We, Too, Were There: Abidan's Monologue by Heidi Dru Kortman

1. Abidan

Exodus 24:9; Numbers 1:11; 2:22; 7:60-65

 

 

It’s all very new for us. We wake smiling, because there are no Egyptian overseers who compel us to make brick for Pharaoh. The smiles don’t usually last much past noon, because living in a tent is also a new experience, and people tend to get in one another’s way. I use all my skills of discipline and negotiation to keep some order among the descendants of Benjamin. Judging from the heaps of goods about the camp, we’ve pretty much stripped the Egyptian economy.

The mountain beyond the camp is Sinai. Moses climbs it frequently, and talks to God. The idea of doing that terrifies me. Moses comes back and informs us of the covenant God is choosing to make with us. It’s all set down in clear laws, and if these Benjamites of mine obey them, life will be much simpler.

Moses was up early, this morning, and smoke rises from an altar he constructed. Six stone pillars stand on each side, one for each tribe. Younger men slaughtered twelve young bulls, which produce a lot of blood, and my clothes and hair have been splattered with some of it, a sign of God’s covenant. In a few minutes, I’m to follow Moses and Aaron, and Aaron’s sons past the barrier, and up onto the mountain.

God spared my life. God himself looked at me, Abidan of the tribe of Benjamin, but he did not lift his hand against me. I ate, and drank on that mountain. As soon as I quit shaking, I’ve got to tell the Benjamites to prepare an offering. I must ask the willing ones to give gold, silver, bronze, finely spun yarn, linen, tanned ram skins, olive oil, spices, and gemstones. Personally, I’d give him everything I own, though it wouldn’t be enough to show my gratitude for my life.

We won’t stay at the foot of this mountain, and God wants a sanctuary for his holiness before He’ll travel with us. While I deliver the request for an offering, I take a census of the tribe, and write down the name of every man age twenty or older. We Benjamites will provide 35,400 men for the army of the Lord.

This Tabernacle will bring order to this throng. From now on, the Tabernacle will be erected in the center of the camp, with Levites around it, and the remaining tribes beyond them. God told Moses where he wants each tribe to organize itself, and I order the Benjamites to pull up their tent stakes and reposition the tribal camp. We’ll join the grouping of tribes on the western side of the temple, with the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh.

The people brought tons of gold, silver, and bronze. They offered mirrors, jewelry, washbasins, cooking ladles—so many things. Bezalel and Oholiab and their teams of craftsmen finished the construction of the Tabernacle yesterday and the cloud of God’s glory filled it. When we saw how much was needed to do the work God would require of the Levites, we tribe leaders offered twelve oxen, and six covered carts.

Afterward, Moses took a flask of perfumed oil and anointed the bronze altar, making it holy to receive our offerings. His act signaled the beginning of fellowship offerings, and Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah stepped forward to present the tribe’s offering to the Levites.

This God we serve is specific. Each item and amount is identical. The larger tribes cannot take pride in offering more than the smaller ones, and this offering will not impoverish smaller tribes, like Benjamin. Each tribe will offer its gift to consecrate the altar in the same sequence as the order of march.

Eight days pass, and I drive an awkward herd of animals toward the altar and the Levites. One young bull, a ram, and a yearling male lamb are for a burnt offering. A male goat is my sin offering, and two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five yearling lambs will be slaughtered for my fellowship offering. Three servants carry a silver plate that weighs one hundred thirty Temple shekels, a silver sprinkling bowl made of seventy shekels’ worth of metal, each filled with flour and oil for the grain offering, and a gold dish that weighs ten shekels. It’s full of incense.

 

 

Heidi Dru Kortman DTM

God's gifts and call are irrevocable.

heididrukortman.com.

 

Heidi Dru Kortman, a CWG Apprentice graduate, ACFW member since 2004, and Word Weaver member has published devotionals in various newsletters, and a collected volume of devotionals. Her poetry, flash fiction, and short stories have appeared in small magazines, and a website. She is applying herself to the task of writing smoothly polished fiction.