Care of the Most Holy Things

In Numbers 4:4 God commands the "most holy things" of the tabernacle to be cared for and carried by the Kohathite branch of the tribe of Levi (also Num 3:29-31). This must have been a huge honor, but was also a huge responsibility they had to carry. Literally. In Num 7:6-9 we see they had to carry the most holy things on their shoulders while the other Levite families (Gershonites and Merarites) got oxen and carts to carry their portion of the tabernacle. When you carry something on your shoulders, you feel the weight sometimes with every step, you think about it often, you mind is drawn to it. You're intimately familiar with it. On the road you have a constant reminder of the object in your charge on your back. The Kohathites were not allowed to use ox carts to carry the most holy things.

Eleazar: leader of leaders
The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest (Num 3:32). He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary. Eleazar, son of Aaron, brother to Nadab and Abihu, who were killed by God in priestly duties when the offered "unauthorized fire" (Lev 10), was appointed to be in leadership over those responsible for the care of the most holy things. In Num 4:16 Eleazar is set in charge of "the entire tabernacle and everything in it" for care and moving. He must have felt the tremendous burden of this stewardship. In fact in Num 4, the warning is issued multiple times to act properly with the most holy things or they would die (Num 4:15, 20; Num 3:10). Even Stephen Spielberg got this right in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Nazis got torched by the Holy God for ordinance violations. Probably because they didn't have the hides of sea cows to cover it (Num 4:10). When Eleazar wrapped up the ark for the first time for transport, was he still grieving the death of his brothers? Did he delegate that task to others? Maybe not. As a leader he might have "taken one for the team" and had first position as ark carrier.

We too must lead by example. The "things" we carry as youth group leaders, parents, teachers, aunts/uncles, grandparents are most holy!! In fact, even more holy than the acacia wood and gold box that was the ark. How valuable are the people entrusted to our care? Look at the price paid by God the Father to redeem them. But despite the value of the most holy things (both then and now), God puts sinful, weak, clumsy , forgetful, lazy, stubborn people in charge (See post on God's Carny). In the OT He appointed Moses (murderer, coward), Aaron (idolater, liar), Nadab and Abihu (killed for unauthorized fire), Eleazar and Ithmar (?) to care for the tabernacle and said, "Now be careful, and obey, or you'll be killed".

In a very real sense it is both comical, and also sad. God knew they would fail. This is like putting Deputy Barney Fife in charge of secret service security detail for the President or Mr Bean in charge of the National Security Administration. Just look at the mess that Adam made. God told him to "take care of the garden". Basically, just go mow the lawn. And ends up with all of creation poisoned, corrupted, utterly ruined by war, sickness and sin. As if he went to trim the shrubs in the yard but ended up with the whole house a smoldering pile of ruin (which is not far from the truth).

And yet, God still entrusts us with the most holy things of His creation (people) and creation itself. Knowing that in our nature we are no better than Adam, God still gives us this huge stewardship. Why? Pure love and grace (which I always figure is a safe answer and probably not far from the truth with most unanswerable questions).


Leadership Lessons:
1) Eleazar was the third born of Aaron. A low man on totem pole of familia rights. Likely taking little leadership for most of his life. But with the death of his older brothers Nadab and Abihu, he was thrust into a leadership position. Sometimes our leadership roles suddenly come upon us. Learn what lessons you can wherever you're at, so that if you are called you can be as ready as possible.

2) People are not often fully ready for leadership but need to grow into the position. Moses was clearly not fully ready for leadership. Nor Aaron. At least learn from others' past mistakes so you can make fresh new ones! Are we surprised that Eleazar didn't offer "unauthorized incense"?

3) Num 3:49-51 Money was collected from the Israelites by Moses who then entrusted the money to Aaron and his sons. Our handling of $$ as leaders needs to be above reproach.

4) The most holy things we carry, our students or own children, are to be carried on our shoulders, not in ox carts. We're to be close, feel the weight of their lives, struggle along side them, be present with them. We hurt when we carry these most holy things in our stewardship. At times it is a grind. A discipling relationship with a student can be tiring, but it becomes less so when we remember the value of the most holy things we carry.

5) Our heavy lifting is sometimes done in the desert. Not only do we labor under the strain, there is a scorching sun, in a parched landscape, and sometimes feel like we're just wandering.

Other observations;
1) In Num 3:3 the sons of Aaron were anointed to be priests. The Hebrew word for anointed is "mashiah" which is where the word Messiah comes from. The priests were a foreshadowing of our Great High Priest, Jesus, the Messiah, the anointed one of God. We too are called holy priests (Peter 2:5), we are anointed and set apart for service. Our anointing is by the Holy Spirit (1 Jn 2:20-27).

