SilverTrumpets

This week's Sabbath reading portion is from the Book of Numbers, or B'Midbar in Hebrew, which means "In the wilderness". The title of this week's reading portion is Bha'alot'cha, meaning, "When you step up/go up". In this Book of Numbers so far, God has already numbered, or set apart, His people as armies. He has numbered His priesthood, and set them apart in groups, depending upon the specific service they were to perform before Him in His house, the Tabernacle. Each priestly group, named after their fathers, had a purpose in the glory of the tabernacle, which was God's dwelling in the midst of His people. They were set apart in divisions of purpose, but they were not divided against one another - a good lesson for the Church of believers in Christ! As God continued to appoint and set apart His people according to His will and His Word, He presented them with what I consider to be a gift: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 'Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps...The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God." (Num. 10:1-10). The two trumpets mentioned here are not shofars, or rams' horns. They are in Hebrew, hassosra/hasar, meaning "straight trumpet, clarion/sounding, blow, to surround with a stockade in order to separate from open country". These were two straight trumpets, and were to be made (asa - prepare, accomplish, appoint, bestow, create, produce by labor) from a whole piece (miqsa/miqse/qasa - beaten from one whole piece/turned rounded work/tough, severe, severe labor of a woman, endure, struggle against) of hammered silver (kesep/kasap - price, pieces of silver, money/yearn for, long for). There were to be two of these trumpets. The number "two" plays a significant role in this week's reading. The number "two" is senayim/seni/sana in Hebrew, with the meaning: "two, twice, twelve, twenty, both of them, double/again/change, alter, to transfer to another place, to be changed". We are reminded immediately of the verses in the New Testament: "Behold, I tell you a mystery (hidden truth): We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Cor. 15:51-52, see also 1 Thess. 4:15-18)). These two silver trumpets of Num. 10:2 were to be used for certain purposes. The Hebrew word for "use" here is haya/hava, which is not about the use of something. This Hebrew word and its root have a prophetic meaning of "come to pass, become, accomplish, happen". These two trumpets may be used in the present, but they also have the prophetic sound of future events as we will see. We have already seen above the connection of these trumpets to "the change" which shall occur to all who believe in Christ, those who are dead, and those who are alive. In Num. 10 above, we see that the two trumpets are for the calling out (migra/qara - called out, called together sacred assembly, rehearsal/loud sound, summoned, named, chosen) of the assembly (eda/ed/ud - company, congregation/witness, testimony, prince/restore again, testify, bear witness), and the journeying (massa/nasa - journey, departure, pull up stakes/removing whole stones from a quarry, pulled up, plucked up, cause to spring up, remove) of the aleph-tav camps (mahane/hana/hanan - host, tents, armies, battle/rested, grows to an end, lay siege against, lie, dwell/favor, gracious, merciful). After these two silver trumpets were created, the people of God moved out on a prophetic journey from Mt. Sinai: "Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year...the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran." (Num. 10:11-12). The journey would take three days. The people had received God's Word on Sinai, meaning "thorny", and the Word in the form of the Ark of the Covenant, carried by and accompanied by God's people, would travel three days to a place of caverns (Paran/Pa'ar). The meaning of this place of abundance of caverns, which are beneath the earth, also includes "to boil up, to be hot, to examine the boughs in order to glean them". However, also included in the meaning of this place of Paran/Pa'ar is "glorify, beautify, adorn, to gleam". Here, prophetically, we can see in this prophetic journey in the wilderness, called out by the silver trumpets, the three day journey of Christ, and those who belong to Him, from thorns and suffering to the underworld place of boiling heat, but ultimately, the place that will produce His (and our) glorification and beauty as He overcame it. It was absolutely necessary for the people to prophetically accompany the Word of God (which is Jesus: Jn. 1:1-3) in the Ark of the Covenant through this wilderness journey, because we accompanied Jesus on His journey from the cross, through death, and His resurrection by the glory of God. Paul wrote this: "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly, we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection...Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (Rom. 6:3-8, excerpt, see also Col. 2:12-13, 2 Tim. 2:10-11). There is also a meaning above to Paran/Pa;ar, the place of abundance of caverns, that refers to "examining the boughs in order to glean the fruit". Again, we find this concept of the fruit of our death and resurrection with Christ, Who is the Word: First we become dead to the Law through the death of Christ, and then we become "married...to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God". (Rom. 7:4). God is examining the boughs, looking for the fruit that comes from our being joined to the death and resurrection of Christ. I call these two silver trumpets a gift from God, because they move God's people, not only in the "now", but into the prophetic future. God's people not only "are", but they are changed, and they "become" on their journey. Moses also declared the prophetic purpose of the Ark of the Covenant, the first time this term is being used for the Ark in Num. 10:35-36: "And it came to pass (haya/hava - see above), when the ark set out, that Moses said: 'Rise up (qum - rise up, become powerful, rouse up, raise up one fallen down (Jesus fell down carrying the cross, but stood up again), preserve alive), O LORD! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.' And when it rested (nuah/Noah), he said: 'Return (sub - come back, return again, deliver, recover, refresh, restore), O LORD, to the many thousands of Israel." The Hebrew letter "nun", which normally means "Heir to the throne, offspring, descendant, fish), is written in reverse, both before, and after these two verses. It is rare in written Hebrew scripture to find letters reversed. There are various opinions about why this happened here, but in general, it can be agreed that the two reversed nun letters would cause anyone reading these verses in Hebrew to pay special attention to them, and so should we. When I read these verses from Num. 10 regarding the Ark of the Covenant and the people's three day journey to Paran, I see the resurrection of "the Heir to the throne" in v. 35, and the return , or coming again of the "Heir to the throne", Jesus, in v. 36. The "rising" of the LORD scatters His enemies in these verses from Num. 10. The last enemy to be defeated by this rising of the Lord is death itself (1 Cor. 15:25-26). As Moses called for the Ark to return to the people of Israel, the Church is commanded to call for the return of the Lord, Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:12, 17, 20). The prophetic promise of Christ's return was made by Jesus Himself (Jn. 14:1-4), and that same prophetic promise runs through both Old and New Testament scriptures (ex. Zech. 12:10-14, 13:1). Again, with the return of the Lord (Num. 10:36 above), wickedness is consumed with His breath, and destroyed by the brightness of His appearing (2 Thess. 2:8). As with the two silver trumpets, the sound of prophecy has been brought to the people in this chapter. This is not the only prophetic incident in this week's Sabbath reading of Bha'alot'cha, or "When you step up/go up". In Num. 11, the people were complaining, the anger of the LORD was building because of it, and Moses was begging the LORD to deliver him from this multitude of demanding people, which numbered over 600,000 counting just the males (Num. 11:21-22). They were getting on Moses' last nerve (v. 11-12). Where was the wonder of prophecy now for Moses!? After dealing with this latest situation, the LORD supplied relief to Moses. Moses gathered the seventy elders of the people around the tabernacle. The LORD came down and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses, and placed the same upon the elders. When the Spirit of God rested upon them, they began to prophesy that one time. Two of the elders who had remained in the camp, also began to prophesy there. The two elders who had remained in the camp, and yet received the Spirit and prophesied, were named Eldad ("God has loved", well beloved), and Medad (love, friend, loved one). (v. 24-26). Joshua, one of Moses' choice men, told Moses to forbid those two men, who had not come to the tabernacle, from prophesying (v. 28). "Then Moses said to him, 'Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His (aleph-tav) Spirit (ruho - to breathe, to blow, smell, scent, perceive odor, accept, of delight, understand, touch) upon them!" (v. 29). The Spirit that Moses identified here is the Spirit that is sent by the Messiah, Jesus. The aleph-tav is connected to the written word for "Spirit" here in Hebrew. Jesus called Himself "the aleph-tav" in the Book of Revelation when He referred to Himself as The Alpha and Omega translated into Greek. Also, The Hebrew word used here for "Spirit" means to breathe, to blow. This brings to mind what Jesus said to His disciples after His resurrection: "So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit." (Jn. 20:21-22). We see Jesus in the giving of the Spirit to the two men who remained in the camp, whose names relate to the love of God. Jesus came back again after His resurrection, for the specific purpose of appearing to Thomas, His disciple, who had not been with the others when Jesus had appeared to them earlier (Jn. 20:24-25). Jesus appeared again eight days later and spoke directly to Thomas, telling Thomas to touch Him (see ruho Spirit above) in the piercing wounds that Jesus had suffered. Jesus did this in order to help Thomas' unbelief in the resurrection (Jn. 20:26-29). This was an act of love for one man, and to pronounce a blessing upon all of those who would believe in Jesus without having seen and touched Him. We might question the fact that there were two men who remained in the camp of the Israelites, yet received the Spirit and prophesied, while Thomas is one man. However, Thomas' name means "the twin", twins (plural), coupled together, to be double". Again, we see the gift of the silver trumpets that prophesied and brought the gift of prophesy to the people of God in this episode. It was not just for that time, but for a time to come. Prophesy brings God's people from being anchored to the earth in the "now", to being able to "go up" into the eternal realms. This is where God's people get the direction for the journey. The prophetic promises and pictures given to us from this realm, change lives, and generations, and bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. Before closing this Bha'alot'cha, "When you step up/go up" Sabbath reading, I would like to share a beautiful revelation of dream and prayer from a servant of God named Fran. She wrote this for all of us: For the intercessor// who looks to the One Who sits on the Right Hand of the Father, Who holds the keys to death, hell and the grave// shall by His Spirit// pray and intercede for the one// and the ones of many// who have put on the garments reflecting the glories and the lights...// Those who by Strength of God and His Christ, who by Wisdom and Knowledge, Truth and Humility...// those who have chosen the narrow path of the seas, the way of trial and suffering// the way of the Cross...// those taking on the warfare of the Heavenly Mind against the flesh, the evil, the attacking ones of the world who appear as brethren, as of like kind, but are of devilish, treacherous ways and spirits, bodily demonics// For those shall ye pray and stand firmly// that they be uplifted and continued in their transformations and their fight of the good fight// That they keep pressing on in the waters and seas of life on earth that is awaiting the final and triumphant rising up of the sons to glory// For even when they weaken am I still bringing forth the Strength of My Righteous Right Arm// to usher them into the calm of the Deep, the purity of the River, the Wellspring// from which My Life of Forever// shall enrich them as One...// for they and you are My Kingdom and My Pattern of Heaven in Amen.// If you would like to know more about the gift of the Spirit of the LORD, and the love of the Lord from which He flows, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, out of love, You sent Your Son. Out of love, You poured out Your Spirit for Your people. Out of love, You prophesy through Your servants, not only to guide a current generation, but to lay the path of the Will of God for future generations. It is the way of Glory. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, so that I may understand, touch, and be enveloped in the fragrance of Christ who breathes on me. Let me prophesy, in Word, in prayer, in Spirit, so that I may speak the things of You that cause us to ascend, go up, and be raised up. Let me be a part of the answer to Moses' prayer when he said, "Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."