Confessional Lutheran Ministerium

Numbers 9:1-23 NKJV

9 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ² “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.” ⁴ So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. ⁵ And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

⁶ Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day. ⁷ And those men said to him, “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

⁸ And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹ On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. ¹³ But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

¹⁴ ‘And if a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’ ”

¹⁵ Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. ¹⁶ So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. ¹⁸ At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. ²⁰ So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. ²¹ So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. ²² Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. ²³ At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

“At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle, they remained encamped” (18). As Israel journeyed through the wilderness, they did not determine their own course. The Lord led them, and they followed. When the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in place. When it lifted, they set out. Whether it was for a few days or many months, their movement depended on the Lord’s command.

This was not an aimless wandering. God was not leaving them to figure things out for themselves. He was guiding them according to His will, providing for their needs and leading them to the land He had promised. Their journey was not simply about reaching a destination—it was about learning to trust Him.

In the same way, God calls us to follow Him. We often desire a clear map, a fixed plan laid out before us, but the Lord does not always reveal the path ahead. Instead, He calls us to trust in His leading. Just as Israel depended on the cloud by day and the fire by night, we depend on His Word, His promises, and His Spirit to direct our steps.

The observance of the Passover at the beginning of this chapter is a reminder that God’s leading is always tied to His saving work. The same God who brought Israel out of Egypt was the One guiding them through the wilderness. His command was not burdensome but rooted in His mercy. He had redeemed them, and He would not abandon them.

So it is with Christ. He is our Redeemer and our Shepherd. He does not leave us to navigate life on our own. He goes before us, leads us by His Word, and sustains us with His grace. We may not always understand His timing, and the way may seem uncertain, but He is faithful. Wherever He leads, we can trust that He is bringing us to where He wants us to be.

Let us pray: O Lord, lead us by Your Word and strengthen our trust in You. When we do not see the way ahead, remind us that You are faithful. Keep us in Your care and guide us in the path of life, now and forever. Amen.

Numbers 8:1-26 NKJV

8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Speak to Aaron, and say to him, ‘When you arrange the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.’ ” ³ And Aaron did so; he arranged the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. ⁴ Now this workmanship of the lampstand was hammered gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was hammered work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶ “Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremonially. ⁷ Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purification on them, and let them shave all their body, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. ⁸ Then let them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull as a sin offering. ⁹ And you shall bring the Levites before the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall gather together the whole congregation of the children of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall bring the Levites before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites; ¹¹ and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord like a wave offering from the children of Israel, that they may perform the work of the Lord. ¹² Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the young bulls, and you shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³ “And you shall stand the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them like a wave offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine. ¹⁵ After that the Levites shall go in to service the tabernacle of meeting. So you shall cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering. ¹⁶ For they are wholly given to Me from among the children of Israel; I have taken them for Myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel. ¹⁷ For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast; on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them to Myself. ¹⁸ I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel. ¹⁹ And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the work for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

²⁰ Thus Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. ²¹ And the Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² After that the Levites went in to do their work in the tabernacle of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “This is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting; ²⁵ and at the age of fifty years they must cease performing this work, and shall work no more. ²⁶ They may minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of meeting, to attend to needs, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall do to the Levites regarding their duties.”

“And you shall bring the Levites before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.” (Numbers 8:10, NKJV)

The Lord set apart the Levites for His service, calling them to stand in place of the firstborn of Israel. They did not choose this role for themselves, nor were they selected by the people. God Himself appointed them for the work of His tabernacle. Their cleansing, the laying on of hands, and their presentation before the Lord all signified that they belonged to Him.

This setting apart was not for their own sake but for the sake of the whole congregation. They ministered in the Lord’s presence on behalf of Israel, bearing out His command to teach, serve, and offer sacrifices. Their role pointed forward to a greater reality—that all who are called by God are made holy not by their own effort, but by His Word and promise.

The Levites’ service reminds us that the Lord calls His people to live for Him. While not all are set apart for specific ministry, every believer is called to a life of service. We have been cleansed—not with water alone, but with the blood of Christ. We have been brought before the Lord—not by human hands, but by the work of the Holy Spirit. Our lives, like the Levites’ calling, are not our own. We belong to the Lord.

