Wandering in the Wilderness: Reflections from the book of Numbers
To view this online as a video: https://youtu.be/_kXPcIgcj1g
Lesson Seven: Kadesh, now and 38 years later
A. Introduction
1. Greetings
Shalom and happy new year to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. Our usual program during these talks is to conduct an overview of the Bible section in the first 25 minutes and then let everyone on the call into a conversation about all the themes or ideas that I will bring up for the last 30 minutes or so. Further discussion happens even deeper in our D-Groups that happen over the next week or maybe some will conduct a D-Group on Shabbat.
I’m going to recommend that you who are watching this on YouTube should read the next three Bible chapters before you listen/ watch the rest of this. They are chapters 18, 19, and 20. Then press play on your machine and re-join us. Thanks.
2. Overview
[For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://youtu.be/tp5MIrMZFqo)]
Some of you are new to our Zoom call and I especially welcome you, whether here in Australia or from overseas. You are muted at the beginning, but in a short while, our host will allow the usually lively conversations and questions. We are looking at the traveling of the Jewish people in the book of Numbers, titled in Hebrew “Bamidbar” or “In the wilderness.” With Covid-19 having its way throughout our state and our country, with US insurrection activity, with the continuing uncertainty that almost defined the year 2020, the world is still in a wilderness and God’s answers for us are found in the pages of this book.
There are three theses that pop up often in this book of the Bible:
1) The goal of our wandering was another place: Israel
2) God is to be central to our marching and in our living
3) The authority of the Lord and his anointed is often front and centre.
B. Today’s study: The end of Opening and the beginning of the End at Kadesh
1. The priests are responsible and maintained
The three chapters at which we will be looking this morning cover a wide range of information. The first, chapter 18, covers more regulations about priests. The authority of the Aaronides was brought into focus in chapters 16 and 17, and in today’s chapter, Moses makes clear their status. Verse one indicates they are responsible for all things at the Tabernacle. Now we already knew that, but this is reiterated to confirm to everyone the authority they wield. Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, used to align three items: leadership’s responsibilities, authority and accountability. Here Moses confirms two of those particularly: responsibility and authority. Since the priests, that is, the line of Aaron, are the appointed authority, then they have the responsibility to maintain order and holiness, cleanliness, and the entirety of the institution of the Tabernacle. Hence, verse one says, “you shall bear the guilt”
Then verse 2 brings in the joined ones, the cousins of the sons of Aaron. Budd says,
“The name “Levi” itself suggests the root לוה “to join” (cf. Gen 29:34), and so the author finds etymological grounds for his clerical hierarchy. The Levites are joined to the sons of Aaron as their assistants.”
I suppose the point of bringing up the priests and the Levites is that they who are fully responsible have no clear means of support. Verse 20 says, they are not given any land in the distribution which will take place. Verse 6 and following says that the offerings given by the people will take care of the Levites and priests.
Down to verse 12 “best of the fresh oil and all the 1best of the fresh wine” The meat is included in the tenufah (the wave offering) and the priests get that, too. Their dietary considerations are attended by the Lord and his work.
The apostle Paul said something similar, “don’t muzzle the ox while he is threshing (1 Cor. 9.8-14) and switches to discussion about members of congregations financially maintaining religious leaders. I guess I should mention, lest any of you miss this, that I’m maintained by the gifts of God’s people to Jews for Jesus. As is Rebekah and the rest of our local staff of Jews for Jesus. Some members of the clergy also work other jobs, and are thus titled bivocational. But many in the West get their provision like the apostles did in the days of Paul’s letters, as he intimates, from the people to whom he ministers.
Tithing is the term that is used from verse 21 and following. But don’t rush to deal with the finances. Look at little verse 20.
“You shall have no inheritance in their land…I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.” We have said our thesis #2 is that God wants to be central in our lives. Here we cannot and should not miss that. Levites, God has sworn, and he uses the term “covenant of salt” to confirm this, that the most important thing Levites and Cohens can and should remember is that God is for us and will be with us, in all our ways and all our days. Amen?
Before I return to tithing, let’s look at verse 19 and the phrase about salt covenant. Salt was as significant in ancient days as banking deposits in our day. Men got paid in salt. That’s where the term ‘salary’ comes from, the word “sal” meaning salt.
Again this from Budd: “Salt was used regularly in offerings (cf. e.g. Ezek 43:24), and specifically the cereal offering (Lev 2:13). The importance of salt as a preservative in the ancient world is reflected here. Agreements between men were often attested by sacrifice (cf. e.g. Gen 31:51–54), and the phrase “covenant of salt” (cf. 2 Chr 13:5) witnesses to a binding and irrevocable agreement. On the use of salt generally in the Bible see J. F. Ross, “Salt,” IDB Y–Z 167.”
Back to verse 24, tithing is God’s means of providing for the priests and Levites. Tithe is just an ancient word for the decimal one-tenth. It’s the moving of a decimal point. Simple. And it’s important that everyone who is able should employ this. I recommend those online should read my lesson in manuscript form here: http://bit.ly/JFJtithing Systematic giving with cheerfulness is what God is looking for from each of us, and it both provides for those without land to self-provide and provides the satisfaction and completion for the donors.
