| — Parashah Bamidbar - "In the Wilderness" Torah: Bamidbar (Numbers) 1:1 – 4:20 Haftarah: Hosea 2:1-22 Pirkei Avot: Chapter 5 |
This week's Parashah begins the fourth book of Moshe known by the fourth word in the opening sentence: "Vaydaber YHVH el-Moshe Bamidbar," 'And spoke Yehovah to Moshe in the Wilderness.' Bamidbar designates a unity of time and place to the varied happenings in the Book. The current English designation, "Numbers," is derived from the Septuagint Greek translation done before the Common Era.
The greater portion of the Book is devoted to the trials of the Israelites in their wanderings after the exodus till, thirty-eight years later, they are about to enter the Holy Land. But Bamidbar is not just a chronicle of the outstanding events during the journey in the wilderness. It also interprets these events and shows the faithfulness of God in every distress and danger as well as the stern severity of the Divine judgments against rebellion and apostasy. In addition, it records the teachings and ordinances given during that journey; teachings relating to the Sanctuary, the camp, and the purification of life; and such civil and political ordinances as would enable the Israelites to fulfill the task God assigned to them among the nations.
"And Yehovah spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they came out from the land of Egypt, saying, 'Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of names, every male by their polls. From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel; you and Aaron shall count them by their armies. And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one chief of the house of his fathers.'" Bamidbar 1:1-4.
The wilderness journey begins by taking a census. There are two remarkable facts about this census. First, the counting is to be done "by the house of their fathers." The Biblical way of reckoning one's genealogy is through the line of the father, unlike the rabbinical one which is through the mother. The rabbinical reasoning is that the tribal affiliation is through the father but the nationality is matrilineal. Thus, according to this reasoning, King David was a Gentile because his great grandmother Ruth was a Moabite even though his tribal lineage of the fathers could be traced back to Judah. The great Jewish king was a Gentile according to human reckoning but not to God's. King David was Jewish and God chose the Jewish nation to send a Redeemer through David, through the line of Judah, Yeshua of Natzeret, to cover our sins with His shed blood and that is a fact no matter how much humanity tries to undermine it by its unbelief. The irony here is that the prophecy of a redeemer - through the son of Yishai of Bet Lechem - through the line of Judah and through David is well understood by the rabbinate and is incorporated into the Friday night Shabbat service when the prayer "Lecha Dodi" is chanted. But this uniting of the Jewish line with the Gentile line is a beautiful symbolism of the two leavened loaves of bread which come together as one in the second First Fruits of the Shavuot offering (more about this on Shavuot). In God's eyes there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles when comes to sin. We all are sinners because we fell short of God's requirement for holiness.
The importance of the line of the fathers cannot be enough underscored since this patrilineal record was lost with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Because these records were lost forever, after 70 CE no one can prove his tribal lineage, therefore, Messiah had to come before the destruction of the Temple, because there can be no other Messiah to fulfill the prophecy of being from the line of Judah, thus, there can be no other message of salvation except the one given to us in the Brit Chadashah. God chose the Jewish nation to be the bearer of the Good News and with God there are no coincidences. There is no coincidence in choosing the line of the fathers to tell the Jews exactly who the Messiah would be, and there is no coincidence in the destruction of the Temple which points out that the messianic prophecies are fulfilled in Messiah's coming before its destruction as prophesied by Daniel in chapter 9. Indeed He came in the person of Yeshua of Natzeret, born in Bet Lechem, proven with signs and wanders to be the one sent by God the Father as His Son (Proverbs 30).
Second, the final count of the men above twenty years of age from all tribes - except the tribe of Levi - was 603,550, which was the exact number of men from all tribes including Levi from a census taken one year earlier in Exodus 38:26. This earlier census was done before the construction of the Tabernacle and was for the purpose of raising funds for its construction. This earlier census was done in order for everyone, from every tribe, regardless of their ability, to contribute half a shekel for the construction of the Holy Mishkan. This contribution was a symbol for an atonement for their souls. The second census was done after the Mishkan was finished and God consecrated the tribe of Levi to serve in it. By ending up with the exact same number, even after God took out 22,000 Levites to serve Him, signifies that providing for the spiritual matters is an issue of the heart. God provides the means for everyone to participate in the spiritual uplifting of the community. In this case He provided 22,000 teenagers to mature to be twenty years old and, to show them that this was not a coincidence, later God asked them to count the firstborn males (Numbers 3:43) to replace the Levites as a redemption, and their number was 22,273. They were 273 more than the number of Levites. The lesson here is that God provides and He provides abundantly, but it is up to us to make it happen. God gave Israelis no excuse not to contribute – or contribute less – for the spiritual matters, and He gives us no excuse for not contributing to the spiritual growth of our communities, which in the end is for our benefit.
