviction of God, showing us our errors and our need for God, how awesome of the Lord to provide for us his cleansing and his repair. 

Yesterday I took a pair of good shoes into the Mister Minit for the shoe repairman to attach new soles and new heels. I’m so glad I did. When a good thing goes into disrepair and needs attention and then you give it attention, it feels like a brand-new thing. Like a million dollars, I would have said in my youth. 

The imagery of splashing and fountains and refreshing are clear here in the opening section of our chapter. Remember God said he would “pour out” his Spirit of grace and supplication (12.10) and here in verse two that fountain will cause the ‘spirit of impurity’ or “unclean spirit” to be removed. That’s how water works. It flushes out the shmutz and cleanses and leaves good water behind. 

Consider this text from Psalm 26.9: 

כִּֽי־עִ֭מְּךָ מְק֣וֹר חַיִּ֑ים

“For with You is the fountain of life.”

Or these from the Proverbs:

14.27: The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, (same phrase) 

or this from 18.4: The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

מְק֣וֹר חָכְמָֽה׃

The point I’m making is that the bringing in of the fountain imagery is both refreshing and cleansing. It’s from heaven and is well described as LIFE. When you think about what you want to take away from this Bible lesson today, I’m hopeful that helps in living, in your life, that should be what you desire. What does God want to instil in you in your life today? Let His word refresh you, and let his words fill you and your lips, so that what proceeds from you is like a fountain of life for others. 

Our Bible teaches us to use our words for good and not for evil. As James teaches us in chapter 3

“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; ¹⁰ from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. ¹¹ Does a fountain send out from the same opening both ¹fresh and bitter water?” (3.8-11)

Earlier in Zechariah, Joshua the high priest was informed that God would remove the iniquity of the land in one day (3.9) and here God says it again. It’s a word of hope because God is both initiating the cleansing and accomplishing it fully. Some use the term ‘prevenient’ grace to indicate that our coming to faith in Yeshua, like Heidi shared with us in her story today, is a response. That means God causes us to turn to him. We don’t start looking and then he responds to us. 

Paul wrote the Romans “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (2.4)

Not only would the people be cleansed, but so will the land.  Verses 2 to 6 speak about cleansing three ways, from idols, from false prophets and from the spirit of impurity or unclean spirit. 

Verse 2 they are listed. 

Verse 3, the detail about prophets. And as usual, this is about representative false prophets. Parents will be embarrassed and ashamed. The prophet speaks lies. The parents will pierce him through. Yikes. Same word (DKR)

וּדְקָרֻ֜הוּ

Now this is probably intentionally a shocking term. The same word used in 12.10 about the piercing of God and that is our hope. Think about this. False prophets need to be withstood. And prevented. Now I don’t know of a single episode in Jewish history where this command was deployed, and a parent literally killed his child. But like the reading of what to do with false prophets in Deuteronomy (13.6-11), its intention is clear. Don’t accommodate falsehood in the people of God, and certainly not from her leadership. 

Didn’t Yeshua teach this in Revelation chapter 2 first to Pergamum,

“Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.” (2.14-16)

Or this to the Thyatira,

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (Rev. 2.20)

Don’t tolerate falsehood. Don’t allow false teaching to enter the community. 

That’s why I’ve been so strong in teaching about non-Trinitarians under the banner of ‘messianic’ folks. Messiah is not God junior. He’s God, the Son, and should have first place in our lives. There are some in Sydney who want us to be ‘Torah observant’ and by that gain entry or applause from heaven. These are false teachers and I withstand them. God wants us to stand forcefully for truth and for him in these days. Don’t abide a fool.

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 11 “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” and again “For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.” (11.13-15, 19)

I cannot be clearer today. Be ruthless in your following Messiah and be unashamed of your love for the truth. 

Verse 4, they put on clothing of the prophet, but it’s fake. They are deceivers. 

Verse 6, their wounds are probably self-inflicted to appear as if they were noble and warriors for truth, but do not believe them. 

Again ‘in the house of my friends’ is not really ‘friends’ at all.

בֵּ֥ית מְאַהֲבָֽי

These are probably ‘lovers’ instead of mates. Those with whom the false prophets associate. BE WARNED and do not be impressed by clothing or language or wounds. 

But then we see the 2^nd section of today’s reading. 

Each version of the Bible I reviewed made this section, verses 7, 8 and 9 into a poem. Distinct language does that, and I’m guessing convention also makes that happen. 

