Bemidbar (Numbers) 1

Lesson date: 10/03/5856AA

Before we study Chapter 1 we need to take a look at the name of the book itself. We learned in our study of Shemoth that names convey a message in and of themselves and Bemidbar is a perfect example.

The bet is a simple prefix meaning – “in”. Next, is midbar = H4057 – מדבּר – midbâr – BDB Definition:

1) wilderness 1a) pasture 1b) uninhabited land, wilderness 1c) large tracts of wilderness (around cities)

1d) wilderness (figuratively) 2) mouth 2a) mouth (as organ of speech)

Isn’t that odd? A word that means wilderness can also mean mouth. But the “Mem” is also an added prefix that has many meanings on it own. Mem can indicate “water”, people, chaos, liquid(ity), or raging (with power like a tempestuous sea).

That leaves us with the root word debar = H1696 – דּבר – dâbar – BDB Definition: 1) to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing (This word can mean many things. This was just a sample.)

Here is the breakdown of the Paleo:

b         Bet      Tent, house(hold) family, second
m         Mem    Water, liquid, chaos, raging, people
d         Dalet   Doorway, pathway, enter, entrance, move back and forth
b         Bet      Tent, house(hold) family, second
r         Resh    Head (person), prince, beginning, the highest

The House of Chaos is Raging at the Entrance of the House of the Prince.

Think about what had just happen to the Children of Yisra’el; they had to flee in the early morning hours of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then they are chased by Pharaoh’s army, have to cross the Reeds Sea while the waters raged on either side of them like mighty walls of water and then upon crossing over on dry land the sea closed on top of the Egyptian Army. Does this seem like it may fit the description above?

But why go into a wilderness? Remember, when early settlers came to America they described it as a vast wilderness. So a wilderness does not mean desert but a vast uncharted expanse, which is a pretty good description of what is going on in Bemidbar. It is an uncharted territory that no group of people had ever experienced before, to meet “face-to-face” with their god, YHVH El Shaddai.

The answer to the question as to why go into a wilderness is found in another book whose root word is also debar and that is Debarim: Deu 8:15 who led you through that great and awesome wilderness – fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst – where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock,

Deu 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and to try you, to do you good in the end,

Deu 8:17 you then shall say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand have made for me this wealth!’

To humble – H6031 – ענה – ‛ânâh – BDB Definition: 1) (Qal) to be occupied, be busied with 2) to afflict, oppress, humble, be afflicted, be bowed down

To try – H5254 – נסה – nâsâh – BDB Definition: 1) to test, try, prove, tempt, assay,

To do good – H3190 – יטב – yâṭab – BDB Definition: 1) to be good, be pleasing, be well, be glad

Go back and look at the definition of “to humble” and look at the first definition “to be occupied, to be busied with. That is a huge clue. The Children of Yisra’el were just like any other group of people, even today, they got so busy with the daily grind, the news, the state of affairs, they had just survived plagues and pandemics and their lives were too busy to listen to YHVH’s Words so, He had to lead them into the wilderness, away from WalMarts, Starbucks, the malls and the internet where they could be humbled before Elohim because they did not know where they were going, how to find water, how to purify the water they found, how to set up a camp, find food. In other words they were a group who were about as pathetic as any in history. They had no sense of themselves, of what was real and what was tradition. Oh, they had heard rumors and tales about Ya’aqob, Yitzak and Abraham and all that they had done but, they had no first hand knowledge of this God who had No Name in their eyes.

Verse 1 – In this we see that the Children of Yisra’el have been in the wilderness for two years. They left Mitsrayim just after Passover, the 14^th day of Aviv, and traveled to the Wilderness of Sinai, to Mt. Horeb, also called Sinai, so named because this was the mountain of the moon god Sin. Remember, this is about showing the Children of Yisra’el the YHVH, the Most High Elohim of Yisra’el is the Most High so at every opportunity He shows them how impotent the other gods were. Exo 12:12 ‘And I shall pass through the land of Mitsrayim on that night, and shall strike all the first-born in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast. And on all the mighty ones of Mitsrayim I shall execute judgment. I am יהוה.

