Our portion for this week begins with instructions regarding the census. This fact has an important significance because it allows us to see the equality of all souls before our Creator and Father: there is no difference in terms of economic status, ancestry, education, appearance, training, connections or experience.
The census was taken to determine the potential of the nations to go to war; and this offering or tax was no guarantee of their lives or that they would be successful in battle. Whether they won or lost, Yehovah decreed that Israel should pay a ransom for their own souls during the census, thus showing the seriousness with which Yehovah regarded the loss of human life.
The payment was to be made annually, and was practiced until the time of the Babylonian exile under Nebuchadnezzar, when it was suspended. It was later re-established by Nehemiah when they returned from exile, but Hadrian, the Roman emperor, prohibited it in 135 CE. Now that Yisrael has returned to its land, this practice was re-established on March 23, 1997.
WE ARE NOT BETTER THAN AARON
Despite having made the decision to follow Yeshua, we still retain within us the impulse to do what seems good in our own eyes, something we have been accustomed to doing for so many years, and we easily tend to reject the guidelines provided by our Father Yehovah in an almost natural way.
We fill ourselves with reasoning and act exactly as Eve did in Eden: “we see things, they seem good to us, we find them pleasant, and we proceed to act” without giving much importance to our actions and much less to their consequences.
Such was the case of Aaron. Fortunately he repented in time and the forgiveness for him and his family was so complete that he was kept in the position he had received of being second only to Moses and, even more, he was appointed High Priest in the service of Yehovah!
When there is true repentance and actions that demonstrate it, Yehovah forgives and moves forward with His plan for us. This is wonderful grace.
But let’s not forget the lesson: A serious commitment to obedience is required of us; it is what our Father expects. In the process of obeying, there will always be a multitude of rationalizations such as: “It seems that I am the only one who is into this, because most people do something else”; or … “I feel weird acting this way”, etc. But Yehovah hopes that our will controls such impulses and thoughts and that we intelligently decide to follow his instructions, commandments, laws, decrees, statutes, testimonies and so on. By acting in this way, we will be showing him that we trust in his words, that we consider ourselves his people and above all that we really love him.