We’re left with a question on reading this. Who is the Shepherd? God says he’s My Shepherd” and “My associate” (Hebrew amiti), that is “the one close to me.” The result of the striking of the shepherd is that the little ones, the sheep, God’s flock (Psalm 100) are dispersed, and in verse 8 ‘cut off’ and ‘perish!’ Don’t get detailed about the 1/3 and the 2/3 of the people. Just read this as massive destruction and ruin is coming on the Jewish people, God’s people, as a result of the striking, the wounding of this Shepherd/Associate of God.

Who is this Shepherd? Clearly, he is close to God and God’s agent to make this happen. Yet, he will be wounded, and that wounding will accomplish salvation for the Jewish people. We’ve already seen this described in the donkey rider of chapter 9 and in the Branch (3.8, 6.12) and in the pierced One of chapter 12. This special agent is God himself yet separate from God. 

Isaiah spoke of this one in similar terms in chapter 53.

            “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten (same word as used here in Zechariah) of God, and afflicted.” 

 

This servant, this associate, this Branch, this afflicted one is none other than Yeshua, Jesus, who was stricken by the Romans, beaten, crowned with a mockery crown of thorns, and crucified for God’s purposes to be accomplished. 

Yeshua himself quotes this passage in the Gospels (Matt 26.31, Mark 14.27) to indicate that he was the Shepherd who would be struck, and the sheep would scatter, and that scattering had to do with suffering like he did. Again, don’t be too detailed about the numbers of sufferers, just know that suffering is being heralded. Those who follow Yeshua will suffer in his name. 

Luke wrote, “So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5.41)

And Paul wrote, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” (Phil. 1.29)

God’s people will suffer. For standing up for truth and true prophets, for the glory of God and for standing against idolatry and the ludicrous ponderings of falsehood. 

This chapter ends with the covenantal renewal we’ve heard throughout the Scripture, here in verse 9, 

“They are my people, and they will say, “The Lord is my God.” 

Our hope is not in new shoes or the victory of our favourite footy club or state over another state. Our hope is in Messiah and in his sure victory, his sure eternal dominion and love. We will be refined in verse 9 by fire like gold, and we will be purified. 

In verse 1, our cleansing came from a fountain. In verse 9 our cleansing is through the fire of suffering. Both have their purpose, and their timing. We are born again by the grace of God in faith in the blood of Jesus who died for us. We are sanctified by suffering in his name, and at the end of the day we will be his and be with him. 

That, our home with The Branch, with the Struck Shepherd, with the Donkey Rider… our home with Yeshua, is our longing and our one-day reality. 

You can become God’s follower today, if you choose. His grace has led you to this place and this video. Your response will define your eternity. What do you think about that?

 

Resource on video 

To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/ 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

Brown, Michael L, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Volume Three, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2003.

Ryken, Leland (and others), Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 1998.

Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.

Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.

Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.

Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.

 

ACTUAL TEXT

Zech. 13:1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

 

Zech. 13:2 “It will come about in that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. ³ “And if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD’; and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies. ⁴ “Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive; ⁵ but he will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, for a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’ ⁶ “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

 

Zech. 13:7       “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man, My Associate,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones. “It will come about in all the land,” declares the LORD, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ 

and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

 

 

Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour? (Zechariah chapter 3)

 OUT OF THE CHAOS: A study in the book of Zechariah

Chapter 3: Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)

Given 5 May 2023

By Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney, Australia

Shalom and welcome to our class today. We are continuing in this prophetic book written by a young Jewish man living in Jerusalem about 500 BCE as he writes to his people, those living there in Judah and also to those living in Babylon. To each of those groups, he has some clear words and I trust that those words he spoke 2500 years ago will speak to you and to me as we will consider what God meant as he used that young man. And we will try to learn what God has to say to us as 21st Century people. 

As per usual, my method will take us through a chapter each Friday morning, and then we will have plenty of time for discussion and questions in the final half-hour. If you are watching this teaching on YouTube after our class, please feel free to write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will try to answer queries if I’m able. 

If you don’t already receive the email invitations to join this class live, please enter your email address just now, type it into the chat box or write our office (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) and ask to be invited. Thanks. 

Also if you don’t mind, please read the chapter before you come to the class live, and if you are watching YouTube, pause your playback, read chapter 3 and then rejoin us. Thanks. Welcome back.

Let’s jump in. Today’s lesson is titled, “Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)” This is vision #4 of the night visions of Zechariah, bunched here at the beginning of his prophecy. And it features, unlike the previous three which left us with a desire to go rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, a person. The man Joshua, not the military conqueror and apprentice of Moses of the Torah, but rather a man who lived in those days and was the High Priest. 

It makes sense to me that when we consider the rebuild of the Temple that we next have to move to the next major resource and that is, who will serve there? The personnel that will make the Temple a safe and sacred space. So, we zoom in on Joshua, the main man. 