Korah's Rebellion: Leadership Lessons from Numbers 16

The account of Korah's Rebellion against Moses and Aaron is filthy rich with leadership lessons. In Numbers 16 there is a face off between God's chosen leaders and a large group of ungodly leaders. The story itself could be a Hollywood film because of the twists/turns and high drama. But apart from that, it is a gold mine that gives really practical lessons for leadership.

For everybody with a Dgroup of squirrley kids, a Doxa or Flipside night where the nothing went right, this is a great chapter that makes you thankful for your problems and is good to meditate on and really chew for a while.

Background to the chapter
After God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, the journey to the promised land wasn't pretty. There was more down than up, more chaff than wheat, more manure than fruitful crop.

Picture a nightmare family road trip to Disneyland in Tim Burton style. The parents Moses and Aaron are driving a mini-van filled with many hundred thousand hungry, whiny, bratty kids (the Israelites). The air-conditioner is broken, the windows don't roll down, Timmy got car sick in the 230th row of seats, and everybody is furious because they're tired of eating McManna Happy Meals. In Numbers 14 God's pillar of fire is the TomTom navigation system that just turned the mini-van away from Disneyland (the promised land) and now they are going back to the desert. The kids in the backseat then went from being whiners to vandals and thugs. They are smashing windows, sticking gum in the ceiling mounted DVD players, pulling pig tails, duct-taping the little kids. All the while steam is shooting out of both the car's radiator and the nostrils of Moses in the driver's seat. A tire blows out on the mini-van and they come to a skidding halt in the middle of nowhere on a 100 plus degree day. Then as Chapter 16 opens Korah, with tire iron in hand, decides to fight Moses for the keys.

(Truth be told, this is also the same story of the whole human race where we are the kids and God is the driver. Each one of us has picked up the tire iron and taken a swing at our Heavenly Father by our sin. And it's only by the love, grace and sacrifice of Jesus that we actually do get the ticket to Disneyland and can leave the desert to enjoy the cool, watery Small World ride in heaven. I know the analogy breaks down here because most people would assign the Small World ride to hell.)

Here are some leadership lessons that speak to me from this chapter.

Being Outnumbered and Unpopular
Leadership sometimes means being outnumbered, going against the crowd, swimming upstream while everybody else is going down. This requires great courage. Moses and Aaron were outmanned as Korah came with 250 "well known community leaders appointed to the council" (vs2). And if these were leaders of the council, it is very likely they represented a much larger community that was equally upset with Moses and Aaron in the camp. But Moses and Aaron were being led by God. Knowing His will is a huge source of courage when facing even a rebellious mob. It is worth the price of unpopularity and being outmanned if the Lord is wearing your team's jersey. Because you know who will eventually win.


Reputation isn't King
The people who rebelled had a sterling reputation in the community (vs 3). Today they might have have been senators, mayors, or even a judge on American Idol. But reputation is worthless if not held with integrity and obedience to God. Better to be humble before God than "well known members of the council" and insolent. Moses and Aaron were members of God's council and that's the place to be.

Prayer is the First Step In Leadership
Moses' first reaction to the uprising is to fall face down before the Lord (vs4). I believe that in between vs 4 and 5 is an unrecorded prayer of help and wisdom. Moses did very few things without God's council and for years developed a habit of prayer that turned into a reflex action in this moment. Instead of blowing his top, or making a plan, or sharpening his proverbial sword, he sought the Lord in prayer and humility. As soon as we know trouble is coming down the road, it is a great time to get on our knees. In fact, before trouble arrives is a good time, and while trouble is here. Or after it passes.

Plenty is Enough
Korah was a member if the Kohathite family who God separated out and sanctified for the purpose of carrying the most holy things of the tabernacle (see Numbers 3). Korah was already in a special position of leadership among the Israelites. It's likely that thousands of Israelites watched with jealousy as they saw Korah carrying the golden lampstand in parade fashion. But Korah wasn't satisfied with his blessing and position given by God (vs9). He wanted to kill the golden goose to get the few golden eggs inside. We need to guard our hearts, learn contentment and remember that plenty is enough. Our blessings from God are too many to count and if we despise the position God's given us, we're in for a life guaranteed to be disappointing and miserable. In fact, the rebels were so consumed and twisted by greed that in their minds Egypt had become the promised land "flowing with milk and honey" (vs 13).

