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Welcome. I'm Cliff Hedges. This is Pastor Cliff's Notes. This is a podcast where we are studying the Bible. We're working our way through the book of Numbers. Today is episode 1635, and we're looking at Numbers chapter 18, verses 14 through 20. The Israelites rebelled at Kadesh Barnea. They were at the very edge of the promised land, the land of Canaan. And because of their rebellion, their refusal to not just obey God, but to have a high regard of God, they've been sent back into the wilderness and to remain there for forty years until this faithless generation dies. Maybe the next generation then that will actually go and take the promised land. Now, sometime later, we have another rebellion. This one's led by a man named Korah. He is a Levite. He claimed that all Israelites were holy and challenged the priesthood established by God, where God has said, Only the priests can actually approach me. Korah says, We all can. He had gathered these 250 prominent men through Israel. And they were challenged by Moses to make an offering of incense to the Lord and see what happens. They did. Fire came out from the tabernacle and consumed these 250 men. And then the families of Korah and the Reubenite men who were partnering with him, the whole families were swallowed up by the earth. Then there was a plague that broke out amongst the people. And it wasn't until Aaron, the proper priest, made a proper incense offering to the Lord that the plague stopped. So the people were still grumbling about this. So the Lord instructed Moses to have the leaders of each tribe write their name on their staff, give them to Moses. Moses took all their staffs along with Aaron's staff and took them into the tabernacle, put them in front of the Ark of the Covenant, left them there overnight, then in the morning went in and retrieved them. And Aaron's staff had grown. It had produced buds, blossoms, and it was even producing almonds. And that was a symbol from God that he has chosen Aaron to be the priest, nobody else. So then, right after that, in chapters 18 and 19, this is all dedicated to instructions for the priests and Levites. Since we've got straight who the priests are, here's some instructions for them. So we pick it up now in Numbers 18, verse 14. And he's speaking to Aaron. Verse 8, it said, The Lord spoke to Aaron. So this is continuing that conversation. God giving instructions to Aaron. Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the Lord belongs to you. So he uses you in the singular sense, because you can mean you person or you all. And so here it is in the singular. He's speaking to Aaron and is given to you. Now by extension, he means the priests. Remember, we don't have a lot of priests at this time. Maybe uh some of the children of Aaron's sons, Aaron's grandchildren are getting to the age of 25 or so, so they can start serving as priests. Maybe not. We're just talking a handful of people who are priests. So when he says you to Aaron, he means Aaron and his sons. Verse 15. The firstborn of every living thing, human or animal, presented to the Lord belongs to you. But you must certainly redeem a human firstborn and redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal. You will pay the redemption price for a month old male according to your assessment, five shekels of silver by the standard sanctuary shekel, which is twenty giras. Alright, what's this? This is the rules for firstborn. The firstborn belong to God. That was part of the whole tenth plague on Egypt, where it was the death of the firstborn. And out of that God said, The firstborn belong to me. And so with your farm animals, the firstborn, if you have a sheep and your sheep has a baby sheep, the firstborn belongs to God. It's taken and sacrificed to the Lord. If you have a goat, that goat has a baby. The first one, it is taken and sacrificed to God. Same thing with a ox, because these are all sacrificial animals, clean animals. But now he's talking about redemption, things that you cannot sacrifice. Like a donkey. A donkey is a useful farm animal, but it's an unclean animal. You can't sacrifice a donkey. So you redeem a firstborn donkey. If you have a donkey and she has a baby, her first baby is the firstborn, and you redeem the donkey by sacrificing a sheep or a goat. So substitute there for redemption, the rule says. And if you don't do that, you've got to kill that firstborn. Because you can't have it, it belongs to God. You can't sacrifice it. And the same thing with people. The firstborn person belongs to God. Can't sacrifice it, so you redeem it. And the redemption is a price. Now the language here sounds like Aaron's paying the price. It says you will pay the redemption price for a month-old male. Well, the way it actually works is the family pays the redemption price for their firstborn child and gives it to the priests. So that is the way the redemption works. Well, remember, there's in many of these sacrifices the priest's portion. So in the presentation offering, the peace offering, the breast meat and right thigh is given to the priest. Well here are these firstborn animals, the entire animals basically given to the priests. The blood is drained out, splattered at the altar, then the fat portions are burned up to the Lord in the altar of burnt offerings, but the rest of the meat belongs to the priests. Verse 19. Now there's not a consensus of agreement on what covenant of salt means. Not sure what it means, but he is using the words permanent. And he uses covenant of salt to basically paint a picture there of what kind of covenant we're talking about. So it's a permanent covenant. And this permanent covenant is that the priests receive the redemption price for a firstborn child. The priests receive the meat of a firstborn animal that is brought to be given to the Lord. This is their permanent covenant. Verse 20. The Lord told Aaron, You will not have an inheritance in their land. There will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. Remember, we've got twelve tribes plus the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi will not be given a segment of the land. The promised land will be divided up and will be given to the twelve other tribes. There'll be certain cities given to the Levites, but not great areas of lands. They do not get a land inheritance. And what the Lord's saying here to Aaron is you don't have an inheritance in the land. What's the purpose of that land inheritance? To provide support, farmland for you to support your family, your community. The priests are supported by the offerings brought to God. And then God gives the basically gives them to the priest. So that's why he says, I am your portion, instead of a portion of the land, I am your inheritance among the Israelites. So you don't get land to support yourself on, you get me to support you. Now all this has been addressed to the priests. The rest of the tribe of Levi that has no inheritance in the land. How are they supported? Well, we'll see that next time. So thanks for joining me. Join me again next time as we continue working through numbers.