Verse 2 – I worked on this verse all day one day and I believe it conveys a very unusual prophecy. First, we must remember that unlike English, which is noun first, Hebrew is verb first. This changes many dynamics of translation. Let’s look at the initial verb in the verse: H5375 – נסה / נשׂא – nâśâ’ / nâsâh – BDB Definition: to lift, bear up, to arise, rise up, hold up lift up, rise up, to be lifted up, take up, take

The verb seems pretty consistent in it meaning. It has to do with raising something up except “take”. That is kind of out of place. I looked at the paleo to try and get an idea of what was being spoken of but it did not help a lot:

n         nun      Seed, sprout, son, new beginning
s         shin     cut, sharp, chew, ruminate (meditate) ((by extension: cut short or bite off))
a         aleph   strong leader, El, strength
e         Hey     behold, reveal, to look, revelation

Then I looked at the second word and that is when it hit me: H853 – Aleph Tav. Then I went back to “nsah” and saw: The Son of El was cut short – Behold! And that is when I saw the last word of the sentence: H1538 – גּלגּלת – gûlgôleth – BDB Definition: 1) head, poll, skull 1a) skull 1b) head, poll (of census)

The Hebrew word from which we get Golgotha: Mat_27:33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull,

Mar_15:22 And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

Luk_23:33 And when they had come to the place called Golgotha, they impaled Him there, and the evil-doers, one on the right and the other on the left.

Joh_19:17 And bearing His stake, He went out to the so-called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

Big coincidence right? I know this verse is talking about a head count and also talking about the number of the name. No matter what it sounded really big so I decided to skip this for just a little bit and look at Verse 3 to see if I could get a clue from it and I saw the first three words: שְּאוּ אְֶּת־ראֹשְּ or soo et rosh – lift up (H853) the head. It isn’t a coincidence to me now. There is a meaning implied by the Reysh or Rosh that I seldom use but when I saw it this way I did apply it: Lift up (the Aleph & Tav) the Prince. Rev 1:8 “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, Beginning and End,” says יהוה “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Rev_1:11 saying, “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the First and the Last,” and, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven assemblies of Asia – to Ephesos, and to Smurna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodikeia.”

Rev_21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I shall give of the fountain of the water of life without payment.

Rev_22:13 “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

What made it so strange I guess was that I had just written an article about the Aleph and Tav earlier in the week. You decide. Was it just a coincidence? I did not realize it at the time but, just getting to this point had taken most of the day on Thursday. I had wanted to get an early start to this chapter because it is rather long so I thought if I used all my free time on Thursday I would be way ahead of the game and spent the entire day on three verses. And now on Shabbat morning, as I write this, I am trying to catch up.

Summation: YHVH is telling Moshe to register all the males 20 old and older for the draft because they are being drafted into the Amy of Elohim.

Verse 4 – Moshe and Aharon are commanded to take the head of each house to help them count the tribes.

Verses 5-15 – The names:

Reuben – behold a son
Shimon – heard
Yehudah – praised
Yissakar – there is recompense
Zebulan – exalted
Yoseph – he adds, he increases
Binyamin – son of the right hand
((Please note that Yoseph is counted as two because of his sons.))

Ephrayim – doubly fruitful

Mennasheh – causing to forget

Dan – judge
Asher – happy one
Gad – troop
Naphtali – wrestling

Isa 43:1 But now, thus said יהוה, your Creator, O Ya‛aqoḇ, and He who formed you, O Yisra’ěl, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, you are Mine.

Verses 16-20 – This is a beautiful picture: imagine Mosheh (Torah) and Aharon (High Priest) lifting the head of each one and selecting them for their service in the Army of YHVH: Joh 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name He might give you.

In verse 19 we see the term “registered” which actually means “to muster” like mustering an army. In verse 20 we see that they are indeed going out to be in the army according to their genealogy. Each tribe would constitute a division.

