Torah Portion: Numbers 1:1-4:20

B'midbar (בַּמִּדְבָּר) (‘In the desert’)

B'midbar is the fifth word of the Book of Numbers and also the Hebrew title of the Book of Numbers.

What a completely amazing choice that God should bring his people out of a land of slavery and into a barren, wild desert to teach them to know Him! Away from the dictates and tyranny of human rulers, with Him alone as their leader, in that desert they found Him as their shepherd, their shield and their protector.

Of course, there have always been people whose home has been the desert, who know not only how to survive but also how to live their lives productively there. Indeed, Moses married into a Midianite family who were familiar with such a life. Yet it was quite a different matter for a whole nation of 600,000 men, plus women and children and their livestock, to be plunged into such a harsh, improbable and unknown environment and there to find life, their daily needs met seemingly from nowhere.

Learning God’s Order

In the desert, God's people were shown mighty things, that they might know that the Lord alone is God. They heard His words out of His great fire and learned the security of walking with Him, within the bounds of His teaching. They travelled His path safely though the endless, barren land of apparently nowhere and nothing and there discovered His pattern for life.

In their camp, their lives were relationally ordered by tribes, clans and families, according to His instruction. This was visible not only in the position of their tents around the tabernacle, but also in the way in which they set out to follow the pillar of cloud or fire. It could also be seen in the detail of the instruction of how the holy articles of the tabernacle were to be carried by the Levites alone. Every man over the age of 20 who could serve in the army was listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. Every person was precious to God.

In the desert, Israel discovered that their God was a God of detail, who saw every moment of their lives, who walked around in their camp, who led them clearly and searched out places for them to camp and be refreshed. The sacrifices and offerings at the tabernacle required by God's Torah were designed to keep them close to Him and to enable them to live harmlessly and in harmony with each other.

Meeting Our Needs

All these things are types and shadows for us, who find the same loving God through faith in the sacrifice of Yeshua HaMashiach.

In this desert of the highly improbable worldwide Covid crisis, can God still spread a table in the wilderness? Does He still see every detail of our situations? There are truly many hardships, as there were in the desert of Sinai. But God…

It is testing time for everyone – and for the Body of the Lord specifically, to find and follow Him in His priorities for life, and to accept His provision for safety and every need, as well as the needs of those around us. Has He not promised to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19) – even in the desert?

Author: Sally Bolton