The rabbis teach that Joshua had sons who married Gentile women and thus brought shame and this filth (the Hebrew is pointed; it’s excrement) onto their father’s priestly garments. Most Christian interpreters see the filth as the result of the sins of the entire populace of the Jewish people. But the angel seems to be showing a more localized problem. Joshua has schmutzik clothing, filthy, dirty, and only can be cleaned by the removal of sin. See verse 4. Sin removed; garments cleansed. Simple. Only there is a problem. 

The Satan, yes, there is a definite article in every use of Satan in the OT (except in 1 Chronicles 21.1). It’s his calling card, what’s on his CV, his main duty—to accuse. Oppose. Resist. Be the enemy. In this case, the court has a prosecuting attorney and that’s the role he takes here. Accuse. 

I don’t usually use Wikipedia for a reference guide, but this one is worth reading and noting. It’s from an article written at the end of the 19th century in France. The setting is the miscarriage of justice about Alfred Dreyfuss.

I quote it in almost its entirety.  

"J'Accuse...!" ( "I Accuse...!") is an open letter that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper L'Aurore by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed the President of France Félix Faure and accused his government of antisemitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty a month later (on 23 February 1898.) To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.

Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include Bernard Lazare's A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair (November 1896). As a result of the popularity of the letter, even in the English-speaking world, J'accuse! has become a common expression of outrage and accusation against someone powerful, whatever the merits of the accusation.”

 

The reason I flashed back on that scene from 130 years ago is that I hear the word ‘accuse’ and most of us would see it as a legal term, as it is, and often in connection with Satan, we think it’s about wrong accusations. We remember Revelation chapter 12, and that Satan is introduced there again as “the accuser of the brethren.” (.10). And that we are able to ‘overcome’ the ministry of Satan by three things, “the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our life even when faced with death.”  But in both the injustice in the Dreyfuss affair and in the case of Joshua, the High Priest here, the accusations are accurate. So, we need to think rightly. The accusations are not misplaced, but well-placed. Even so, we need a fix, and thus we need a fixer. Schmutz can be overcome. Satan can be set down. How will that happen? We’ll get back to that.

Let’s talk a bit more about the Satan. He is a main player in the drama of the book of Job. There in chapters 1 and 2 he is introduced as able to stand in God’s presence and even carry on a conversation with the Almighty. He challenges the Lord and intimates that God is not playing fair. You might remember that story and that God takes Satan’s challenge and in the end, apparently Job and God win in the battle. 

Warren Wiersbe says this. “When Satan talks to us about God, he lies, but when he talks to God about us, he tells the truth.” (page 115) I like that. Satan is not a font of truth-telling. He seriously wants us to walk away from the Lord, AND he wants us to dismiss his own reality and his own personhood. 

Remember the book by CS Lewis called, “The Screwtape Letters?” There Lewis helps us see the inner workings of the Kingdom of Darkness and he highlights this in the preface where we read, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (the devils) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

I love this quote also in Screwtape’s 7th letter to Wormwood, “I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance about your own existence. …Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course, this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When human beings disbelieve in our existence, we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism, and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics - at least not yet.    I have great hopes that we shall learn in due course how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in us, (though not under that name), will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The ‘Life Force’, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work – the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits’ – then the end of the war will be in sight. In the meantime we must obey our orders.    I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping your patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” (Screwtape Letters)

When I speak today about Satan, I don’t want you to miss the overreach of the two prongs that Lewis highlights. Either a complete dismissal of the spirit world and the Devil’s capacities or a complete overindulgence and obsession with its realities. Keep your mind of Yeshua, and don’t be unaware of Satan’s (that’s the Hebrew word; the Greek is diabolos (or Devil))devices. (For those watching this on YouTube, please check the manuscript (link in the notes of the show) and you will find a long list of Bible verses related to the Satan and what we are to know about him and the kingdom of darkness. Now, back to Joshua.

Joshua is schmutz-covered. He is guilty. The Jewish people are in Babylon as a true carriage of justice. We are wrong. The scene is not necessarily on Yom Kippur, but it reflects it, to be sure. The accusation is accurate. What are we to do? This vision doesn’t look good.

Verse 2: God Himself enters the courtroom. He doesn’t rid the court of Satan because he likes the Jewish people, but because He has chosen the Jewish people. He calls his own election to the witness stand as the defense attorney would do, and he rebukes the Satan. Begone, as Yeshua would later say, time and again. God’s choice of the Jewish people (Deut. 7.7, Psalm 33.12, 132.13, etc) is fixed. He cannot deny himself so he has to act on our behalf for his own name’s sake. And with whom are we left?