Verses 21-43 – To be counted worthy:

Re’uḇĕn:         46,500
Shim’on:         59,300
Gaḏ:                45,600
Yehuḏah:         74,600
Yissasḵar:        54,400
Zeḇulun:          57,400
Ephrayim:       40,500
Menashsheh: 32,200
Binyamin:       35,400
Dan:                62,700
Ashĕr:             41,500
Naphtali:         53,400

TOTAL: 603,550

Luk 21:36 “Watch then at all times, and pray that you be counted worthy to escape all this about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Aḏam.”

Stop and think about it: They have been marching around Mt. Sinai in the Wilderness of Sin for 2 years. Each time they strike camp (pull down the tents) and follow the column of fire or cloud depending on the time of day, march until the column stops and then set up camp again. This spiritual boot camp has been going on for 2 years. This is very similar to the amount of time in special forces training. It is not unusual to train for 2 years before you get to your first assignment.

As we go through Bemidbar we will see that there are other exclusions that will arise just before a battle.

Verse 47-51 – The Tribe of Levi is not to be counted or registered. This does not mean that they are not trained for battle because part of their role is to protect the Tabernacle. Also, they are set apart at one month of age.

Verse 52-53 – How amazing was the sight of seeing each tribe/division, with their ensign flying in the wind, arranged in combat formation ready to go into the service of the Army of YHVH. It is also important to notice that the Levites had a huge responsibility of protecting the rest of Yisra’el from the wrath of Elohim so that His Anger does not cause the destruction of the rest of Yisra’el. In other words they were to set up a protective barrier of intercessory prayer to keep the rest of Yisra’el safe.

Verse 54 – And all of Yisra’el did as they were commanded. This has implications for us today. We have a group of people who believe that Yisra’el was stripped of their promise and now they are the chosen people. How can they obey if they don’t know the commands? In fact, they do not even know they are supposed to “join” themselves to Yisra’el.

Ahavah,

Lesson date: 05/05/5860AA

Before we study Chapter 1 we need to take a look at the name of the book itself. We learned in our study of Shemoth that names convey a message in and of themselves and Bemidbar is a perfect example.

The “bet” is a simple prefix meaning – “in”. Next, is midbar = H4057 – מדבּר – midbâr – BDB Definition:1) wilderness 1a) pasture 1b) uninhabited land, wilderness 1c) large tracts of wilderness (around cities)1d) wilderness (figuratively) 2) mouth 2a) mouth (as organ of speech)

Here is the breakdown of the Paleo:

The House of Chaos is Raging at the Entrance of the House of the Prince.

Deu 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and to try you, to do you good in the end,

Deu 8:17 you then shall say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand have made for me this wealth!’

To humble – H6031 – ענה – ‛ânâh – BDB Definition: 1) (Qal) to be occupied, be busied with 2) to afflict, oppress, humble, be afflicted, be bowed down

To try – H5254 – נסה – nâsâh – BDB Definition: 1) to test, try, prove, tempt, assay,

To do good – H3190 – יטב – yâṭab – BDB Definition: 1) to be good, be pleasing, be well, be glad

Go back and look at the definition of “to humble” and look at the first definition “to be occupied, to be busied with. That is a huge clue. The Children of Yisra’el were just like any other group of people, even today, they got so busy with the daily grind, the news, the state of affairs, they had just survived plagues and pandemics and their lives were too busy to listen to YHVH’s Words so, He had to lead them into the wilderness, away from WalMarts, Starbucks, the malls and the internet where they could be humbled before Elohim because they did not know where they were going, how to find water, how to purify the water they found, how to set up a camp, find food. In other words they were a group who were about as pathetic as any in history. There were YouTube videos thosing them how to set up camp. There was probably no cell phone coverage in the Wilderness so, they could not call there friends in Mitzrayim and ask how others were doing. There were not distractions, only Yah speaking to them from the mountain. For the first time in their lives they were hearing Truth from the Moutn of Elohim and it scared them. They had no sense of themselves, of what was real and what was tradition. Oh, they had heard rumors and tales about Ya’aqob, Yitzak and Abraham and all that they had done but, they had no first hand knowledge of this God who had No Name in their eyes.

