Numbers 1-6
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Numbers: The Wilderness Wanderings
Numbers: The Wilderness Wanderings
If I were to take a poll this evening among you faithful, those of the midweek gathering. I’m guessing that there is not a single one among you who would say that Numbers is your favorite book in the Bible. It is not mine either, but I do believe it is relevant and important, and while I wish we had more than six weeks to cover the book, I know that some of you wish I would just give you a one night overview and call it good. We are going to work together! That is those of you that chose to stick it out. We don’t have time to go through every single verse, and neither of us has the desire to hear me read every single name listed in the numberings of the people. Amen? We will cover as much as possible in our time together, and then you may or may not have some homework to read or study on your own, in lieu of having Growth Group homework.
I want to make the best use of our time, so for the note takers. In the first verse we find the words “in the wilderness” which is where the real name of the book comes from. In Hebrew it is Be-midbar which means in the wilderness. Greek translators called it something different and in Latin it was translated Numeri, because the translators focused on the two census that are found in the book, one occuring at the beginning of the wandering and one at the end.
If you’ve never studied the book of Numbers, you are in the majority of Christians. Quick outline it starts where Exodus leaves off, or about 13 months after the people of Israel come out of the Exodus, when they are led by Moses out of Egypt and are in the wilderness of Sinai. It begins with Moses setting up the army of God. Now the first 10 chapters cover the people and events while they are in Sinai, and all that the 1st 10 chapters covers takes place in just a few of weeks.
Then from chapter 10:11-22 the book records them leaving Sinai and traveling all the way to Moab and that takes them 38 years of wandering through the land to get there, a trip that should have taken just a few weeks.
22-36 now the people are at Moab and God begins to judge Moses and judge the people this takes place in just a matter of days, and what we see is that all of those that were 20 and above when leaving Egypt perish because of unbelief and Only Joshua and Caleb and those that were under the age of 20 when leaving Egypt are able to enter the promised land.
Norman Geisler breaks the book down differently. Chapters 1-10 He labels....
Israel’s direction from the Lord (1-10)
Israel’s direction from the Lord (1-10)
Chapters 11-14 is ...
Israel’s disbelief in the Lord (11-14)
Israel’s disbelief in the Lord (11-14)
and the final section chapters 15-36 he labels...
Israel’s discipline from the Lord (15-36)
Israel’s discipline from the Lord (15-36)
In my mind, here’s both the relevance and the significance....it never had to happen. It is a story of arrested development in God’s people. Hindered progress for some, and death for others, all because of disobedience to God, that resulted in them never being able to experience the fullness of what God had for them.
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying:
Now before we look at what the Lord said, I just want to point out that Moses has been called to lead the people of Israel, but before you can ever lead in any position for the Lord, first we need to be able to listen. We need to be hearing from the Lord.
The second thing that we should really be taking note of in this book is how specific the Lord’s directions are. None of us that are saved, none that have been born again are saved unto ourselves. We don’t come to God for forgiveness, and then go on our merry little way. God has a plan and a purpose for all of his children, which we will see over the next several Sunday mornings as we explore 1 Corinthians 12-14 and see that God pour out gifts from the Holy Spirit to each of us, not for us, but for the church that we would use those gifts for the benefit of others. For the sake of bringing honor and glory to God. Your life is no longer your own. That is the deal.
God gives specific instructions to Israel here as he want to be the center of their lives and wants them to be a witness to the entire world as they have come out of Egypt. As you study your Bible’s more and more you will see that there are several types in the bible, where something is represented by something else. Egypt in the Scriptures is often a type for what we would call the World.
2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually,
3 from twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
4 And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.
5 “These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur;
So this is the first of the numberings in this book, it does not include the women or the children, but only the men that were 20 years old and above, who were able to go to war. If you go down through the list of names there, you will see that there were 12 captains assigned to oversee the men in their tribes and they listed off all of the men that were included in their families, sounds like it was probably a very long and boring day. But there are things to learn in their names…skip down to verse 17...
17 Then Moses and Aaron took these men who had been mentioned by name,
18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually.
The King James translates verse 17 ...
17 And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names:
Much more so back then than it seems to be the case is that names mattered, the meanings of names were specifically chosen for various reasons and the names written here are expressive of the men who held them. In verse 5...
