Changed

This is the Sabbath before the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost. This feast, as interpreted by Jewish teaching, is about the wedding of God to Israel in the giving of the Torah, or the Word of God, on Mt. Sinai (sinay - "thorny"). Shavuot occurs fifty days after Passover. The time in between Passover and Shavuot then, is considered a time of preparation for this marriage to God according to rabbinical teaching. All of the feasts of the LORD can be connected in meaning to a marriage, at least partially. For the church, Pentecost was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we read in Acts Ch. 2. Jesus referred to the promise of this outpouring of power (see Lk. 24:49), which was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room. He told His disciples to tarry or wait in Jerusalem until this occurred after His death and resurrection. The title of this Sabbath's reading is B'midbar, meaning "in the wilderness". "Wilderness" sometimes has a negative meaning to us, but it can also mean "pasture". As the Sabbath reading begins in Numbers Ch. 1, the LORD gives us a hint that something special is about to occur. The scripture says: "Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt..." (Num. 1:1). The word meaning "second" in Hebrew is the word seni/sana. It means with its root "to do again, to change, altar, transmute, to be other". There is to be a change or transmutation accomplished in God's people. The mention that it is "the first day", or echad in Hebrew, means "joined in one, united, as one man; go one way or the other, to become unified". This changing work that will occur will join something together in one. Moses is commanded by God to count all in Israel over the age of twenty "by their families, by their fathers' houses... every male individually, from twenty years old and above - all who are able to go to war in Israel. God is establishing an army here, and this army will be identified by their fathers' names. The head of each named household was called to stand with Moses and Aaron while this is accomplished (Num. 1:4-16). The children of Israel spent over four hundred years in slavery in Egypt. During that time, they seemed to have lost the knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and knew only Egyptian gods. Not only did the LORD have to identify Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:6), but Moses asked the LORD His name so he could tell the children of Israel, who didn't know Him (Ex. 3:13-16). However, during the beginning of the second year after deliverance from Egypt, the men whom God specifically called to stand with Moses and Aaron during the census had names that gave the revelation of God. Some of their names, and their fathers' names, translated into English were: "My God is a Rock", My Rock is Almighty God", "My God is Father", "My Kinsman is Majesty", My Kinsman is Almighty", "The Rock has ransomed/redeemed", "My Father is Judge/Contender". Interestingly, there is one among these, the last one named, whose name means "My brother is evil, malignant". Could this last named person, Ahira in Hebrew, be a prophecy of Judas Iscariot? He represented the tribe, Naphtali, whose name means "wrestling, froward, unsavory, to be twisted". After these men came forth, who were to be heads of their tribes, the LORD had the people do something unusual: "...and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually." (Num. 1:18-44). This naming of genealogies is also mentioned as one of the traditions in the ancient Jewish marriage ritual. Even in more modern Jewish marriages, a short genealogy is recited. According to one source (not from scripture): "The souls of ancestors from three generations back descend from the world of truth and attend (the marriage). Even further removed generations are present." The Gospels open with the genealogy of Jesus. Not just back to David, as would be necessary for the identity of the Messiah, but back to Abraham (Mt. 1:1-17), and to "...Adam, the son of God" (Lk. 3:23-38). Was Jesus, the Word of God, reciting His genealogy not just to justify His identity as Messiah, but to fulfill the custom established by God at Mt. Sinai in the wilderness regarding the marriage of the Son? After all, Jesus told us that He only did what He saw His Father doing. Hebrews 12:1 also points out that we are surrounded (have around one) by a great cloud of witnesses, these witnesses are not of our flesh genealogy, but of fathers of faith according to Hebrews 11. Could this also be a part of our marriage relationship with Christ, as it follows the Jewish traditions? Let me add here another interesting "wedding fact": The Jewish wedding ritual can also include the groom's washing of his bride's feet. In scripture, on the night of the Last Supper with Christ and His disciples, which was a Passover Seder, Peter tried to stop Jesus from washing his feet after supper. Jesus said to Peter in part, "If I do not wash you, you have no part (meros - share, allotment, portion) of Me." (see Jn. 13:3-10). In another part of this Sabbath's reading from Hosea 2, the LORD describes how, as a result of Israel's spiritual adulteries, He will say to her, "...she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!" (Hos. 2:1-2). An interesting way to look at this statement by God that we may not have considered is the possibility that this statement is not an utter rejection of Israel as it might sound, but a mercy against the death sentence of adultery. The Jewish divorce, or "get", similarly declares that the wife is free from the marriage, free to marry another, and the laws of adultery no loner apply. In this same chapter of Hosea, the LORD assured us that He was NOT done with Israel, but would get Israel back in marriage: "Therefore behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort (leb - heart, soul, understanding, wisdom, memory, kindly) to her. I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor (trouble; a place of stoning) as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. And it shall be in that day, says the LORD, that you will call Me 'my Husband', and no longer call Me 'my Master',...I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving-kindness and mercy...in faithfulness, and you shall know the LORD." (Hos. 2:14-20). As we read in Numbers 1, although Jewish tradition teaches that God married Israel at Mt. Sinai, and the scripture language bears that out, the people were numbered in order to form armies. When Hebrews 12 spoke about the great cloud of witnesses around us, it was for the purpose of laying aside sin, and "running the race (agon - contest, battle) set before us". Whether we speak of Israel's marriage to God, or the Church's marriage to Christ, warfare and battles will be involved, just as there is great warfare against marriage here on earth in the natural. God's marriage with His people in the second month, in the second year, and our marriage with our Bridegroom, Jesus, initiates a great change and transformation in our lives. The timing of the Feasts, with Shavuot or Pentecost approaching, allows us a time of preparation, as a betrothed prepares (hetoimazo - prepare, level the roads for a coming king, prepare minds of men to give the Messiah a fit reception, to receive one who is coming) for the upcoming wedding (Rev. 19:7-9). The great spiritual outpouring of Pentecost also endues us with power from on high to be the army of God. If you would like to know more about, and be prepared for, the soon marriage of the Lamb to His wife, you can pray with me: "Lord Jesus, I believe that You died and rose from the dead for me. I believe You sacrificed Yourself to cover my sins. Forgive me and keep me in Your Word and Spirit. Pour out Your Spirit upon Your people and teach me to prepare for Your soon return, and the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride. Teach me to walk with You, the Father and the Holy Spirit with faithfulness, in faith, and the righteousness of the saints. You are the faithful Husband returning for His spotless Bride. I thank You and ask these things in Your name. AMEN."