We are in Numbers chapter eight with our word for today. תְּנוּפָה uplifted offering, wave offering, consecrated gift. Our word is used 30 times in the Old Testament, 4 times in our chapter. We find our word used in the sense of waving, the act of waving something back and forth. Isaiah 19:16-17 In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the תְּנוּפַת֙ [literally waving hand but not translated probably due to repetition] hand that the Lord of hosts מֵנִ֥יף [another form of our word] shakes over them. And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them. Isaiah 30:31-32 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod. And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with תְּנוּפָ֖ה brandished arm, he will fight with them. All the other uses of our word are in the sense wave offering, an offering that was waved before God as part of the ritual. Sometimes an animal was sacrificed as part of this offering. Leviticus 14:12 And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them תְּנוּפָ֖ה for a wave offering before the Lord. We also see bread used. Leviticus 23:17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be תְּנוּפָ֗ה waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord. In our chapter we see the Levites offered as living sacrifices. Numbers 8:10-11, 13, 15, 21 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord תְּנוּפָה֙ as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord … And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them תְּנוּפָ֖ה as a wave offering to the Lord … And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them תְּנוּפָֽה as a wave offering … And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them תְּנוּפָ֖ה as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. The Levites were presented to God as living sacrifices. The leaders of the tribes, representing the whole nation, put their hands on the Levites as an act of dedication, as though saying, “You are our substitutes, serving God on our behalf.” In turn, the Levites put their hands on the two young bulls, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. It wasn’t enough to purified by washing; it was also necessary that there be cleansing by blood. The burnt offering spoke of their total dedication to the Lord. The good news is that Christ sacrifice for our sin in our place allows us to be forgiven and connected to God. As believers God also enables us to serve him as living sacrifices. I’ll close with this great passage. Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