Even Levites are to tithe off their received giving (a tithe of a tithe) as seen in verse 26. God, who wants to be central in our lives, wants us to reflect his nature by being generous. Verse 31 says that the priests should eat the tithes and gifts, without worry that it is a sin. God provides for us, and for his servants.
Then chapter 19 is introduced in chapter 18 verse 32. “You shall not profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel.” The subject of clean vs unclean will again pop into the conversation and be surrounded by a big red cow.
2. Red Heifer and cleaning up
The Red Heifer (parah adumah in Hebrew), was the cow whose ashes were used in the purification rites for one who had been contaminated through having come into contact with a corpse.
Let me describe the companion elements which were employed by the priests in this purification process. The cow was shall we say, without a mate, never had a calf, and thus compares to a virgin in human terms. Her ashes were combined with cedar wood, hyssop and something scarlet, also added to the fire, then mixed with water.
“J. Milgrom (VT 31 [1981] 62–72) suggests that a bull cannot be chosen because that is the purification offering of the high priests (Lev 4:1–12; 16:11) or the community (Lev 4:13–21). A female is used for the individual (Lev 4:22–35; Num 15:27–29).”
There are some other unique features to this offering/ cleansing. For one, it was a female animal. That’s particular here. The sacrifice took place ‘outside the camp’ and the animal was killed by someone other than a priest!
People who touched a dead thing were considered unclean for a week, and after a few days, they had to purify themselves (on the 3rd day) (.12), then again get tested the 2nd time and finally on the seventh day get this heifer concoction (.9) ‘as water’ and be cleansed. The purpose of the cleansing was not for a spiritual credential; it was for community. The people of Israel are designed to be a community.
Anyone who refused to be cleansed were cut off from the community (.20), even being stoned to death.
By the way, this portion of Torah is read twice each year. Once in the regular reading about June, and the other time a couple of weeks before Passover as this highlights the need for cleansing.
One thing I need to mention is that those three items included along with the cow’s ashes: the scarlet, the cedar wood and the hyssop are all part of another restoration for a Jewish person who is for a season considered unclean.
Look at Leviticus 14:1-32
“the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.”
These items were to be used in the restoration of the leper! The details are lengthy, and worthwhile reading, but for today’s study, I want to let you know that God’s lengths to get his people back, to restore us into relationship with him, are substantial, whether for a person who is in the tent when someone dies, or a leper who has been excluded for perhaps years.
Isaiah reports, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. (Isa 59.1) He will go to great lengths to get us back. How awesome is He!
3. Meanwhile, 38 years later, who’s in and who’s out?
When we turn the page to get to chapter 20, amazingly the Jewish people are back at Kadesh Barnea, and it is now 38 years later. Yes, that’s right. We skip the wilderness wandering and get to the last few episodes in the final calendar year. Miriam dies. Moses sins. Aaron dies and his 30 days are set for mourning. It’s a very sad chapter in our history. But within it hope is introduced.
The geography lesson and the cousins that won’t let us pass through their land (Edom in .14-27) aside, I’m wanting to point out to you that the generation that barks at Moses about a lack of water and their desire to return to Egypt is not particularly chided. They seem to be the 2nd generation, the one that will actually enter the Promised Land of Israel. It’s Moses who cops the penalty for the hitting the rock with his rod, and God uses this episode to provide water for his people and their needs.
So I call this a section of hope. Hope for the next generation that they will ‘get it’ that God has a plan for them. They will get it that obedience to the Lord of Authority is the only way to win in the taking of the Land of Israel.
Remember in a previous water fight with the people, Moses named the location Meribah and Massah? But this time, it’s only Meribah (.13) because it’s all about quarrelling. Massah means ‘testing’ and earlier the people tested God. But since Moses failed this time, he didn’t want to bring that up again. Hence only Meribah is the name of the place.
So back to the Edomites. Remember these are the children and families descended from Edom, the ‘red’ nickname of Esau, the great uncle if you will, of the children of Israel. They were mishpochah and should have gotten along, but the Edomites wouldn’t let us through, (.18), and we travelled via Mt Hor. That refusal by the red army would stand them in failure for many generations to come.
Look God has to make clear his purposes and his plans. He has done this with our blessed Messiah, Yeshua, who is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. He is the one who alone can save us with his blood, red, of course, and mighty to save. He died outside the camp and most of us have to go to him outside the camp as so many of our people have cast him there.
Invitation
Dear friends, if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Saviour, today as we reboot our class in 2021, would you choose to believe the Lord of life? Would you choose to believe in the One whom God sent? Will you choose to believe the One who alone can cleanse us from the depths of sin, not by hyssop and cedarwood, but by his own scarlet blood?
If you want to receive Yeshua as your messiah and boss, and saviour, then pray with me just now. Ask him to save and deliver you. Repent of your sins and accept his love and mercy and forgiveness. That’s it. And then let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.
