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Yogi Berra famously quipped, “It’s deja vu all over again.” And that seems to sum up the beginning of Torah reading בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ Beha’alotcha (“when you raise up” [the lamps]). We have read about the Tabernacle menorah and the consecration of the priesthood before in Shemot (Exodus) and Vayiqra (Leviticus), but Bamidbar (Numbers), like Devarim (Deuteronomy), is a thematic rather than a book. And Bamidbar is like a travelogue of Israel’s journey from bondage to freedom, with snapshots of cringe-worthy waypoints that are best not revisited by future generations.
In the Beha’alotecha album of snapshots, we see a collection of lessons about remembering the One Who gave freedom and guarding oneself against resentment for the journey to that freedom.
Rather than from our vantage point of over 3,500 years in the future, put yourself in their place. It’s the second year since the Exodus from Egypt. Now, Israel is putting into action what God taught about the Tabernacle and its lessons of internal transformation.
Numbers 8: The LORD watches the deeds of the nation of priests
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you mount the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in the front of the menorah.’” Aaron therefore did so; he mounted its lamps at the front of the menorah, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. Now this was the workmanship of the menorah, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the menorah.” (Numbers 8:1–4 NASB)
- What was the point of this menorah? To bring light.
- Who saw this light? Only the priests who were allowed to enter the Temple.
- What did the menorah reveal? The light shined on the loaves of bread, representing the 12 tribes of Israel.
It’s to remind them and us that God’s eyes were on all 12 tribes of Israel. They are always looking at His people. That is why the menorah was to be kept lit at all times.
Numbers 9:1–5: Anniversary of the Exodus, time to celebrate Pesakh
On the first Pesakh (Passover or Pascha), when they were in Egypt, they didn’t have to comply with the laws of ritual purity to celebrate and eat that Passover sacrifice but after Sinai, God instituted rules regarding Pesakh that required that one be ritually pure before eating of the Pesakh lamb or goat. But there are valid reasons where one isn’t able to partake of the Pesakh sacrifice at the scheduled time.
Numbers 9:6–14: Second-chance Pesakh
There were certain exceptions in which one is given an opportunity to partake of a Pesach a month after the regular Pesach.
- Allowed if one was unclean because of contact with a נֶפֶשׁ nefesh (H5315), a body without נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּים nishmat chayyim (H5397+H2425b).
- “observe Passover on that day” (Num. 9:6): Rashi posits, “It was the seventh day of their uncleanness.”
- In Num. 5:2–4, there was the directive to send outside the camp those with skin diseases, discharges and handlers of the dead.
- That banishment period was seven days for leprosy (Leviticus 13 and Num. 12:15).
- And it was seven days for undertakers (Num. 19:11).
We need to understand that just as we don’t waltz into our neighbors house and raid their fridge anytime we want to do so, it is the same with God’s house. Where the LORD dwells is to be associated with life and sweetness, separate from death and stench (abominations and excrement).
It can be something to discuss with our brothers and sisters in the Body of Messiah that grace and a Spirit-led life were as much as a part of Tabernacle and Temple times as they were for post-Resurrection times, as noted in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, put out by New International Bible publisher Zondervan and designed for pastors:
“The best way to think of the notion of ‘uncleanness’ is as a teaching device to remind the people of Israel of the holiness of God. The idea that any person at all might have the effrontery to dare to approach the presence of the Lord is audacious in itself. Only by his grace may anyone come before him to worship. By developing a concept of ritual purity, an external symbol, the notion of internal purity might be presented. Ever in the Bible the notions of external symbols are representative of internal realities. Only the obdurate miss the point here. In our Lord’s confrontation with the Pharisees, the principal battle was not over the essential demands of God but on the tendencies the Pharisees had in focusing on external compliance without due attention to internal meaning. In our passage the recognition of ceremonial uncleanness on the part of some people and their consequent inability to participate in the activities of celebrative worship in the Passover speaks of their high level of compliance to the dictates of Torah and the keen desire they had to worship the Lord ‘in spirit and truth’
(see John 4:24).”Ronald B. Allen, Numbers, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 2 (emphasis added)
The grace and mercy of God has always been evident in the Scriptures. God exercised extreme patience with the children of Israel as they rejected Him over and over again.
The second chance was not for those who simply didn’t want to bother being ready for the regular Pesach. It was given to who were not neglectful about the first Pesakh, i.e., hadn’t handled a corpse or wasn’t on a journey (Num. 9:13).
There’s also the allowance for aliens that want to participate to do so (Num. 9:14). Being a part of God’s congregation is not limited to native-born Israelites. Those born of the nations who want to join were welcomed with open arms.
We are to remember God’s release of Israel from bondage and adoption as a nation — and by extension, our release and adoption — is so important that Pesakh the only one of the LORD’s appointments that has a merciful rain check for the humble.
Numbers 9:15–23: Move when the LORD moves; stay when the LORD stays
One of the pictures we have here is that we move when the Commander move and we stay when the Commander says stay. Whether we stay for a long period of time or stay for a brief period of time, we stay where God tells us to stay. Whether we travel for a short period of time or travel for a long period, we travel where God tells us to travel.
“Then [Naomi] said, ‘Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.’” (Ruth 1:15–16 NASB)
Ruth said the same thing that Peter later said to Yeshua for a similar reason.
“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”” (John 6:66–69 NASB)
Both Ruth and Peter wanted to be where life dwelled. Both of them were willing to follow a difficult path for the sake of eternal life.
Numbers 11–12: Heaven’s disdaining for complaining
This heart of complaining is very infectious. In Yiddish, they call it “kvetching.” My dad, who likes to make everything a pun, said, “Oh, like a convection oven?”
I think, actually it’s quite an apt term because what does a convection oven do? It, it circulates the heat around it. So the whole dish is cooked all the way around. The dish is not just baking under or above an element. The dish is evenly surrounded by heat.
Kvetching does very much the same thing. It just circulates around the same tales, the same misery, the same distain, everything just circulates around until everything is cooked,
really overcooked. Really burned to a crisp, just terrible destruction happens because of it.
First they complained about the water, then they complained about the manna, then they complained about meat.
Later in Deuteronomy, it says that man is not going to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
So what is it you put your trust in? The stuff that you can see that you can stuff in your face? Or the promise that God is going to get us through?
Am I going to run back to my my Egypt? Just throw in the towel and say I’m done with this? I’m going to head back to where I started.
Or do we go through and walk in faith following God’s footsteps in the cloud and the pillar of fire?
The disease of kvetching from the people up to the leadership to the point that even Moses, Aaron and Miriam were complaining. The people were compiling about Moses. Miriam and Aaron were complaining about Moses and even Moses was complaining about the people.
The scriptures (Exodus 17; Psalm 95; Hebrews 3–4) repeatedly warn us not to repeat the mistakes of “Massah and Meribah,” where the ancient Israel repeatedly complained about God’s provisions for them.
What Aaron and Miriam were doing combines complaining with gossiping, slander, insurgency and even treason. God did give Miriam leprosy for a week, but at least she did not suffer the fate of Korach.
One of the lessons I hope you get from this lesson is that the eyes of the Lord are on all of Israel. These stories were written down for our instruction and admonition.
Celebrate Recovery links step No. 10 (“We continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.”) to 1Cor. 10:1-13, which mentions the events in Beha’alotecha. No matter what we are struggling with, we are not victims of it. We have to take control of it (2Cor. 10:3–6), not the other way around. God shows us the way out of any temptation.
Summary: Tammy