5 “These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur;
The name Elizur means "my God is a rock." in verse 6...
6 from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai;
The name Shla-meal his name means "at peace with God." so that can make for an interesting study, it’s just not for us tonight.
When we get down to verse 21 we see the beginning of the actual numbering of the tribes...
21 those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.
verse 23...
23 those who were numbered of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
Another interesting study is to compare the numbers gathered at the beginning of the 40 years of wandering and those numbers gathered at the end. We almost always see an increase in populations over time, and if you do compare the numbers you will see a couple of the tribes increased, but the overall numbers actually declined.
39 those who were numbered of the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
41 those who were numbered of the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.
43 those who were numbered of the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44 These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his father’s house.
45 So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel—
46 all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
And so those are the men above twenty years of age, those that were able to go on to war, who entered into the forty years of wandering in the wilderness ...and that whole generation died. Only two of those men were left to go into the Promise Land. The two were Joshua and Caleb, the Bible tells us why and I hope to get to that next week, but they were the faithful spies that came back with the good report of the promised land. Verse 47...
47 But the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe;
48 for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying:
49 “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel;
50 but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it and camp around the tabernacle.
Any idea why the Levites were not to be numbered? They were to serve as the priest and not go out to war.
51 And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death.
52 The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies;
53 but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
The tribe of Levi had as its responsibility the taking care of the tabernacle, the moving of it, the setting up of it and through Aaron and the priests, the services within the tabernacle. But notice that not all of their duties were what we would typically consider ministry or the work of a priest. Some of them, there entire ministry was labor. Their job was to hump stuff from one place to another. Carry the tabernacle, I am in service to the Lord and the people and my job is to carry this bench or this furnishing as unto the Lord.
When we get to chapter 2 we start to see a little bit of the order of our God....
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
2 “Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house; they shall camp some distance from the tabernacle of meeting.
3 On the east side, toward the rising of the sun, those of the standard of the forces with Judah shall camp according to their armies; and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be the leader of the children of Judah.”
4 And his army was numbered at seventy-four thousand six hundred.
5 “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and Nethanel the son of Zuar shall be the leader of the children of Issachar.”
Now, I don’t really think it is possible for us to envision this type of mass migration of people, maybe we will with the current chaos over our boarders in this country, but chapter 1 told us that there was 603,550 available soldiers over the age of 20 and I have read estimates of the the total population of Israel at this time to be between 2-3.2 million people when you include women and all those under the age of 20.
One of the reasons that God chose the Jews was because He loved them, the Bible tells us that. But He also chose them to chastise the Gentiles, to be an example to the rest of the world. God set up the nation of Israel as a Theocracy, a nation led by God and a nation that had God as their center. In the Bible we get to see the benefits of that, and in real life in America we get to see the consequences on a nation when they turn their backs on God.
Super productive homework assignment would be to sit down with this book and as you read through through it draw out what the camp would have been like with the Tabernacle in the very center. I’m going to put up a graphic here, but I’m not sure how well it will show up on our screens or for you at home, and I’ll just leave that up there for a while so you can picture what the camp might have been like...
I don’t think you can see the narrative on here, but it says “The Book of Numbers describes the layout of the encampment during Israel's 40 years of wilderness wanderings. The tribes encamped around the tabernacle both in order to stay close to the tent of meeting and to defend it during attack. The four sides were surrounded by four groups, led by Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan. The Levites - specially chosen to be close to God - camped around all sides of the tabernacle.
So as you read through this chapter also understand the significance of this. The Tabernacle that represented the place that God dwelt was at the very center of their nation and their lives as a people. And the cloud, the shekinah glory, rested on the tabernacle during the day and the pillar of fire rested on the tabernacle at night.
So as they set up their tents there was order to it, but also every tent faced the Tabernacle so that as every person would wake up in the morning and look out, they would see the Tabernacle the cloud, reminding them of God’s presence not just as individuals, but as the center of their lives as a people. Vs. 32...
32 These are the ones who were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses. All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
33 But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
34 Thus the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; so they camped by their standards and so they broke camp, each one by his family, according to their fathers’ houses.
