Numbers 8 – 10 and Computers

Numbers 8 – 10

After some instructions about the seven lampstands, the Levites are dedicated, set apart from the rest of the people of Israel. First they had to be made ceremonially clean, ehich involved sprinkling with the water of purification, shaving their entire boies and washing their clothing.

Imagine what it was like to shave ones’ entire body before the neat razors and stuff we have today. A grain offering, a young bull for a burnt offering and a young bull for a sin offering were involved in the ceremony.

Did you notice the years of service required by the Levites? They served at the Tabernacle from age twenty-five to age fifty. That is quite different from the age at which we normally retire.

In the course of celebrating the second Passover (it’s been a year since the Israelites left Egypt), the Lord gives Moses instructions about those who are ceremonially unclean at the time of the Passover. Basically, they were to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month. Those who were ceremonially clean and did not celebrate the Passover were to be cut off from the community.

The Israelites were reminded daily that the Lord was with them: the cloud over the Tabernacle during the day and the pillar of fire at night. It was the cloud/pillar of fire that directed them when and where they should travel and when they should camp. What a comfort that must have been, to know that the Lord God Almighty was manifesting His presence.

Just as our army has a bugler, the Israelite had trumpeters, two who played the hammered silver trumpets as signals for a variety of actions: call to the community to assembly, call to signal the breaking of camp, call to sound the alarm to go to war, and during the presentation of burnt offerings and peace offerings. With the hundreds of thousands of Israelites, some means of communication was necessary since they didn’t have Smartphones yet.

After the Israelites had been in Sinai for a little over a year, on the twentieth year of the second month, the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle. Now would begin the trip to the Promised Land. Their first stop was in the wilderness of Paran.

According to the text in chapter 10, this happened as follows:

• Judah’s troops started marching followed by Issachar and Zebulun
• The Tabernacle was taken down
• The Gershonites and Merarites were next in line
• Reuben’s troops, joined by those of Simeon and Gad, were next
• The Kohathites carrying the sacred objects from the Tabernacle were next (in this way, by the time the Kohathites reached the next spot for camping, the Tabernacle would be all set up and ready for them)
• The tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin followed
• Finally, Dan’s troops marched with those of Asher and Naphtali, serving as rear guard

Did you wonder why Moses was so intent to have his brother-in-law Hobab go with them? Moses told Hobab it was because Hobab knew the places in the wilderness where they should camp. Moses wanted him to be their guide. Why did they need Hobab if the Lord God was directing them via a cloud and a pillar of fire?

Tomorrow and the next day (since it’s a Leap Year), it’s Numbers 11 – 13.

Computers

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 'If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.' In response to Bill's comments, Ford issued a press release stating:  If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):  1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash..........Twice a day.  2.. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3... Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.  4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.  6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light. I love the next one!!! 7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.  8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. 9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.  10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off. PS - I 'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!! Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their computer!

Tonight, my brother Jeff, my cousin Richard and I had dinner at Carrabba’s in Temple Terrace. It was delicous.

Until next time…