Reflections from February 22, 2011

Have you ever heard anyone say "I can live anywhere!" or "Home is anyplace I hang my hat." That's kind of how the Israelites where during their journey in the wilderness. But God has a place that He resides. His is a glorious place with streets of gold. So it's interesting that He made the statement in Exodus 25:8,
"And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them."

God was necessarily looking for a house to live in as His Spirit is everywhere. God instructed His people to do this for them, so that they would have a wonderful place of worship. For many years, the Israelites had seen the exuberant temples and monuments in Egypt, some of which they probably built. Now that they were sojourners in the wilderness, they had no place to go and worship God. Now, they had received instructions directly from the Lord to build a beautiful place of worship along with furnishings fit for Him. This became a community project with Moses instructing the people on funding it, and constructing it. There were offerings along with a "flat tax" to provide money, gold, silver and bronze. And there were the craftsmen to do the work. There were project managers, and laborers, as well as those providing the food for the workers. Not only did this give Israel a greater sense of community, it gave them a greater sense of worship by taking part in the building of a sanctuary for God to dwell among them so they can worship and honor Him.

In Exodus 26:33 we read of the separation of the regular Israelites and God, where He instructs the placement of a veil at the holy place within the temple. It reads,
"The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy." Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy and then, only once per year. Of course, this veil was torn upon the death of Jesus thus removing the barrier between us and God.

Aaron was established as the high priest in Exodus 27:21 where it says,
"Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel."

Aaron (and likewise Moses) were descendants of Levi, and the Levites became the high priests of Israel. Since their duty was to tend to the Holy and Most Holy along with the sanctuary, their daily well being was provided for by the rest of Israel. This set the stage for the model in place today, (as was reinforced by the Apostle Paul) to provide for the livelihood and well being of our spiritual leaders through tithes and offerings.

Interestingly enough, Moses composed a Psalm regarding their journeys and with respect to the craftsmen that worked on the temple, he wrote in Psalms 90:16-17,
"Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children,
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands."

Blessings to all