A
If you're told you have to leave your home to start a new nation, in no uncertain terms from God, so you and your other 625,550 male relatives, plus wives and children, start out on foot along with all your herds of varying cattle (sheep, goats, and cows) start walking, how much are you taking with you on foot? I mean, sure, you may have started out thinking this was a mere three day journey, but that three days was turned into three months quickly. And then another nine months before God settles on a mountain to talk to the elder of your nation for a while. At what point of time are you regretting carrying all your stuff? And the stuff is heavy, since the people who owned you gave their own freewill offering by sending you on your way with their silver, gold, and jewelry, so you're not just carrying a canteen of water, a walking stick, and maybe a brush for your hair.
I'm just really getting amazed at what these people had to offer God at the tabernacle dedication. By this time, they know this isn't going to be that three-day journey they assumed at first. They're in this for the long haul. They can't just start farming in the wilderness, because God can have them pack up and move at a moment's notice. That and it's the Sinai Peninsula, not lush farmland. They've been living on a lot of manna by now, but still, they have flour. If you knew you couldn't go to the store to pick up any type of bread products for over a year, but you still had some flour left, how much are you giving away? And they have to realize that treasure the Egyptians freely gave them is to assure a new land for their country. They're going to need it for something or God wouldn't have told them to ask the Egyptians for it.
All this and yet, when the tabernacle was completed, the Israelites were quick to bring freewill offerings galore. The following is a list of stuff they gave without ever being told they had to. This is all done out of their excitement for God coming to them.
-- Each tribe brought one wagon with a team of oxen. (12 wagons. 24 oxen.) That was just to carry the unsacred parts: the poles, tapestries, animal skins to protect the tapestry, curtain hooks, candlesticks, tables, etc. The Ark was carried on shoulders.
But, man! That's a lot to carry and was exactly what was needed to carry it all.
And then they got all excited at the dedication and brought everything at once. The Lord told Moses to tell them that each chief (of a tribe) should bring that tribe's offering one day at a time. So the following came in the course of 12 days:
-- 12 silver plates, each weighing 3.25 pounds.
-- 12 silver basins, each weighing 1.75 pounds.
-- All the plates and the basins were filled with flour mixed with oil.
-- 12 golden dishes, each weighing a quarter pound.
-- Each golden dish was filled with frankincense. Don't consider that merely incense taken on the journey for its lovely smell. It's an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, so was vital for its medicinal purpose. Imagine running out of your medication for arthritis or ulcers. Imagine running out of your HRT meds. Imagine running out of something to clean wounds. And they were giving God the truly good stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankincense
-- 12 bulls, 12 rams, and 12 yearling sheep for a burnt offering.
-- 12 male goats for a sin offering.
-- 24 oxen, 60 rams, 60 male goats, and 60 male yearling sheep for the peace offering.
This was all given after a collection to make the tabernacle. The collection to make the tabernacle was a tithe. This was given freely and enthusiastically and from a nation of people with no land, and no place to settle into after, at the very least, 13 months into their journey.
Odder still, knowing these people weren't the ones to walk into The Promise Land.
Sorry. This isn't a sermon. This is just me being amazed at the generosity of these people at this moment in history knowing how cheap I am.
I'm just really getting amazed at what these people had to offer God at the tabernacle dedication. By this time, they know this isn't going to be that three-day journey they assumed at first. They're in this for the long haul. They can't just start farming in the wilderness, because God can have them pack up and move at a moment's notice. That and it's the Sinai Peninsula, not lush farmland. They've been living on a lot of manna by now, but still, they have flour. If you knew you couldn't go to the store to pick up any type of bread products for over a year, but you still had some flour left, how much are you giving away? And they have to realize that treasure the Egyptians freely gave them is to assure a new land for their country. They're going to need it for something or God wouldn't have told them to ask the Egyptians for it.
All this and yet, when the tabernacle was completed, the Israelites were quick to bring freewill offerings galore. The following is a list of stuff they gave without ever being told they had to. This is all done out of their excitement for God coming to them.
-- Each tribe brought one wagon with a team of oxen. (12 wagons. 24 oxen.) That was just to carry the unsacred parts: the poles, tapestries, animal skins to protect the tapestry, curtain hooks, candlesticks, tables, etc. The Ark was carried on shoulders.
But, man! That's a lot to carry and was exactly what was needed to carry it all.
And then they got all excited at the dedication and brought everything at once. The Lord told Moses to tell them that each chief (of a tribe) should bring that tribe's offering one day at a time. So the following came in the course of 12 days:
-- 12 silver plates, each weighing 3.25 pounds.
-- 12 silver basins, each weighing 1.75 pounds.
-- All the plates and the basins were filled with flour mixed with oil.
-- 12 golden dishes, each weighing a quarter pound.
-- Each golden dish was filled with frankincense. Don't consider that merely incense taken on the journey for its lovely smell. It's an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, so was vital for its medicinal purpose. Imagine running out of your medication for arthritis or ulcers. Imagine running out of your HRT meds. Imagine running out of something to clean wounds. And they were giving God the truly good stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankincense
-- 12 bulls, 12 rams, and 12 yearling sheep for a burnt offering.
-- 12 male goats for a sin offering.
-- 24 oxen, 60 rams, 60 male goats, and 60 male yearling sheep for the peace offering.
This was all given after a collection to make the tabernacle. The collection to make the tabernacle was a tithe. This was given freely and enthusiastically and from a nation of people with no land, and no place to settle into after, at the very least, 13 months into their journey.
Odder still, knowing these people weren't the ones to walk into The Promise Land.
Sorry. This isn't a sermon. This is just me being amazed at the generosity of these people at this moment in history knowing how cheap I am.