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This week we begin the book of Numbers with Parashat Bamidbar which translates to “In The Wilderness”. This parasha covers Chapter 1 through Chapter 4:20. These chapters contain censuses, encampment instructions, and duties for the special tribe, the Levites.
Numbers begins with the Lord commanding Moses to take a census of the tribes of Israel. Moses, with help from the heads of each tribe, was to count every male over the age of 20 who was fit for military duty. After listing the results from each tribe the Torah records 603,550 Israeli men were available to fight. The Levites were exempt from this count as they were instructed to care for the tabernacle.
The census takes us to the end of the first chapter. In chapter 2 the Lord outlines how the Israelites are to organize their camp. The tribes were to camp around the Tabernacle at a distance. Each person was to camp with their tribe and the tribes were organized in groups of three. The Lord of Armies wisely told our people to break camp so that Judah’s group being the second largest went out first and Dan’s group which was the largest went last. This provided important protection for the people and the Tabernacle on the march.
Chapters 3 and 4 contain the specific duties and place of encampment detailed for each of the Levitical clans. These chapters also contain the census of the Levities. Two separate ones are taken of the three clans: the Gershonites, the Kohathites, and the Merarites. The second census was for the men ages 30 to 50 who were to serve in the Tabernacle, which is also called the Tent of Meeting. The total number of Levite males is listed at 22,000.
Bamidbar is a parasha that focuses on specific details. Much of the parasha is devoted to the topics of census results, tribe movements, and specific duties of the Levites. In the rabbinic tradition there are no specific commandments found in this parasha. I remember reading the beginning of Numbers for the first time on my own when I was around 10. I made it to about chapter 2, found it boring and skipped to the “more interesting stuff” later in the book, but now I hold a different view.
One of the most interesting things about this parasha is that in the arrangement of the tribes we see the need for an intermediary, a Mediator, between God and Man. We read in Numbers 1:53, “The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the covenant law so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelite community.” The Levites are physically placed between the people and the Tabernacle where the Lord dwelled. The Tabernacle was at the center of our camps and at the center when we were on the march. So, the tribe of Levi was charged with guarding and watching over God’s dwelling place, because of how incredibly precious and important it was. This was not something to be taken lightly as anyone lay person, priest, or king that violated the command of the Lord by entering into His sanctuary would face death.
This brings me to what I feel is the lesson we are to learn in the account of Bamidbar. That we, just like the generation that left Egypt, have been given a choice. We can choose to follow the clear instruction for how we are to live our lives.
The “Owner’s Manual for Life” can be found in every nation on Earth. We can choose to become loyal to someone greater than all the Levites of old, the true Mediator between God and Man, Yeshua the Messiah. By doing so the Lord by His Grace, His unmerited favor, creates a greater Tabernacle, filling everyone who becomes loyal to Him with His Holy Spirit. He transforms us from within into the image of His Son. Or we can choose to reject the Lord, to curse God and die in our trespasses and sins experiencing true death.
Moses in Psalm 90 declares the truth that the Lord has been our refuge in every generation. May the Lord continue to be our refuge in this generation as well. May the Lord continue to refine us in the wilderness of this world until He leads us to the true land of promise, our eternal home in Heaven.