Torah Pearls #34 – Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)

bamidbar, camel, currency, emblems, jono , keith johnson, levi, levites, money, redeemed, redeemer, shaddai, shlamazel, shlameel, shlumazel, shlumiel, standards, twelve tribes, torah pearls, numbers, nehemia gordon, torah portion, gamaliel, yehovah, Torah Pearls BamidbarIn this episode of The Original Torah Pearls, Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20), we talk about the meaning of the terms Bamidbar and Shaddai, decipher the names Schlemiel and Schlimazel, and uncover the secret of Hasenpfeffer Incorporated. We also explore the questions: Who is the mysterious Gamaliel in the Book of Numbers? Is there a problem with the numbers in Numbers? What are the emblems and standards of the twelve tribes? Why is it that the tribe of Levi is selected? How does currency and money differ? What does it mean to be the redeemed of Yehovah? The answers to all this and more in this week’s Torah Pearls!

I look forward to reading your comments! Download Torah Pearls Bamidbar Transcript
Torah Pearls #34 - Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)

You are listening to The Original Torah Pearls with Nehemia Gordon, Keith Johnson, and Jono Vandor. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Jono: G’day to Wendy and her great friend, Jennifer, who introduced her to the Torah. And wherever you may be around the world, it is good to have your company. It is time for Pearls from the Torah Portion with Keith Johnson and Nehemia Gordon. G’day, gentlemen.

Keith: G’day.

Nehemia: G’day, Jono! Great to be here from Jerusalem. And I want to send a shout-out to Ida B. in Florida, Richard from Green Valley, Arizona, Tim from Ada, Ohio, and Patricia who is married to Scott. Thanks to all of you for sharing the Torah Pearls, especially on Facebook. Keep sharing.

Jono: Amen.

Keith: And I would like to give a special shout-out to all of our new listeners who haven’t even been a part of this for these last few months but have just joined us. This is exciting to have you. We’re giving a shout-out to everybody that’s joined just in the last few weeks. It’s a blessing to have you.

Jono: Now, oh look, before we do anything more, I just want to read another comment, if I may. This is from Ray. G’day, Ray! He says, “Blessings to all three. Love the broadcast. The insight into Torah, the Biblical Hebrew, the verbal exchanges, the prayers; I love it all. Finally, a teaching that makes sense! I believe this is what Yehovah had in His plan since the beginning; a people who He chose to teach His Torah.” Thank you for that Ray, appreciate the comment, my friend, and I hope that it continues to be just one of many blessings from our Father.

Today, we are in Bamidbar, Numbers 1 verse 1, to chapter 4, verse 20. And it begins like this…now, Keith, we did now in our last Torah Pearls, we said that we were going to read some of this out in Hebrew, right? Remember that? I’m going to do one better than that, I’m going to up it, ready?

Keith: Ready.

Jono: I’m going to read it from the Hebrew and translate it into English while standing on my head, are you ready?

Keith: Here it goes.

Nehemia: Wow.

Keith: This is impressive.

Jono: Wait a minute, here we go. Are you ready?

Nehemia: Now, aren’t you always on your head because you’re in Australia and they’re upside down?

Jono: But now I’m standing up. Okay. Here we go, “Now Yehovah 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, saying, ‘Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who are able to go in to war for Israel.’” Now, let me stop there. Hang on, I’ll get back down and jump back into my seat. Here we are. Nehemia?

Nehemia: Yes.

Jono: I’m just curious; it’s mandatory to serve in the army in Israel at the moment, right?

Nehemia: Hmm.

Jono: From what age?

Nehemia: So, the Israeli army drafts boys and girls from the age of 18, usually. So, men do three years, 18 to 21, and girls do two years, 18 to 20.

Jono: Okay. But here, is it fair to say that they were, in a sense, drafted from the age of 20?

Nehemia: Well, clearly, they were serving in the army from the age of 20. I don’t know if they were actually drafted because they didn’t actually have a standing army, it was more of a…actually very similar to what happens in Israel, which is that most citizens will do a basic service and then after that they remain in the pool of army reserves.

Essentially, the system they had in ancient Israel was the entire…every able-bodied man was in the reserves and they weren’t a standing army of professional soldiers. There were some professional soldiers, but that was a very small number of people who were in the officer, or essentially officers, and in the ruling class.

Jono: Sure. Okay. “You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one at the head of his father’s house.” And here begins all the names. Now, eventually I’d like to get to verse 46 and highlight that. Between here and there…Keith, is there anything in particular that you wanted to highlight?

Keith: Of course, I would like to highlight a few things, and I appreciate you tipping the hat to me as we get started here. The thing that hit me and, I was thinking about this late last night and again this morning…it’s interesting that the English Bible does what it does. What we do in the English Bible is…we’ve talked about this before…we’ve got the titles of the chapters, and we’ve got the chapter numbers, and we’ve got the verses, but the other thing we do is we give the actual title of the book.

So, I just think it’s so interesting as I’m looking here in the Hebrew Bible, and I’m looking here at my English Bible. So, the first thing I see is Numbers. If I look in my Hebrew Bible, I see “Bamidbar,” and then it says ‘Num.’ meaning Numbers. And so, then I’m asking myself the question; if I’m not looking in my Hebrew Bible, and someone says, “here’s a book for you to read,” and I say, “so what’s the title of the book?” Well, the title of the book is Numbers. Now, I’m thinking to myself, “why would I want to read a book about numbers?” If someone comes to me and they say, hey, this is a book, it happens to be about what happened in the desert, after they came from the mountain, and it’s called “In the Desert,” Bamidbar, or “In the Desert,” and I’m thinking to myself, “Okay, so which one would I want to read? Numbers? Or something that happened in the desert?” Well, when I hear, “in the desert”, all the sudden I look at the book differently.

So, I just think it’s interesting that the English equivalent of this book was titled, “Numbers,” whereas in the Hebrew it’s, “In the Desert.” So that made me slow down a little bit and then, of course, when I started reading, the first verse, I can’t get past it because in the first verse we’ve got this really controversial thing going on, and I’m hoping Nehemia will give at least 10 seconds on this, and Jono, you can give about 30 or 40 seconds on this, and then I can give you guys the whole commentary as far as what I think.

Jono: Sure.

Keith: But in the first verse when it says, “And Yehovah spoke unto Moses in the Desert of Sinai at the Tent of Meeting,” we’ve talked about this again. Here we’ve got this tent, and of course in the NIV Bible, in the Methodist Bible, it says “in the Tent of Meeting,” but we know that there’s that word again, this idea of “mo’ed.” There’s the mo’ed, the appointment. And then it does this radical thing, you guys. It says…it starts dealing with time. So, of course, I’ve got to take a minute to talk about this.

Jono: Sure.

Keith: Because it says, “On the first day, of the second month, of the second year.” So, you’ve got three different things going there; you’ve got month, day, and year. And you know what? It’s almost as if they were counting. It’s almost as if Moses knew what time it was, and they knew what the day was, and there’s no controversy here about if it was on the equinox or if it was on the dark moon. I mean it’s just like an obvious deal as you’re listening to this and you’re sitting there and you hear this verse about what happened in the desert, I’m sure that the ancient Israelites weren’t sitting there saying, “Well, let’s have an argument about which day it was. Was it the middle of the month? Was it the dark moon? Was it the equinox taking place? Was it the…”

I mean are you kidding me? It’s right there! They knew the times according to what He had told them in Exodus 12, this should be the beginning of the month for you, and they counted. And I mean I just…that’s as much as waxing on as I’m going to do about it, but it’s just a point of fact. This is when it happened. No argument about how it happened, it’s when it happened.