In Christ, we see the ultimate fulfillment of this calling. He is the true Servant, the One set apart to bear the sins of the world. He did not come to be served, but to serve, giving His life as a ransom for many. Through Him, we are made a royal priesthood, called to proclaim His praises and live in His grace.

No work done in the name of the Lord is small or insignificant. Whether in word or deed, every act of faithfulness is part of the service to which God has called us. Like the Levites, we live not for ourselves, but for the One who redeemed us. In Him, our work is not in vain. Let us pray: O Lord, You have called us to live in Your service. Cleanse us by Your grace, strengthen us in our calling, and use us for Your glory, that we may faithfully serve You all our days. Amen.

Numbers 6:1-27 NKJV

6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, ³ he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴ All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.

⁵ ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. ⁶ All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. ⁷ He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ⁸ All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.

⁹ ‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. ¹⁰ Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; ¹¹ and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. ¹² He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁴ And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering, ¹⁵ a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.

¹⁶ ‘Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; ¹⁷ and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ¹⁸ Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.

¹⁹ ‘And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, ²⁰ and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; they are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”

²² And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³ “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

²⁴ “The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵ The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
²⁶ The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’

²⁷ “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (24-26).

In the midst of the laws and commands given to Israel, the Lord provided a special blessing to be spoken over His people. These words were not mere formality. They were a declaration of God’s care, His favor, and His peace. To be blessed by the Lord was to be kept in His protection. To have His face shine upon you was to receive His grace. To have His countenance lifted toward you was to know His peace.

Before this blessing, the chapter outlines the Nazirite vow—an act of devotion in which a person set himself apart for the Lord. This vow involved abstaining from wine, avoiding contact with the dead, and letting one’s hair grow. It was an outward sign of inward dedication. Yet even in this, the focus was not on human effort but on the Lord who sanctifies His people.

Israel’s history shows that human faithfulness wavers, but God’s blessing does not. The same nation that received these words would later turn away, yet the Lord remained steadfast. He continued to keep His people, to shine His face upon them, and to call them back to Himself. His blessing was not dependent on their worthiness but on His own faithfulness.

This blessing is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In Him, we see the face of God shining upon us. He is the One who keeps us, the One through whom we receive grace and peace. By His death and resurrection, we are set apart—not by a vow we make, but by the work He has done. His name is placed upon us in Baptism, marking us as His own.

The Lord still speaks this blessing over His people today. In a world of uncertainty, He remains our keeper. When guilt weighs heavy, His grace is sure. When turmoil surrounds us, His peace is real. His Word does not return void. He blesses, and His blessing stands forever.

Let us pray: O Lord, bless and keep us in Your care. Shine Your face upon us, and grant us Your peace, that we may walk in the assurance of Your steadfast love. Amen.

Psalm 105:16-28 NKJV

¹⁶ Moreover He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the provision of bread.
¹⁷ He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ They hurt his feet with fetters,
He was laid in irons.
¹⁹ Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.
²⁰ The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.
²¹ He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,
²² To bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.

²³ Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
²⁴ He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
²⁵ He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.

²⁶ He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
²⁷ They performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
²⁸ He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.

God’s ways often appear hidden to human eyes. The psalmist recounts how the Lord allowed a famine to strike, leaving the land barren. Yet, in that hardship, He had already provided the answer—Joseph. Years before the famine came, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. At the time, it seemed like nothing more than cruelty and injustice. But God was working through it all.

Joseph’s suffering was not without purpose. He was shackled, imprisoned, and humiliated, but in those afflictions, the Lord was shaping him for greater service. When the time was right, Joseph was exalted to a place of authority in Egypt, where he became the means by which many lives were saved. His trials were not random events but part of God’s design to preserve His people.

The history of God’s dealings with His people is filled with such examples. When Israel groaned in Egypt under Pharaoh’s oppression, the Lord raised up Moses. Though Pharaoh resisted, God displayed His power through signs and wonders, leading His people toward freedom. Even in their darkest moments, God had not forgotten them. He was already preparing their deliverance.

We, too, face trials that seem senseless at the time. Suffering often arrives unannounced, and we wonder why the Lord allows it. But Psalm 105 reminds us that God is never absent. He works through the hardships of life to accomplish His purposes. His wisdom is beyond our understanding, but His faithfulness never wavers.