In chapter 3 the Lord speaks to Moses and instructs him to divide the tribe of Levi into three major the family of Gershon, the family of Kohath and Merari (Mer- R-EE). Chapter 3 vs. 5
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.
7 And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle.
8 Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle.
9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to him from among the children of Israel.
10 So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
If you guys remember after God destroyed the first born in Egypt he said "all of the firstborn are mine, they belong to me." But we see that God is doing something different here instead of every family committing their firstborn to the priesthood, God has chosen one tribe, the tribe of Levi. Look at verse 12
12 “Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine,
We see another difference between this tribe and the rest. In all of the other tribes, they counted all of those males that were age 20 and up who were able to go to war, but the Levites were not to go to war so look at vs. 15
15 “Number the children of Levi by their fathers’ houses, by their families; you shall number every male from a month old and above.”
Much of the remainder of the chapter lays out their positioning in the camp around the tabernacle...
Again we have already gone over why they are closer and on all sides, but we see something interesting at the end of the chapter with God choosing the tribe of Levi over the first born, look at what He tells them to do...
39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and above, were twenty-two thousand.
40 Then the Lord said to Moses: “Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names.
42 So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded him.
43 And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
So they were 273 short
In choosing the Levites over the firstborn of every family, God wasn’t getting His fair share. So the missing men had to be redeemed. Look at vs 46...
46 And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites,
47 you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs.
48 And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons.”
In chapter 4, God gives specific role responsibilities among the families of the Levites. Remember that the Levites were counted differently that the other tribes. Rather than number the men age 20 and up they were numbered from one month and above. But their responsibilities included all kinds of priestly duties, including lugging the Tabernacle from one place to another so that it would always be at the center of the people. Since the toddlers couldn’t carry their weight, God again numbered these guys a different way...
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
2 “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ house,
3 from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.
So the work of the ministry here began at age 30 and they were done or used in a different capacity when they reached age fifty. They basically considered that these were the prime years of a man’s life (combining both wisdom and strength) and some of these guys had the ministry of moving furniture. It’s interesting to me that it wasn’t until He was about 30 that Jesus began His public ministry.
4 “This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of meeting, relating to the most holy things:
5 When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.
6 Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall insert its poles.
7 “On the table of showbread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the pitchers for pouring; and the showbread shall be on it.
8 They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles.
Even though they were involved in the priestly service, there was nothing casual about their duty. The items in the Tabernacle were sanctified by God, and made holy, so Aaron and his sons had to come in and prepare everything, and these guys weren't to touch it or even to look upon it, things had to be covered and they would move many of the items by using poles, so they wouldn’t physically touch the item itself.
9 And they shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it.
10 Then they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of badger skins, and put it on a carrying beam.
11 “Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles.
12 Then they shall take all the utensils of service with which they minister in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of badger skins, and put them on a carrying beam.
13 Also they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it.
14 They shall put on it all its implements with which they minister there—the firepans, the forks, the shovels, the basins, and all the utensils of the altar—and they shall spread on it a covering of badger skins, and insert its poles.
15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. “These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.
So when the Israelites woke up in the morning, facing the Tabernacle, if the cloud began to move, giving the signal from God that it was time to move on, then Aaron and his sons had to rush in and begin systematically preparing everything to move, exactly as God had instructed and then the sons of Kohath would do their duty and lug the most holy things to the next location. look at vs 17
17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
18 “Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;
19 but do this in regard to them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint each of them to his service and his task.
20 But they shall not go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, lest they die.”
As you guys read through the Old Testament you’ll come across an number of passages that talk about the seriousness of moving the Ark of the Covenant. There are times when people looked inside it and died even a time when someone simply touched it to keep it from falling off a cart and they died. God makes the rules, they are real and they are serious. Down in verse 24 we come to the responsibilities and duties of the Gershonites...
24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and carrying:
25 They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tabernacle of meeting with its covering, the covering of badger skins that is on it, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting,
26 the screen for the door of the gate of the court, the hangings of the court which are around the tabernacle and altar, and their cords, all the furnishings for their service and all that is made for these things: so shall they serve.
27 “Aaron and his sons shall assign all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, all their tasks and all their service. And you shall appoint to them all their tasks as their duty.
