Numbers 4-5: How to take care of holy things; judgment beings in God’s house

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God is careful to make sure that holy things are treated with respect and covered up. Anyone who touched a holy thing unworthily would die. However, if God’s holy people — His assembly — sins, that sin will be uncovered and dealt with by Him. He will make sure it’s exposed. However, if someone is falsely accused, He will vindicate them too.

The Levites who are not descendants of Aaron had the duty to take care of the different elements of the Temple, which were assigned by their clans.

When they are called by the cloud to move, Aaron’s son Eleazar is the first to go in and organize the covering and dismantling of the items in the most holy place. All of these items in the most holy place have to be thoroughly covered so they are not seen as they are moved.

“And Aaron and his sons shall go in, whenever the camp sets out, and shall take down the shadowing veil and cover with it the ark of witness,” (Numbers 4:5 NETS)

The items that were in the most holy place were double covered and color coded. Some items were covered in blue, some in scarlet.

“And Aaron and his sons shall go in, whenever the camp sets out, and shall take down the shadowing veil and cover with it the ark of witness, and they shall put on it a covering of blue leather and throw on it a wholly blue cloth above and insert the carrying–poles. And over the presentation table they shall throw over it a wholly purple cloth, and the bowls and the censers and the ladles and the libation cups, with which he libates, and the perpetual loaves shall be on it. And they shall put over it a scarlet cloth and cover it with a covering of blue leather and insert the carrying–poles through it.” (Numbers 4:5–7 NETS)

Why do these articles have to be so thoroughly covered?

“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die. These are the things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.” (Numbers 4:15 NAS95)

The sons of Kohath were given the most important job off all the Levites, to carry the most holy items, including the ark of the covenant, which held the Testimony (10 commandments). They also given the showbread, which was the only item covered in scarlet. Even though they were appointed this solemn duty, they would have died if they had touched any of these items inappropriately or gazed upon them uncovered.

The next Levite clan mentioned were the Gershonites (called Gedson in the English translation of the Septuagint). They had the duty to taking down all the curtains that made up the boundary of the tabernacle and divided the different courts therein.

“This is the ministry of the division of Gedson, to minister and to carry, and it shall carry the skins of the tent, both the tent of witness and its veil and the blue veil which is upon it above and the veil of the door of the tent of witness and the curtains of the court, as many as were upon the tent of witness, and the remaining items and all the ministry implements, and they shall handle as many as those with which they minister. According to the mouth of Aaron and his sons shall be the ministry of the sons of Gedson, in all their services and in all the things borne through them, and you shall enroll them by name with respect to all the things borne by them. This is the ministry of the sons of Gedson in the tent of witness, and their guard duty shall be in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.” (Numbers 4:24–28 NETS)

The next Levite claim were the sons of Merari. They had to carry out the hardware of the tabernacle, the items that held up the curtains, etc.

“And these are the requirements of the things borne by them according to all their tasks in the tent of witness: the capitals of the tent and its bars and its pillars and its bases and the pillars of the court all around and their bases and the pillars of the veil for the gate of the court and their bases and their pegs and their cords and all their implements and all their objects used in worship—enroll them by name, and all the implements of the guard duty of the things borne by them.” (Numbers 4:31–32 NETS)

There is always a pattern to how God works. He is a God of order, not chaos. Everything He does is organized with precision.

“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.” (Numbers 5:6–7 NAS95)

God puts the victim first, they get restitution first. God requires restitution when a person damages another person. Only if victim is no longer alive and left no heirs to accept it, does the restitution go to the High Priest.

“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: Man by man—if his wife goes astray and disregards him, despising him, and if anyone sleeps with her in a union of seed and escapes the notice of her husband’s eyes and she conceals it—although she is defiled—and there is no witness with her and she has not been caught” (Numbers 5:12–14 NETS)

In this case, God is the only witness. This shows us that when God is the only witness to a crime, He will expose it. He always has a way to expose it.

The jealously here is a zealous, ardour emotion. This is an anxiety. You know something profound is wrong but you aren’t sure why. Something is not right. (Jealousy, qinah Strong’s H7068)

“then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and he shall offer the gift concerning her: one–tenth of an oiphi of barley flour. He shall pour no oil upon it, nor shall he put frankincense upon it, for it is a sacrifice of jealousy, a sacrifice of remembrance, recalling an offense.” (Numbers 5:15 NETS)

This is not an offering to forgive sin but to remember and expose it, whether it’s the sin of adultery on the woman’s part or the sin of jealousy on the man’s part.

This is a plan God put into place to either indict an adulterous woman or to exonerate an innocent woman who has a jealous husband. The result of this trial will put a stop to a cycle of jealousy and anxiety in the marriage one way or another.

“And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and uncover the woman’s head and place upon her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, the sacrifice of jealousy—but in the priest’s hand shall be the water of this reproof that brings the curse….“And the priest shall take from the woman’s hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and he shall place the sacrifice before the Lord and bring it to the altar.” (Numbers 5:18, 25 NETS)

The woman’s head-covering is removed, symbolizing nakedness. The offering is placed in her hand to be presented to God.

“And it shall be, if she is defiled and has escaped her husband’s notice by stealth, then the water of reproof that brings the curse shall enter her, and she shall be swelled up in her belly, and her thigh shall fall to pieces, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. But if the woman was not defiled and is pure, then she shall be innocent and shall seed seed.” (Numbers 5:27–28 NETS)

If God exonerates the innocent woman, than the husband has become a false accuser and she has a right to demand a judgement against her, plus 20 percent, for defaming her.

“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. “When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”] (John 8:1–4, 9-11NAS95)

If a believer commits a hidden sin, he or she will be brought to the High Priest, Yeshua. The Assembly of Believers — the Bride of Christ — will be judged first. The church’s sins will be dealt with first. The assembly will be judged before the world is judged. We see this in the first few chapters of Revelation.

After He judges the assembly, then He will judge the world. Yeshua brings the message from His Father. We need to change our ways, our thoughts. We need to come back to God. We need to read what is written and apply it.

We need to pay more attention to our time than to the End Times. We need to understand what the Spirit has to say to us in the here and now.

Reader: Jeff. Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.