Tag: tabernacle

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Mighty Doorkeepers

The opening chapters of I Chronicles are not the most engaging text. Chronicles includes more genealogy than the famously tongue-stumbling chapters of Genesis 5 and 10. A lot more. Nine chapters’ worth. That doesn’t mean that the genealogies fall outside the “useful for teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness” purpose of the Scriptures, only that sometimes you have to look harder for the usefulness.

In my latest reading, here’s what I found. Speaking of the Levites, divided by their houses and clans, the Chronicler writes, “. . . besides their kinsmen, heads of their fathers’ houses, 1,760, mighty men for the work of the service of the house of God” (I Chron. 9:13).

Elsewhere in the historical records of Israel, “Mighty men” refers exclusively to warriors. This one killed 300 men, that one led a squad through the water tunnels to take Jerusalem, the other one killed a Cushite giant 12 feet tall. And here’s a great trivia question: “Who was the brother of Lahmi, whom Elhanan the Son of Jair struck down in the Philistine Wars of King David?” Answer: Goliath. (I Chron. 20:5. I won a Bible trivia game—against a very competitive pastor—with that one.)

But the mighty men of the tribe of Levi had one purpose, and that was to serve first the tabernacle, later the temple. What do almost 2000 men do every day to maintain the place, and hence the worship, of the Lord? Some guarded the gates on rotation. Some had charge of the utensils used for (we have to guess) butchering, carving, and sacrificing. Though the text doesn’t mention it, there must have been a lot of blood to clean up, and offal and waste to cart away, and bones to burn outside the camp. This could have been one of Mike Rowe’s dirtiest jobs in history. The thing about dirty jobs is, they are necessary. Someone has to do them, even in the holiest places.

As Chapter 9 ends, there’s this: “Others, of the sons of the priests, prepared the mixing of the spices, and Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with making the flat cakes” (9:30-31). Every day, a new batch of bread to place before the Lord on the Table of Presence.

Who doesn’t want to be “mighty”? Whatever we’re good at, whatever our rank or position, we want to stand out. Here is an example of men who didn’t stand out, except in a little-read portion of scripture where the writer bothered to name them. They were gate-keepers, floor-scrubbers, tile-sweepers, brass-polishers, bread-bakers, trash-haulers. What distinguished them was where they did it: in the house of God.

And where is the house of God today? In us, and among us, and with us. Dirt-diggers, diaper-changers, floor-sweepers, meal-planners, wage-earners. We’re told that work matters, and it should matter especially to a Christian. We’re told to work heartily as unto the Lord, and whatever our hands find to do, do it with all our might. But we’re not often told that our names are being recorded in the ranks of the mighty.

It must be true, though; in the service of the Lord, every act is mighty.

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And It Was . . . Done

According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord commanded, so they had done it. Ex. 39:42-43

Reading those words, do you hear an echo?

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good . . .

And Moses saw . . .

From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Exodus encloses a lot of history—much more than any other Bible time-period. From prehistory all the way up to the birth of a nation, the LORD is building a grand plot. From the promised seed, through the flood, Father Abraham, the 12 patriarchs who grew into a multitude now gathered on a desert plain, the question is, Will they take Yahweh to be their lawfully wedded husband?

He covenants with them, he feeds and shepherds them, he instructs and promises to live with them. And then they fall into a terrible act of apostasy that should have ended it all. The people go back on their word just days after swearing to it. Even while Moses is on the mountain receiving instruction on how to consecrate Aaron as chief priest, Aaron is down on the plain hammering out a golden calf.

Doesn’t God know what’s going on, even while giving detailed instructions about how to build his dwelling place? Of course he does. But he waits, allowing the measure of sin to fill up on. And then he storms upon the scene, threatening to destroy his people. Moses intervenes for him, using every persuasive argument that comes to mind, until the Lord “changes his mind.” I won’t go with you/ I will go with you/ I will destroy them/ I won’t destroy them.

(This back-and-forth echoes a long-ago conversation with Abraham, who bargains with the Lord until he gets the acceptable number of righteous men needed to preserve Sodom down to ten. It’s not enough, of course; not even ten righteous men can be found in Sodom, and nephew Lot’s righteousness-status is rather iffy. But that doesn’t mean God is merely humoring Abraham in this conversation. He’s God; he knows the outcome. But he is also an active participant in the story, along with Abraham. The play is written, but that makes it no less compelling or real. God “changes his mind” according to what he’s already determined.)

Anyway. After this great trauma, with a people properly repentant and eager to make amends, the tabernacle work goes forward. Sixteen times in chapters 39 and 40 comes the phrase, “as the Lord commanded Moses.” As though there is to be no doubt that they’ve learned a lesson—for now—and “All that the Lord commands, we will do.” At the end, they’ve constructed a dwelling place that follows the blueprint to the letter.

But is it “good”? At the end of Creation, God saw all that he had made and pronounced it good. At the conclusion of tabernacle construction, Moses surveys the work and declares it “done.”

Is it good? No, but it’s done, according to God’s command. One more step toward redemption is accomplished. After the golden calf disaster and the recriminations and accusations and consequences dealt, God will still dwell with his people. Because he’s committed. What could have been the finale instead becomes a major plot point in the continuing drama.

But do you hear another echo?

It is finished.

It was good at the beginning. It was done as a temporary expedient, and kept on being “done” through a first temple, a second temple, and a third temple; through major dissolutions and reformations, countless animal sacrifices and rivers of blood.

Now it’s finished: the plot wraps up.

But it also continues, in present tense. We live in the dénouement, or “falling action,” of the great story that came to a climax when the main character walked out the grave . He had solved the unresolved tension between man and God—that is finished. The uneasy debt is paid.  But each generation experiences that “finishing” for itself as the drama plays out again over millions of individual lives. And he’s just as involved and active as he ever was, only through his Holy Spirit at work in every reborn soul.

For there’s no more back-and-forth, no more bargaining. For each one of us, it is finished: in present tense, until we reach the final page.

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Bible Challenge, Week 13: The People – Tabernacle

After last week’s fiasco, most of us would have ditched our “chosen people.”  The Lord even indicated that that was his inclination, but Moses (speaking in human terms, from a human perspective), “changed his mind.”  Or, as the first paragraph of the download puts it,

After the golden calf incident, God declared that He would let the Israelites go on to the promised land, but He would not go with them.  Moses intervened again: if God would not go with them, it wouldn’t be worth going.  The tabernacle was God’s answer.

Of course the Lord does nothing on the spur of the moment–even the words, “spur of the moment,” mean nothing in regard to a Being who lives outside of time.  So this was the plan all along.  But what was the purpose of the tabernacle?  And what made it even possible?

Click below for the printable download, which includes scripture readings, thought questions, and activities:

Bible Challenge Week 13: The People – Tabernacle

(This is a continuation of a series of posts about the “whole story” of the Bible.  I plan to run one every week, on Tuesdays, with a printable PDF.  The printable includes a brief 2-3 paragraph introduction, Bible passages to read, a key verse, 5-7 thought/discussion questions, and 2-3 activities for the kids.  Here’s the Overview of the entire Bible series.)

Previous: Week 12: The People – Failure!

Next: Week 14: The People – Sacrifice