Jono: Sure. Nice.

Nehemia: Amen. Praise God. Well, since Keith waxed on, I’m going to wax off. So here in verse 1, I’ve mentioned this in previous Torah portions, but now we’ve actually come to it. Yehovah spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting, and it says on the first day of the second month, in the second year of them going out of the land of Egypt. Well, chapter nine of the same book, verse 1, says, “And Yehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year of them going out of the land of Egypt in the first month, saying…” and then the actual whole story there in chapter nine is about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover sacrifice. The fact that it’s in the first month is crucial to the story. Basically, what this means is chapter nine of the book of Numbers took place before chapter one of Numbers, and, again, we’re dealing with the issue that this was a series of different scrolls.

Having said that, still, every time I read this, I’m shocked. Chapter 1, verse 1, that we’ve now read three out of the five books of the Torah. We’re 60 percent of the way through the Torah, as far as the number of books are concerned, and we’re only in the second year after the Exodus.

Jono: True. That’s a really good point.

Nehemia: Right? So, I mean, between Exodus 12 all the way up until Numbers chapter 1, we’ve had eleven and a half months. That’s all that has transpired, which to me is, you know…

Jono: That is true.

Nehemia: …that’s like, seriously? That’s all that has gone by? What that means is that the book of Numbers is going to then cover, essentially, the next forty years. Because then the book of Deuteronomy opens up just before they enter into the land of Israel at the end of the 40th year. So, this is actually a book that’s going to cover…the book of Leviticus covered chronologically less than a year, essentially, and the book of Numbers is going to cover 39 years. So that’s kind of cool.

Jono: That’s an excellent point.

Keith: And Jono, I think that just connects with what I was saying. If you tell me, “Hey, listen, I want to hear about the people of Israel,” and someone says, “well, here’s the book of Genesis or here’s the book of Exodus.” They say, “well, you want to learn about what happened to the Temple, well here’s the book of Leviticus; you don’t have to worry about Numbers, that’s just a bunch of names and numbers.” Now here’s Deuteronomy and yet what Nehemia just said ties in perfectly, that here you’ve got a book that the title of it is “In the Desert,” and yet it’s a book that often times, at least in my tradition, wouldn’t be something that…you’re not going to hear a lot of messages, you’re not going to hear a lot of teaching, you’re just not going to hear it from the book of Numbers. And yet when I began to read this with that as the background, that this is going to span all those years in the desert, boy, I slowed down, and I did read it. And there’s some phenomenal information here, and I know we’re going to get into it, and of course, there’s going to be some of it where Jono’s not going to be able to read every name every time, but there are some things that are going to jump off the page.

Nehemia: Okay, I want to comment on verse 6, or Jono, do you have anything to add there? Or…

Jono: Please, verse six, yeah.

Nehemia: Okay. So, verse 6. So, it’s Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai. What’s interesting about Shelumiel is…and this really has to do more with, I suppose, Jewish culture than with anything in the Torah portion, but in Jewish culture Shelumiel became sort of a mythical figure, to the point where, especially in Yiddish culture of Jews from Eastern Europe, there’s two figures that they’ll talk about all the time.

Keith, maybe you have heard of this if you ever watched the American television program, I think from the 70s, Laverne & Shirley. There at the beginning of the program they’re singing, “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated.” Well, ‘Schlemiel’ is their pronunciation of Shelumiel, and ‘Schlimazel’ is Shelumiel’s friend, and these are actually, essentially, mythical figures in Yiddish culture.

Shelumiel is the guy who never has a string of any good luck; things always go bad for him. He’s the guy who always spills the soup; that’s Shelumiel. His friend Schlimazel, that’s the guy the soup always spills on. And that comes from here, from Numbers, chapter 1, verse 6, Shelumiel. Schlimazel isn’t mentioned here, but that’s his mythical friend. Then I want to quickly jump to verse 16; I’m going to ask Keith to read that.

Keith: Wait a minute. Now, hold on. Are you telling me right here we’ve got a little bit of American culture right here in the book of Numbers?

Nehemia: Well, it’s American culture that was influenced by Jewish culture that goes back eventually to the Bible. I think it’s funny how probably millions of people, tens of millions, heard that, you know, every week in America. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated,” never…what do those words mean? Well, they come from the book of Numbers. The guy who always spills the soup and the guy who the soup gets spilled on.

Keith: So, I got to ask, Nehemia, did you actually…

Nehemia: By the way, you’re Schlimazel, I’m Schlemiel.

Keith: No, but here’s my question; did you actually watch Laverne & Shirley?

Nehemia: I think I did actually, like, back in the 80s I watched the reruns.

Jono: Wasn’t that a spin-off from Happy Days or something?

Nehemia: Was it really?

Jono: I think so.

Nehemia: Okay. Well, it took place in Wisconsin, and I’m from Illinois so, you know, they’re neighbors.

Jono: There you go.

Nehemia: I couldn’t tell you what the show was about, it was…

Jono: I kind of remember, but I do vaguely remember watching it when I was young. So now, before we move on from that, I’m just kind of interested. Zurishaddai, is that right?

Nehemia: Zurishaddai, yeah.

Jono: There’s also a little further down Ammishaddai.

Nehemia: Right.

Jono: Can you just give us a quick rundown on the meaning of those names?

Nehemia: Well, that’s interesting. Many Hebrew names are little short sentences. And “shaddai,” of course, is, you know, one of the titles of God is Elshaddai. There is some dispute about what “shaddai” actually means; there are lot of different theories. Some people say that “shaddai” means “my breasts,” as in your chest, which is kind of a strange thing to be calling God.

Another explanation is that “shaddai,” comes from the word “shedd,” which in later Hebrew came to mean demon, but in ancient Hebrew, in the Torah, actually means a spirit. So “shaddai,” may mean “my great spirit.” The ‘great’ comes from the ‘ai’ form at the end of “shaddai,” as opposed to “sheddi,” or “shaddi.” So Zurishaddai would mean, “my rock is my great spirit,” or “shaddai is my rock.” That would be the name.

Jono: And Ammishaddai?

Nehemia: So Ammishaddai, it’s interesting what that may mean. So obviously “ammi,” presumably, means, or the common meaning of that would be, “my people.”

Jono: Okay.

Nehemia: So “my people, my spirit.” So, then you have to…and here’s one of the problems with names as short sentences, and this is something you find in Hebrew poetry in general, is that you have these very short sentences and they’ll tend to drop prepositions. You know, prepositions are words like “to,” “of,” “from,” “with.” Why did they drop them? Because that’s what poetry does, and names tend to do that too. So, if I had to just guess off the top of my head, I’d say Ammishaddai means, “my spirit of my people.” I guess that’s what it would have to mean.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: Unless someone can come up with a more clever explanation. It doesn’t make sense to say that “my people is my spirit,” or it doesn’t really fit. Presumably, it means “spirit of my people.”

Jono: There’s obviously a wealth of information in these names as far as definition is concerned.

Nehemia: Oh, yeah.

