Count the Merarites by their clans and families. – Numbers 4:29

Today's Scripture Reading (January 14, 2025): Numbers 4

It is a new world where you can be anything you want. I recently finished a Karin Slaughter "Will Trent" novel, and part of the plot revolves around a person pretending to be a detective. The character possessed the raw talent for the job but lacked any training. Still, the character sold herself online because she believed she could be anything she wanted to be, regardless of her lack of training. Or, maybe Slaughter's intention is that we live in a culture where only men are considered credible private investigators because this woman also portrayed herself as a man. In a world where we can be anything we want, it is easy to represent ourselves as something we are not in the anonymity of the internet. 

It is also what makes the internet so scary. That fifteen-year-old pen pal your daughter has been sharing messages with online could be a fifty-year-old man pretending to be something he is not. It happens more often than we want to believe. Many years ago, I counseled a man who was experiencing money problems. Part of the problem was that he had been sending money to a single mother who was going through a financial crisis of her own. But here was where the problem arose. My friend had never met this woman in the real world. He had no idea if the woman was a young mother, a mother, or even a woman, let alone that she was experiencing a financial crisis. The only thing I knew for sure was that now my friend was experiencing a financial crisis because of the money he had given to someone he believed to be in financial trouble. I mean, isn't that the Christian thing to do? Years have passed since the incident. In the intervening time, the communication between my friend and his pen pal has dried up. To my knowledge, my friend still doesn't know if the crisis or even the person was real.

Moses has been instructed to count the Levitical sub-families. The reason behind the count was that each family group had a specific task to complete. In the case of the Merarites, the task they had been assigned was caring for the Tabernacle's physical elements. These were the people who were responsible for the poles and cross beams of the Tabernacle, right down to the tent pegs that held the massive tent up. We can surmise that the Merarites also pitched the tents and took them down. 

This was the job that was handed to the sons of Merar. One of the nagging questions I have struggled with is whether this expectation was fulfilled through the generations or if people with an aptitude to care for these physical elements became honorary sons of Merar. It seems possible that these honorary Merarites became the carpenters needed to maintain the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple, regardless of whether or not they were of the tribe of Merar.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 5