Conclusion
We are delighted to be meeting again on Friday mornings. Please stay with us during these next 7 weeks and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond. And in the D-Groups, you will work this out with others, as a community on the march. If you have not yet joined a weekly Discipleship Group, please re-consider that and join us as we dig deeper.
I hope to see you next week as we study chapter 21, and learn about serpents and the overcoming of a plague that killed thousands of Jewish people. Hope to see you then, and until then, continue to stay safe, love one another, believe even if the report is the minority report, and shout Hallelujah to the Lord of life for all he has done for us all. Shabbat shalom!
The three theses:
4) The goal of our wandering was another place: Israel
5) God is to be central to our marching and in our living
6) Authority of the Lord and his anointed is not to be missed
Bibliography
Budd, Philip, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 5. Numbers. Word, Waco, 1984.
Hertz, Rabbi Dr JH, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino, London, 1978.
Pakula, Martin, Numbers: Homeward Bound, Aquilla Press, Sydney, 2006.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Counted. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs,1999.
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D-Groups for this week
1) Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse
2) Thursday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White
(Contact our office for zoom details)
If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?
The Scriptures read in today’s lesson: Numbers chapters 16, 17, 18
Chapter 18 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your father’s household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood. 2 But also bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 And they shall perform duties for you and the duties of the whole tent, but they shall not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They shall join you and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but [c]an unauthorized person shall not come near you. 5 So you shall perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. 6 Behold, I Myself have taken your [d]fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. 7 But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a [f]service that is a gift, and the [g]unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.”
The Priests’ Portion
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have put you in charge of My [h]offerings, all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given to you as a portion and to your sons as a permanent allotment. 9 This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, namely every grain offering, every sin offering, and every guilt offering, with which they shall make restitution to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. 11 This also is yours, the offering of their gift, that is, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a permanent allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. 12 All the [i]best of the fresh oil and all the [j]best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of what they give to the Lord, I have given them to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. 14 Everything banned from secular use in Israel shall be yours. 15 [k]Every firstborn of the womb of all flesh, whether human or animal, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours; however you must redeem the human firstborn, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 As to [l]their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your assessment, five [m]shekels in silver by the [n]shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of an ox, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the Lord. 18 However, their [o]meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh. 19 All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent allotment. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your [p]descendants with you.” 20 Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.
21 “To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. 22 And the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bring sin on themselves and die. 23 Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their own guilt; it shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. 27 Your offering shall be credited to you like the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. 28 So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the Lord’s offering to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the [q]best of them, [r]the sacred part from them.’ 30 And you shall say to them, ‘When you have [s]offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be credited to the Levites like the product of the threshing floor, and like the product of the wine vat. 31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you will bring on yourselves no sin by reason of it when you have [t]offered the [u]best of it. But you shall not profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, so that you do not die.’”
Ordinance of the Red Heifer
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never [v]been mounted. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide, its flesh, and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material, and throw it into the midst of the [w]burning heifer. 7 The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his [x]body in water, and afterward come into the camp; but the priest will be [y]unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns [z]the heifer shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his [aa]body in water, and will be unclean until evening. 9 Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them outside the camp in a clean place, and [ab]the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep them for water to remove impurity; it is [ac]purification from sin. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening; and it shall be a permanent statute for the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them.
11 ‘The one who touches the dead body of any [ad]person will also be unclean for seven days. 12 That one shall purify himself with [ae]the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone who touches a dead body, the [af]body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the [ag]tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Since the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.
14 ‘This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days.15 And every open container, which has no cover tied down on it, will be unclean. 16 Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been killed with a sword or one who has died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17 Then for the unclean personthey shall take some of the [ah]ashes of the [ai]burnt [aj]purification from sin and [ak]running water shall be [al]added to them in a container. 18 And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one who was killed or the one who died naturally, or the grave. 19 Then the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and will be clean by evening.
20 ‘But the person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, so he is unclean. 21 So it shall be a permanent statute for them. And the one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening.22 Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”
Death of Miriam
20 Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.
2 There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled against Moses and Aaron. 3 Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!4 Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die [am]here? 5 Why did you make us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? It is not a place of [an]grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink!” 6 Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lordappeared to them; 7 then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
The Waters of Meribah
8 “Take the staff; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it shall yield its water. So you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and have the congregation and their livestock drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Since you did not trust in Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, for that reason you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 Those were called the waters of [ao]Meribah, [ap]because the sons of Israel argued with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
14 From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to the king of Edom to say, “This is what your brother Israel has said: ‘You know all the hardship that has [aq]overtaken us; 15 that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly.16 But when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent an angel, and brought us out from Egypt; now behold, we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s road, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory.’”
18 Edom, however, said to him, “You shall not pass through [ar]us, or I will come out with the sword against you.” 19 Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the road, and if I and my livestock do drink any of your water, then I will [as]pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, [at]nothing more.” 20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy [au]force and a strong hand. 21 So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; then Israel turned away from him.
22 Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
Death of Aaron
23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My [av]command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 Then strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people and will die there.” 27 So Moses did just as the Lordhad commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And after Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, the whole house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.
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