08/06/2024
Bamidbar
The Hebrew word "Bamidbar," means in the desert or wilderness. It is also always read on the Shabbat before Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah.
Numbers 1:1
“YHVH spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert ”
There a reason Jewish tradition preferred to call the book 'Wilderness' rather than 'Numbers' because it is so deep and unique. Everything we can see in nature, the hemisphere, the sands and sea is the work of YHVH.
The Hebrew word midbar, wilderness, has the same root as the word dabar/davar, meaning "word" or "thing." It has the same letters as medabber, "speaking." It is in the wilderness that the Israelites hear revelation, the word or speaking of YHVH.
It is difficult to comprehend in our minds what YHVH looks like as our minds find that "revelation" is self-evident.
YHVH who transcends nature is near us , because He exists not in things seen, but in His words in our hearing. The Holiness of our most Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient characterize YHVH as all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present. His word precedes our listening, understanding and heeding. YHVH is Spirit.
When YHVH revealed Himself to Moses and charged him with the task of freeing the Hebrews, YHVH had chosen to reveal Himself in the most profound place of the heart of a desert.
We as humans can't hear while other things distracting our attention. Here we find YHVH's voice heard in the heart of the silence of the desert. The desert is the place YHVH chose to give His commandments. When the Yisraelites reached and encamped around Mount Horeb in Sinai, YHVH revealed Himself to Moses. This is where they became the people chosen by YHVH to go forth with His Word.
When we see desert sand we observe that there is nothing that grows and it is only the wind that can move the sand from one place to another.
The word Holy is "kadosh", and the word "chol" means sand. Sand is lifeless and can be blown blown away. Whereas the Holy Spirit dwells in stability and is rooted in everlasting life. The Holy Spirit is capable of sustaining life. Scripture teaches us tgat the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away.
YHVH is a rock (immovable, the opposite of sand); His word is like water; those who heed it are like a tree or a growing plant.
In Moses' great song at the end of his life all these revelation come together in the following reading.
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the Name of YHVH. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect.
The intrinsic connection lays between the desert, "midbar" and YHVH who reveals Himself in speaking "medabber". Therefore our mindset and spirit is lead to the rock which is our foundation, which miraculously provides water to anyone who thirst.
Each one of us born through flesh received the Spirit of YHVH, by our first breath we received life. The body is the temporary dwelling due to its sinful nature, but the Spirit belongs to YHVH.
YHVH did not just choose Moses to receive His Word, the "Torah" but a entire nation of Yisrael present at the foot of that mountain. Every single life spreading the word that is the truth is part of YHVH’s Holiness, which affirm the worth of each individual in the totality.
The Scripture counts each life as valuable for YHVH's purpose. Each one of us become part of a letter that is useful. Every letter in the Torah is accountable and significant in its own right, so that if one is missing the whole is invalid.
We are not just a number but a spiritual filled being created in the image of YHVH. Therefore YHVH calls us by His Name and we are His.
In the wilderness,"bamidbar", the nation of Yisrael heard the "medabber", the-One-who-reveals-Himself-in-words, and learned that YHVH speaks not only collectively to a nation but to each individual.
The way to the Holy Land lies through the wilderness. It is there that the Yisraelites learned what it is to build a society that will be the opposite people of Egypt, not an empire built on power, but a people with equal dignity under the sovereignty of YHVH.
The word numbers, reference to counting. Bamidbar is called “Numbers” in English because the first four chapters mention censuses of Yisraelites.
While the Yisraelites are still encamped in Sinai after having received the Torah, built the Tabernacle, and been instructed to worship only YHVH and no idols. Before they move forward to the Promised Land, they were well prepared for the threats that await on the journey.
Numbers 1:19
“And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai.”
The census results reveal that the Israelites are mighty in number. The men capable of battle are listed by tribe, totaling 603,550 men: This is beside the women, the children and slaves. Neither were the Levites counted in the census, since they are not to partake in any military action.
Exodus 28:1, 29:9
The Levites who descend from Aaron are anointed as kohanim (priests) and given priestly duties
The men capable of battle.
• Reuben: 46,500
• Simeon: 59,300
• Gad: 45,650
• Judah: 74,600
• Issachar: 54,400
• Zebulun: 57,400
• Ephraim: 40,500
• Manasseh: 32,200
• Benjamin: 35,400
• Dan: 62,700
• Asher: 41,500
• Naphtali: 53,400
As servants to the priests, the Levites are placed in charge of the furnishings and structure of the Tabernacle.
The Levites were responsible for taking the structure down, carrying it together with the Ark oftheCovenant, and latef setting it back up as the Yisraelites moved through the wilderness.
Numbers 1:47–51
Only the Levites are allowed to approach the Tabernacle. Any unauthorized person coming near would be punished with death.