Jono: And it would be worth taking time to go through them and singling some out and looking them up. Keith, are there any that you would like to highlight?

Keith: I’m still looking for my name somewhere in the Bible, and I’m having a problem with that.

Nehemia: Well that’s not there. But could we look in verse 10? There’s a name there, which is usually translated as Gamaliel. I know a lot of our Christian listeners will be familiar with Gamaliel from the New Testament as one of the teachers of Paul of Tarsus, who makes the claim that he sat at the feet of Gamaliel, who was the top Rabbinical teacher in that period around the year 30 and 40, and here he is.

He is, it says, of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. His name is an interesting name. What does Gamaliel mean in Hebrew? Gamaliel? So ‘Gamal’ is a camel, like the Hebrew letter ‘gimel,’ which originally was shaped like the hump of a camel. Gamliel means, “the camel of God.”

Jono: Is that right?

Nehemia: Yeah, it’s a strange name.

Jono: That is!

Nehemia: But that’s what it means. Then his father Pedahzur means, “the rock redeemed,” or, “redeemed of the rock.” Pedahzur; the rock referring to God.

Jono: There you go

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: There it is. Verse 16 says, “These are those called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers.” What does your translation have there?

Jono: I’ve got, “These were chosen from the congregation, leaders of their fathers’ tribes, heads of the divisions of Israel.” Keith, what do you have in 16?

Nehemia: “Divisions of Israel.”

Keith: Mine says, “These were the Karaites from the community…”

Nehemia: What?

Keith: “…the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of…” I’m just reading a little bit of the Hebrew, I’m sorry. Ah, no. “These were the men appointed from the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of Israel.”

Nehemia: Heads of the…they were clans? Is that with a “c” or a “k”? Anyway, so you’ve got clans, you’ve got divisions…what the Hebrew literally says is “alfei.” And “alfei” means ‘the thousands’, the heads of the thousands of Israel. That’s interesting because the word, “thousand” means a clan or division; it’s essentially a large familial group.

So, some people looked at this whole section and said “Okay”. In verse 46, now I’m going to jump ahead to 46, it says there’s 600 hundred “elef,” 6 and 3 “elef,” so 600,000 and 3,000 or 603,000. Now is that 603 clans, extended families? Or is that 603,000 people? Some people have actually suggested that…this is obviously what they say, I’m not saying this, they say, “well, it couldn’t have been 603,000 people going through the desert, that’s just the men between the ages of 20 and 50. Which means we’re dealing with…or 20 and up…that means we’re dealing with something like about two and a half or three million people, is the assumption; that the male fighters were probably about 1/5 of the population. So, 3 million people. How did 3 million people go through the desert?

So, one suggestion that people have made, and I’m not saying I agree with this, is that it’s actually 603 families, and each family maybe had, I don’t know, 20 people, or 50 people. Now against that suggestion…what I think kind of undermines that suggestion, is the whole rest of the chapter, which you want to skip over, which gives us specific numbers. So, it’s like the tribe of Reuben it has 46,500. If you add up all these numbers, they come out to 603,000. Which kind of, I think, refutes the idea, even though it’s a tempting idea, I think it kind of refutes on the plain meaning of the text being that there’s 603 families. It really sounds like, because “elef” could mean an extended family, but here I think, really, in this context, it means 603,000.

Jono: It’s difficult to argue outside of that possibility. I mean, to put it into context from 44, “These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his father’s house. So, all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel, all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.” There we go.

Nehemia: There it is.

Jono: So, what’s the problem with that? I don’t understand the problem. I mean, I know…

Nehemia: I don’t have a problem. What they say is, the problem is, how could so many people travel through the desert and what would they have eaten, and what would they have drunk, and it would’ve taken them so long to move. And I’m like, “Well, it did take them 40 years…”

Jono: Yeah.

Nehemia: “…and they did complain at every turn. Hey, what are we going to eat, and what are we going to drink?” So that actually fits the story pretty well.

Jono: It kind of does. I don’t see the problem with it. Keith, do you remember…I mean, studying I remember in Bible College, this was always one of those really big topics that they would try and walk you through, and argue and sort of whittle away. Do you remember that? Did that happen with you?

Keith: No, in the seminary I went to we had our classes, we had Old Testament survey and those sorts of things, but again it was the idea of survey, kind of like where you just kind of take the big picture and don’t get too caught up in the details.

Jono: Don’t get caught up in the details. Speaking of the detail, verse 47, “But the Levites were not numbered.” Now, everything that we’ve just gone through is beside the Levites, right? “The Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe for Yehovah had spoken to Moses, saying, ‘Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; but you shall appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all the things that belong to it; they shall carry the Tabernacle and its furnishings; they shall attend to it and they shall camp around the Tabernacle.’” How about that? So, they actually get to…

Nehemia: Come on.

Jono: This is where they are; they get to camp around it.

Keith: Well, think about it, Jono. So, you’re the ones that are carrying all this, and I still don’t know how they did that. I don’t know however many, it says they’re not counted. But, however many had to carry those panels of sections…

Nehemia: Well, they’re counted later on.

Jono: It does actually. We get to find out specifically who is carrying those things and…

Keith: But I mean, think about it. So they get there and it only makes sense, it’s only fair, “okay, we’re going to set up, now we’re going to send you a ways, no we’re going to camp right around it, we’re going to do the work, we’re going to carry it, we’re going to do it, we need to be there available anyways to do it.” But I think it’s just kind of cool the picture that it sends.

Jono: It is! And I’ve got a little diagram in my Bible, it sort-of shows around abouts where all the tribes have camped, and of course the Levites were around about in the middle. And it’s serious stuff because it goes on to say in 51, “And when the Tabernacle is to go forth, Levites will take it down; and when the Tabernacle is to be set up, Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death.” I mean that is serious, serious stuff.

“And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; but the Levites shall camp around the Tabernacle of Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge over the Tabernacle of Testimony. Thus, the children of Israel did; according to all that Yehovah commanded Moses, so they did.”

Keith: There it is.

Jono: There it is. Chapter one. Okay. Now, can I…

Keith: I want to say something.

Nehemia: That wasn’t so bad, reading it in Hebrew.

Keith: So, I want Nehemia to do something, if he would. The cat’s out of the bag, Nehemia. I mean, you got this awesome program. And I have to say something about this program, the Accordance program, I’ve given a little love to the Accordance folks. It’s amazing what you are able to find, and searches and all of this, and still after all these years I still scratch the surface.

You know, Nehemia, can push buttons and put things together that are really amazing finds, but this is a bit simpler and maybe even, Jono I don’t know if you’ve got a search program there, but one of the things that I do remember from a long time ago, and I told people this before - the big thing that I used to do from the early time that I ever was involved in the church, I had a pastor named Dr. Heinermann. He would preach the Bible, so he’d get up and preach the Bible, and as I got older, sometimes he’d take me to breakfast and sit down and talk to me. And he said something to me that I’ve always remembered. And he said to me... are you there?

Jono: He said that to you?

Keith: Hello?

Nehemia: Is that what he said to you, “are you there?”

Jono: He’d sit down with you and look at you and said, “Are you there?”

Keith: No, I’m so used to being interrupted that you guys didn’t interrupt me, I’m like, “are you guys there?”

Jono: No, you’re telling this great story and we’re on the edge of our seat, and all of a sudden he says to you, “are you there?”

