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This week we begin the book of Numbers with Parashat Bamidbar which translates to “In The Wilderness” and covers Chapter 1 through Chapter 4:20. These chapters contain censuses, encampment instructions, and duties for the special tribe, the Levites.  In this parasha we see the Lord’s involvement in every aspect of our lives and our need for a mediator between God and Man.

Numbers begins with the Lord commanding Moses to take a census of the tribes of Israel.  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 Lord then outlines how our people are to organize their camp.  The tribes were to camp around the Tabernacle at a distance with the tribes organized in groups of three.  The Lord instructs them how they are to break camp, with Judah’s group going first and then clockwise from them.  The Lord of Armies wisely told our people to break camp in a way that would provide protection in the front and back.

Chapters 3 and 4 contain the specific duties and place of encampment for each of the Levitical clans. These chapters also contain the census of the Levities.  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 there is a very important lesson found in this parasha.

Situated between the first census in Numbers 1 and the tribal arrangements in chapter 2 is this important passage (Numbers 1:52-54):

“The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp and each man by his own standard.  But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony. Thus did the people of Israel; they did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.”

Even in the arrangement of the tribes we see the need for an intermediary, a Mediator, between God and Man.  The Levites are physically placed between the people and the Tabernacle where the Lord dwelled. The punishment for transgressing Adonai’s commands is plainly stated in these verses.  The Levites who stood with Moses at Mount Sinai were given God as their portion, and their duties were to serve Him in His Tabernacle.

The Tabernacle was at the center of our camps and at the center when we were on the march.

The Levites were charged by God Himself, with guarding and watching over God’s dwelling place because of how incredibly precious and important it was.  No matter who you were, a lay person, priest, or king, if you violated the command of the Lord by entering into His sanctuary unauthorized you would face death.

So while there may be no direct commandments found in Bamidbar there are definitely important principles for those of us reading this parasha today.  The Lord in this passage is so involved in our lives that He directs the movements of our people and commanded us to take a census.  We can see the closeness of our relationship to Adonai and the wisdom He provided.  The wilderness was a testing ground for our people, a place where the Lord sought to instruct and refine us.  We were to leave the wilderness as a capable fighting force empowered by the leadership and blessing of Adonai, as we walked humbly with our God.  However, the wilderness served as a burial place for the generation that left Egypt with the exception of Caleb and Joshua.

Even though the Lord had that generation take a count of numbers, organized the camps, and gave wise instruction for every aspect of their lives they still chose to follow their own wisdom.  But if we are honest with ourselves we know that we are not any better.

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.  First, we can choose to follow the clear instruction for how we are to live our lives. The “Owner’s Manual for Life”, the Bible, can be found in every nation on Earth and in just about every language.  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 and Son of God. Through Messiah Yeshua we have access to our Creator in a way greater than Aaron or any of the Levites. We can also choose to reject the Lord, to reject the Messiah, to curse God and die in our trespasses and sins experiencing true death.

Life in this world is tough, incredibly tough, but we do not have to go through it alone, the Lord is calling each and every one of us to be refined by His Word and become His servants.  In Him and Him alone we can experience victory over every power aligned against us.  If you have not experienced the saving power of Adonai, if you have not decided to trust in His wisdom instead of your own, make it this day.

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.