בְּמִדְבַּר
B’midbar / In the Wilderness
Numbers 1:1-4:20
HafTorah Portion Hosea 2:1-23
Brit Chadasha Romans 9:22-33
This Torah portion is known by the word B’midbar, ‘In the wilderness’ and is often read on the Sabbath before Shavuot, connecting the two events, Shavuot and B’midbar. It is taught that ‘the Torah was given publicly, openly and in a place no one owns because had it been given in the land of Israel, Jews might have said 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. This is connected with 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.’
Another interpretation is that just as the wilderness is free – it costs nothing to enter – so the Torah is free, it is God’s gift to us. This concept is repeated in the Brit Chadasha: Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Revelation 22:17.
B’midbar, In the Wilderness; is about a journey to. Shemot, the previous book was also about a journey, but a journey from. These two books, Shemot and B’midbar have several similarities not only being about journeys. In both books the Israelites are often ungrateful and complaining. They argue amongst themselves and with Moshe. In both Torah portions, the Israelites commit a major sin: in Shemot, it was about the golden calf, in B’midbar, it was the episode of the spies. And in both of the books, God threatens to destroy them and begin again with Moses. Both times, Moses pleads with God to forgive and spare the people, interceding on their behalf.
These two books also have differences. Shemot is the story of an escape from slavery. In contrast, in B’midbar the people have left Egypt far behind, spending a long time in the Sinai desert. They have received the Torah and built the moving Tabernacle. Now they are ready to move on. This time they are looking forward, not back. They are thinking not of the danger they are fleeing from but of the destination and freedom they are heading toward, the Promised Land.
The Israelites left Egypt, carrying their baggage, nursing their wounds, complaining and longing to return to the coolness of the cucumbers. They hadn’t let go of the past, of their slavery. They had to learn to let go, to change and grow and move on, and not wanting to ever return. In B’midbar, they are learning to do that. Logic might tell us that the second half of the journey would be more positive and the people more hopeful. After all, the great dangers had passed; Pharaoh had let the people go, only to chase after them then be defeated by God at the Red Sea where God miraculously saved His people. They had fought and defeated the Amalekites. They knew that God was with them, for He had shown them over and over again that He fought the battles with them and for them.
But just the opposite was true. B’midbar is more sinister than Shemot. The rebellions are more serious. Moses’ leadership is more hesitant and he succumbs to anger and despair. We realize that the journey from is always easier than the journey to.
So much like us. We leave Egypt, lugging our baggage with us, longing for the past, for it was comfortable and we ‘knew it’. Yet, we are excited to leave the bondage and follow God as He calls us. The journey ahead of us is strange, and unknown. This is exactly what God commands us to do; leave the past and cross over. Yet, we hesitate for we knew the past and now we are venturing into the unknown. We might keep one foot in the past and one foot in the present, leaning towards the future. We might long to bring people with us, but that is now what we were called at that moment to do. Fleeing to another life, we become strangers in a strange land, having to learn new skills and adapt to the God we serve, instead of living in our own bondage and requiring God to adapt to us.
To teach ourselves the redeeming feature of not what I am leaving, but rather where is God taking me and how can I learn from this, submitting my will to His takes priority and learning God.
Luke 9:62 ‘Yeshua said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Genesis 19:17 ‘And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
Genesis 19:26 ‘But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Philippians 3:3-14 ‘Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Yeshua HaMashach.’
Isaiah 43:18 ‘“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Matthew 24:17 ‘Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.’
Luke 9:60 ‘Yeshua said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
Isaiah 41:9-10
“But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, you are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you,
yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
B’midbar is translated as ‘In the Desert ‘or ‘In the Wilderness’. 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 heard revelation, the word of God. It is in the wilderness that we also hear God. The fifth book of the Torah is Devarim which in Hebrew means ‘The Words’. The Word follows The Wilderness. Just as God speaks to us in the wilderness, He also humbles and proves us in the wilderness as we will later read in Deuteronomy 8:2, in the parsha Ekiev. The wilderness period can last days, or years, depending on how quickly we learn its lessons. If this is your journey moving toward the ways of God, be encouraged. He will never leave you nor forsake you. The path is narrow, but true. Before we can leave the wilderness, however, we have to acknowledge that we are in the wilderness.
The wilderness experience is a journey that all of us at one time or another travels. None of us are exempt from these experiences. King David was no stranger to journeys in the wilderness and wrote about his experiences in the Psalms, pleading with God. Yeshua was tempted and responded each time with Scripture. This can be a place where we question everything. But what we need to realize that Yeshua turned to the truth of God's Word, His sovereignty. This is where King David and Yeshua found peace and answers.
A wilderness experience, if we allow, will prepare us for His purpose. It gives us time to think, pray, be still and to clarify truth. It is a time where God shows us why we are thirsty and dry. Why we are in chaos and confusion. In Jeremiah 29:13 The LORD says, “You will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
בַּמִּדְבָּר
B’midbar / In the Wilderness
Numbers 1:1-4:20
Hosea 2:1-22 1 Corinthians 12:12-20
God’s Sovereignty, Redemption, and Our Wilderness ~
B’midbar is about a journey to. Shemot was about a journey from. In both books, the Israelites are often ungrateful, complaining amongst themselves and against Moshe and in both books, the Israelites committed a major sin. In Shemot was the making of the golden calf, and in B’midbar, was the episode of the spies. In both books, God threatens to destroy them and begin again with Moses. Both times, Moses pleads with God to forgive and spare them, not for his glory, but for the glory of God.
Yet also having distinct differences, Shemot is the story of an escape from slavery, where B’midbar the people have already left Egypt far behind, wandering in the Sinai desert. They received the Torah and built the moving Tabernacle. Now they are ready to move on. This time they are looking forward, not back. They are thinking not of the danger they are fleeing from but of the destination they are heading toward, the Promised Land.
