We are in Numbers chapter eight with our word for today. בָּדַל withdraw, go over, be excluded, separate, divided from, single out. Our word is used 42 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense to separate, to act as a barrier between, stand between. Genesis 1:4, 6 And God saw that the light was good. And God וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל separated the light from the darkness … And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it מַבְדִּ֔יל separate the waters from the waters. Exodus 26:33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil וְהִבְדִּילָ֤ה shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made מַבְדִּלִ֔ים a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Most of the time our word is used in the sense to distinguish, to mark something as different from something else, either physically or perceptually. Leviticus 11:46-47 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, לְהַבְדִּ֕יל to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten. Leviticus 20:26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy וָאַבְדִּ֥ל and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. This is how our word is used in our chapter. Numbers 8:12-14 Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. וְהִבְדַּלְתָּ֙“Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. Since they were serving God at the tabernacle, the Levites had to be set apart for the Lord. First, they were cleansed by water, but unlike the priests, were merely sprinkled and not washed all over. It is likely that Moses and Aaron sprinkled the 22,000 Levites collectively as a group. For further cleansing, the Levites were required to shave their bodies and wash their clothes. When consecrated to God, the priests were given special clothes to wear and weren’t required to shave. I like how this special role is identified in this usage. Deuteronomy 10:8 At that time the Lord הִבְדִּ֤יל set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. God is truly a blessing and sharing that blessing with others is the greatest purpose there is. I’ll close with these great passages. Genesis 22:17-18 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” Galatians 3:7-9 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
