Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 232
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IMMERSE
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BEGINNINGS
9:1-15
assist their fellow Levites by serving as guards at the Tabernacle, but they
may not officiate in the service. This is how you must assign duties to the
Levites.”
A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in
the wilderness of Sinai. In the first month of that year he said, “Tell the
Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time, at twilight on
the fourteenth day of the first month. Be sure to follow all my decrees and
regulations concerning this celebration.”
So Moses told the people to celebrate the Passover in the wilderness of
Sinai as twilight fell on the fourteenth day of the month. And they celebrated the festival there, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. But
some of the men had been ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body,
so they could not celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses
and Aaron that day and said, “We have become ceremonially unclean by
touching a dead body. But why should we be prevented from presenting
the Lord’s offering at the proper time with the rest of the Israelites?”
Moses answered, “Wait here until I have received instructions for you
from the Lord.”
This was the Lord’s reply to Moses. “Give the following instructions to
the people of Israel: If any of the people now or in future generations are
ceremonially unclean at Passover time because of touching a dead body, or
if they are on a journey and cannot be present at the ceremony, they may
still celebrate the Lord’s Passover. They must offer the Passover sacrifice
one month later, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month.
They must eat the Passover lamb at that time with bitter salad greens and
bread made without yeast. They must not leave any of the lamb until the
next morning, and they must not break any of its bones. They must follow
all the normal regulations concerning the Passover.
“But those who neglect to celebrate the Passover at the regular time,
even though they are ceremonially clean and not away on a trip, will be cut
off from the community of Israel. If they fail to present the Lord’s offering
at the proper time, they will suffer the consequences of their guilt. And if
foreigners living among you want to celebrate the Passover to the Lord,
they must follow these same decrees and regulations. The same laws apply
both to n ative-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.”
On the day the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered it. But from
evening until morning the cloud over the Tabernacle looked like a pillar
