Roads

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Mattot-Mass'ei, which means "the journeys of the tribes", from Numbers 32 through 35. Last week we studied the testimony of the tribes of Israel found in their names. This testimony of the greatness of God was brought with them wherever they traveled and would be brought with them as they settled by tribes in the land promised to them by God. This same testimony was also purposed by God to be their spiritual warfare by which the Canaanite tribes and their false gods were dispossessed from the land before them. We believers in Jesus as Savior, also carry a "tribal" name and identity that carries our testimony of belonging to the Messiah/Christ Jesus. It is the testimony of His name, which in Hebrew is Yeshua or Yehoshua meaning "the LORD of/is Salvation." The whole family (patria/pater - a nation or tribe whose lineage runs back to a common origin, paternal [from the father] descent/father or founder of a family or tribe, the originator and transmitter of anything) of heaven is named for the Father God through His Son, Jesus (Eph. 3:14-19, see also Jn. 1:10-13, Col. 3:3-4).  Our tribal testimony of the name and sovereign power of God to save also serves the same purpose as the testimony of the tribes of Israel as stated above: "...the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord..." (Eph. 3:9-11). The powers of darkness are dispossessed by the testimony that we, the tribe of God in Christ, carry.

     The importance of this week's Sabbath revelation regarding the tribes, is that their journeys (massa/nasa - pulling up of stakes, breaking camp, setting out, to quarry stones/set out, journey, remove, set forward, cause to spring up, to quarry or to cut out, pluck out, bend a bow), also reveals a truth about our journey in faith. As we can see from the Hebrew meaning of the word that is translated as "journey" above, the same thing that causes one thing to "spring up" also causes another thing to be "plucked out" or "removed" spiritually speaking as well as physically speaking. The journey also includes the meaning of "bending the bow" which points to spiritual warfare.

     The track of the journey of the Israelites was recorded by Moses by the command of the LORD: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. Now Moses wrote down the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) starting points (mosa/yasa - place of going out or issuing from, source, spring or watercourse, exit, going forth, proceed, east as the rising of the sun, a fountain of waters, a gate, promulgation of an edict, that which is produced, utterance of the mouth especially of solemn or formal speech/deliver, bring out, draw forth, go forward, to become fair and beautiful and clean, to be freed from) of their journeys at the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting points (mosa/yasa - same as above):" (Num. 33:1-2). Part of the meaning of "staring point" in Hebrew is to proceed or go forward. We can see why the threat of the Israelites against Moses of their desire to "go back" to Egypt would be counter to the command of the LORD to record their "starting points." We can also see from the Hebrew meaning how important our "starting points" are as we follow after the Lord. Our "starting point" throughout all of our journey must be the cross of Jesus (see Mt. 16:24-26).

     The journey of the Israelites had its own first mosa starting point of their massa journey in Rameses/Ramses, Egypt (Num. 33:3) with many other "starting points" to follow, all of which were recorded by Moses in Num. 33. In accordance with the meaning, as the Israelites were issuing the proclamation of the deliverance of the LORD, they were "plucking out" the gods of Egypt: "...on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out (yasa - root word of mosa above) with boldness (rum + yad - be lifted up, exalt, high, to rise, become powerful + hand, consecrate, power, dominion, ministry, draw with strength) in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had killed among them. Also on their gods the LORD executed judgments." (Num. 33:4). The city of Rameses in Lower Egypt was associated with four gods: Amon-Re (king of all gods), Wadjet (cobra goddess), Seti (god of chaos and destruction), Astarte (goddess of fertility and sexuality). The starting point of the journey of the Israelites became the place of judgment against these false gods of Egypt. The same must also be true of the starting points along our spiritual journey in Christ. 

     In another reading portion from this "Journeys of the Tribes" Sabbath, there came a moment where the road the tribes had traveled together would diverge. At a request approved of by the LORD and enacted by Moses, the tribes of Gad, Reuben and half of the half-tribe of Manasseh claimed their land inheritance on the eastern side of the Jordan River rather than the western side where the rest of the tribes would settle in the promised land. At the time, Moses had attained the promise from the three Israelite tribes that they would still fight with the other tribes in the dispossession of the Canaanites from the eastern side of the Jordan. The time came when the battles were done, and the tribes had settled in peace on the eastern side: "Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass." (Josh. 21:45).

