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There are many simple yet profound lessons one can learn from the dual Torah reading Mattot/Massei:
- When the LORD makes a vow or oath, you can count on it.
- We must be careful when calling on the LORD to co-sign our vows or oaths.
- Remember where we came from and where we’re going.
- Remember why we left our way of life outside the Kingdom.
- Remember Who took us out of the house of bondage and Who takes us into the Kingdom of God.
- Remember that we can enter the Kingdom now, before we “cross over” on the Day of the LORD.
- Our High Priest is our refuge for the avenger after us.
We will spend most of today in Numbers 33. Mattot/Massei is, in a sense, a travelogue of the children of Israel. But Moses does not merely talk about where they went. He also recalls all the lessons they learned through their travels.
The travelogue of Numbers 33 is not in chronological order. They are not recorded merely to reiterate history but to remind the children of Israel of the spiritual lessons they would need to internalize to live successfully in the Promised Land.
Each one of us is going through our own journey from the house of bondage to the promised land and to the kingdom. These curveballs come our way, too, and the problems that drug them down can drag us down as well if we aren’t paying attention.
So don’t just space out like another vacation slideshow.
“Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the word which the LORD has commanded. “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” (Numbers 30:1–2 NASB)
God knows the difference between a rash vow and a tough vow that one has decided is too hard to keep. Those of us who are followers of God need to be as faithful to keep our vows as our Master Yeshua is in keeping His vows.
A tale of two watersheds: Nile v. Jordan
One of the patriarch Joseph’s original water canals is still in active use in Egypt. You can almost set your watch to the timing of its floods. The Nile is a large river, and sometimes it’s large and sometimes it’s very large but its always formidable.
The land of Israel, on the other hand, depends on rain. There is no large river that irrigates the entire land to sustain its agriculture. The Jordan River is a small stream to muddy river. At various times, it goes up and then it goes down. It’s a good boundary but it is not a sufficient water source for the entire country.
The tribes are no interchangeable. Each one has a purpose just as each part of the human body has a purpose.
The Promised Land was sandwiched between Mitzraim and the Hittite Empire (modern day Turkey) and God cut out a place for His people separate from these superpowers.
Travelogue from the ‘house of bondage’ to the Promised Land
To Ramses (Numbers 33:3)
The LORD freed Israel from the House of Bondage (Mitzraim/Egypt) by “execut(ing) judgment on their gods.”
But this freedom came with a huge cost, a huge cost of the first-born of Mitzraim, and this reflects on the image of going into freedom amid the funerals.
The commemoration of Pesach is not about dancing on the graves of the first born of Egypt who died for Israel’s freedom.
Our freedom came at the price of Heaven’s First-born, the Messiah Yeshua.
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. …When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:8–14 NASB)
As you read through this text, you probably recognize the theological hand grenade embedded in Colossians 2 that replacement theology students have lobbed at you a few times during the course of your Messianic walk.
We’ve been told that the “elementary principles” and the “tradition of men” are synonymous with the TaNaK, with God’s word as revealed in the “Old Testament.”
When you see the end of this passage, right after they nailed to the cross, he had disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. What does that sound like? Does it sound like Pesach and how God executed judgement over Egypt’s false gods?
God wants us to see who is in charge of the earth? Are these Elohim in charge? Is the Adversary in charge? He claims he’s in charge, walking back and forth across the earth, but who actually is in charge?
God shows, through Pesach and through the Messiah Yeshua’s life, death and resurrection, and soon Second Coming, that He is the one in control, not the dark powers of this world.
In Colossians, the Apostle Paul also touches on the topics of baptism and circumcision, both of these are closely interwoven into the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.
So when you’re talking about immersion, it’s symbolic of taking something going from death to life, just as when the children of Israel were still in Egypt, they were told by God to kill a lamb, and dip a branch of hyssop into the blood of the lamb and paint their door posts with it. Something dead, symbolized by the blood, gave life by protecting the people inside the house painted with lamb’s blood from being killed.
In Joshua 5:6-9, we read about how the children of Israel had not circumcised their sons during the entire 40 years in the wilderness. So, just before they are to enter, Joshua commands all the sons of Israel to be circumcised before they are to enter the Land of Promise.
When you hear the name “Gilgal,” remember that the children of Israel were called to give up their prior life as slaves and second-class citizens in Egypt but as citizens of God’s kingdom.
““Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.” (Joshua 5:9 NAS95)
A part of the circumcision is not merely a sign of Abraham’s covenant, it also takes on another meaning. It is also a sign of the removal of an old way of life, as represented by Egypt, into a new way of life, as represented by the Promised Land.
The old man is in bondage but the new man walks in freedom in Messiah Yeshua.