B’midbar begins with a long narrative of explanations and laws: a census, an arrangement of the tribes around the Tent of Meeting, and a long account of the Levites, their families, and their roles. There are laws about the purity of the camp, restitution, a woman suspected of adultery, and the Nazarite. A long series of chapters describes the final preparations for the journey, but not until Numbers 10 do they set out on their journey.
B’midbar shows a great connection between God’s love and the Torah, the Torah representing law as love and love as law, a love for His people, creating a place for His glory among those who live by His Covenants.
B’midbar is always read before Shavuot, the Giving of the Torah. This reminds us of the wilderness – the desert, no man’s land and how it relates to us. It is the wilderness, that gives our parsha and the book as a whole its name. In the desert, 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.
How do grasp the sovereignty of God? Sovereignty: supreme power, authority, jurisdiction, rule, supremacy, dominion, boundless, paramount, chief, dominant ruling, royal, regal, kingly and control influence. To exercise power without limitation.
It was God's sovereignty that controlled the Israelites in the wilderness.
Proverbs 19:21 ‘Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’
Psalm 103:19 ‘The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.’
Ephesians 1:11 ‘In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will…’
Proverbs 16:9 ‘The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.’
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 ‘Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.’
Psalm 135:6 ‘Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.’
Romans 9:18 ‘So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.’
Romans 9:21 ‘Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?’
Lamentations 3:37 ‘Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?’
Proverbs 16:33 ‘The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.’ (notice that this proverb does not say his or her decision is from the Lord, but rather ‘its’ (the lot). He controls the cast).
Because of His Sovereignty, there is redemption- which is being saved from sin, error, or evil, regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
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.'
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.'
1 Corinthians 6:20 'For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.'
Entering into Torah, which is Yeshua, The Living Torah, we were cleared of debt for His glory, for His sovereignty. He sent redemption, He redeemed us; from trouble, from sin, and gave us forgiveness. He redeemed us from lawlessness to purify us for Him, being redeemed with a price.
Psalms 111:9 combines redemption for His people with His covenant and His Holy Name. The three are synonymous. We can't have one without the other. This is only because of the sovereignty of Elohim. It is His redemption. It is His covenant and it is His Holy Name. ‘He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.’
The wilderness is the place that God removes us to, or allows us to remove ourselves to, to truly grasp the sovereignty of His redemption, His covenant, and Holy Name. So often, we transpose truth into our truth. But there are no versions of the truth. There is simply the truth. We may make the truth into our reality, but that is tweaking the truth to fit us. God is not about being what is fair, He is about being what is. In John 17:17 Yeshua asks His Father to 'sanctify them with the truth. Your Word is truth.' He sanctifies us with His Truth/Word/Covenant.
As we study B'midbar, we will see many examples of wilderness experiences. The wilderness experience is a journey that every believer at one time or another, travels. None of us are exempt from these experiences. King David was no stranger to journeys in the wilderness and wrote about his experiences in the Psalms, pleading with God. Yeshua was tempted and responded each time with Scripture. This can be a place where we question everything. But what we need to realize is that Yeshua turned to the truth of God's Word, His sovereignty. This is where King David and Yeshua found peace and answers.
A wilderness experience, if we allow it, will prepare us for His purpose, giving us time to think, pray, be still, and clarify truth. It is a time when God shows us why we are thirsty and dry, and why we are in chaos and confusion. In Jeremiah 29:13 The LORD says, “You will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” The important thing is to discover the path out of the wilderness.
בַּמִּדְבָּר
B’midbar / In the Wilderness
Numbers 1:1-4:20
Hosea 2:1-22 1 Corinthians 12:12-20
Complaining and longing to return to the coolness of the cucumbers, the Israelites hadn’t let go of the past, of slavery. They had to learn to let go, change, grow, move on, and not long to return. In B’midbar, they are moving forward.
If we had never read the Torah before, we might think that the second half of the journey would be more positive. After all, the great dangers had passed. God had defeated the Egyptians at the Red Sea and miraculously saved His people. They had fought and defeated the Amalekites. They knew God was with them, for He had shown them over and over again that He was the prevailing entity.
However, just the opposite was true. B’midbar is darker than Shemot. The rebellions are more serious and Moses questions his leadership, succumbing to anger and despair. The journey from is always easier than the journey to.
When we leave the past to progress into the future, we often experience fear. It’s fear of the unknown, fear of a challenge, fear of attacks, and fear of leaving a comfort zone. Fear is debilitating and renders us stagnate.
Luke 9:62 ‘Yeshua said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Genesis 19:17 ‘And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
Genesis 19:26 ‘But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Philippians 3:3-14 ‘Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Yeshua HaMashach.’
Matthew 24:17 ‘Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.’
Luke 9:60 ‘Yeshua said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
We are to move forward from the wilderness into a new beginning. But before we can leave the wilderness, we have to acknowledge that we are in the wilderness. The wilderness was a strange place for the Israelites. It was where they grew into a people, transformed themselves from slaves to free people, rebelled against and obeyed God, and received the Torah as well as punishment. Likewise, it is a complex place for us, too. All of us, at some point, will find ourselves in a wilderness situation, unsure of where to go or what comes next. It is at that point that we need to see through, or past, the uncertainty and move towards the Promised Land.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke testify that Yeshua was tested in the wilderness for forty days, where He was challenged by HaSatan. He responded by quoting Scripture, which is such a profound example for us.
The Israelites received the Torah in the wilderness. Yeshua received the higher ground from HaSatan in the wilderness. Isaiah 40:3 ‘A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’
