Naso - A useful gift instead of words
Numbers 4:21 - 7:89 | Judges 13:2 - 25
Summary: Sometimes a simple, practical gift says so much more than all the words you can muster.
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“Words are worth a selah; silence is worth two” - Talmud
Too many words - coming out of me, and coming out of everyone who thinks that explanation or analysis will be helpful. Sure, there is some solace and pleasure in the “yes!” that we get when someone says something just right. But most of the words flying around these days are worth at most a selah.
A wagon, on the hand - that’s priceless. That’s what the tribal leaders gave the levites, who had recently been charged with the weighty task of carrying the pieces of the traveling Temple from place to place. Sure, those tribal leaders could make great pronouncements about how fortunate those levites are, what a great honor it is to schlep the components of God’s Earthly Abode through the wilderness, etc. Maybe they did that, too. But the gift that won the day was the wagons. They could put the pieces of the traveling Temple into the wagons and move them to the next place with less wear and tear on the shoulders and back. Thoughtful gift!
Giving someone a wagon says, “I see that you are carrying something heavy. Let me lighten your load a bit, if I can. Here’s a wagon.” So uncomplicated!
To counteract the incredible amount of words that are flying around this week, the explicit and implicit debates that are being staged in real and virtual worlds, please consider turning to the person near you and recognizing that they are carrying something heavy. Resist the urge to question whether they should be carrying the object that they are carrying. Offer them a wagon.
Maybe it’s a literal burden. Maybe it’s the burden of reconciling values that are in tension. Maybe it’s the burden of managing complicated relationships. Resist the urge to pontificate. Offer them a wagon.