Joshua, Zechariah, the Lord, and some angels. But Joshua still has filthy garments. The angel of the Lord speaks in verse 4, “Remove” The action required both a removal of the problem and a fixing again of the place of Joshua in the camp of Israel. Removal and replacement. But verse 4 makes clear that removal of the clothing and the accompanying smell was only part of the problem. The rest is titled ‘sin’ (note: not sins). Removing clothing without taking away the iniquity is a half-done job. It’s the same issue a rabbi asked me to explain last week. I’ll get to that soon.

I wonder if you have walked past homeless people and noted an odor on some of them. Even if they have new garments given them from the Vinnies or the Talbot? That’s because they need a scrub themselves. New garments without a bath are almost a waste, almost. 

The angel of the Lord wants Joshua to get a good scrub. Inside. Then when iniquity is removed, then the new garments (even the new turban as Zechariah reminds them in the scene) make sense. The turban is part of the high priest’s garb (Exodus 28.36-38, 39.30-31) and cried “Holiness to the Lord.” In other words, the completion of the task brought glory again to the Lord, the Lord of mercy and election, the Lord of love and the Lord of hosts. 

Not only did he suffer accusation, and find the answer in the forgiveness and reclothing of the angel, but Zechariah’s vision gave assurance to him, to Joshua, and dare I say, to us as well. Remember our title today included schmutz, Satan and a saviour. 

Verse 5 includes the verb “admonish” and thus Joshua is charged to represent well the Lord who cleansed and appointed him. Verse 6, two ifs (protasis) and three thens (apodosis). If you walk and perform, then you will govern, have charge, and have good access (goings) among those standing here. By the way, note how many folks are standing and to whom or against whom they are doing so throughout this chapter. Satan always stands to accuse, yet the angel of the Lord stands to oppose, like J’accuse was made by Emile Zola or Bernard Lazare back in the 1890s. 

I’m here because someone stood up to the wiles and devices of the enemy of God, stood tall, declared the blood of the Lamb and got me to have a word of testimony. But I advance this thought too soon.

God promises through the angel of the Lord to Joshua that he will have three results of his two conditional actions. Walk in God’s ways and perform God’s service. Simple. The rabbis teach that he instructed his own sons to divorce foreign wives and go back to Jerusalem. That’s not so clear in this text. What is clear is that Joshua is being given a glimpse into the character of a gentle and lowly God who cares about us and will come to defend us when required.

Look at the fulfilment promise in verses 8 through 10. The accusation is answered by an Advocate, and he gives both an assurance in the moment and an announcement of what or rather who is to come. 

Verse 8. The men/ angels who are there at this vision #4 are a symbol. That means they represent something else. And in this case, God says, “I am going to bring in…” which speaks to the future. Beyond this moment with Joshua and the garments. There is something or someone more. What? Branch. My servant. A person of significance. Like Jeremiah predicted decades before. (23.5-6)

Jer. 23:5    “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, 

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; 

And He will reign as king and act wisely 

And ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

6  “In His days Judah will be saved, 

And Israel will dwell securely; 

And this is His name by which He will be called, 

‘The LORD our righteousness.’

This stick, this branch of Jeremiah, is Yahweh or Jehovah our righteousness. He’s not a junior in the company; he’s God himself. The restoration and the promises God made 70 years before under Jeremiah, these are renewed in the night vision of Zechariah here in chapter 3. The Branch is the hope of Israel. That’s the real hope. 

And like the late-night infomercial, wait, there’s more. Verse 9, I have set on one stone 7 eyes. That means a complete view. Nothing will be left out. Seven facets with the engraved inscription, and it’s a promise of land cleansing. The Branch, or in this 2nd picture, the Rock, will cleanse the land of iniquity. God did that in Yeshua a few hundred years later in his dying for us on the cross. Calvary is the fulfilment of this promise. And in that day, the day of the death of the Son of Man, verse 10, we can have peace and hope in our own land. Under our vine and fig tree, in the place we have been promised. The result of this forgiveness is a looking forward to the work of Branch and the Rock, two great titles of our Messiah, who will bring in everlasting righteousness.

Last week a rabbi asked me a question about peace and the promise of messiah. He told me that since there is no global peace that Yeshua could not be the messiah. That’s fairly simple. But I answered with the old fable of the invention of sandals in Mongolia. You can make the world a calm place, but if individuals don’t take this peace on board, there remains internal strife and conflict. Without individual peace, global peace is never going to happen. Messiah had to bring peace to people, one by one, and when we take him on board as Messiah and SAVIOUR from our own sins, then global peace can eventuate.

