Overview of BeHa’Alotcha (“When You Go Up”) Numbers 8:1 – 12:16
In the last two weeks’ Portions, we have seen Yehovah’s detailed instructions about how Israel is to conduct themselves in their camp and also while they are marching. This week we see these instructions come to an end, and Israel will then have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of and their obedience to those instructions.
Chapter 8 The Purification of the Levites
The chapter begins with a revisiting of the Menorah. We saw the details of the Menorah back in Exodus 25, but today we are given some more information about the lamps that give off the light. The small menorahs that we can buy today are designed to use candles for light. But we see here that The Menorah used lamps at the top of each of the seven branches (see the Power Point slides); and they were to be oriented so that the flame pointed inward into the Holy Place.
The chapter then moves into the purification process for the Levites. We saw that the Priests were purified back in Leviticus 8 & 9, but now the rest of the Levites must also be purified because they will be serving alongside the Priests and, therefore, must also be holy. The Levites have replaced Israel’s firstborn and are now Yehovah’s Firstborn. They must go through a purification process just as the Priests did: washing and sprinkling with Waters of Purification; shaving and changing into their Levitical clothing; and offering sacrifices. Whereas Moses sanctified the Priests, here Aaron sanctified the Levites. He did not anoint them with oil nor place the blood on their ears, thumbs and toes as Moses did with him; but instead he offered them “as a wave offering from the Children of Israel.” All Israel laid their hands upon the Levites, and the Levites laid their hands upon the Sin Offering…just as the High Priest did with the Scapegoat on Yom Kippur.
The chapter ends with the instruction that this process pertains to all Levites from 25 years old and up. Back in Numbers 4 we saw that the starting age for the census of the Levites was 30 years old…which implies that there was a 5-year “apprenticeship program” for all Levites before they could begin their Priestly service in the Tabernacle at age 30.
Chapter 9 More Instructions
We learned about the Passover back in Exodus 12, but here we are given the option of the Second Passover on the 14th day of the second month. We learned earlier that everyone must observe the Passover; but now “there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover.” Those “certain men” were most likely Aaron’s cousins who removed the bodies of Nadav and Avihu after Yehovah struck them dead in the Most Holy Place (Leviticus 10). This happened just before they were to celebrate Passover and there was not enough time to perform the 7-day purification process that would have cleansed them and allowed them to participate in Passover. So, the Second Passover emphasized two points: the importance that everyone is to observe Passover; and the importance of preparing ourselves to meet with Yehovah on this special day that He chose to meet with us; Paul makes this point in I Corinthians 11:27-32. We are not to come to the Passover table with sin in our lives; we are to confess and seek forgiveness before we can partake of the Passover meal; and if that cannot happen for the first Passover, then we have another 30 days to get our lives in order so that we can participate in the Second Passover.
The chapter ends by revisiting the Cloud by day and the Fire by night that Yehovah sent to lead and protect Israel on their wilderness journey. This is setting the stage for the next chapter…the Cloud is about to move!
Chapter 10 Israel Prepares to Depart from Sinai
When the Cloud covering Israel started to move, everybody had to be ready to move with it. So Yehovah devised an “early warning system”: He would alert the camp by men sounding two silver trumpets (not shofars), giving a call to assemble. When only one was sounded, the leaders of each Tribe would assemble at the door of the Tabernacle; when both were sounded, everybody would assemble there. Then Yehovah could speak to them through Moses. And this is what He did now.
On the 20th day of the second month of the second year, the Cloud started its move; and Israel moved out of the camp in the exact order that Yehovah had commanded in last week’s Portion:
First the Camp of Judah moved out
When they had finished, Gershon took down all the coverings
Then Merari took down all the structural items and packed them into carts
Then Gershon & Merari departed behind the Camp of Judah
Then the Camp of Reuben departed
Then Aaron and the Kohathites departed
Then the Camp of Ephraim
And lastly, the Camp of Dan
When they were camped, the Ark was in their midst; and when they traveled, it was also in their midst. “And the ark of the covenant went before them…” does not mean that it lead the procession of the march. The Hebrew word that is translated “before” is panim, which means “in the face.” So the ark was before everybody’s face…meaning it was in the midst of them for all to see; and we see from the order of the march that it was so.
So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said: “Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.” And when it rested, he said: “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.” (Numbers 10:35-36)
These last two verses of the chapter are read in many Messianic Shabbat services as the weekly Torah procession starts and when it ends.
Chapter 11 The Complaining Starts
Israel’s encampment has ended – Yehovah had finished His instructions to them – and now they are on the move to Kadesh Barnea. And as they marched, they were expected to obey those instructions. But what is the first thing we read here? “Now when the people complained, it displeased Yehovah, for He heard it, and His anger was aroused.” That’s the problem with complaining (or any other act of disobedience) – Yehovah always hears it!! So He sent fire to consume some on the “outskirts of the camp.” Who traveled on the “outskirts”? If you weren’t affiliated with any of the Tribes, then you would camp (and travel) outside of the Tribal encampments. These were the “mixed multitudes” – those who were not born Israelite but who had still obeyed Yehovah commandment to put the blood on the doorpost of their Egyptian houses. The murmuring and complaining started there: they were tired of eating only manna and wanted meat…and that complaint quickly spread throughout the rest of the camp.
When Yehovah was angry, so was Moses:
So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!”
