Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Tomorrow, we wrap up two months of reading the Bible together. So far, you've spent an estimated 12 hours reading the Bible and approximately eight hours listening to this podcast.
If you're already two months in with us, I'm assuming you're in this for the long haul. You're not the person who started in hopes of making it happen, but faded out two weeks in. You're still here. That's huge. And I'm so grateful God keeps drawing you in to read His Word.
Today we opened up our longest and most repetitive chapter yet with some offerings for the Levites initiated by the heads of other tribes. They gave the Gershonites and the Merarites ox carts to use as their tabernacle luggage, but the Kohathites didn't get any ox carts because they have to carry things on their shoulders, according to the text. This is a reference to the poles we've already read and talked about which went over their shoulders. By the way, I keep mentioning these poles because I'm setting us up to understand something that happens in the future.
After they gave the ox carts and the oxen, they set up a dedication ceremony, and God established the offerings that would come from each tribe during that process. Each tribe was assigned one day out of the 12-day ceremony, where the leaders of each tribe would bring the offerings to the tabernacle. Starting with Judah taking the lead on day one, they worked their way around the encampment clockwise.
Each of the tribes, regardless of size, gave the Levites the same contribution to show that they each fully supported them. The Levites couldn't do this on their own. They needed help from the people. At the end of this 12-day dedication period, Moses went into the tabernacle to hear the Lord speaking to him, and that's where my God shot came in.
Kind of obvious for today, I know. But it was the culmination of the previous 88 verses that were building up to all this that made it so beautiful. This was what it was all for. Animals and ceremony and silver basins. None of it would mean anything if this moment at the end weren't happening. A holy God drawing near to speak to sinful humans.
All these offerings amounted to 12 plates with a total weight of over 1,500 shekels, 12 basins with a total weight of 800 shekels, 12 golden dishes weighing 120 shekels, oil and flour and incense, 6 carts and 264 animals. These offerings served a purpose not only to bless the Levites, but also to bless all the people and to connect the hearts of the tribes to the Levites and what they were doing, ultimately connecting them back to God.
Jesus taught us that heart follows treasure. So by all the tribes giving these things to the one tribe who was serving them, it helped connect them to the reality of what the Levites were doing on their behalf. God is efficient. He uses the gift of one to bless the whole. And he also uses our giving as a two-way highway where we receive blessing in return.
And I'm not talking about financial blessing or getting all your prayers answered with a yes. I'm talking about the real and lasting treasure of His nearness and the beauty of mirroring Him to the world around us. And every single day, I see it more clearly, and I hope you do too, that He's where the joy is.
You recap, but do you kneecap? In case you're not in the know, The Bible Kneecap is our second daily prayer podcast that corresponds to the same reading plan that you're listening to right now with The Bible Recap. The Bible Kneecap, like Kneeling in Prayer, focuses specifically on praying through the word, addressing what we've seen and read that day, and what we learned about God and His character.
The episodes are shorter than this podcast, and we found that they help not only round out that day's time in the Word beautifully, but they also help train us in praying more like Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. So if you want some prayer training, or you want to just find more encouragement each day, join the Recaptains at the Bible Kneecap tier or higher. Sign up by visiting thebiblerecap.com forward slash recaptains, or click the link in the show notes.