B’midbar (Numbers), In the Wilderness
Numbers 1:1 – 4:20;
Hosea 1:10 – 2:22;
I Corinthians 12:12-20
When the going gets tough, who do you count on? Who do you lift up as the authority in your life that can truly make a difference over what oppresses or keeps you down? Who is the one who lifts your head up with purpose, helping you know that you count and truly matter in life?
The Head Count in the Wilderness
The Book of B’midbar (Numbers) begins with a command for a head count of the people who had just come out of slavery in Egypt. They’d been heavily oppressed and psychologically dumbed down into thinking like slaves of little value or worth.
But in the wilderness, the love of YHWH and His Word was changing the hearts and minds of His people; working in them to believe that they were a precious, royal people of value and of great worth with a purpose and a mission in life granted by Elohim Himself.
In the wilderness, the people were not distracted by the daily grind of making a living in a worldly system of enslavement. They were in the wilderness of the Word, Debar – the root of the name ‘B’midbar’. The Word was transforming their hearts and minds on Who their God was in relationship to them and who they were as His people. In other words, they were being led to say, ‘The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me.’ (You Say, Lauren Daigle)
Like me, are you going through a tough, wilderness experience in life, feeling like you’re on your own to fend for yourself? The people you’ve counted on have let you down and you don’t know whose word to trust anymore? Believe me, this Torah portion can give you some answers.
Abba’s Appointed Time and its Purpose
We can see the plan of YHWH to build up His people in the very first verse of B’midbar (Numbers):
And YHWH spoke to Moses b’midbar (in the wilderness) of Sinai in the tabernacle of the congregation on the first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)… Numbers 1:1
Why did YHWH include the day of the year for us to know? The first day of the second month on the Hebrew calendar occurred during another count, the counting of the days to Shavuot.
As the days are counted, we can gain a deeper understanding of what the purpose of this portion’s count is for the children of Israel. During this agricultural festival season, counting days from the barley to the wheat harvest, He is transforming His people from a carnal to a more spiritual nature. Through the cycle of this harvest season and the fiery trials of life, YHWH wants to change His people, spirit soul, and body (1 Thess 5:23), from an earthy brown, worldly nature to be refined into more of a precious gold, spiritual nature.
Lift up the Head!
Now let’s take a close look at the count – Saying,
“Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their heads…” Numbers 1:2
The words “Take the sum,” in Hebrew are transliterated as ‘Su Et-Rosh.’ These words can be translated as ‘Lift up the Alef Tav Head.’ Here YHWH commanded His people to lift up the Head, the Aleph and the Tav, the Beginning and the End, and the Head of His body, the body of Messiah. Lifting up the Head alludes to the lifting up of the exalted Head – the Messiah.
Lifted up on a criminal’s cross, our Messiah was numbered with the transgressors and bore the sins of many in our place (Isaiah 53:12). Then, whosoever would put their faith in Him could be counted as a vital member in His Body, connected to the Head under His Divine Headship.
If I am Lifted up!
Only in the Hebrew can we find a connection to the Messiah lifted up on a hill, the Place of the Skull, where He was crucified in our place. (Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17)
What does the Hebrew say about what to count by? …’ Every male by their heads’, is more literally translated in verse 2 as …‘every male by their polls craniums’. The Hebrew word for ‘polls cranium’ is ‘Golgotha’, which is translated as just ‘skull, or cranium.’
It is this word that the hill of the Skull, Golgotha, was named after. ‘Golg’lotha’ connects us to the start of the verse: ‘Su Et-Rosh,’ ‘Lift up the Alef Tav-Head.’ Here in the Hebrew, we see a clear connection to the Messiah lifting our heads to the hill of the cross. There, we realize how much He loved us by being lifted up to die in our place. There is no greater love than that our Savior would lay His life down for sinners, lifted up on the hill of Golgotha, to save souls.
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” John 12:32
Drawing us by His love and mercy to the tree He was lifted up on, by grace through faith in Him, we are now grafted into His Body to His Headship. Crucified with Him, He counts as ‘Golgotha’.
On the day of Shavuot, Peter proclaimed the exalted Yeshua, the Alef Tav-Rosh, Whom Abba had lifted up and had given to save us:
This Yeshua Elohim raised up – we all are witnesses! Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of Elohim and receiving from Abba the promise of the Ruach HaQodesh, He poured out this – what you now see and hear. Acts 2:32-33
It was when Yeshua was lifted up during the proclamation of the Gospel that He poured out His Spirit upon the believers who had assembled for Shavuot.
Pray that our assemblies are in one accord and are expecting an outpouring of the Spirit. Pray for Spiritual gifts to be imparted and received by faith. This is His appointed purpose.
