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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.  While Bamidbar contains no commandments it is still an interesting and important parasha.

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 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 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.  Now at the ancient age of 25 I hold a different view.

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.  It was the heart and center of our people’s lives because it was the place where the Lord chose to communicate and dwell with His people.  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.  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.

The other important point of this passage is that our people did everything the Lord commanded.  In the beginning of Numbers we see our people following the commands of the Lord and not going their own way.  Throughout the book of Numbers we will see our people deviate from God’s commands and the disaster that it brings.  This generation that started out doing everything the Lord commanded would be doomed to die in the Midbar, the Wilderness.

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.  This was for our benefit as the Lord was preparing the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt to be fit and equipped to conquer the land of Israel. As the Lord of Armies, our God knows the importance of sound military strategy.

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 God Most High, as we walked humbly with our God.  Instead 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.

We today are also in a wilderness; we live in a fallen world surrounded by uncertainties of all kind and many voices preaching many things.  How do we survive in the wilderness we live in?  The answer is simpler than you might think – making the Lord the center of our lives, like He was at the center of the camp in the wilderness; listening to His commandments, and being in a right relationship with Him.  For this the Levities provide a powerful example.

The Levites were charged with the obligation of guarding the Tabernacle, through Messiah Yeshua we have been transformed into Temples of the Living God, how much more closely should we guard ourselves and our actions and thoughts?

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 and Son of God.   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.

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.