Keith: No, I’m telling this story and I’m, like, isn’t someone going to interrupt me? Okay. So anyway – I’m like, “hello, are you guys there?”

Nehemia: Well, on that note, Jono, I really do want to…no, I’m just…go on ahead.

Jono: What does he say to you, Keith? What does he say?

Keith: The pastor, he tells me…

Nehemia: Are you there?

Keith: He says to me, he says, “you know Keith, whenever you’re getting a chance to speak there’s nothing like being able to quote Scripture. Basically, if you’re not preaching anything, but you have the ability to bring…” it’s like Psalm 119 says, “I’ve hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you,” the idea that the word of God is in you, so as you’re speaking, you’re speaking the word of God.

This one particular verse, I still remember this, when I was doing a Scripture memory program, that there was this verse, and this verse, what may have been the only verse from Numbers that I knew, it said, “The Israelites did all this just as the Lord commanded Moses.” Now, that might sound like a really small thing, why was that such an important verse for me? Because of this idea that what was commanded through Moses “and he spoke to the people; they did it.” Now this is obviously earlier in their history than later.

But I wanted to see if you guys could find any other type verses like this, maybe we can do it as we go through the program, where there’s a verse like this, “and they did all as was commanded.” “And they did all as was commanded.” So, Nehemia, I’m sure you could push a button, or Jono maybe you could also, I’m not sitting here, you know…

Nehemia: Well, where is your button? I don’t understand.

Keith: I don’t have any button; I just have the Bible. It’s all memorized, ladies and gentlemen. It’s in my heart, it comes of out of my gut.

Nehemia: Written on “the tablet of your heart,” huh?

Keith: It’s the on the tablet of my…

Jono: Nice.

Keith: But anyway, just this idea, as we go through the Torah, that there are these times where it says, “And Moses commanded and looked and saw and yes they did just as they were commanded.” I think that’s a pretty powerful verse because it says there was a time where the people did do exactly what Yehovah commanded through Moses.

Jono: Amen. Now I have a question as well, and I’ve just mentioned this actually in verse 52, but it comes up again here in chapter 2. It says, “And Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘Every one of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house.’” What are we talking about specifically, Nehemia?

Nehemia: I’m glad you brought that up. I’ve been to many, many synagogues and churches and seen the different flags of the 12 tribes. I mean, everyone’s seen that. Haven’t you seen that, Keith?

Keith: Yes, I have.

Nehemia: You see the flags of the 12 tribes, and you would think that this is where they come from, but they actually don’t come from here. Where they usually come from, they’re essentially artistic depictions of the blessings that are given in Genesis and Deuteronomy. One by Jacob and the other by Moses; you know, they’re essentially trying to translate those blessings into a flag. We don’t really know what their flags looked like. It says, “Each man by his flag.” Literally it says “beh-otot,” which you could translate, ‘by signs’ or it could also be, ‘by letters’. Maybe the flag just had their name on it. We don’t know…

Keith: Wait a minute, just a second, just a second. What are you saying? Are you telling me, when I go in into some of these fellowships and they’ve got these huge ten by ten flags, or when people sometimes have these huge…what are you saying to me? You’re going to take that away from us, Nehemia?

Nehemia: No, you can keep that. But just remember that’s an artistic depiction that really isn’t defined anywhere in Scripture. Where it comes from, I’m not exactly sure. Someone could probably do some research on that. I know that in the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, in Ein Karem, there is a beautiful…

Jono: Oh, stain glass window.

Nehemia: …version of the stained-glass windows made by…even you know that in Australia…the stained-glass windows made by Chagall. They’re a beautiful depiction of those flags of the 12 tribes. But that’s Chagall’s artistic rendering; him being an artist, he interpreted what he thought they might look.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: But we don’t know what they really looked like. For example, Dan being a snake; that’s the most common one you’ll see. So where did they get that, the snake on the tribe of Dan? Well, that’s from the blessing, if I’m not mistaken, that Moses gives, in Deuteronomy, let’s see…

Jono: No. Isn’t that from Jacob?

Nehemia: Or is that…

Jono: Dan will be the serpent on the roadside.

Nehemia: There it is. Okay, there.

Jono: Yeah.

Nehemia: Exactly. So, Genesis 49:17 says, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.” Well, now where do we get from that that the flag of Dan is a snake?

Jono: Well, I don’t know. That would stand reason that Naphtali would be a deer, and that Asher would be a piece of bread.

Nehemia: And that’s what they have on, you know, I say traditional renderings, but I don’t know how far back these go. I know Chagall used them; maybe that’s where it comes from, for all I know. I really don’t know. But then look in Deuteronomy 33:22, “And of Dan he said, ‘Dan is a lion's whelp; he shall leap from Bashan.’” So why isn’t Dan a lion? Why is Dan a snake?

Jono: That’s a good question

Nehemia: I think this is anti-Danism, that’s what this is.

Jono: So, there it is. But it doesn’t say…it goes on to mention that, “they shall camp some distance from the Tabernacle of Meeting,” and so they do so. They’re told where to go and they go and set themselves up, but it doesn’t go into any detail as to what their standard or their emblem is, but we know that they do have one. So, I’m saying that there is no description in the verses in regards to the standards or emblems. Is there anything that you would like to pull out of those verses, Nehemia, before I go to verse 32?

Nehemia: I feel bad that we’re jumping over this whole section, but…

Jono: We don’t have to; we can read it all out. Keith, do you want to read it out?

Nehemia: Well, I mean it’s interesting, because you said you have a diagram in your Bible…

Jono: Yeah.

Nehemia: …and really, we could’ve accomplished most of what’s in this chapter with a simple diagram. It reminds me of the sections we read in Exodus about describing the different vessels and parts of the Tabernacle, where it gives us a long verbal description for something that, really, a simple picture would’ve sufficed.

Jono: A picture tells a thousand words, right?

Nehemia: Right. But the Torah is the word, and it’s based on the word and not the picture.

Jono: Amen.

Nehemia: It paints pictures with the words, but those words are necessary to paint the pictures. There it is. That’s all I got to say.

Jono: All right, I’m jumping along. Keith, was there anything you wanted to add to that?

Keith: No, I’m waiting in the bushes.

Jono: Here it is, “These are the ones who were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses. All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, just as Yehovah commanded Moses. Thus, the children of Israel did according to all,” there it is again, verse 34, “Thus the children of Israel…”

Nehemia: There it is.

Jono: “…did according to all that Yehovah commanded Moses; so they camped by their standards and so they broke camp, each one by his family, according to his father’s house.” There we are.

Keith: So, I want to say this; I’ve mentioned it earlier. I’m still waiting for somebody to push the button, otherwise I’m going to have to get a program and push the button. Verse 54 of chapter one, “The Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded Moses.” Verse 34, “So the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded,” different wording but the same idea, sure there’s some way that one of you guys can find this.

But still what I think is so powerful about this is that there’s this progression going on. He removes them from Egypt, there’s complaining along the way, they get into to the desert and now we’re going to start saying, “Okay, now look we’re about ready to fight now, we’ve got to get our groups set up, and here’s how we’re going to do this,” and they did according to…they counted. Then he says, “Now, here’s how I want you to camp. Now Judah, you camp here, Dan, you camp here, Issachar, you camp here, and they did according to all that was commanded, and even how they camp.” And so again there’s like this progression. I know we’re going to move toward the time where all of a sudden they say, “okay, enough is enough”, but again, I think it’s very important that they did according to what was commanded.

