Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Numbered but not just a number: The Good Shepherd Who seeks the lost sheep of humanity (Numbers 1; Luke 15)

This study on Torah reading בְּמִדְבַּר Bemidbar (“in the wilderness,” Numbers 1:1–4:20) focuses on Heaven’s concern for each individual member of Israel’s tribes. Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) touched on that with His three lost-and-found parables in Luke 15, particularly how a shepherd seeks one lost sheep. Though part of an orderly whole as God’s people, each person is valued. As the tribes were transformed from a multitude to a cohesive unit centered on God’s dwelling — the solution to the world’s anguish — so too may each Israelite accept the role and be renewed to uplift God’s legacy through Messiah. When all work in unison and depend on the Eternal, the salvation promised to the world through Israel will be fulfilled.