Love for Those You Lead
Moses had an amazing love for the rebellious people and acted to save them at the end of the chapter when God opened up a can of whoop*** on them. In vs 42-50 there's yet another rebellion and God releases a plague that starts knocking people down like bowling pins and could decimate the entire population. In an amazing act of grace and love, Moses and Aaron sprint like Usain Bolt to atone for the people's rebellion by offering incense. The plague is stopped, but only after 14,700 people died. I believe it was compassion and love for the people that drove Moses' leadership at this time. If there are rebellious students under our stewardship, we need to remember to love them deeply, pray for them always, intercede on their behalf so that that too might be covered by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.


Anybody up for Magic Mountain?

Giving Generously (Numbers chapter 7)

In Numbers 7 Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, anointed and consecrated all the furnishings, then did the same for the altar and utensils. And then I imagine a pause, when he just finished sprinkling the last drop of blood, lit the last censor of incense... I imagine a moment that possibly lasted a few minutes or hours but certainly felt like an eternity. That pregnant space of time after Moses finally did everything God commanded for the preparation of the tabernacle. Everything. From sacrificing the last goat to hanging goat hide curtains. From meat forks to breast plates. Onyx stones on ephods to acacia wood in the cross bars. He's done. And now he's waiting for God to fill the tabernacle.

For Moses, this must have been a very tense and frenzied preparation. Like the first time your parents come to your house for Thanksgiving dinner. Your Mom is a perfectionist when it comes to the moisture of turkey meat. And Aunt Madge gets really critical if the marshmallows on top of the yam dish are not the right shade of golden brown. You can already see Grand Pappy's bushy eyebrow raised just a tad when he spoons into the green beans that don't have enough crunchy cornflakes sprinkled on top.

Except it's worse for Moses. Because Grand Pappy doesn't kill you with fire from heaven if the mashed potatoes are over salted. Moses thinks again of Nadab and Abihu, his dead nephews.

So there is Moses in the Tabernacle, probably sweat coating his palms as he is making tiny adjustments to the location of the lamp stand, the wash basin, then back to the lamp stand to turn it just a smidgen the other way.

And nothing is happening. Nothing. He's waiting for God to fill the tabernacle with His glory, take His place on the mercy seat. But there are crickets chirping in the background. Silence. Or, even worse than silence, maybe Moses is hearing the grumbling of the thousands of Israelites outside the courts. An occasional "What's taking so long?" rising above the crowd. "Oh for Pete's sake!!!!" (or the Hebrew equivalent to the name Pete).

And now beads of sweat are dripping down Moses' forehead, making a puddle on the goat hair curtain. He's thinking about his nephews again, Nadab and Abihu who God killed for offering "unauthorized incense" in the temple (Leviticus 10). He's worried he didn't do something right perhaps. Moses is starting to get freaked out: was the curtain supposed to have been sea cow hide instead of goat skins? The crowd noise outside is pounding in his head. Where is God????!!!!!

He straightens his breast piece and counts, for the 10th time, to make sure there are still twelve stones on front. Did one of the artisans misspell the name of "Issachar" carved on that stone? Is there one "S" or two in Issachar???

He looks at a thread on his robe to make sure it is of gold, blue, purple and scarlet yarn. He's practically loosing it now because the purple thread looks kinda mauve!!

If Moses wasn't OCD when he started all of this, he definitely is by now.

But God still did not fill the temple. Moses braces himself for the lightning bolt that is surely on the way to make him extra crispy. Waits for the thundering wrath.

Instead Moses heard a different sound outside the tabernacle. So he went out to look and get some fresh air, clear his head.

Outside there are twelve leaders, one from each tribe of Israel. They have six carts and twelve oxen. The carts are heaping to overflowing with offerings brought from their people: silver plates, gold dishes, sacks of grain, flour and oil. There was a huge string of animals, practically receding to a vanishing point into the distance: bulls, rams, goats, oxen, lambs. Each of the twelve tribal leaders had collected a mass of silver and gold from his people then melted it down to make a huge silver plate, silver sprinkling bowl and golden bowl for an offering to the Lord.

I imagine Moses seeing this huge crowd, the twelve leaders proudly standing next to the rich and generous offerings from their people, the grumbling of people replaced with the braying of animals. He must have wept.

And for the next twelve days, the leaders of each tribe presented the offerings of their people and brought them before the altar (vs 10). Gifts of worship to the Lord. This was a vast amount of resources and a genuine sacrifice from the people.