Giving out new clothing without cleansing us on the inside… that never takes away the problem. We need an inside wash, then the world will work well.

Under your own vine, and your own fig tree. Do you want that?

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Remember, you who are watching today, if you are not yet a follower of Yeshua, and see his love for you, his kindness extended, his offer of forgiveness available, right where you are, submit to him, to his lordship, to his care, and your life will take on new meaning, new substance, and you will have mates on this call, and in your neighbourhood and wherever you travel… the Kingdom is advancing under the King. Chaos is subjugated, life is available. Pray and receive Jesus as your Messiah and Saviour.

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Resource on video

To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/

-----------------

Bibliography:

Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.

Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.

Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.

Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.

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ACTUAL TEXT

Zech. 3:1   Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

Zech. 3:6   And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here. 8 ‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you — indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 ‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 ‘In that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’”

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Other Bible references to The Devil:

Matt. 4:1   Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matt. 4:5   Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,

Matt. 4:8   Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;

Matt. 4:11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Matt. 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the 1end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

Matt. 25:41   “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Luke 4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and 1its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Luke 4:13   When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Luke 8:12 “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.

John 8:44 “aYou are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks 1a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of 2lies.

John 13:2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of bJudas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,

Acts 10:38 “1You know of aJesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for dGod was with Him.

Acts 13:10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

2Cor. 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Eph. 4:27 and do not give the devil 1an opportunity.

Eph. 6:11 aPut on the full armour of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

1Tim. 3:6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation 1incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

2Tim. 2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been bheld captive 1by him to do his will.

Heb. 2:14   Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, bHe Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

James 4:7 aSubmit therefore to God. bResist the devil and he will flee from you.

1Pet. 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil 1has sinned from the beginning. bThe Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

1John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

Jude 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “dThe Lord rebuke you!”

Rev. 2:10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. 1Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Rev. 12:9 And the great adragon was thrown down, the bserpent of old who is called the devil and cSatan, who ddeceives the whole 1world; he was ethrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Rev. 12:12 “For this reason, arejoice, O heavens and byou who 1dwell in them. cWoe to the earth and the sea, because dthe devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only ea short time.”

Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold of the adragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bbound him for a thousand years;

Rev. 20:10 And athe devil who adeceived them was thrown into the blake of fire and 1brimstone, where the cbeast and the cfalse prophet are also; and they will be dtormented day and night forever and ever.

On Lamps, Levites and Dixieland Music (Numbers Lesson 4)

 Wandering in the Wilderness: Reflections from the book of Numbers.  3500 years to Covid-19

Lesson Four (Chapters 8-10) 

To view this online as a video:  https://youtu.be/UJ1LhbvlfJc

A.                Introduction

1.     Greetings

Shalom to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. Our usual program during these talks is to conduct an overview of the Bible section in the first 25 minutes and then let everyone on the call into a conversation about all the themes or ideas that I will bring up for the last 30 minutes or so. Further discussion happens even deeper in our D-Groups that happen over the next week or maybe some will conduct a D-Group on Shabbat. 

I’m going to recommend that you who are watching this on YouTube should read the next three Bible chapters before you listen/ watch the rest of this. They are chapters 8 through 10. Then press play on your machine and re-join us. Thanks.

2.     Overview

[For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://youtu.be/tp5MIrMZFqo)] We saw how this book breaks into three major geographic and chronological sections. The first is found in chapters 1 through 10. Geographically we were at Sinai at the time. That’s where we are in this our 4^th class today.

Some of you are new to our Zoom call and I especially welcome you, whether here in Australia or from overseas. You are muted at the beginning, but in a short while, our host will allow the usually lively conversations and questions.

3.     Three Theses

We will continue to remind ourselves about three major considerations that Moses addresses over and over in the book of Numbers. You will find them throughout our study. First, as Jewish people today still think, the goal of our wandering was a settled place, then titled ‘Canaan’ and today titled ‘Israel.’ Wildernesses are ok for trekkers or adventurers, but that’s not the long-ranged plan of God for us Jewish people. The second major thesis is the centrality of God, in location, in guidance, in physicality, in the structures he establishes from Tabernacle on. We are a community often on the march, but we are never to forget the centrality of the Almighty. The third major thought concerns authority. We have the One who gave us his law at Mt Sinai, and to whom we often have to return for further clarification and advice. 

Watch for those three theses each week, although some weeks they won’t be that visible, but usually they are front and centre.