Jono: And this is the…

Nehemia: Amen.

Jono: And speaking of “doing according to what is commanded,” we have it divided down and we’re talking about the sons of Aaron and pretty much this chapter, chapter 3 of Numbers, is about the Levites and what their duties are. Now, I find it interesting that we’re not counting from the age of 20. Here in verse 14 I’m looking, “every male from above a month old.” One month and above. So…

Nehemia: Well, I think that goes back to what we kind of skipped over in Leviticus 27, which is that there’s an evaluation, or a valuation rather, assigned to a child beginning at the age of one month. And before that, really, no value, monetary value, could be assigned to the child because we don’t know if the child’s going to survive or not. So really until the 30th day you don’t really know if the child’s going to live.

Jono: Sure. So “these are the records of Aaron and Moses when Yehovah spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. And these are the names of Aaron’s sons,” and it mentions, of course, “Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu,” who, well it goes on to say in just a moment, “Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests. Nadab and Abihu had died before Yehovah when they offered profane fire,” or strange fire, “before Yehovah in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father. And Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Bring all the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.’” And that’s their job. “And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the Tabernacle of Meeting, to do the work of the Tabernacle. Also, they shall attend to all the furnishings of the Tabernacle of Meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do all the work of the Tabernacle. And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to Him from among the children of Israel. So, you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the,” again, “but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.” Serious stuff.

“Then Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of the firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore, the Levites shall be Mine, because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine. I am Yehovah.”

Keith: So, let’s talk theology for a second. What’s this idea of…not theology, just conceptual information; what is this idea of the firstborn? He’s talking about it here, He’s kind of giving us the hint, at least as I’m reading this, “listen, here’s the deal with the firstborn.” And then, honestly, when I read the first part of the section on the Levites and I hear again about the two sons, I mean you’re talking about a 50 percent change, a change of 50 percent, you’ve got four sons, two of them are gone, so now he’s only got two. So, the firstborn, and it says the name of the firstborn, is dead, and then the one after him, I guess by age, then the other two. But then when we get here and He starts talking about, “I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine,” and then the connection between the firstborn and then saying, “The Levi is mine.” So, I want to ask this question; what’s the connection? Certainly, Levi isn’t the firstborn. So, what do you guys see as the connection there?

Jono: Well, my understanding is that He has said that He takes Levi instead of the firstborn of Israel. Is that correct, Nehemia?

Nehemia: What it kind of implies, or the way it’s certainly been traditionally understood, I should say, is that originally…let me go back. The way this is traditionally understood, let’s start with that, is that originally the people who were supposed to serve in the Temple were the firstborn. When they sinned at the golden calf, they lost that right, and they were replaced with the tribe of Levi.

Where they get that from, if you go to the story of the golden calf (it’s Exodus chapter 32, verse 26), this is while the whole event is going on. And Moses comes and he sees this, “And when Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Who is on Yehovah’s side? Let him come unto me.’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” So essentially, they’re the ones who, when the whole thing is going down, they’re the ones who didn’t participate in the sin of the golden calf and stood with Yehovah.

It goes on in verse 27, “And he said to them, ‘Thus said Yehovah God of Israel, put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbor.’” I think, in the context, it’s obvious they’re slaying the ones who were worshipping the golden calf.

Verse 28, “And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the men that day about three thousand men.” So, every family and every grouping had people who were worshipping the golden calf. Except, it seems, or it’s implied, the tribe of Levi. So traditionally it’s understood that that’s why God chose them instead of the firstborn. Having said that, Scripture doesn’t quite say that.

Keith: Not only…

Nehemia: Clearly, Levi stood with Yehovah on the day of the golden calf, but they were also the ones who started it, weren’t they? I mean, Aaron, who is the head of the tribe of the Levi, we’re even told that he was the one who actually was largely responsible for the whole incident of the golden calf.

Keith: Exactly.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: So, I find that traditional explanation not satisfying. We’re kind of left with this conundrum; why is it that the tribe of Levi is taken? And they are commanded to be assistants to the Kohanim, to the priests, who at this point are essentially three people. We’ve got Aaron and his two sons, and then whatever children they have. You know, we know that Pinhas, who later shows up, and so that’s four, so maybe they’ve got a dozen people with all the children and grandchildren, right? But it’s a very small number of people. Then we’ve got the whole tribe of Levi, which is about 22,000 people, and they’re brought in place of the 22,000 first born. So why is that?

Keith: So, I’m bringing this question. I bring this up because I’m asking, there’s enough explanation to say, “this is what I do with the firstborn in Egypt, this is what I’m doing with the firstborn, this is why the firstborn, and then Levi is brought to me.” And then I did think “Okay, so let’s just conceptually ask one question,” and I thought, “okay, so what about the family of Moses? So, who is born first, Aaron or Moses?” We know that to be Aaron, correct?

Jono: Hmm.

Nehemia: Yeah, Aaron was three years older.

Jono: Yeah.

Keith: Ok. So then…

Nehemia: Presumably Miriam is even more than that because she was the one who was negotiating the whole issue of who is going to…

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: …with the daughter of Pharaoh. She was doing all those negotiations about bringing a nursemaid, so she had to be more than three years old.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: Presumably.

Keith: Exactly. So, the only reason I’m bringing this up, it’s just something to think about. So, I think, “Okay, so in Moses’ household, in his family, who would’ve been the firstborn? I guess that would be Miriam, but then we’ve got the issue of which would be the firstborn son. I mean there’s just a bunch of questions…

Nehemia: No, Miriam is the firstborn, but the concept of the firstborn in Scripture is the first one to go out of the womb.

Jono: The one that opens the womb.

Nehemia: So, Aaron was…the one that opens the womb, “pe-ter rechem,” is the first one that comes out of the womb.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: So, it was not Aaron, Aaron was not a firstborn by any stretch; it was Miriam.

Keith: Okay, so there it is. So, I’m trying to I find out where this issue of firstborn connects with them, and I guess it’s fair to say that this might be a “kacha” situation.

Jono: Maybe it is. Nehemia?

Nehemia: There’s the traditional explanation, which I don’t find very satisfying. It’s a possibility. Beyond that, we’re kind of speculating. It doesn’t say why God chose the tribe of Levi…

Keith: Okay, here it is.

Nehemia: And maybe it is…

Keith: Here it is, ladies…

Nehemia: Yeah?

Keith: This is…

Nehemia: This is why we need Keith to bring the Christological explanation.

Keith: No, and that’s what I was about to do, so here’s what we’re going to do. Let’s have the prayer…

Nehemia: Here it is.

Jono: I was going to say, let’s have the prayer because, yeah.

Keith: Let’s have the prayer. We need to have the prayer to have our...

Nehemia: We really need to pray, ‘open my eyes to this’.

Keith: Here’s, ladies and gentlemen, I want everyone listening to see if we can get Nehemia’s eyes to open here.

Nehemia: “Yehovah, Eloheinu v'Elohei avoteinu, gal enaynu vana-bi-tah niphlaot miTorahteha.” Yehovah, our Father, our God, and God of our fathers, please open our eyes to the wonderful hidden things of your Torah.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: Amen.

Jono: Amen.