28 This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting. And their duties shall be under the authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
In verse 29 we come to the duties of the Merarites...
29 “As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families and by their fathers’ house.
30 From thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting.
31 And this is what they must carry as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets,
32 and the pillars around the court with their sockets, pegs, and cords, with all their furnishings and all their service; and you shall assign to each man by name the items he must carry.
So, each family had specific responsibilities in serving the people and the priests. When the cloud began to move they would move, when the cloud stopped, everything had to be set up exactly as the Lord had commanded. We see at the end of the chapter that they had a pretty good size crew to get the things done that needed to get done. Look down at vs. 47...
47 from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who came to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the tabernacle of meeting—
48 those who were numbered were eight thousand five hundred and eighty.
In chapter 5 they are told to cleanse the camp. Every leper, everyone with any kind of a discharge, or had been made unclean from touching a dead body was to be put outside the camp, the same rules we have for working in children’s ministry this time of year…sin in the camp effected everyone in the camp so that had to be dealt with, look at vs. 5...
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
6 “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty,
7 then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged.
8 But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him.
9 Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.
10 And every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”
In verse 13 we see this kind of odd law concerning jealous husband, justified and otherwise...
13 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught—
14 if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself—
15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 ‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord.
17 The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
18 Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse.
19 And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.
20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”—
21 then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell;
And so the woman would have to drink the bitter water and then wait for the consequences. If her stomach would swell, then she was considered guilty and was put out, but if there was no effect from the bitter water then she was considered to be innocent, and her husband's jealousy was unfounded. I can’t imagine this or what it was like for the poor women that were married to ridiculously jealous men, you ladies are so spoiled now, you’ve got it so good!
Chapter 6 is interesting as it gives the rules of talking a Nazerite vow. This was a vow of consecration unto God meaning your life was set apart for Him. At time we see it as a special consecration of a person to God, for a period of time ,you could enter into the vow of a Nazarite. There is record of Paul doing so in Acts 18. During which time that you were going through this vow of the Nazerite, you could not to drink any wine or any grape juice or eat any grapes or even raisins. You were not to take anything that came from the vine. You would allow your hair to grow. During the time of the vow you wouldn't shave or you wouldn't cut your hair. And that was all part of this vow of consecration unto God. Again we see Paul and others do it, probably the most known example would be Sampson.
Samson had this vow from his birth. When his mother was barren the angel of the Lord came to her and informed her that she was going to have a son and she was not to bring a razor to his head, not to allow him to drink anything from the vine, and that through him God would begin to deliver the Israelites from the camp of the Philistines; You can read the story for yourselves in Judges 13.
If you do, and I love the story of Sampson, understand that his strength didn’t come from his long hair. Thank God, hair is not what makes us strong, and loosing a strand or two won’t make us weak. Sampson gained his strength in the fact that he was set apart, or consecrated to God, he lost his strength when he lost his hair, because his hair cut was just the sign that his vow, his covenant with God had been broken.
Our strength today lies in our abiding in Christ, dedication to God. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Want to be weak, rebel against God and go it alone.
So after taking the vow of a Nazarite, if you were going to end it or the time was up…vs. chapter 6
13 ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
14 And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering,
So a threefold offering was to be given: a burnt offering the sin offering and the peace offering, the offering of fellowship or communion with God....
15 a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.
16 ‘Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering;
17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering.
18 Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
So now your vow of consecration is over; you shave your head, you take your hair and you burn it there at the time that they are burning the peace offerings. I suppose that it is the same as when I sing in worship, God doesn’t hear what you hear, to Him it is glorious. When the hair burns it must smell different to Him because of our heart. vs. 19...
19 ‘And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair,
20 and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; they are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’
21 “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”
22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:
It is important for us to understand that the priest had a dual purpose during worship. We don’t get it today, because the veil has been torn and the bible tells us that ...
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
So we no longer need a priest, but here in the book of Numbers, the priests had a twofold function. His first ministry was to stand before God representing the people because a man could not approach God. God is holy and man is not, so unrighteous man could never approach God, without a blood sacrifice covering, not cleansing, but covering his sin. His second role was representing God to the people. And here God told Moses to speak to Aaron and bless the children of Israel, saying...
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
27 “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”