B. Today’s study: Beha’alotecha

When I was a teenager, this parsha was one which I was assigned to read publicly at the synagogue, and I had not prepared well enough, so I feigned a throat problem about 2 minutes into my reading. Thus when I get to this section of Bible, I have a deep regret, a sense of shame, and a memory that causes me to reflect on guilt and embarrassment. Maybe you have such memories in your life. I’m here today to assure you, nothing is beyond the grace and power of God to forgive. There is no sin which can prevent the forgiveness of the Lord to reach us. On what do I base that? The Word of God! It starts here with lamps.

1.     Lamps are lit

As chapter 7 concluded, the issue and roles of authority are evident. God spoke with Moses and now as chapter 8 begins, the speaking is overheard if you will. What God said to Moses, Moses records for us that we might know three things:  1) God’s voice is to be obeyed, 2) Moses is only the spokesman and not the originator of these directions and 3) the compliance by the Levites or the priests or Aaron or even Moses himself—those are functions of obedience and both a template and a record of what Israel is to do and how we are to behave going forward.

First things first. Light the lampstand after you build it. Of course the menorah was already built in Exodus (instructions in Ex. 25, fulfilled in Ex. 37), and now the location of the lamp is in view. 

Most of your versions of the Bible read verse 2 something like “when you erect” the lamps. But the Hebrew says ‘beha’alotecha’, which means ‘when you cause the lamps to go up.’ I really like that. There is a sense of height that is missed in the English. And if there is height, there is increased capacity both for observation by others and for viewing which the lamps can reach. Does that make sense to you? God wants light to pervade the Mishkan and he wants that light to reach every corner, every crevice. And that includes reaching into your life here in 21^st century, lockdowns and COVID-oriented and virus fatigued Australia and wherever you live. Letting light shine is the goal and trimming lamps is the mechanism of doing this. Let me explain.

Matthew 25 opens with a parable of 10 virgins and lamps. It’s a parable about readiness and about awaiting the return of Messiah. Yeshua tells the story to focus the listener (or in our case, the reader) on eager anticipation of the coming of Messiah, and about living with such hope. 

⁶ “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

The story has great conflict and drama and I encourage you to read it later after our class today. The wise virgins are those who long for the return of the Bridegroom and who maintain light on the subject. The foolish ones are those who let their lights dwindle by dawdling and misbehaving. The clarity is obvious and I bring it to this reading of Numbers today to highlight our need to keep our lamps trimmed and burning. The biblical folks didn’t have electricity as neither Tesla nor Edison had rolled onto the scene. Lights were not candles but oil and wicks, and to keep up continual light.

Ex. 27:20   “You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.

The purpose of the menorah was to fill the Tabernacle with light, not for a moment, but ongoing, morning and evening, which is a dramatic was of saying perpetually. 

Those olives were beaten to produce the oil and the wicks were cut and trimmed to make this happen. In other words there are sacrifices and cutting which produced the end result God required. So it will be in your life; God will ask of you diminutions and tough times, beating if you will, to produce a godly result. Don’t despise those trimmings. The end result is light, for others, and you will benefit as well.

Even in verse 4 of our text today (Num. 8.4) the menorah was made of hammered gold. You want the light to shine in the Mishkan? The oil and the menorah are both beaten. You want the light of God to shine in your life? The reality is that some significant loss has to happen so that real stuff shines.

In Revelation 18.23, we read. “the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”

Those whose light stops shining are those who dwell at ease in Babylon, without stress or difficulty, with bounty and luxury. Let God have his way in you, this week, even today, amen?

2.     Levites cleansed

The children of Levi are now in view as the Mishkan is finished, the tent needs people to work there. It’s almost as if you are walking past a new business in your neighbourhood. The building site has been behind the construction site walls, and finally, the grand opening is announced. Then the walls come down and the new building is almost finished. You bring your family to see the new place. Looks really good. The announcement of the Opening Day is on the building, and a help wanted sign is seen in the distance. 

What good is the new business if no one works there. 

So it is with God who has the Tabernacle built and now he’s hiring. He has already numbered the people and now he hires the Levites to run the place. But not simply a Levite, rather a cleansed Levite. 

What are the rites associated with this readying? The end result is separation to duty (8.14). The guidelines from the Authority are these: 1) Clean water,  2) shaved hair,  3) cleansed garments, 4) presentation of animal and food offerings, 5) gathering at the Mishkan for presentation of the Levites to the people, 6) laying on of hands by the people of the Levites, 7) Aaron presents the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering and finally 8) the Levites make sacrifices to make atonement. 

Now that’s a lot of effort for people who are already chosen. Here’s what I mean. By right, the children of Levi were established by God to be the workers in the Mishkan.  (Num. 3.5-7) The announcement had already been made. Now they who are deserving have to be made ready. It was automatic but it wasn’t. The Levites were qualified by genealogy, but it had to be filled full and completed by these 8 actions. In the same way, my people, the Jewish people are all automatically deserving of a relationship with God, already in place by genealogy to be his, but there are actions we have to take to complete this choice. 

