WRITTEN IN STONE

BOOK OF EXODUS

CHAPTERS 28 - 31

            Hello again and welcome back to Daily Bread and our study of the book of Exodus.  Moses has just been given the plans from God for building His tabernacle.  Let's look in and see what God and Moses will be talking about next. 

            God told Moses, Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar will minister to me as priests.  You will make beautiful holy garments for Aaron, and you will tell those people that I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, to make Aaron's garments, to make him holy so he may serve me as priest.  The garments they will make will be a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, an embroidered coat, a turban and a belt.  An intricate description of the garments are in Exodus 28:5-29. 

           We have a little Daily Bread Crumb to go along with the next verse.  God said, And you will put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they will be upon Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the Lord, and Aaron will carry the sins of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.  The words Urim and Thummim stand for the Lights and the Perfections.  If you've read the phrase "casting lots" before, Urim and Thummim were used similarly.  Although casting lots was a common practice in biblical times, when Urim and Thummim were used, they were used to determine the will of God.  Today's versions of casting lots include rolling dice, drawing straws or choosing names out of a hat but the outcome is considered luck or chance. With Urim and Thummim ... It was God's will. Samuel used these stones to find out what God's will was when he went to find Israel's second King ... The Urim and Thummin selected a shepherd boy named David.      

            Aaron and his descendents were given the ministry of priesthood by God.  This was an important job, because the sins of the people and their offerings were brought to the priest, who then presented the offerings to God for forgiveness.  There were specific procedures to follow for different things and the priests dedicated their lives to serving God.  They didn't have flocks or herds or grow crops or do other domestic things.  They took care of the tabernacle, kept the incense and the candlestick burning, the shewbread on the table, and with a congregation of 600,000 and growing, they had plenty of people to make sacrifices for and different kinds of sacrifices had different laws.  A supply of pure beaten olive oil, incense, flour, wine and anointing oil had to always be on hand, wood for burning the sacrifices, maintenance of the temple itself, not to mention cleansing of the altar, the furnishings and many other duties were the responsibilities of the house of Aaron.                                                                                    

            You can read about the plans for the ephod, the breastplate, the laws for the priesthood, the laws of sacrifice, the atonement, and the half shekel offering in Chapters 28 through 30 of the book of Exodus. 

            God told Moses that He blessed certain of the children of Israel with wisdom of craftsmanship to make all the things that He commanded Moses in the mount. 

            The Lord told Moses to tell the children of Israel how important it is to keep His Sabbaths.  He said, It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations so you will know that I am the Lord that blesses you.  So you will keep the Sabbath holy.  Anyone who profanes it will be put to death.  Anyone who does any work on the Sabbath, that soul will be cut off from among his people.  It will be observed as an everlasting covenant.  In six days the Lord made Heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.

            And when God was finished talking to Moses on mount Sinai, He gave him two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.  After all Moses had been through, bringing these precious stones back to God's people must have been a great honor to Moses.  To lead God's people out of the bondage of Egypt was a laborious yet worthwhile feat, but this ... presenting to God's children His law, written with God's own hand, must have felt like a reward that could never be matched.  We'll find out what happens when Moses comes down from mount Sinai to embrace God's people when we come back again with more Daily Bread.

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