The greatest proof of this is seen in Jesus Christ. Betrayed, rejected, and crucified, He endured suffering that seemed, to human eyes, like the triumph of evil. Yet, through the cross, God was securing salvation for the world. What looked like defeat was, in truth, the greatest victory. Let us pray: O Lord, in times of trouble, help us trust that You are working all things for good. Strengthen our faith in Your wisdom and mercy and lead us to rest in Your unfailing promises. Amen.

Psalm 105:1-15 NKJV

105 Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
² Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
³ Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
⁴ Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
⁵ Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
⁶ O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

⁷ He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
⁸ He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
⁹ The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
¹⁰ And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹¹ Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
¹² When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

¹³ When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
¹⁴ He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
¹⁵ Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”

In today’s reading, the Psalmist calls upon the nation of Israel to give thanks to God, with rejoicing, for His deeds on their behalf, deeds which He faithfully performed in fulfillment of the covenant He had made with their fathers. The Israelites are to remember these deeds, rejoice in them, give thanks for them, and recount them to all the nations of the earth.

The Psalmist practices what he preaches. This lengthy Psalm recounts the Lord’s saving deeds for Israel, starting with the covenant He made with Abraham and culminating in the conquest of Canaan by Abraham’s descendants some 400 years later. In today’s verses, the Psalmist recounts how God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promising to give the land of Canaan to their offspring, and how He preserved their families as they wandered about the land, not permitting the Egyptians, or Abimelech, or any of the other peoples to do them harm.

The Psalmist refers to this land-covenant as an “everlasting covenant.” It’s important to remember that the word for “everlasting” in Hebrew has to be understood by its context. It usually doesn’t mean “lasting for all eternity.” Sometimes it just means “lasting for a very long time.” God certainly fulfilled the covenant to give the land of Canaan to the offspring of Israel, and He allowed them to hold onto it for a very long time, some 1,500 years. And they would have continued to hold onto it, if they had not rejected the greater part of this covenant, the part which promised the coming of the Christ, the Seed of Abraham, who would be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

Those who believe in Jesus Christ have been brought into a new covenant by God. And we who are heirs of this covenant have even more reason to remember, rejoice in, give thanks for, and recount God’s saving deeds on our behalf. In fact, this is the purpose of the liturgical Church Year, to recount continually the saving deeds of our God which center on the Gospel of Christ Jesus, our Lord, so that all may hear, believe, and rejoice.

Let us pray: O Lord, we remember Your wondrous works, especially the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and Your gift of Holy Baptism. We seek You and Your strength. We seek Your face evermore. Amen.

Numbers 5:5-31 NKJV

 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷ then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. ⁸ But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. ⁹ Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰ And every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”

¹¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, ¹³ and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught— ¹⁴ if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶ ‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— ²¹ then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell; ²² and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”

‘Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”

²³ ‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. ²⁴ And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. ²⁵ Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; ²⁶ and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. ²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

²⁹ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. ³¹ Then the man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’ ”

The first part of today’s reading deals with confession and restitution. God commanded a person who sinned against his neighbor to both confess his trespass and make restitution for it, which would cover the trespasser’s debt to his neighbor. Meanwhile, the trespasser also had to bring a sacrifice to make atonement for his sin before God. Christians in the New Testament are likewise commanded to confess their trespass and “be reconciled” to their brothers (cf. Matt. 5:24), which may include restitution, if such is possible (cf. Zacchaeus in Luke 19), and should also include forgiveness from the one who was wronged. At the same time, let us seek God’s forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s atonement, in which case making confession to a pastor provides the opportunity to receive absolution from the minister as from God Himself.

The second part of the reading provides a rather strange procedure for dealing with suspected adultery. There were already laws in place against adultery, starting with the 6^th Commandment, sentencing both adulterous men and women to death (cf. Lev. 20:10). But such a sentence required a legal conviction, which required proof. What if there was no proof, but only suspicion on the husband’s part? The ritual described in today’s reading would reveal the woman’s guilt or innocence.

