Feb 8: Exodus 28-30

Feb 8, Exodus 28-30

Try not to get bogged down with all the details. Remember God cares about the details and articulates what it is that He wants. Enjoy today’s reading - thinking more historically helps to navigate through this…

Exodus 28. We learn about the garments that the priests will wear when entering God’s service. This will be for Aaron and his sons, and future Levites. God wants Moses to speak to the skillful - whom God has filled with His Spirit - to make the garments. To reiterate what I talked about a while ago - what we have is a gift from God. We read here that Moses is to go the one that are skilled to help, but their skills are given to them by God, as God has already prepared this all in advance! The same goes for you. God has prepared what gifts and talents you have to use, and you can use them just for yourself, or like those Moses was to find, you can use them for Him.

Another interesting note is that Aaron’s garments reflect the colors and materials of the tabernacle. This implies that priests are close to God and act as His representatives to the people as they pursue holiness together as a people. The priest’s garments were to be made for glory and beauty. This is to refer or point us to God’s glory and God’s beauty, not mans. 

Exodus 29. Here we learn about the consecration (setting apart) of the priests. God wants them set apart to serve Him on behalf of the Israelites. God articulates what oil to use and how it is to be used. God directs rules about the bulls and rams for the offerings. Then we read about some crazy blood splashing. Note - Historically speaking, blood was used to bring about holiness and forgiveness of sins. By using the animal as a sacrifice to God, the priests could then seek forgiveness for the people. That is also why the rules are so strict on how to do things and every little detail. This chapter closes with a reminder that all of these rules have been set up as a reminder to serve God and it is He who meets with the people and sanctifies (works out their lives) His people. I know we might not understand all this blood sacrifice, but just remember that the consequences of sin is death. Therefore, animals are the substitution for the life required for it. Since blood holds the lifeline of something, the Lord has accepted this replacement. And think about actually seeing an animal slaughtered, and knowing that it was because of your sin against God that the animal is crying out in death, and seeing the blood being splattered everywhere for your disobedience to God. Blood is suppose to remind us of the dirty messiness of sin. The crusty old blood over everything, and having to wash it off of yourself from being spattered, would remind you the filthiness of sin. I am sure that if we saw that, we wouldn’t take our sin as lightly as we do now, especially since for us, it wasn’t an animal that was killed, but Jesus Christ Himself. 

Exodus 30. The last chapter breaks down the alter of incense - pure gold as it is in the Holy of Holies (the back room of the tabernacle) and how to make and burn the incense that goes on it. The big idea on a lot of these rules and regulations is simply that the people will remember what God has done for them. Then the Lord takes a census of all the people. A census is like taking inventory of all the people. And when the inventory takes place, a tax is taken from everyone, to help the start up costs for the Tabernacle. Another reason that we want to pay attention here, is that the census was also considered a ‘random’ payment for God to protect His people against diseases. This idea shows that the regulations for sin has already been taken care of, and God has taken care of them spiritually, but now He is going to take care of them physically. 

Then the Lord directs them about a wash basin, and then specifics about what kind of incense and oil to use in the Tabernacle, for worship to Him.

To sum it all up:

• The big idea on a lot of these rules and regulations is simply that the people will remember what God has done for them. God has set up regulations to protect His people, just like a parent does for a kid. When kids are teenagers/youngsters, they may think that their parents are too harsh or strict. But when they get older, they realize that their parents did it because they loved them. Same kind of thing is going on here. God wants what is best for us and protects us, so sets up boundaries that we can thrive in. So, go thrive in what God has given you. And again, all the more reason to celebrate the fact that Christ came down to earth and became the ultimate sacrifice - the only perfect sacrifice - so that we can have relationship with God.