The Lifter of Our Heads
Although the world around us gives us no hope, no deliverance from the corruption and slavery to the systems and the unrighteous, tyrannical rulers, Yah is still our Salvation. Our Yeshua is the lifter of our heads above all the sea of corruption in this world. The Messiah is the Head to Whom all body parts are connected to – from Whom we receive His instructions and His Word.
But on the other shoulder, have you heard voices in your mind these days like the psalmist did?
Many there be which say of my soul, “There is no Yeshuah (Deliverance) for him in God.” Selah. But You, YHWH, are a shield around me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. Psalm 3:3-4
Lift up your head and be confident in the glorious One Who is your Savior! Let no one usurp your Lord’s Headship in your life. Let us recognize and abide in His supreme Headship as we diligently search for the One Who is in the volume of the Book (Psalm 40:7; John 5:39).
Yeshua is the Anointed One; He is our Head Teacher, Who by His Paraclete, His Helper, the Holy Spirit, He teaches us all things and leads us into all truth (John 14:26) It is His anointing that teaches us, and His people need no other head to teach them (1 John 2:27). Any teaching you hear must come from the Anointed One, Messiah, our Master and sovereign Head.
Counted with Personal Identity
Let us never lose sight of who we are individually with our Messiah.
So we the many are one body in Messiah and each one members of one another… Romans 12:5
As grafted-in believers, each one of us is individually counted and each one is a vital member of the awesome Body of Messiah. Know that you count in His Kingdom and are counted on to do your part in obedience to the Head, as some of us finish up counting the days to Shavuot.
Sha’ul (Paul) declared that YHWH lifted up the Messiah to be the Head of the assembly:
…He (Abba) worked in Messiah in raising Him from the dead; yea, He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and lordship, and every name having been named, not only in this age but also in the coming age; and He ‘Put all things under His feet’ and gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body: the fullness of the One filling all things in all… Ephesians 1:20-23
Moses and Aaron counted the men of Israel “according to the number of names.” In the Kingdom of YHWH, no one is a mere statistic in the nation of Yisra’el (means ‘to prevail as a prince of God’). Everyone is numbered and valued by their name, each having great meaning and purpose in life. Every born-again child of Elohim has a purpose and function in the Body when connected to the Head Yeshua, the Messiah Who directs our lives by His Word.
Think about that next time we see a brother, or maybe even yourself, in a low estate. (Rom 12:16)
Each one of us has a place in the armies of Israel to wage spiritual warfare.
Each one of us has a function in supporting and building up the Body of Messiah.
Each one has a role to play in the camp for serving the people of Israel and His Dwelling Place.
The divisions of the camp are divisions of specialty services in His Kingdom. We may in part find our personalities and roles in the Kingdom by understanding the meanings of the names of the twelve sons and by studying the blessings of Ya’aqov and Moshe upon the twelve sons and tribes of Israel (Gen 48 & 49; Deut 33). Seek out the stories in the Tanakh of the twelve sons/tribes to reveal more. Each one of us has a special part in the Commonwealth of Israel.
May the banner of YHWH Nissi, YHWH our victorious banner*, be lifted up in our day!
And it shall be in that day, the Root of Jesse stands as a banner (nes*) of His people; nations shall seek to Him; and His resting place shall be glorious.
Isaiah 11:10
Each one of the four tribal sides of the camp of Israel lifted up a nes*, a banner, – each banner representing a personal, facial aspect of the Messiah – lion, man, ox, and eagle. Each tribe and each family clan had a personal role and a function in those four characteristics of the Messiah.
What a wise organizational scheme that the King of Israel set up to represent the Body of our Messiah and our roles in His Kingdom! All of us have special banners to raise to lift Him up!
Test everything, search the Scriptures, hear from the Paraclete, and find yourself in the Word. Learn how He is restoring the ancient paths to dwell in and the Kingdom of Israel in our day.
Praying with Vision & Purpose
Pray YHWH further reveals our important roles and destiny in life during this special time of counting the days. Please pray for the elders and the ministry teams on how to observe the Feast of Shavuot. Pray for our local shepherds and for those who serve us in ministering the anointed Debar, the Word, here in the wilderness of the peoples.
Let us prepare our hearts to be in one accord for the infilling of the Ruach HaQodesh on this Shavuot. We certainly need what He wants to corporately give us by the Spirit during these last days before Yeshua returns.
Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors: that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? YHWH strong and mighty, YHWH mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, you everlasting doors: that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? YHWH Tzva’ot – He is the King of Glory! Selah. (Think about it…) Psalms 24:7-10
Be lifted up! Leslie and I love the uplifting song ‘You Raise Me Up’: Check it out!
Let’s keep in mind what our Master taught us:
“Now when these things begin to happen, stand straight and lift up your heads, because your salvation is near!” Luke 21:28
My Deliverer is coming! My Deliverer is standing by! (Rich Mullins) You can count on Him!
BaShem Yeshua Adonai, the exalted Head of the Body of Messiah,
David Klug