Keith: And so, the reason that I did want to slow down a little bit is because of this idea of the firstborn. The one who comes forth, the one who is the firstborn, and one of the things that’s been so cool for me is, as I’ve been looking through…and I know this is a little bit controversial, but I’m going to bring it up anyway. Just the idea of the firstborn of Israel, the firstborn, His firstborn son, meaning His people Israel, who have been His firstborn, and the idea that…in the womb of Egypt, in difficulty and confusion and bondage and oppression, and all of that, that He brings out.

And here you’re talking about the firstborn that comes out of the womb, the firstborn that He brings out that really, all of them are His. And then to say, “from all of them I’m going to take another group and say, these are the ones that are Mine, separate from the others. Everyone else, you can give them their land and you can give them their this, that, and the other, but these…you can take the other because these are Mine. And then you go from that, you know, even further to the high priest…

Jono: The priest, yeah.

Keith: The high priest, to Aaron. So, I just like this concept of the separating out and the consecrating and the calling forth and the bringing forth of the ones whom He’s called, and that’s just something that’s worth just bringing it up. I just bring up because it’s…

Nehemia: What I do want to point out is, that what we’re not dealing with here is - and this is the way some people have interpreted it, I think - is that what God originally wanted, and some traditional sources interpret it this way too, that God originally was going to have the firstborn. Then He changed His mind, and instead of the firstborn he’s going to have the tribe of Levi. Of course, this is taken by some sources, I won’t name which ones…Methodists. There are definitely some sources that have then come along and said, “Okay, well, if He replaced the firstborn with Levi, then He can replace Levi with the church.” This has certainly been the interpretation of the Catholic Church if you look at the early Church Fathers.

I don’t actually think that that’s what’s going on here, that this is a replacement. I think what God is saying is, “These belong to Me, and I want to take the tribe of Levi and dedicate them to serving Me.” And that’s something that…this isn’t the first time we’re actually hearing this. If we go back to the blessing of Jacob, the tribe of Levi, we were told already in the blessings of Jacob given in Genesis 49, we’re told that they were going to be scattered among Israel. So, they already, back then, weren’t going to have a property. That’s something we read about in Leviticus; that they were not going to inherit property because they were going to serve God.

So, this is not the first time this is being brought up. It’s not that God had one plan and now He changed His plan and had another plan. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think the proof of this is that, in Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse 19, we see very clearly that all the laws concerning the firstborn are still valid. It’s not that originally you were going to have to redeem the firstborn and now you don’t have to redeem the firstborn because I’ve taken instead the tribe of Levi. No, the redemption of the firstborn still stands.

So simply what Yehovah is saying is, “This group of people belongs to Me, and I’m going to have these specific firstborn…are going to be redeemed. Instead of giving the 5 shekels of silver, the way they’re going to be redeemed is with a replacement, by taking these Levites instead.”

Jono: So, we get…

Nehemia: The firstborn born after that, they still need to be redeemed with the 5 shekels of silver.

Jono: And so we, Keith, as we keep reading, we do actually come to a little bit more clarity nearing the end of chapter 3, from verse 40, we’ll be there in just a second. So in regard to counting the Levites, verse 16, “So Moses numbered them according to the word of Yehovah, as he was commanded. And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon…”

Nehemia: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Jono: So, there they are. Can I now, let’s jump over this, well, let’s not jump over it, but what we have is…

Keith: Before you jump over it, one thing I would say…and so is this too obvious? I just want to bring this up, is this too obvious that, regardless of Him selecting that tribe Levi unto Himself and all of that, is it too obvious that He selected Moses from Levi? And is it too obvious that when it was time for Moses to say, “who stands with me as we battle,” that his own kinsmen…

Jono: That they were there, yeah.

Keith: I mean, is that just too obvious? I’m just wondering, from the whole idea of Moses’ birth, and the fact that we know what tribe that he came from, to have that tribe be separated as Yehovah’s, as Moses was, and Aaron as the high priest. It wasn’t like Benjamin said, “hey, we’ll stand with you during this time,” and so He said, “so Benjamin will now become…” It’s not like…and I got to bring up the tradition of the Catholic Church here - the Pope when he had his battles, the Swiss stood with him at different times and so he determined at one point that the Swiss, even though they weren’t a part of “his people” at that time, that they would always be the ones that would guard him, and so that’s why we have the Swiss Guard to this day.

Nehemia: Hold on. You’ve got to tell the people what the significance was. Is it that they were Swiss, that was the reason they weren’t part of “his people”?

Keith: No, no, I would…

Nehemia: That they were from Switzerland…

Keith: No, no.

Nehemia: The issue is that the Swiss guards were Protestants. That is the issue. And he chose the Swiss guards - I don’t know why we’re talking about the Pope - but the Pope chose the Swiss guards because he couldn’t trust the other Catholics.

Keith: Right. I didn’t want to say that.

Nehemia: So, he brought in Protestant mercenaries.

Keith: Nehemia! All I simply wanted to say was, is that he said, “from now into the future the Swiss guard will always be the Swiss guard.” I didn’t want to bring up the controversy, now, you know, the point was…

Nehemia: So why are we talking about the Pope? I’m so confused.

Keith: No, no - because of the idea of, who did he decide that fought with him, that stood with him, etcetera. That’s why I was…but anyway, okay, so let’s, go ahead, Jono.

Jono: Amen. So I was just going to say, we’ll point out the Gershonites, they were on the west side and their duties included, “the Tabernacle, the tent with its coverings, the screens of the door and the Tabernacle of Meeting, the screens of the door of the court, the hangings of the court which are around the Tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, according to all the work relating to them.” Kohath - he’s got the south side and his duties included, “the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altar, the utensils of the sanctuary…”

Nehemia: He got the good stuff.

Jono: He got the good stuff, man; he got the…yes…and all that sort of stuff. And then it says in 32, “Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites, with oversight of those who kept charge of the sanctuary.” Now, we have the Merari, okay, the Merari. The Mahlites, is that right, and then the Mushites?

Nehemia: Something like that.

Jono: So that’ll do.

Nehemia: Close enough.

Jono: And they are on the north side, and “their appointed duty of (those guys) included the boards of the Tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, its utensils, all the work relating to them, and the pillars of the court all around, with their sockets, their pegs, and their cords.” And then it goes on to say in 38, “Moreover those who were to camp before the Tabernacle on the east, before the Tabernacle of Meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, they kept the charge of the sanctuary, to meet the needs of the children of Israel.” But again, it says, “the outsider who came near was put to death. All who were numbered of the Levites…”

Nehemia: Now, hold on. So why is Moses, and Aaron and the Kohanim, why are they on the east side? What’s the significance of the east side?

Jono: That’s the entrance, right?

Nehemia: That’s the entrance, so they’re controlling access.

Jono: Yeah, that’s obviously the most important point, I suppose.

Keith: What are you talking about? It’s pointing towards Jerusalem. Are you kidding me?

Nehemia: Well, wait, why is it pointing towards Jerusalem?

Keith: I’m just kidding.

Jono: “All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered…”

Nehemia: Because they were south of Jerusalem, so what’s the point?

Keith: I’m just kidding, Nehemia.

Jono: “…at the commandment of Yehovah, by their families, all the males of one month old and above, were twenty-two thousand.” Okay.