To Sukkoth (Numbers 33:5-6)
The festival of Sukkoth in the 7th month is a reminder of the 40 years Bamidbar (in the wilderness) (Lev. 23:42–43).
Pesakh commemorated the leaving of Mitzraim, and Sukkoth the journey in between. But it also looks forward to Tabernacle made flesh (Jn. 1:14) and dwelling place of God with mankind (Rev. 21:2–4).
Pesakh and Sukkoth are mirror images of each other. The holy days are bookends or parallels of each other. We start with leaving the House of Sin/Bondage and end by entering the House of God/Freedom.
God keeps His promises and He insists that we keep ours.
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”” (Revelation 21:2–4 NASB)
This is the Lord’s promise, a big one. He made a downpayment on this promise by giving us Messiah Yeshua.
By the sea (Numbers 33:6-7)
The LORD showed that He is supreme to both the superpower army of Mitzraim as well as Ba’al Zephon at the tower. God used Pharaoh’s hubris and arrogance against him. Pharaoh thought he was still in charge of current events, even though God had decimated his country with debilitating plagues.
Do we trust the LORD when our back is against the sea (Ex.14:11–14)? It’s phrased various different ways, but this promise, that the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent and just sit back watching God do all the heavy lifting. God is the one who does the work, not the children of Israel.
Through Yeshua, we can cross from death (our past) to life in the Kingdom (1Cor. 10:1–13).
So as we go through Numbers 33, and all these waypoints in this travelogue here. We need to learn what those lessons are. So don’t just space out like another vacation slideshow.
The experiences of the children of Israel happen again and again. These stories are recorded for us, to tell us, “Hey, watch out for this!” The curveballs the children of Israel experienced are common to all mankind. They happened at the time of the Exodus and the wanderings in the wilderness and they happen today, too.
The curveballs that dragged them down can drag us down too, if we aren’t paying attention.
To Marah (Numbers 33:8)
After crossing the sea, Israel was left to thirst and lead to a water source that seemed undrinkable.
Remember in the Book of Hebrews how the author repeatedly refers to Masah and Meribah?
God had brought the children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea on dry land, defeating the Egyptian army and her false gods in the waters of the Red Sea, yet once they reach the other side, they can’t believe that God can find them clean water to drink?
Did God forget to include clean water on his travelogue? No. He brought them to a place with unpalatable water on purpose.
They had just experienced a spectacular deliverance and escaped from an enemy they thought they would never escape. God brought them to a challenging place. The water was not tasty, it was not comfortable.
The tree branch is not what made the waters of Marah clean and safe to drink. It was the power of God that did that.
To Elim (Numbers 33:9)
Bible scholars have noticed the symbolism of the numbers 12 and 70 in this section. There were 12 springs and 70 palm trees, which symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel who give the water of God to the 70 nations on Earth.
We also see these numbers in Yeshua’s key 12 apostles plus the 70 other disciples who have taken the thirst-quenching message of the Kingdom to the ends of the Earth.
The Messiah was like a small rock thrown into a lake and its ripples spread out through the entire lake and go out to the entire earth.
So it’s kind of a picture of where we are today, as Revelation talks about how we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
To wilderness of Zin (Numbers 33:10–11)
So first they had no water now they have no food. Exodus 16 records how the people were complaining about lack of food and better conditions in Mitzraim, yet the LORD had mercy on their insolence, still sending bread from Heaven: manna.
People come up with ideas and what this stuff was, looking for materialistic explanations of it as secretions of this and evaporation of that, but really it is bread from heaven.
Because they were complaining about having no food before. Now they have food, but as you read through Exodus 16, you learn that they still didn’t like the food. They received bread from heaven but they didn’t like it.
We can find some of these stories laughable, but we can be tempted exactly the same way. Just as they were bored eating the same food every day and whining about it, we get bored with our station in life. We don’t like our job or our car that gets us around. We want a bigger better job or a bigger better car, but those things that we think we want aren’t that great.
We see what happened when the children of Israel’s boredom and insolence and rebellion over God’s gracious provision of the manna reached a crescendo, God brought them different food, by air mail, literally.
In John 6 when the Apostles asked Yeshua what they should pray for, He told them “Give us this day, our daily bread.” Be thankful for the manna that is in our life. Don’t scorn it or treat His provision with ingratitude.
Yeshua reminds us that they ate the manna and they died in the desert because they did not combine it with trust.
The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians that Israel in the desert received spiritual food and drink from God. The Lord is the provider may not be provided the way we like, but He provides us what we need.
To Rephidim (Numbers 33:12–14)
Now you would think, you know, remember, when you’re trying to solve problems, you look for patterns. This is what the Apostle James said in James 1, when he implored his audience to ask God for wisdom.
