#287 Counting the Cost

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;

3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

4 And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.

5 And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur.

6 Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

7 Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

8 Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar.

9 Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon.

10 Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

11 Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni.

12 Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

13 Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran.

14 Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

15 Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan.

16 These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

17 And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names:

18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

19 As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. Numbers 1:1-19

If I wrote this story myself, I think it too extravagant a turn. Abraham was promised to be the father of nations, but these people have not had a path paved without obstruction. They have come from captivity, servants, not soldiers, and yet they are now being numbered for war. One can see the fruit of God's promise by shear numbers, but outside His sovereignty and the acts of His hand it would appear beyond improbable. They have made it thus far and now they are numbered and the genealogies recorded.
 

And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

2 And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

3 And Joab answered, The Lord make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.

8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

9 And the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying,

10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee

12 Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.

14 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. 1Chronicles 21:1-14

Whose people did you number? Who did they belong to? How do you exist and how is it, oh David, that you are king? God did not call for this count and some speculate that David was wanting to number the people for tribute, increasing his coffers, or for campaign of war that God had not advised. Seeing that his servant Joab is distressed with the decree and advises against it, reveals that there is at the very least, wrong motive. Whenever we sin though, there is at the root, pride, and the outcome of this is breaking. If we can choose humility or beg for mercy, then I would suggest that the inability to do so should lead one to beg for the wisdom to see the folly. We pound our chest and count what we didn't even make, holding back from God sucking up the honor that leads to utter destruction, emptiness. God has preserved us and all those who have believed throughout time. Do we even know what to count?

#286 Summation of Leviticus

I recognized one thing in Leviticus, both as a young man and now, and that is a sense of a culture foreign to my own. It is alien and so far from me to even begin or want to understand. My reaction today is much different than in so many years past. I want to know God for Who He is and understand the Author's intent in all of scripture. Yes, it is often contrary to my feelings, but I have come to confess God as the Creator and Author of life, and I did not make myself nor the things that I observe. The image of God has put a value on those that I share this planet with, and in Leviticus I find a holiness that leaves me standing at the precipice of eternity, staring out across an endless void. How will I treat those standing next to me? Will their maker allow for them to be degraded by me, reduced to their flesh, their labor, or even our differences?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20New International Version (NIV)

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

God doesn't need my endorsement. He is not waiting for me to decide whether He is God, Holy and Worthy. He has reached out from all of eternity in an act of love underserved and not repayable, yet it should and will be known in those who have received such grace as a change. It will be seen in the lives of those who worship in spirit and truth. The truth is not dependent upon my feelings, and it is not a lack of empathy on my part as we begin to disagree and drift away to our separate and dividing ideals. I do not love you any less, but I love God all the more, and I must come to understand these things through the grace provided. Leviticus has become a point of much contention, but alas I am still not God, and all this will pass away, but His word will remain. I haven't the position or the pull to change it to your or my liking. He is holy and therefore alien to me.

18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19).

#285 Oaths

11 And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest:

12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.

13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.

14 And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the Lord, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.

15 And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.

16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand.

18 But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.

19 And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.

20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

21 But the field, when it goeth out in the jubile, shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.

22 And if a man sanctify unto the Lord a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession;

23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the Lord.

24 In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.

25 And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

26 Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the Lord's firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the Lord's.

27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.

28 Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord.

29 None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord.

31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.

32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.

33 He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

34 These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai. Leviticus 27: 11-34 KJV

A vow is a serious thing, and to say, "I promise to ..." do anything is never a light matter with the Lord. There is a great deal of instruction to the depraved here. For instance, substitutions of lesser come with the penalty of both the substitution and the more desirable offering now being both set apart. You lose the mansion you first promised and now the shack you would substitute. Don't promise lightly. Don't make an oath. I have embarrassed myself before in this, arrogance, foolishness on my part, and the devaluing of my words by my own choices and lack of resolve. This addresses property under lean of an oath as well. If you sold it to another while it was promised to god, then at the year of Jubilee when it would normally return to your possession, it would instead be given to the priest. We think we have loop holes and politicians are given to making promises, salesmen to saying whatever it takes to close the deal. I deal a lot with contractors who have promised a finished product but always try to deliver less. I often deal with men who despise facts when it paints a picture contrary to what they are selling. Ah, but I read here that the unclean can be redeemed, and a good thing. Be honest, everything already belongs to God, and so come humbly asking for His will and guidance in all matters. Remember Ananias and Saphira:

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. Acts 5: 1-11