Day 33: October 11, 2025 – Numbers 6-10 and Jude

Israel is preparing itself to set out and to discover and enter into the promised land. All the pieces are now set. The details of the Tabernacle is in place, the tribes each have their responsibilities and their duties, the people have been consecrated before the Lord to carry out their duties, and now they are ready to move, and they do move. There are a couple of interesting verses that I wanted to highlight. The first is the Aaronic or the Priestly blessing. You can find that in 6:22ff where Moses commands the Levites and the sons of Aaron to bless the people with a blessing that is used to this day. It is a comforting blessing and one that rings familiar when we hear it.

The second Scripture that I want us to see, which is much less significant than the previous one and much less impactful than the previous one, is 8:25-26 where we read that the Levites should do the work of the Lord when they turn 25 but then at age 50 they are to retire from serving in the primary role, while they are still allowed to serve in a secondary role. This might be the only place where we see that people are told to retire from doing the work of the Lord in a specific way.

A little story that I wanted to share with you. I remember going to hear Tony Campolo speak in a small church and the premise of his talk, because the congregation was much older, was that the Lord never tells us to retire, we are to work for the Lord our entire life, regardless of our age. It is a great message, but in the congregation an elderly woman, very elderly, who apparently knew her Bible really well, pointed out this verse and left him speechless. It was the first time that I had seen him not know what to say. But of course we don’t apply this to our lives today. Retiring at 50 isn’t an option in this day and age for most of us, and not because of the financial impact, but because there is so much more that we can do after 50.