When you notice the same problems come at you repeatedly, maybe there’s something I got to learn from this.
This is the message with the Samaritan woman in John 4. She begs Yeshua for the living water because that’s one of the prophetic promises of the Messianic era, this water that would flow out from Zion and water the nations to give water and sustenance so all the nations. She asks Yeshua, “Give me some of that,” because that means, the Mashiach is here.
This portion of the journey is recorded in Exodus 17, with the infamous at Massah and the sneak rear-guard attack of Amalek.
Right after Massah, they are confronted by the sneak attack of Amalek, who comes at them from the rear.
This is where we see that when Moshe’s hands were lifted up, the army of Israel would prevail, but when his arms grew tired and fell down, Amalek would prevail against them.
Moshe’s hands were lifted up in prayer. He was a real prayer warrior fighting hard, and winning, and the real foe.
We are reminded by the Apostle Paul that’s there’s a real battle going on, not only on earth but in the spiritual realms as well. We can’t see them easily, just as the Israelites were surprised by the sneak attack of Amalek.
The powers and principalities of the air attack us, like Amalek attacked them. The Adversary goes around like a roaring lion, looking for our rear flank looking for our weak points.
At the end of the battle with Amalek, Moshe memorializes it but putting up an altar which he called “the LORD is my banner [nes]” (Ex. 17:15). The Messiah is called “a nes for the peoples” (Isa. 11:10).
To Sinai (Numbers 33:15)
The good part of Sinai is that the visit to Mt. Sinai was commemorated with the annual holy appointment of Shavuot/Pentecost.
The ugly part of Sinai is that it was also the location of the Golden calf (Exodus 32). This was yet another variation on the same question, “Is the Lord with us or not?” They asked “Where’s Moshe?”
Are we like toddlers who think they disappear if they cover their eyes? Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because we don’t see the Lord working or this or that, does that mean He’s gone? No, certainly not.
To Kibrot-khattavah (Numbers 33:16)
A year after the Tabernacle was built, they came to the “grave of desire,” named after the quail debacle (Numbers 11; 1Cor. 10:6).
What do we learn from the “graves of desire.” It was a memorial to remind us to be careful of our appetites. They wanted meat. Their daily bread from God was no longer good enough for them.
So do we have any collateral damage in our lives from when we didn’t think the Lord’s provision was good enough? Do we trust God more today than we did yesterday? Do I have a taste for God’s daily bread?
To Hazerot (Numbers 33:17)
Moshe’s older sister Miriam, a prophetess, and Aharon challenged Moshe’s authority (Numbers 12). She was plagued with leprosy for seven days.
And we learned that backbiting, slander, and gossip, are very insidious. They’re like a wasting away disease.
We also learned about the dangers of challenging God’s anointed authority, you see this happen again and again, through the account of them a bar of the challenging of authority.
Even those that are very close to the Lord’s leaders can get waylaid may not think that the Lord is heading them in the right direction.
That sums up a lot of what we read in the Gospels where we read about how those that were supposed to be close to God, meaning the Sanhedrin were not discerning of the One who actually was leading and what how the Lord was leading.
The Sage Gamaliel was wise and discerning enough to keep an open mind about what the Apostles of Yeshua were teaching. He knew from Torah that Lord throws curveballs from time to time and that we don’t quite understand what way God is moving. He wanted to wait and see what would happen.
To Ritmah (Numbers 33:18)
This is one of the sad legacies which started in the 40 years of wandering.
The 5th month is not a good month. It was on the first day of the 5th month when Aharon the Cohen died.
But there was another tragic event that happened on the 9th day of the 5th month when the 10 spies returned for the land of Israel and gave a faithless report back on the ability to conquer the land (Numbers 14).
Because the people trusted the bad report of the 10 rather than the good promise of the LORD, and the testimony of the 2 righteous spies, Israel would stay out of the land for 40 years and that generation almost entirely would die off.
The return after the Babylonian exile is a small taste of what the Messiah will do.
To Kadesh (Numbers 33:35–36)
In the 39th year of the wandering, there’s another water crisis right after the death of the Prophetess Miriam (Num. 20:1).
With more complaining for water, Moshe strikes the rock. This place is called Meribah, a place of contention. Meribah is often connected with Massah because in both places, the children of Israel were contending with Moshe and God for water.
This text is not merely a list of foreign names in a foreign land. Each of these places have deep meaning if you are willing to learn and recall them. There is a story in other peoples lives that can help us if we are willing to listen. We can escape the continuing cycle of poor decisions and terrible consequences if we pay attention.
Summary: Tammy