the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Numbers 7:89; Numbers 8:1-14
V. 89 gives us the secret of "Moses, the man of God" (Psalms 90). This is prayer. Consider him beneath the weight of his crushing responsibilities, harassed by the murmurings of the people, drawing aside in the darkness and the silence of the sanctuary to converse with God. He heard "the voice" and then it was that "he spake unto him". And think of Jesus who, when the evening was come or long before dawn, after the weariness of the past day, departed alone into a solitary place to pray (Mark 1:35; Mark 6:46).
Why is there fresh reference to the candlestick at the beginning of ch. 8, between the practical gifts of ch. 7 and the consecration of the Levites in the verses that follow? Is it not to show that the light tests and appreciates in equal measure both the gift and the person, not only the service but equally the one who accomplishes it? God knows the value of our devotion, of which this rite of consecration speaks. And we notice that the Levites were presented by Aaron as a *wave offering as if to allow this divine light to shine upon each one in succession, without leaving any in the darkness. If there were the smallest stain on their vestments, it would have been noticed at once. How important it is always to stand before God in order to serve Him. (e.g. 1 Kings 17:1).
*The word translated "offer" in v. 11 has the meaning of "wave", in the same way as the sheaf was "waved" in Leviticus 23:11. Also see AV margin 8: 11.