When you boil all of this down to the basics, Bemidbar means that, the Children of Yisra’el went into the wilderness to hear/seek the Word of Elohim. Isn’t there a special place that you can retreat from all the commotion around and go to pray away from all the concerns of this world? Don’t you feel that while you are there that Yah really can hear your prayer and that while you are there you can hear the answer?

The verb seems pretty consistent in its meaning. It has to do with raising something up except “take”. That is kind of out of place. I looked at the paleo to try and get an idea of what was being spoken of but it did not help a lot:

Then I looked at the second word and that is when it hit me: H853 – Aleph Tav. Then I went back to “nasah” and saw: The Son of El was cut short – Behold! And that is when I saw the last word of the sentence: H1538 – גּלגּלת – gûlgôleth – BDB Definition: 1) head, poll, skull 1a) skull 1b) head, poll (of census)

The Hebrew word from which we get Golgotha: Mat_27:33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull,

Mar_15:22 And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

Luk_23:33 And when they had come to the place called Golgotha, they impaled Him there, and the evil-doers, one on the right and the other on the left.

Joh_19:17 And bearing His stake, He went out to the so-called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

Rev_21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I shall give of the fountain of the water of life without payment.

Rev_22:13 “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

Was it just a coincidence? I did not realize it at the time but, just getting to this point had taken most of the day on Thursday. I had wanted to get an early start to this chapter because it is rather long so I thought if I used all my free time on Thursday I would be way ahead of the game and spent the entire day on three verses. And now on Shabbat morning, as I write this, I am trying to catch up.

Summation: YHVH is telling Moshe to register all the males 20 old and older for the draft because they are being drafted into the Army of Elohim.

Verse 4 – Moshe and Aharon are commanded to take the head of each house to help them count the tribes.

Verses 5-15 – The names:

Reuben – behold a son
Shimon – heard
Yehudah – praised
Yissakar – there is recompense
Zebulan – exalted
Yoseph – he adds, he increases
Binyamin – son of the right hand
((Please note that Yoseph is counted as two because of his sons.))

Ephrayim – doubly fruitful

Mennasheh – causing to forget

Dan – judge
Asher – happy one
Gad – troop
Naphtali – wrestling

Notice anything or should I say anyone missing? Levi.

Isa 43:1 But now, thus said יהוה, your Creator, O Ya‛aqoḇ, and He who formed you, O Yisra’ěl, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, you are Mine.

You should not take Verse 17 too lightly: Num 1:17 And Mosheh and Aharon took (H853) these men who were called by name,

It appears 12 men were called by their names to stand in stead for the twelve tribes of Yisra’el: Mat_10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

Here is another feature that we won’t see if we don’t scratch the surface: Num 1:19 As יהוה commanded (H853) Mosheh, so he registered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.

We see that Mosheh is once again functioning the direct intermediary between the people and YHVH

Joh_6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

Verses 21-43 – To be counted worthy: Luk_21:36 “Watch then at all times, and pray that you be counted worthy to escape all this about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Aḏam.”

We talked about this for Shavuot, why do we count the Omer? To be counted worthy for the wheat harvest.

TOTAL: 603,550

Stop and think about it: They have been marching around Mt. Sinai in the Wilderness of Sin for 2 years. Each time they strike camp (pull down the tents) and follow the column of fire or cloud depending on the time of day, march until the column stops and then set up camp again. This spiritual boot camp has been going on for 2 years. This is very similar to the amount of time it takes to complete special forces training. It is not unusual to train for 2 years before you get to your first assignment.

As we go through Bemidbar we will see that there are other exclusions that will arise just before a battle.

Ahavah vberakhot,

CahalTx

Studying the End From the Beginning

Bemidbar (Numbers) 1

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