     Joshua then called the tribes of Gad, Reuben and the portion of the tribe of Manasseh to him and told them that they had kept their promise to the other tribes to fight with them: "...now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But take careful heed to do the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him with all your heart and with all your soul. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents." (Josh. 22:1-6). The two tribes and the part of the third tribe separated from the other tribes of Israel at Shiloh (silo - place of rest, tranquility and prosperity; an expectation belonging to the kingdom of the Messiah/Christ [see Gen. 49:10]; an epithet of the Messiah/Christ: that which belongs to Him) (Josh. 22:9). This was not a divergence in the road caused by strife and division, but with the approval of God and Moses, at a "starting point" that carried the testimony of the Kingdom of the Messiah/Christ. The three tribes that would inhabit the eastern side of the Jordan River built an altar of witness to testify of their unity in identity and in the worship of the LORD with the tribes that inhabited the western side of the Jordan River (v. 10, 26-27). Roads may diverge, and tribes may separate, but their commonly held love for the LORD and faith in the Messiah/Christ Jesus will always be a point of unity among them (see Eph. 4:1-6, 11-16).

     From another reading portion from this "Journeys of the tribes" Sabbath, the prophet Jeremiah wrote that the Israelites had abandoned the road upon which God had directed them, and chose instead the spiritual roads of foreigners, who worshipped false gods: "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters (see mosa starting point above), and hewn for themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water...Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) LORD your God when He led you in the way (derek/darak - way, road, journey, manner, path, course of life/tread, walk, march, expressing wine or oil by tread, to bend a bow in order to string it by stepping on it)? And now why take the road/way (see derek/darak above) to Egypt, to drink (sata - drinkers, drunkards, to feast) the waters of Sihor (sihor/sahar - dark, turpid, muddy/dim or dark)? Or why take the road/way (derek/darak above) to Assyria, to drink (see sata above) the waters of the river?" (Jer. 2:13, 17-18). God's people were walking along the way of nations who worshipped idols and false foreign gods, seeking success in war, fertility and prosperity that these gods falsely promised. The aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega LORD also said to His people: "But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah." (v. 28). The LORD's way had led His people safely "...through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death." (v. 6, see also Ps. 23:4, Isa. 9:2, Amos 5:8, Mt. 4:16). Chapter four of Jeremiah, also a part of this week's reading, tells us that remaining on the road of the LORD was not just for the sake of the well-being of the Israelites, but had even more far-reaching implications: "If you will return O Israel, says the LORD, Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, 'The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness'; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory." (v. 1-2). As Israel returns to the way, the road of the LORD in their journey, the nations will be blessed as well.

     The way that God was leading them was the way of the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega LORD (YHWY: "Behold the hand, behold the nail"). Jesus said emphatically: "I am the way (hodos - way, road, journey, route, highway, a progress, mode or means, manner), the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (Jn. 14:6). We are told by Jesus to walk Him as a road. When we veer off of that road for any of the various reasons that the cares and desires of life create, we walk the way of foreign false gods, as the Israelites did above.

     Paul wrote about the road of our journey: "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk (peripateo - to walk, tread all around, to progress, follow as a companion, conduct one's self) in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." (Col. 2:6-7).

     There is a poem written by Robert Frost titled "The Road Not Taken." It is about the choice a man made when the road he was on divided in the woods. He decided to take the part of the road that few if any had walked, while leaving behind the road that had been worn by the feet of many. His poem ends:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

   

     Jesus spoke of how narrow is the gate and the way or road which leads to life, and that there are few who find it. (Mt. 7:13-14). However, that road less traveled makes all the difference. It is worth it to take that road, and to stay on that road of life.

     If you would like to know more about the importance of the road of the LORD, you can join me in my prayer: "Father, You have ordained and directed the road by which Your people are to journey. It is a road that not only builds up the faith of Your people and leads them to You, but also pulls down enemy strongholds of spiritual wickedness. This road followed by Your people also brings the knowledge of You and Your glory to all nations. Your road is the road of righteousness, and I pray that I will always walk on this road and follow its path. There are wide roads that many follow to destruction, but then there is the narrow road that few find that leads to life in You, and in Your Son, Jesus. This is the road that I desire to walk with You.  I ask this in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.