All Yisraelites are to camp at a specified distance from the Tent of Meeting, far enough away to protect the holiness of the Tabernacle and yet close enough for the Israelites to walk to the meetings.
Numbers 2:1–2
“YHVH said to Moses and Aaron: ’The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.’”
Being a separated people has deep significance. This analysis helps us understand some of the details of the book of Exodus.
The anointing of the doorposts with blood (Exodus. 12:7) is part of the first stage, the separation, during which time the door through which we walk as we leave our old life behind has special symbolic significance.
Likewise the division of the Red Sea. The division of a new Pathway with YHVH thing into two, which illustrate leaving the old life be behind, a symbolic enactment of transition into a new life. When they finally reached the Jordan River which is the walking through water, YHVH's feet stood in the water.
We now begin to understand the significance of "midbar", “wilderness,” in the spiritual life of Yisrael. It was the place where they experienced with an intensity they had never felt before nor would they easily again, the unmediated closeness of YHVH which bound them to Him and to one another.
That is what Hosea means when he speaks in God’s name of a day when Israel will experience, as it were, a second honeymoon:
Hosea 2:14-16
“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her . . .There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. “In that day,” declares YHVH, “you will call Me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call Me ‘my Master.’”
Now we understand the significance the beginning of Bamidbar, in which the twelve tribes were encamped, in rows of three on the four sides of the Tabernacle, each equidistant from the holy.
Each tribe was different, but (with the exception of the Levites) all were equal.
They ate the same food, manna from heaven. They drank the same drink, water from a rock or well. None yet had lands of their own, for the desert has no owners. There was no economic or territorial conflict between them. They knew the only way forward was confidence, trusting in every transient way that YHVH will lead them to new beginnings.
According to Divine placement, the 12 tribes of Israel camp beyond the Levite circle in four groups of three tribes each:
• Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun to the East
• Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to the South;
• Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin to the West; and
• Dan, Asher, and Naphtali to the North.
The light comes from the East, that is where Moses, Aaron, and his sons camp, since they were holy men responsible for carrying the light of YHVH to the nation.
With the desert behind them, it is not forgotten but reminded of YHVH’s Sovereign promise.
Hosea 1:10
Yet the number of the children of Yisrael shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.”
More significance in Hosea is profound.
YHVH will appoint a new King of all kings.
Hosea prophesies that the two houses of Yudah and Yisrael will eventually be re-unified in the Messianic Era under a single leader, as also foreseen by Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, among other prophets and writers. (Daniel 7:13–14; Isaiah 9:6–7, 11:1–16; Ezekiel 37:15–28; Zechariah 14)
This leader is Yeshua HaMashiach
Bamidbar opens, as does the book of Bereish*t, with a scene of blessed order, unity and gathering.
Hosea 1:11 (2:2, and 3:3–5)
"And the children of Yudah and the children of Yisrael shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
At Shavuot the disciples of Yeshua waited in unity of mind, heart, and purpose for the coming of Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit). (read - Acts 1:14)
Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is when YHVH’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there YHVH bestows His blessing, even life forevermore.”
The wilderness was not just a place; it was a state of being submissive, a moment of solidarity, midway between enslavement in Egypt and the social inequalities that would later emerge in Israel, an ideal never to be forgotten
As a wive sumit and give herself to her husband and the become one. This is how Yisrael is prepared for a wedding.
YHVH uses Hosea’s marriage to a pr******te as a real-life parable to reveal His great love for Ysrael. After Hosea’s wife bears him children, YHVH tells Hosea to send his wife and children away. Hosea obeys, but declares his love for them, despite his wife’s straying.
Through this dispersion of his family, Hosea comes to understand YHVH’s absolute commitment to Yisrael despite her straying. With this insight, Hosea rebukes Yisrael for engaging in adulterous affairs with pagan deities and being an unfaithful spouse to YHVH. Just as Hosea takes back his wife who played the harlot, YHVH promises to take back His unfaithful wife, Yisrael. He promises that the Jewish People will repent and be betrothed to Him forever.
Hosea 2:19–20 (2:21–22)
“I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge YHVH.”
A wonderful prophecy of redemption.
The traditional wrapping of the leather straps around the man’s fingers symbolise a groom placing the wedding ring upon his bride. It is meant to be symbolic of the betrothal of YHVH and His bride Yisrael.
YHVH is moving among His people to physically and spiritually restore them. As a bride takes a purification Mikveh, YHVH requires His bride to be punished.
Isaiah 43:19
See, I Am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
YHVH decides what king is to rule, and when, and where (Isaiah 44:28). He decides whether the purposes of a ruler will stand or fall (Psalm 33:10-11). And He decided, once, that wicked people would take the life of His dear Son, so that we sinners might live (Acts 2:23-24).
YHVH Himself decided and chosen His bride. Is your answer "Yes I do take Him as my lawful husband?"
Lesson Continue
Be blessed and stay blessed!
