Joy in the Messiah

B’midbar / In the Wilderness
Numbers 1:1-4:20
Hosea 2:1-22
1 Corinthians 12:12-20

    B’midbar / In the Wilderness opens with a long narrative of explanations and laws. First, there is a census. Then there is an account of the arrangement of the tribes around the Tent of Meeting and a long account of the Levites, their families and their roles. Then there are laws about the purity of the camp, restitution, a woman suspected of adultery, and the Nazarite. A long series of chapters describe the final preparations for the journey, but not until Numbers 10 do they actually set out on their journey. 
    As we begin the book of Numbers, we see a great connection between God’s love and the Torah. So many people of all denominations often fail to see or realize how the Torah represents law as love and love as law. Torah is not just a bunch of rules or statutes, but rather it’s God’s love for His people, creating a place for His glory among those that live by His Covenants. 
     The book of Numbers, beginning with B’midbar is always read before Shavuot, the Giving of the Torah.  This reminds us how common is the idea of the wilderness – the desert, no man’s land – is to us. It is midbar, wilderness, that gives our parsha and the book as a whole its name. It was in the desert that the Israelites made a covenant with God and received the Torah. It was in the wilderness that the Israelites experienced life sustaining contact with God as He gave them water from the Rock and Manna from Heaven and lifted their souls with Clouds of Glory.  Even in the wilderness, God remained the Sovereign.
     The Prophets speak of this wilderness and God’s people. Hosea 2:14-15 ‘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 out of Egypt.’ Jeremiah 2:2 ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved Me and followed Me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.’ 
     Both of these verses describe the desert as a honeymoon in which God and the people are related to the bridegroom and bride, alone together as the bride who follows the bridegroom. We might see the Israelites as an obstinate and stiff-necked people complaining and rebelling against God, but as we read these two verses, we see that the Prophets saw things differently. The wilderness was a time of bonding. 
     A wilderness is described as a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, an area essentially undisturbed by human activity. It is together with its naturally developed life community, an empty or pathless area or region in remote wildernesses of space groups.  It is also described as a part of a garden devoted to wild growth and in a wild or in an uncultivated state, a confusing multitude or mass. 
    The sages give several views on the wilderness; “The Torah was given publicly, openly and in a place that no one owns because had it been given in the land of Israel, so no one would say to the nations of the world, “You have no share in it.” Instead, whoever wants to come and accept it, let them come and accept it.”
      In Leviticus 19:33-34 as God says - ‘And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. ³⁴ The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’
     Just as the wilderness is free – it costs nothing to enter – so the Torah is free, it is God’s gift to us. 
     This is also true of the Holy Spirit, given to us freely and on the exact same day thousands of years later. Acts 2:1-4 states: ‘When the Day of Shavuot had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’  
     While the Israelites remained in the wilderness, God was giving them life sustaining instructions, even though they couldn’t understand it. We too, being in a state of wilderness, are given life sustaining instructions, which we often fail to grasp.
     In Numbers 2 God has specific details for the arrangements of the camps. From the east going first; Judah, Issachar then Zebulun. From the south Rueben, Simeon then Gad. In the middle was the Levites. On the west was Ephraim, Manasseh then Benjamin. From the north; Dan, Asher then Naphtali. The Levites were not counted. 
     God is specific, and we see this again in Revelation 21:12-14 as John describes the New Jerusalem. ‘It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.’
    God’s sovereignty allowed and allows us today to live freely. Yet, He is the redeemer of all. Another example of His Divine Sovereignty are the instructions given to Moshe in Numbers 3:44. 'And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be Mine. I Am the LORD. To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, collect five shekels for each one according to the sanctuary shekel...’
     What does it mean to redeem? 'The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.  The action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
     Psalm 111:9 -'He sent redemption to His people; He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name!'
     Isaiah 44:22 -'I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to Me, for I have redeemed you.'
     Psalm 107:2 - 'Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble.' 
     Colossians 1:14 - 'In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.'
     Titus 2:14 - 'Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.'
      Isaiah 54:5 ‘For your husband is your Maker, whose Name is the Lord of Hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth.’