Keith: And so, I’ve got to stop here because I love these numbers. I’ve just got to talk about numbers for one second, and I’ve held my piece the whole time, but can I just bring in one significance of the number twenty-two thousand? I mean…I’m just telling you…

Jono: The numbers man.

Keith: No, I’m a numbers guy.

Nehemia: Now just because…

Keith: No, no. When I saw “twenty-two thousand” immediately, you guys, all I think about is, wow, twenty-two thousand not twenty-one thousand, not twenty-four thousand six hundred and twenty, twenty-two thousand for the Levites. And I thought of the 22 Hebrew letters, and I thought about this exact number of twenty-two thousand. And that’s the first thing I thought about, the 22 Hebrew letters. And that this group of people, whatever the reason there is, it’s just what I thought about. I thought about the fact that here are the ones that are His, that have been set aside to be His and they’re exactly twenty-two thousand of them. So, I get kind of excited about that.

Jono: So there seems to be…just seeing you brought that up, there does seem to be a lot of round numbers here, Nehemia. Is there some rounding up or rounding down going on, do you think?

Nehemia: Well, here it’s very clearly not rounded because there’s twenty-two thousand Levites and there’s twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three firstborn. And then the whole discussion, verses 44 to 51, becomes, well, what about the two hundred and seventy-three extra? So, we’re dealing with very precise numbers

Keith: Amen!

Nehemia: And so, they say, “well, okay, five shekels per head,” and then they do the math: five shekels times two hundred and seventy-three. Like, these are Jewish accountants.

Jono: 1,365 shekels.

Nehemia: This is where my people learned this, that the numbers need to add up. There’s a whole accounting system going on here.

Jono: And just as well…

Keith: Listen, I just want to let people know, let me tell you something, we’ve gone on tour before and let me be honest with you, we have got a supreme accountant, I mean to the penny. I’ll give a book away, and he’ll say that’s….no, we’re going to take that out of your…I mean, so this guy is something…

Nehemia: No, I don’t take it out of his side, that’s not true.

Keith: No?

Nehemia: I bear that pain with him.

Keith: No, he does bear the pain with me, he really does. But what is really awesome, Nehemia, is this idea…

Nehemia: We always do give away a lot of books.

Keith: …of the specifics - we do give a lot of books away - the specifics in how it works out. And it’s good to have someone who actually is concerned about the numbers, because you know what? The numbers need to match, and that’s where it is pretty powerful that it isn’t just, “hey, we’ll just round this up.” No, here’s the number right here, two hundred and seventy-three firstborn. I mean five shekels for each one - that sounds pretty specific to me.

Jono: Yeah, so it is.

Keith: Yes.

Jono: So, here’s the details. “Yehovah said to Moses: ‘Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take…”

Nehemia: What verse are you?

Jono: We’re in 40. Verse 40.

Nehemia: Okay. Sorry.

Jono: “…and take the number of their names. And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am Yehovah—instead of the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites for all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.’ So, Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as Yehovah commanded him. And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. Then Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Take the Levites instead of the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock…’”

Keith: What are…?

Jono: Keith?

Keith: What are the chances of that, you guys? Come on.

Jono: That it’s two hundred and seventy-three out?

Keith: I mean we’re back to my number again, okay? There’s two hundred and seventy-three above the twenty-two thousand…I mean that’s…I don’t know.

Jono: It’s extremely close, and what are the odds of it being that close?

Keith: What are the odds of that? I mean come on!

Jono: I know. I mean, you know, it is striking; it makes a point. “…and Levites instead of the firstborn of the children of Israel, the livestock… the Levites shall be Mine: I am Yehovah,” it says in 45. “And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of Levites, you shall take five shekels for each one,” as you were saying, Nehemia, “individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of…”

Nehemia: Whoa, hold on. “Currency”? Yours says “currency”?

Jono: I’ve got “currency”, yeah. When I saw that I thought, hang on a minute.

Nehemia: So quick history lesson. Coins weren’t developed until around 700 BC in Asia Minor and Greece and that area, and so they didn’t have “currency”. Currency didn’t exist. What they had were weights. So, when they said five shekels of silver, they would actually weigh out, in a balance, five shekels’ weight of silver. The silver could be in the form of a ring or, usually, it was a slab, an ingot of some kind. They call it in Hebrew a “tongue.” It was the tongue of silver because it was kind of shaped like a tongue. But it was essentially a slab of silver, and they would weigh out five shekels worth of that, so it isn’t the “currency.”

Jono: Now, so, Nehemia, just explain to everybody the difference between the money and currency.

Nehemia: Okay. I’m pretty sure that currency is money, isn’t it?

Jono: No?

Nehemia: Or am I wrong about that? So, okay…

Jono: Well, money and silver, for example, they seem to be, at least, in the English, exchangeable. And money is, as you say, something that has intrinsic value according to its weight. Currency, on the other hand…

Nehemia: According to my Internet definition, currency is “a system of money in general use in a particular country.” Now, money, today, could be either in the form of a coin, or a piece of paper, or plastic, actually, in my country, In Israel…

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: …the 20 Shekel bills are made of plastic. You know, so presumably, in ancient times most people are thinking of a coin; but they didn’t have coins either, they didn’t have currency. What they had…either in a form of a coin or a bill…what they had was silver. It was a metal, and it was weighed, and if they saw the silver wasn’t pure, then they said, “okay, well, we’re not going to accept this, or we’re going to value this as less. You’re going to have to bring 2 shekels of this.”

Jono: So, let me illustrate it even more, if I may. There was an article recently in the Australian, in the ABC, I think it was the Australian newspaper, and it was just saying that the most valuable piece of currency that we have is the 50 cent coin because the 50 cent coin is worth 15 cents. Now, I know that sounds weird, right? But the 50 cent coin, because of the materials that make it up, and it’s one of the larger coins in the Australian currency, it is actually, its intrinsic value, its true value, is 15 cents; its value as currency is 50 cents, and those two things are not necessarily the same, does that make sense?

Keith: Makes sense.

Nehemia: Yeah, okay. In any event…

Keith: No, I…

Nehemia: So, in any event, when it talks about the shekel HaKodesh, The Shekel of the Sanctuary, what it’s talking about is that there were different shekels. The shekel was essentially a stone, it was a stone that you would put on the balance that weighed a predefined amount. So, there was the shekel stone, and if you were in Egypt your shekel stone might be one size, and if you were in Babylonia it would be a different size.

So, the Temple of Sanctuary, in this case, the Tabernacle, established a shekel for use for this propose. Meaning, they had a stone and then when you wanted, if you were a merchant, and you wanted to have a stone in your shop, you went and you bought it from them, or you calibrated your stone against their stone, their master stone. Most people don’t realize this, but we actually have this system to this very day. Did you know that? That the International System of Measurements, outside of Keith’s country, is the meter and the liter, and, you know, that whole metric system.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: There is a master meter, there’s a meter that is THE meter in, I believe, it’s in France, if I’m not mistaken, and anybody who wants to make a, I don’t know, a tape measure, needs to have their meter match the meter that’s in France. There may be one in the US, as well, I’m not sure. But basically, it’s a master measurement that all the other measurements in the world are supposed to be based on. So that system actually exists to this day, to some extent.

Jono: There it is.

Nehemia: In a way, yeah.

Jono: Okay.

Nehemia: Now I want to talk about something totally off topic…

Jono: Go on.

