Today we read of the responsibilities the priests have in the tabernacle. Chapter 24 outlines these responsibilities then chapter 25 the year of jubilation and the treatment of poor countrymen are addressed.
Chapter 24 –
The priests were to keep the lamps burning in the tabernacle. This is a reference to the pure gold lampstand in the Lord’s presence. They were to continually tend to it with olive oil.
The second of the priests’ duties was to bake twelve loaves of bread and arrange them on the pure gold table before the Lord. These twelve loaves represented the twelve tribes and the bread was known as the Bread of the Presence (Exod. 25:30).
Anyone who cursed and blasphemed the Name of the Lord would be dealt with. But the interesting thing here is that it must have been the first occurrence because they did not know how to deal with it so they put him in custody until Moses could seek the Lord on it.
They brought him into camp, all that heard him laid their hands on his head as testimony or witness of the offense that they heard him and he ws stoned. Between the pronouncement of the offender’s sentence and his execution the Lord gave a series of laws called the laws of retaliation.
But these laws, including such detailed instructions as fracture for fracture, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth have been twisted and misapplied and ridiculed over history that there original purpose and meaning have been lost. These are not an invitation to “get even” or vengeance they were statues established to prevent excessive revenge by limiting the severity of the crime. The penalty for cursing God was the most severe.
Chapter 25 –
The subject changes here to the Sabbath year. The Sabbath Year was to be observed once the Israelites were living in Canaan and planting crops. There was to be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year ….(they were) not to sow (a) field or prune (a) vineyard.
After the seven sabbatical years – that is seven times seven years – the fiftieth year was the year of Jubilee. The primary reason for the year of Jubilee was to return all property in Israel to its original owners (25:14-17).
The rules of Jubilee also applied to the people of Israel who were poor, who had been sold themselves into some type of servitude to pay a debt. The poor were to be treated with respect and not charged interest.
Israelites were not to be sold as slaves because they were God’s servants brought out of Egypt. Foreigners whom the Israelites owned were not eligible for release during the Year of Jubilee.
The principles of Jubilee relating to servitude, redemption, and freedom have great meaning to us today. We are God’s possession since He brought us back from slavery to sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are free from sin and death but are servants of God.
Asbury United Methodist Church 