For as strange as this ritual may seem, we must remember that the practice described here was commanded by God, and it had His miraculous power attached to it. Instead of endless accusations or outbursts of rage that could trouble a marriage for years, God gave His people a way for husbands and wives to live at peace. This is yet another example of God making provision for the sins that are common among men, to give the Israelites a way to resolve some of the conflicts that would arise in their society. Only in heaven will believers finally be free of such conflicts. Until then, as a part of daily contrition and repentance, Christian wives are guided to imitate the Church in submitting to their husbands, while husbands are guided to imitate Christ Himself in how they treat their wives (cf. Eph. 5:22-33). Let us pray: Lord, teach us by Your statutes, that we may live in harmony with our neighbors, and especially with our fellow Christians. Amen.

Numbers 4:1-20 NKJV

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ² “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ house, ³ from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.

⁴ “This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of meeting, relating to the most holy things: ⁵ When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Testimony with it. ⁶ Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall insert its poles.

⁷ “On the table of showbread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the pitchers for pouring; and the showbread shall be on it. ⁸ They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles. ⁹ And they shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it. ¹⁰ Then they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of badger skins, and put it on a carrying beam.

¹¹ “Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles. ¹² Then they shall take all the utensils of service with which they minister in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of badger skins, and put them on a carrying beam. ¹³ Also they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ They shall put on it all its implements with which they minister there—the firepans, the forks, the shovels, the basins, and all the utensils of the altar—and they shall spread on it a covering of badger skins, and insert its poles. ¹⁵ And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.

“These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “The appointed duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the daily grain offering, the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ¹⁸ “Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; ¹⁹ but do this in regard to them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint each of them to his service and his task. ²⁰ But they shall not go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, lest they die.”

Here the specific duties of the clan of Kohath (and then of Gershon and Merari) are enumerated. At this point in the history of Israel, the priestly duties centered on (1) ministering in the tabernacle, (2) breaking down the tabernacle and preparing it for transport, (3) carrying its various pieces as they journeyed, (4) setting it up again when the people reached a new stopping point on their way to the land of Canaan, and (5) preventing anyone unauthorized from coming near the holy things.

Since all this had to be accomplished with the greatest care and attention to detail, and since many of the duties required heavy lifting, only men between the ages of 30 and 50 were to be engaged in these tasks directly. Only Aaron and his two sons were to handle the holy furnishings. The Kohathites were to carry the furnishings by their attached poles, while the Gershonites and Merarites were to attend to the frame of the tabernacle, with duties being assigned to each man by name, and with Aaron and his sons carefully supervising the whole process.

It’s this very chapter in Numbers that King David failed to consult when he tried to move the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. No priests were chosen to carry it by its poles. It was placed haphazardly on a cart, and when a man laid hold of it to steady it, the Lord struck him dead (cf. 1 Chron. 13). This is how seriously the Lord took the laws about handling the holy things.

We have no similar commands concerning sacred things or sacred duties in the New Testament, since the tabernacle and the priesthood have found their fulfillment in Christ and the Church. There are no holy things in the Holy Christian Church, just holy people, that is, believers who have been sanctified and set apart for God and by God. And as the Old Testament priests were to be diligent in caring for the holy things, so all Christians, as priests under Christ, the High Priest, are to be diligent in caring for one another, for God is more zealous in guarding His saints than He was in guarding the sacred things of the tabernacle. As Zechariah says to God’s holy Church, “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zech. 2:9). Let us pray: Lord God, thank You for sanctifying us through Holy Baptism. Teach us by Your Spirit to love and care for our fellow saints as You have loved and cared for us. Amen.

Numbers 3:1-13; 3:40-51 NKJV 3 Now these are the records of Aaron and Moses when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ² And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests. ⁴ Nadab and Abihu had died before the Lord when they offered profane fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.

⁵ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶ “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷ And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. ⁸ Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle. ⁹ And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to him from among the children of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² “Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, ¹³ because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the Lord.”

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses: “Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. ⁴¹ And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded him. ⁴³ And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁴⁵ “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I am the Lord. ⁴⁶ And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷ you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. ⁴⁸ And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons.”

