The Seven Lamps – Numbers 8
- God tells Moses to instruct Aaron to set up the seven lamps in front of the lampstand. Aaron does as instructed.
Cleansing the Levites
- God tells Moses to take the Levites from among the people and cleanse them. They are to do this by sprinkling them with the water of purification, then to have them shave their bodies and wash their clothing and themselves. They are then to take a bull from the herd and its grain offering mixed with oil, and another bull from the herd as a sin offering. They are to assemble all of Israel at the tent of meeting, bring the Levites before them, have the people lay their hands on the Levites, and then have Aaron offer them as a wave offering from the people.
- The Levites will then lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and offer one as a sin offering and one as a burnt offering to make atonement for the Levites. They will then be set before Aaron and his sons, offered as a wave offering to the Lord.
- God continues, telling Moses that the Levites will be His—they will now be the firstborns consecrated to Him instead of the firstborns of the people. God states he has given the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do the service of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel.
- The Levites purify themselves from sin and wash their clothes, and Aaron makes atonement for them. The Levites then go to do their service in the tent of meeting.
Retirement of the Levites
- God tells Moses that the Levites, from twenty-five years upward, will come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. At the age of fifty-five years, they will retire from their service but may minister to their brothers by keeping guard in the tent of meeting.
The Passover Celebrated – Numbers 9
- In the wilderness of Sinai, God speaks to Moses in the first month of the second year after Israel had come out of slavery in Egypt. He tells Moses to have the people celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. The people of Israel do so.
- There are some men who are unclean (through touching a dead body) and could not keep the Passover, and they come to Moses and Aaron. When they tell Moses what has happened, Moses goes to God to see how the situation should be handled.
- God tells Moses that unclean people are to keep the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are the keep the Passover in the same way as first instructed, and if a sojourner is among them and will keep the Passover according to its statutes, he may do so.
Laws for Burnt Offerings – Leviticus 1
- God gives Moses instructions for how burnt offerings are to be made.
- If the burnt offering is from a herd, it shall be without blemish and brought to the entrance to the tent of meeting. There, the man will lay his hand on its head and it will be accepted to make atonement for him. He will kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons will throw the blood against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The man will then flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and Aaron's sons will arrange all but the entrails and legs (which they will wash with water) on the altar and burn it. The same will be done with an offering from the flock.
- If the burnt offering is birds, it should be turtledoves or pigeons. The priest will wring off the heads and burn them on the altar. The blood will then be drained out on the side of the altar, and the bird's crop and its contents will be thrown beside the altar on the east side. The priest will tear of the wings but not sever it completely, then burn it on the altar.
Laws for Grain Offerings – Leviticus 2
- When grain offerings are made, they will be of fine flour. After mixing the some grain with frankincense, it will be brought to Aaron's sons to be burnt as a food offering to the Lord. The rest of the grain will be for Aaron and his sons.
- If a grain offering baked in the oven is brought, it will be unleavened loaves or wafers with oil. Part of the offering will be burned on the altar and the rest will be for Aaron and his sons.
Laws for Peace Offerings – Leviticus 3
- If a peace offering is from the herd, it will be sacrificed in the same way as a burnt offering, except the fat covering the entrails and the kidney will be removed, along with the long lobe of the liver. Then the animal will be burnt on the altar.
- If a peace offering is a lamb, it will be sacrificed in the same way as a peace offering from the herd, except the whole fat tail will be removed as well. If the peace offering is a goat, it will be prepared and burnt in the same way as the peace offering from the herd.
- God makes it clear that the fat is the Lord's, and is never to be eaten, neither is blood.
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