Mon.’s Devo - The Banners of the Tribes

Read: Numbers 2:1-3:51; Mark 11:27-12:17; Psalm 47:1-9; Proverbs 10:24-25
The tribes were to camp in the order God set. Each tribe had its own banner with the symbol that represented their tribe. Here is the symbol that was on each banner:
Reuben - water, a river
Simeon - a castle with a gate
Gad - a tent
Judah - a lion
Issachar - a donkey
Ephraim and Manasseh - a bundle of wheat
Benjamin - a wolf
Dan - a scale of justice
Asher - a palm tree
Naphtali - a ram
Levi - the breastplate of the High Priest
They were grouped in three tribes per group with Judah leading. Since Judah stands for praise, that makes perfect sense that the first three tribes would be under the banner of Judah and start first. The second group went out under the banner of Reuben which was the water which stands for the spirit. And the third group went under the banner of the Levites which were the “set apart” and the last group went out under the banner of Dan which stands for judgment and justice.
In Chapter three, God made a change that instead of the first born being his, the priests would be his. Since there were more first born’s than priests, they had to pay and buy back those first borns with an offering. God was trying to show them that it was not enough to be born in the right order but you had to do the works of the Lord and have your heart changed. Colossians 1:15,16 tells us that Jesus was the first born of every creature but he was also our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:17). We have to be saved and sanctified.
I would have loved to be in the crowd when Jesus spoke to the scribes and Pharisees. He had no fear of them and put them in their place. They were the ones who handled his law and were to teach the people God’s laws, but instead they taught them theirs. Jesus refused to cast his pearls before swine. The parable about the man and the vineyard had to do with how the synagogue and religious people had been the ones to kill all the prophets that the Lord had sent to them through the ages. Now the son of God was standing before them and they would do the same to him. They were truly blind guides going nowhere and leading others nowhere.
Lord, help us to walk in truth and love. Help us not to be afraid of our enemy but stand firm with the truth girded around our hearts.