⁴⁹ So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites. ⁵⁰ From the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁵¹ And Moses gave their redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The first two chapters of the book of Numbers give us a reliable record of what the tribes of Israel looked like one year after they crossed the Red Sea. The Israelites had spent about a year at Mount Sinai, receiving and learning the laws that God had given to Moses, constructing and learning the rituals of the divinely-designed tabernacle. A census was taken, at God’s command, revealing a total of 603,550 men of fighting age (excluding the Levites). When we add the women, children, and elderly, plus the 22,000 Levite males, we arrive at a safe estimate of about two million people who made up both the nation and the church of Israel.

Numbers 3 describes two things: The dedication of the Levites to the Lord in place of the firstborn sons of the rest of Israel, and the camping location assigned to each of the three Levite clans, who were descended from Levi’s three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The three clans, plus the smaller group of Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons, with their families, were to surround the tabernacle. No one got through to God except through them.

Since God, by the blood of the Passover lamb, had rescued the firstborn of Israel from the plague against the firstborn in Egypt, He claimed the Israelite firstborn as His own. But He accepted the Levites, by exact count, as substitutes for the firstborn of the rest of Israel, not to kill them, but to employ them as His ministers for life. As depicted vividly by their encampment around the tabernacle, the Old Testament Levites were to be the keepers of sacred things and the mediators between God and His people.

There are shadows of Christ in these things. Christ, the firstborn of Mary and the only-begotten of God, was chosen by God to be the Substitute for sinful mankind, serving forever as the only Priest and Mediator between God and man. Only through Him may we approach the Father. Only through Him are we redeemed from the death we deserve, so that we may serve God as a royal priesthood under the New Testament.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, You have accepted Your Son in our place and, through faith in Him, You have given us access to You. Accept our humble service, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Leviticus 27:14-34 NKJV

¹⁴ ‘And when a man dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. ¹⁵ If he who dedicated it wants to redeem his house, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.

¹⁶ ‘If a man dedicates to the Lord part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. ¹⁷ If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. ¹⁸ But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money due according to the years that remain till the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation. ¹⁹ And if he who dedicates the field ever wishes to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall belong to him. ²⁰ But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; ²¹ but the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a devoted field; it shall be the possession of the priest.

²² ‘And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not the field of his possession, ²³ then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation, up to the Year of Jubilee, and he shall give your valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. ²⁴ In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to the one who owned the land as a possession. ²⁵ And all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.

²⁶ ‘But the firstborn of the animals, which should be the Lord’s firstborn, no man shall dedicate; whether it is an ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s. ²⁷ And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

²⁸ ‘Nevertheless no devoted offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the Lord. ²⁹ No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among 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 to the Lord. ³¹ If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. ³² And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. ³³ He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ ”

³⁴ These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

The final verses of Leviticus provide some final instructions about dedications to the Lord. Houses and fields and other property could be dedicated to the Lord voluntarily, out of thankfulness for the bounty that came from Him and as a way of providing for the priests and for the costs of maintaining the tabernacle. Animals and food offerings could be dedicated to the Lord, but the firstborn male and every tenth animal acquired, along with the tenth part of their crops, could not be included in this special dedication, because these things were already claimed by the Lord as belonging to Him. You can’t give to the Lord what’s already His by right.

Although, in a sense, this is what we always do with our offerings. All that we have belongs to the Lord, and we are merely managers of it, charged with using it all according to God’s instructions. For Old Testament Israel, those instructions were more specific. The firstborn son, the firstborn male animal, and the tithe (that is, the tenth) had to be handed over to the Lord, or else be redeemed, while the rest of a person’s possessions could be used at a person’s discretion, with the option of dedicating things to God above and beyond the required tenth.

In the New Testament, there is no law regarding the firstborn, because God has already given His Son, the Firstborn of all creation, into death to redeem us, and He has made us all sons through faith in Christ Jesus. Nor is there a law regarding the tithe, because God no longer treats us as children but as mature adults. Indeed, some of the early Christians in Jerusalem chose to sell all their property and lay the proceeds at the apostles’ feet (cf. Acts 4:34-35). The Lord no longer specifies how much of our possessions should be given back to Him to support the Church and its ministry. He simply commands us, among other things, to support those who teach the Gospel, encouraging us to be generous with our offerings, but trusting us to use sound judgment in managing the possessions of which He has made us stewards. Let us pray: We give Thee but Thine own, whate’er the gift may be. All that we have is Thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from Thee. Amen (TLH 441, st. 1).