LEVITICUS & NUMBERS

It is Saturday morning, and I have a few things I need to write about and then get to a Men's meeting.  Here they are: 1) SCAPEGOAT- In Lev. 16, we have the teaching regarding the scapegoat.  It is in verse 8-10, and 21-22.  There were two goats brought to the tabernacle.  One was sacrificed for the sins of the people and the other had the priest place their hands on the goat representing the transferring of the sins of the people, and then let go in the wilderness never to be seen again.  The idea is that our sins are paid for (the goat that died); and our sins are never to be remembered against us any more (the goat that was let go).  Praise God our sins are forgiven and never remembered again! 2) TATTOOS- Leviticus 19:28  "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD."   I heard recently that 40% of individuals 19 to 29 have a tattoo.  But God's Word tells that we should not have any markings on ourselves.  Now, this is under the law, not grace, but still God has reasons for every rule given out in Scripture.  We should take heed to them, even if it is not a sin to have one. 3) COUNT THEM- In Numbers chapter one, God tells Moses to count the people.  On the first day of the second month in the second year after leaving Egypt the people of Israel are counted.  They are counted this way:  Every tribe except Levi is counted; only the males are counted; and only the males from 20 years old and upward are counted.  The count?  603,550  Now it is from this number that people come up with the idea of how large the children of Israel were in the wilderness.  These are the fighting men that are counted, and then you add in the younger ones, older ones, and women and the tribe of Levi and you come up with a whole bunch.  Over 3 million easily. 4)  LEVI- the tribe of Levi was received by God as payment of the tithe upon the children of Israel.  The firstborn was sacred to God and was to be given to God.  Instead of taking every "firstborn" male from every tribe of Israel, God took one tribe of males.  In the whole camp of Israel, not counting the tribe of Levi, there were 22,273 firstborn males (seconds, thirds, fourths, etc. were not counted, only firstborn males).  Now there were only 22,000 Levi males, so they were 273 short.  God's plan was to have the children of Israel pay 5 shekels apiece for the ones they were short and give it to the tabernacle treasury.  They gave 1,365 shekels to make up the difference.  All of this you can find in chapter 3 of Numbers.  It is very interesting! Well, I've got to go.  Have a great day in the LORD!! Pastor Mike Mutchler