Remember When…

• Posted on AugamSun, 07 Aug 2016 11:19:39 -05002016-08-07T11:19:39-05:0011 17, 2016
• in Bible, God, Hebrew, Massei, Messiah, Study, Torah, Yeshua
• by Hallelujah Girl

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A man had a very sick son. He took him from one doctor to the next and from one hospital to another for treatments. Gradually the son recovered. When the father was finally able to take him home, he pointed out on the way home all the places where the boy had undergone treatments and operations. “Remember,” he asked, “when we stayed in this ward overnight?” As they passed another place he said, “here you had the chills,” and at another one, “here is where you had that terrible headache.”

In the Torah Portion Massei, Numbers 33:1-36:13, the first forty nine verses of chapter 33 are dedicated to the wanderings of Moses and the Children of Israel during their forty years in the Wilderness. “Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of HASHEM..” ~Numbers 33:2

During their journey Moses recorded the name of each station as the Children of Israel departed from it. Why does the Torah record the itinerary of the Holy One’s people in the Wilderness? It seems there were many reasons and here’s what I’ve discovered so far:

To later generations it would seem almost an ancient idea how a nation of millions survived forty years in the Wilderness. Generations to come would attempt to interpret this period of history in a natural manner.  They would foster all types of theories of how they traveled through lands, sustaining themselves with natural water sources and plants that were found or planted and harvested. Torah repeatedly tells about the deserts crossed by the Children of Israel. These lands were uninhabitated, lacking water and plant life. Surviving the forty years was due to the Holy One Himself. This travelogue was recorded in order to firmly implant in our hearts the faith that G-d miraculously led His people out of bondage to give them life! Their purpose was not the destination, but the journey itself.

“They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month-on the day after the Pesach-offering- the Children of Israel went forth with an upraised hand, before the eyes of all Egypt” ~Numbers 33:3  “Rameses” is a reminder of the blood, sweat, and tears of bondage. To the Egyptians, Rameses meant “Son of ra” or “sun born“. Nostalgically the only thing to look back on according to verse 4 was the Egyptians burying their dead, and their gods which HASHEM had inflicted punishments on.

The first encampment noted is Sukkot. This is where the Holy One began to shelter them with the seven Clouds of Glory. Sukkot is the Children of Israel’s first experience as ‘free men’. Sukkot comes from the word sakak which means to weave or knit together. Sukkot is plural for cukkah, meaning a booth, shelter, or thicket.  In Matthew 17, Yeshua takes with Him Peter, Jacob, and John, up the mountain where Moses and Elijah also appear to them. “Peter responded to Yeshua, “Master, it’s good for us to be here! If You wish, I will make three sukkot here–one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Each station was reported and identified in order to demonstrate Hashem’s kindness. Even though the Holy One decreed a forty-year wandering period, He carried out His sentence with mercy. Of the forty-two sites at which the Children of Israel sojourned, they stayed at fourteen the first year (before the spies were sent) and at eight in the fortieth year (after Aaron’s death). In the remaining 38 years they traveled a mere twenty locations. At Rithmah (verse 18) the Children of Israel camped for nineteen years. Rithmah is another name for the place from which the spies set out on their mission, the proper name of which was Kadesh (see Numbers 13:26). The name Rithmah is an illusion to the sin of lashon hara (slander, evil speech) that happened there. The root verb of the name Rithmah is ratham, meaning to bind, harness, or attach. Ephesians 4 tells us to let no harmful word come out of our mouths, to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, quarreling, and slander, along with all malice. “Remind the people to be submitted to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to slander no one, without fighting, gentle, showing every courtesy to all people.” ~ Titus 3:1-2

The stations of the Children of Israel are listed in order, one through forty-two, to teach us that their wanderings were dictated by a definite spiritual plan. Just as in the story of the man with the sick son, the Torah wishes to draw notice to the fact that The Holy One caused His people to sojourn at certain locations in the Wilderness to cure their spiritual and moral illnesses after leaving the bondage of Egypt.

The Holy One’s plan takes us on a journey to our destiny. We cannot always see things the way our Creator sees them, so naturally we become impatient, look for new adventures, and often become dissatisfied or tired of the place where we are at. Everyone I know, myself included, have experienced “wanderings” during this life here on earth. But whatever the disappointments, Torah shows us here, WE MUST MOVE FORWARD! Redemption for us as individuals, and for the nations, calls us to rise to the next challenge.

Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of G~d that is in Messiah Yeshua our L~rd.   ~Romans 8:35-39

Shalom! Happy Day,

Hallelujah Girl

Tags: #ReadYourBible #ItsAllAboutYeshua #TorahIsTruth, Hebrew, Massei, Redemption