At the end of the twelfth day of offerings, something remarkable happened. Moses went back into the tabernacle, past the outer court, through the holy place, parted the curtain in the Holiest of Holies. And he heard the voice of God speaking to him from the mercy seat on the ark. God arrived!

Only after the 12 leaders of Israel brought their offerings, scarifies, and worshipped at the altar, then God filled the tabernacle. And how much did Moses worship the Lord in that moment!!

There are some great applications here for Christian leaders:

1. Our relationship to God is fruitful only when we add worship to our work. It is not enough to just go through the tasks of ministry. God is so pleased with our offerings of worship, sacrifices of praise and the Holy Spirit speaks to us within the temple of our hearts when we sit at the altar of God in worship, bringing not just words and songs of praise, but also offerings of time, treasure and talent.
   
   Many times and for extended periods in my life I've just been counting threads on my spiritual life, re-arranging the meat fork on the altar, but not worshiping the Lord with all I have. And then I wonder why there are crickets chirping in the background, not the voice of God.
   
   
2. The combined weight of silver brought by the 12 leaders of Israel was 60 pounds. The gold weighed 3 pounds! Just the precious metal alone was worth over $100,000 in 2011 dollars. Add in the value of the food and animals, and the offering was probably equivalent to millions of dollars back in the day.
   
   What is the value of the worship we bring to the Lord? Is it easy and convenient? Or do we return to the Lord with the abundance He has given to us? Too often in my life, the sum total of my worship to Him consisted of one hour on Sunday morning. But not even a full hour because half of that time was a sermon I didn't remember longer than the time it took to reach the coffee service. And not even 1/2 hour because most of the first worship song I missed because I was late. But even during the remaining worship songs I was thinking about what happened the day prior or would happen the next day. And I was also distracted by that guy who was singing too loudly. And the lady's perfume in front of me that was too strong. So maybe there was 6 minutes of worship that week. Sweet.
   
   
3. The leaders of the twelve tribes were responsible for collecting the offerings from the people. Our job as leaders is so much more than getting students to attend a bible study, or retreat, or a big gathering where they get pummeled by a dodge ball (though that's certainly a bonus). But one of our goals as leaders is to see our students come to the place where they are offering themselves as living sacrifices to the Lord (Romans 12:1). And then, after that, the students would desire to join the great commission to make disciples of others who then offer themselves as living sacrifices. May the line of worshipers approaching the altar stretch far into the distance.
   
   
4. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We no longer need to have goat hair, or anointing oil, or sea cow hides. (Although a sea cow hide jacket would be pretty awesome!) Because Jesus offered his blood and body, one sacrifice alone, then we can approach the throne of grace and presence of God with boldness (Hebrews 4:16). We are now the temple of God (Heb 3:6) and He's not waiting for us to make a fancy box out of acacia wood covered with gold. But sometimes we make worship, ministry and service to God a long list of rules, adopt a legalistic code that kills the grace of God. We need to guard the liberty we have in Jesus carefully so that the gospel does not get replaced with a "to do list". We are asked to love God with all our hearts, soul and strength and love others as ourselves. Period.
   
   
5. Where did the Israelites get such huge wealth for their offerings? After all they were a desert nomadic tribe that just came out of 430 of years of Egyptian slavery. God provided it to them out of His abundant sovereignty. When the Israelites fled Egypt, the Lord predisposed the Egyptians to give the Israelites their treasure on the way out of town (Ex 12:35-36). They were utterly plundered by the Israelites. I picture some sort of Jedi mind trick scene:
   
   Hebrew: [waving his hand Jedi style] You want to give me your awesome 48" LED TV.
   Egyptian: [swirly hypnotizey things in his eyes] I want to give you my awesome 48" LED TV.
   Hebrew: And your sweet iPad 2.
   Egyptian: And my iPad 2.
   
   So the bounty the Israelites brought to God for the tabernacle was from God in the first place. This is like a Dad giving his kid a $20 bill so the kid can buy a father's day gift. How sad would it be if the kid only spent $1 then bought $19 worth of candy for himself?
   
   Everything we have has been given to us from the Lord. Everything. God asks us to be responsible stewards of the blessings placed in our care. And as He's given to us, we give back to Him in love and worship.
   
   A nearly identical scene is repeated for Solomon's Temple in 1 Chronicles 29 - 2 Chron 5:
   
   1) Generous offering stewarded by the leaders of people. 
   2) Release of praise and worship
   3) God filling the temple. 
   
   It is as if we need to generously give our stuff to others, to make a void that will be graciously filled by God.