The Bible Recap - Day 057 (Numbers 7) - Year 4

Starting point is 00:00:00 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 8 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 into read his word. You may have noticed we haven't made any announcements in the past week, and if you did notice, you're probably grateful for it.

Starting point is 00:00:42 We would love to be able to give you an announcement free episode every day. But our team spends an average of 120 hours each week working on that week's one hour of content that we send to you, and we have to pay them somehow. Up until now, our only revenue streams to fund this have been our Patreon supporters and our 15-second announcements, which, honestly, all aim to plug you in further to the very thing you've already invested in. Staying in the word and falling more in love with God. But even between our Patreon and our announcements,

Starting point is 00:01:14 we still don't bring in even a fraction of what it takes to pay our team. We would love to keep making this happen for you each day without the burden of you having to listen to two to three minutes worth of ads from outsiders, for things like shoes and toothbrushes and home security systems, not that we don't all love those things. But if you love this podcast and you want to keep us ad-free, would you sign up today to

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Starting point is 00:01:59 And you can link it to your credit card or your debit card or your bank account. We've also put a direct link in our show notes. And in case I don't say it enough, thank you for listening. We love being on mission with you. 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 Gershinites and the Meraurites ox carts to use as their tabernacle luggage,

Starting point is 00:02:24 but the co-hatites 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 polls we've already read and talked about which went over their shoulders. By the way, I keep mentioning these polls because I'm setting a step to understand sending that happens in the future. After they give 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

Starting point is 00:02:58 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.

Starting point is 00:03:28 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 1500 shekels, 12 basins with a total weight of 800 shekels, 12 gold and 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,

Starting point is 00:04:14 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 and 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. By the way, I promise I'm not saying all this as a means of connecting us with what I said

Starting point is 00:04:45 earlier at the top of this podcast. That's not my style. I hope you know a little bit about my heart by now. The timing of that announcement was because I happened to notice we only had one chapter to read today, and I thought it might be a day when time allowed for the announcement. And this is just what that one chapter happened to be about. I'm glad it worked out that way, though, because whether you're able to give a golden bowl or $3 or nothing at all, my heart is knit deeper to the Lord by this time I'm

Starting point is 00:05:09 spending in his word researching and writing a Jepisode. And every single day I see it more clearly, and I hope you do too, that he's where the joy is. If the Bible recap has blessed you or helped you connect with the Lord and His Word in new ways, we would love for you to go to patreon.com forward slash the Bible recap and sign up today to support us with $3 a month. You can also find a direct link in the show notes. you

The Bible Recap - Day 057 (Numbers 7) - Year 4

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