When I say I’m a completed Jew, it means I’ve been doubly chosen. I often think in sports analogies because I’m a keen sports watcher and sports player enthusiast. Some would say fanatic, but I prefer the kinder word, ‘fan.’ A sports personality like Diego Maradona who died yesterday in Buenos Aires was the most important player on his Argentinian side in the 1980s. In 1986, he hit two goals against England in the semi-finals which launched his home side to ultimate victory in the World Cup. He was nicknamed “El Dios” which means “the god” and is not a little sacrilegious. But think with me in this way. If Maradona had earned his salary in the beginning of the season and was the celebrity of every newscast, but then for whatever reason, he decided to sit out the match against England, the noise from the crowds would have been heard here in Sydney. 

Imagine if Maradona said, “I’m chosen. I’m the celebrity. I’m the winner.” But then didn’t play. The fans across his country would have been scandalized and horrified. Chosenness is about performance, not about status. 

In the same way, we Jews are chosen, not to sit idly by while the world is wasting away in Babylon. We are chosen to perform, to make the world a better place, to listen to the Authority of God and to enact his purposes. To bring his light to the darkness of the world. Amen?

So when the Levites are chosen to work, they can’t just rock up and say, “Yo, I’m here. Where’s my throne? Where’s my lounge room?” They have work to do to ready themselves and then to ready the business in which they will be working. 

Washing in water. Obviously. They’ve been in the heat of the wilderness for a year, and they and their clothes both need a cleansing. Shaving marks them out as distinct. Sacrificing animals and offering appropriate foods, but then they had to present themselves, orderly, humbly, to be anointed and have hands laid on them. They are now offered as an offering. How good is that? The Levites had to bow their heads and have a benediction said over them. That humility before their brothers. 

What else is there? The sprinkling. It’s in the infinitive, thus not a command to Moses to perform (over 200,000 Levites) but a requirement, however the Levites did this. Then also in verse 7, the phrase is ‘purifying water.’ But the Hebrew is ‘water of sin’ which really means the water to remove sin, or better water which accompanies the cleansing from sin. The water alone doesn’t wash our sin. 

Peter the apostle said something similar about baptism. 

“baptism now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 3.21. The water of baptism isn’t salvific, it’s the appeal to God for a new heart, a cleansed heart, through Yeshua’s life and death and resurrection. 

Now the Levites are cleansed and we learn more about their qualifications. 

They are to serve the Aaronides (the priests) and make atonement for the people of Israel. They apprentice from 25-30 years old and then they serve among their brothers for 20 years until they are 50. (.23-25) After that, they became trusted advisors to the newer Levites and priests.

Chapter 9 is next in our text, but we have already covered that in our First Lesson as it takes place at the beginning of the chronology of this book.

So we skip to Chapter 10.

3.     The Dixieland Band

God tells Moses to line up some trumpeters. Think New Orleans and Dizzy Gillespie or the Aussie James Morrison rather than the shofar blowers of Rosh Hashanah. But you might argue, isn’t the trumpet always a shofar? Nope, in this case they were silver trumpets and were used for various purposes. 

Again, they were made of beaten work (10.2) to remind me of the purpose of suffering, to make fantastic music and to sound purposeful signals to the community. You remember the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow cantillation, “one if by land and two if by sea” in “Paul Revere’s Ride” (1860 poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775) 

            Similarly, here the sounding of certain sounds in sequence or in rhythm or in pairs would tell the people one thing or another. Notice it’s the priests, not the Levites who are trumpeting their signal. I find this significant. Music is a high calling and as such is for the highest-ranking Israelites.

            If you heard the teruah that’s a battle cry, or ‘alarm’ in many versions. If you heard a single blast it meant to call the princes of the tribes to gather. Two clarion sounds of the silver trumpets and that meant all the nations should gather. 

            Look at verse 9. When we hear the trumpets, when the priests blow and we listen, then we are in a way praying, so that God remembers us, and ‘you shall be saved from your enemies.’

            The final use is in verse 10 where we read, ‘Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”

            God wants us to rejoice in him with sounds of gladness. He wants us to mark festivals with such celebrations and silver trumpets. Our offerings and our new moons. In other words, let everyone know that it’s a holiday or a festival. Don’t leave any Israelite out in their seeking for God’s life and news about God.     

