Numbers 7

v1-9: “God wisely and graciously gave the most resources to those who had the most work.” What God give us to do, “he will by his grace give sufficient strength for.”

v10-88: The offering which the leader from each tribe brought “were exactly the same, without any variation, though probably neither the leaders nor the tribes were all rich to the same degree, and this uniformity showed that all the tribes of Israel had an equal share in the altar and an equal claim to the sacrifices that were offered on it.” Even though each of the offerings were the same, they were written down for each tribe. But this was not meaningless repetition, “it was to encourage these leaders and their respective tribes,” and to show that they “come together equally before God.”

v89: “God showed his gracious acceptance” of the offerings “that were brought to him, by speaking intimately to Moses,” and in effect “to all Israel.” We can “know that God hears and accepts our prayers, if he gives us grace to hear and receive his word.”

Numbers 8

v1-4: “The work of ministers is to light… lamps, by opening up and applying the word of God.” The tabernacle, which had no windows, would have been a dark place without the lamps, and so would the church be, if they did not have God’s Word preached. The preaching of God’s Word gives light to the church so that it might shine out in a dark world.

v5-26: In the “painstaking measures” which the Levites had to go through to clean themselves up, we see how important it is that “those who perform ministry for the Lord must themselves be clean.” It is not until we have applied to our souls, “the atonement has been made for sin and peace has so been made,” that we are “fit to serve the living God.”