So Yehovah told Moses to gather 70 elders of Israel whom He would place His Spirit upon (just as He had done with Moses); they would then share the burden of the Israelites. Haven’t we seen this same thing done at the beginning of the Wilderness journey in Exodus 18:13-23? Moses’ Father-in-Law, Yitro, gave him the same advice. So…what happened to those men whom Moses appointed then to assist him with the people?? Scripture is silent on this, but we know that it was Yitro’s idea to do this, not necessarily Yehovah’s…although Yehovah seems to condone it (Exodus 18:23-24). Perhaps (my speculation) these leaders were among the 3,000 who were killed as a result of their leadership during the Golden Calf incident, and now Moses is again left alone to deal with all the people. So this time Yehovah suggested that Moses appoint judges to hear the people’s complaints; only the situations that were too difficult for them to judge would come to Moses for his consideration. So Yehovah first poured out His Spirit upon Moses, and here upon these 70 elders; He continued the pouring out in Acts 2 at Shavuot (Pentecost), and it continues today as He anoints His Elect with His Spirit.
So Yehovah gave the people meat by sending quail from Egypt, across the Red Sea, into the Camp of Israel. The wind (also the word for “spirit”) blew them all that distance and they were so exhausted that they were flying only three feet off the ground in an area 20 miles all around the camp…pretty easy pickings for Israel to get their meat. “But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.” So the lesson here is: Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Chapter 12 Miriam & Aaron Also Complain
Aaron and Miriam confronted Moses about his new wife, an Ethiopian. Before we continue…let’s look at the wives of the Patriarchs. We know that Yehovah commanded that both Isaac (Genesis 24:3) and Jacob (Genesis 28:1) not take wives from the Gentiles. But that commandment seems to have stopped with Jacob. We know that Joseph married an Egyptian wife (Genesis 41:50), and the Book of Jubilees 34:20-21 lists all the other sons’ wives:
And after Yoseph perished, the sons of Yacob took unto themselves wives. The name of Reuben’s wife is ‘Ada; and the name of Simeon’s wife is ‘Adlba’a, a Canaanite; and the name of Levi’s wife is Melka, of the daughters of Aram, of the seed of the sons of Terah; and the name of Yahudah’s wife, Betasu’el, a Canaanite; and the name of Issachar’s wife, Hezaqa: and the name of Zabulon’s wife, Ni’iman; and the name of Dan’s wife, ‘Egla; and the name of Naphtali’s wife, Rasu’u, of Mesopotamia; and the name of Gad’s wife, Maka; and the name of Asher’s wife, ‘Ijona; and the name of Yoseph’s wife, Asenath, the Egyptian; and the name of Benjamin’s wife, ‘Ijasaka. And Simeon repented, and took a second wife from Mesopotamia as his brothers.
The nationality of only five of the wives was listed; four were Gentiles; only Levi married within the Family. And I don’t read a single Hebrew name among the remaining seven wives. So the prohibition to marry a Gentile was apparently NOT in effect after Isaac. So, we shouldn’t get upset when we see Moses marrying an Egyptian…but, apparently, Aaron and Miriam did!
Even though their initial complaint was Moses’ choice of wives, it quickly turned into jealousy because Yehovah spoke directly to him and not directly to them…even though they were both older than he.
Yehovah set them straight by saying:
“Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
So He afflicted Miriam with leprosy for her rebellion against Him. Why didn’t He do the same with Aaron? Well, that would have rendered Aaron unclean to perform his Tabernacle duties. Moses interceded for his sister Miriam by saying: “Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!” The Hebraic view was that having leprosy was equivalent to being still-born. I find that very interesting. Yehovah’s response was: “If her father had but spit in her face [made her unclean by contact with a bodily discharge], would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” So, after the 7-day purification period, she was made clean again and entered back into the camp.
And Israel continued their march toward Kadesh Barnea.
The Haftarah Reading (Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7)
The Prophet Zechariah had some very unusual visions, and this is one of them. It involves a menorah and two olive trees with oil flowing from them into the menorah to feed its burning lamps. As we read from Zechariah 4:1- 7, think of the olive trees representing Israel and Torah, and the oil representing the Holy Spirit:
Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”
This is a picture of the restoration of the whole House of Israel at the End of the Age; when the olive trees (Torah-observant “Jews”) come together with the oil (Spirit-filled Christians). And we see this happening today: “not by might nor power, but by My Spirit”.
The Brit Chadashah Reading (Ephesians 5:22 – 33)
We have previously seen the purification of Aaron and his sons (in Leviticus chapter 8); in this week’s Portion (in Numbers chapter 8), we see the purification of the rest of the Levites. The purification of both of these groups was necessary for the Levitical / Aaronic Priesthood to stand and minister between God and the People. Today’s Brit Chadashah reading finishes this pattern with the purification of the Bride of Messiah; not into the Levitical Priesthood, but into the Higher Priesthood of the Order of Melchizidek…with Yeshua as our High Priest (Hebrews chapter 7). Here we see the Apostle Paul using the sanctity of our earthly marriages to describe the sanctity of our Heavenly marriage to Messiah. We read from Ephesians 5:22-33:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Messiah is head of the Assembly of Believers; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the Assembly of Believers is subject to Messiah, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Messiah also loved the Assembly and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the Assembly of Believers. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Messiah and the Assembly of Believers. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
We are all (male and female) the Bride of Messiah; and He has given us the requirements to be that Bride in the form of our earthly marriages. If we are obedient to our roles in our earthly marriages, then we will be prepared for our role as His Bride in the Kingdom and for all eternity.