            I really believe that this is significant. Today is Friday in Sydney, but it’s still very much Thursday in the USA, and this is Thanksgiving there. The holiday that’s the most travelled (usually when not Covid time) of all the US holidays. There are reasons to be thankful today. And those reasons do not include 260,000 dead people from the virus. That does not include the millions including Lil and Robin, Glenn and so many that I know, who have contracted the virus. Our thankfulness involves eternal matters and God’s provision. God has given us reasons to celebrate all his love and his attention to us. And we are glad. If you are glad and don’t say ‘thank you’ to the Lord, you are missing out. 

            Gratitude is one of the most wonderful gifts God can give you. Be thankful for all his supply. I’m grateful for my family who loves each other. My wife and kids and grandsons. Awesome. I’m grateful for my first cousins and the life of Janet who passed last week. I’m glad we had some delightful times together. I’m glad for my Aunt Sarah, the last uncle or aunt in my life, who passed away the other night, and our times of fellowship in the Lord and her joyful spirit even to the end. I’m grateful for technology which allows us to share on Zoom and the Bibles we all have in abundance, enough to share. I’m grateful for the donors who supply needed funds to keep our work going here in Sydney. I’m grateful for the Jewish men and women who are seeking God, considering his life and plan and purpose. Even this morning here into our shop came South African Tom who had his first visit with us, and it won’t be the last. 

            I’m grateful that Yeshua died for my sins and extended eternity to me by his spirit so I could enter eternal life almost 50 years ago in May, 1971, by faith in the blood of Jesus. What an awesome God we have.

            Can you make a gratitude list today? You don’t have to wait until the 4^th Thursday in November where you live. You can have your own Thanksgiving anytime. With a turkey and cranberry sauce or simply with a list of thanks. It’s worth doing. Blow a trumpet if you have one. Dixie land music includes trombones, too. Or just look up to heaven and smile, lift your hands and say, ‘thanks.’ 

Conclusion

Stay with us during these weeks and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2020 and beyond. And in the D-Groups, you will work this out with others, as a community on the march. If you have not yet joined a weekly Discipleship Group, please re-consider that and join us as we dig deeper.

I hope to see you next Friday 10 am Sydney time, as we study chapters 11 and 12, and learn about our marching to Zion together and our first anniversary or what I might title Kvetching 102”. Hope to see you then, and until then, please keep your lamps trimmed and burning, bless those around you and shout Hallelujah to the Lord of life for all he has done for us all. Shabbat shalom!

 

The three theses:

1)     The goal of our wandering was another place: Israel

2)     God is to be central to our marching and in our living

3)     Authority of the Lord and his anointed is not to be missed

 

 

Bibliography

Budd, Philip, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 5. Numbers. Word, Waco, 1984.

Hertz, Rabbi Dr JH, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino, London, 1978. 

Pakula, Martin, Numbers: Homeward Bound, Aquilla Press, Sydney, 2006.

Weirsbe, Warren. Be Counted. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs,1999.

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D-Groups for this week

1)              Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse

2)              Monday 10 am Sydney time, led by Rebekah Bronn

3)              Thursday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White

(Contact our office for zoom details)

If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?

 

Actual text:

Num. 8:1   Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you mount the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in the front of the lampstand.’” ³ Aaron therefore did so; he ¹mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. ⁴ Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Num. 8:5   Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them. ⁷ “Thus you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle purifying water on them, and let them use a razor over their whole body and wash their clothes, and they will be clean. ⁸ “Then let them take a ¹bull with ^aits grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and a second bull you shall take for a sin offering. ⁹ So you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰ and present the Levites before the LORD; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites. ¹¹ “Aaron then shall present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, that they may qualify to perform the service of the LORD. ¹² “Now the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³ “You shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the LORD.

Num. 8:14   “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine. ¹⁵“Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and present them as a wave offering; ¹⁶ for they are wholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself instead of every first issue of the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. ¹⁷ “For every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the men and among the animals; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself. ¹⁸ “But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel. ¹⁹ I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary.”

Num. 8:20   Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites; according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. ²¹ The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. 

Num. 8:23   Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting. But at the age of fifty years they shall retire from service in the work and not work anymore. ²⁶ “They may, however, assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall deal with the Levites concerning their obligations.”

Num. 10:1   The LORD spoke further to Moses, saying, ² “Make yourself two trumpets of silver, of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out. ³ “When both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ⁴“Yet if only one is blown, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall assemble before you. ⁵ “But when you blow an alarm, the camps that are pitched on the east side shall set out. ⁶ “When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are pitched on the south side shall set out; an alarm is to be blown for them to set out. ⁷ “When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow without sounding an alarm. ⁸ “The priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations. ⁹ “When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God and be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰ “Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”