Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

After yesterday's demonstration where God validated Aaron's position as high priest,

God addresses Aaron directly today. This is rare. God usually addresses Moses and has him

pass things along to Aaron, but there are a few times where God speaks directly to Aaron, and this is one of

them. He sets out some new rules and reiterates existing rules about how the priests and the Levites

are supposed to care for the tabernacle. The priests, Aaron and his two sons, are to guard

the tabernacle on the inside near the holy vessels, and the Levites are to guard the tabernacle on the

outside to keep everyone out. And God makes it clear, if a Levite passes into the part reserved for

priests, they'll both die. God tells them all this in an effort to spare them the wrath he has to pour out

when they rebel against him. God also unpacked something he's hinted at before. The Levites will have

no inheritance among the people of Israel. No land and no cattle and nothing to bank their futures

on apart from the promise of God that he would provide for them through his people.

The other 12 tribes brought a tithe, which literally means one-tenth of their income to the Levites.

Of that tithe, the Levites gave 10% back to God, who said it should be given to the priest.

This was God's plan of provision for everyone. The Levites are giving their lives to serve the people,

taking care of them, and the people are giving back their tithe to the sanctuary, taking care of the Levites. In Chapter 19, we get a few more laws, particularly laws pertaining to death and being clean

afterward. This is timely, not just because of all the death that happened recently in the

camp, but also because we're at the onset of roughly two million people dying in the camp

over the next 38 years. They need to know how to handle it. A lot of time passes between

Chapter 19 and Chapter 20, roughly 38 years. We're almost at the end of the Israelites time in the wilderness,

and you're probably breathing a sigh of relief to hear that.

But a lot of sad stuff happens in this chapter as we prepare to finish out their time.

...