Nehemia: …but I’m going to let you finish the chapter.

Jono: Well, I was just going to reiterate, “one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels was what was taken to make up for the difference between the Levites and the firstborn of the children of Israel. And Moses gave their redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of Yehovah, as Yehovah commanded Moses.” That’s the end of chapter three.

Nehemia: So, can I get Keith to read verses 48 and 49 in the Methodist Bible?

Keith: “Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons. So, Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites.”

Nehemia: Is that what you got?

Jono: In 48 and 49? I’ve got, “And you shall give money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons. So, Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites.”

Nehemia: Keith calls what I’m about to do ‘playing a card’. I want to play a card.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: That means I want talk about something kind of totally off topic, but it’s something close to my heart. It’s about this word that appears three times: once in verse 46, again in verse 48, and again in 49. It’s the word “pe-du-ye,” which literally means, “the redeemed of.” If you translate literally in 46, it says, “And the redeemed of the two hundred and seventy-three,” meaning those two hundred and seventy-three are going to be redeemed. Literally, you could translate this, “the redeemed ones.”

Keith: Aha.

Nehemia: Verse 48, again, “pe-du-ye ha-odfim ba-hem,” the redeemed ones of the excess of them. Verse 49, also we have, “me-et ha-pedu-yim al pe-du-ye ha-Levyim,” from the excess over those who are redeemed of the Levites. So, we’ve got three times the word “pe-du-ye,” which means “the redeemed ones.”

The reason this is close to my heart is something that a friend of both mine and Keith, and really he was Keith’s friend much longer than he was my friend, Keith knew him for years, was a retired football player named Reggie White. The day before he died, before he passed away in 2006, he had a dream. And Keith, would you share it with the people, what that dream was?

Keith: No, no, you go ahead, you got to do it, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Alright…

Keith: You’re playing the card.

Nehemia: So, Reggie had the dream, and the dream he told to anybody who would listen. The dream was, he saw two words in his dream; now, correct me if I’m wrong, this was the day before he died. It was actually, if I’m not mistaken, it was Christmas Eve of 2004. I remember that because the day he died, that was the day of the great Tsunami that swept across the Pacific, and that was December 26, 2004. In fact, almost at the very moment that the Tsunami swept across the land, that’s when he passed away.

So, the day before he dies, he has this dream. In the dream, he sees two words, and the two words were “pe-du-ye Yehovah”, or “pidui Yehovah”, the redeemed of Yehovah. This exact word. When I was asked about this, I looked up that phrase to see, where is that? Is that something in the Bible? So, this exact phrase, “pe-du-ye Yehovah,” redeemed of Yehovah, appears twice in the book of Isaiah. The same words that Reggie saw in his dream, the night before he died, appear in Isaiah 35:10 and 51:11.

I’ll read you 35:10; it says, “And the ransomed of the LORD,” that’s the New King James. In the Hebrew, it literally says, “pe-du-ye Yehovah,” the redeemed of Yehovah. Again, to be redeemed means that Yehovah…that the price is paid, that you know somebody is a prisoner, or in this case, in the case that we’re reading over in Numbers, they essentially need to be dedicated, or essentially they needed to be sacrificed. And Yehovah says, we’re not going to sacrifice human beings, that’s an abomination. So, you’ve got to redeem each one of them. And so, some of them were redeemed with Levites, the other ones were redeemed with the five shekels.

Here in Isaiah 35:10 it’s talking about the people who are taken captives, who are scattered throughout the diaspora, that Yehovah is going to redeem them, he’s going to pay a price for them. And it says, “and the redeemed of Yehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Then the same exact thing appears in Isaiah 51:11; let me read you that. I love it, it’s such a powerful passage. It says, literally, “And the redeemed of Yehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy upon their heads,” it’s very similar to the other passage, “they shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” And then he says, “I, even I, am He who comforts you: who are you, that you should be afraid of a man who will die, and of the son of man who will be made like grass.” Yehovah is saying here, “I’m the one who is going to redeem you.” It’s a powerful passage. It talks about the ones who Yehovah redeems; he brings them back. It’s a beautiful passage, and this is what Reggie saw the night before he died. Maybe this was a message from Yehovah to Reggie, that Reggie…you are one of those that I have redeemed.

Keith: Well, I, you know, it’s interesting too because on Saturday…he called me the morning before he died, so it was that night, and he was really trying to understand this dream. And he called and he said, “I saw these two words and I’ve looked these two words up.” Just really, I mean he shared it with his family and then, of course, the next morning I was on the phone with Nehemia when I got a phone call from a very close family friend who said, “hey, Keith, Reggie, he just had a heart attack.” So, I told Nehemia something happened, I went over and of course, he did die at the hospital.

But these two words were so powerful, I mean just from that being shared. And that’s why I think it’s such an amazing thing that Yehovah would reveal that to Reggie. Because Reggie was on a true quest, he wanted to find the root of his faith, he wanted to understand the whole issue of who Yehovah was to him in his life, and just this interaction with the Hebrew language, all of that happening. I just think - what a gift, here it is, Yehovah knows the end of days for Reggie and gives him, on just two nights before he dies, this dream, and he gives him those two words. I mean that’s as clear as…and I don’t think it’s a maybe, I really, really feel like that was Yehovah’s sign to Reggie to say, “you are mine.” And so now Reggie is sleeping, and we look for the day when the redemption comes, and he will be raised and be able to stand before him.

Nehemia: And what a powerful message. Yehovah was saying to him…what this essentially says to be redeemed of Yehovah is, “the price has been paid for you; you are redeemed.”

Jono: Amen.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: Whoo!

Jono: Thank you so much for…that’s an incredible story; thank you for sharing that.

Keith: Yes.

Jono: And I think, because we’re running out of time, maybe we should…that’s a good place to leave it. But I’ll just say, just quickly, in verse 4 you can read about the duties that are given to Kohath with the things that they carry in the Tabernacle of Meeting, the things that they are to carry.

It’s interesting though, just quickly mentioning verse 3, “from thirty years old and above,” it’s interesting that before they’re being counted from twenty-five and above, but from here “thirty years old and above,” it says. And it sort-of suggests, at least possibly, that there’s like a five-year apprenticeship of being a Levite.

Nehemia: There it is.

Jono: Certainly possible. In any case, it says, in verse 16, “The appointed duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, is the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the daily grain offering, the anointing oil, the oversight of all the Tabernacle, of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.” Then Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; and do this in regard to them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint each of them to his service and his task. But they shall not go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, lest they die.’” And that’s the gravity of the situation there.

Thank you again, Keith Johnson and Nehemia Gordon. You’ve been listening to Torah Pearls, and until next week, dear listeners, be blessed and be set apart by the truth of our Father’s word. Shalom.

You have been listening to The Original Torah Pearls with Nehemia Gordon, Keith Johnson and Jono Vandor. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

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Related Posts: Reggie White's Spiritual Journey Prophet Pearls- Bamidbar (Hosea 1:10-2:20[2:1-22]) Torah and Prophet Pearls
  • Wade says:

    Were all of the mixed multitude (not of Abraham’s DNA) already assimilated, or assigned to various tribes at this point? How might the number of non-birthright Israelites be included in the counting…or were they counted at all? The Scripture considers all who were in the desert -in the camp- to be Israel.

  • Lulu says:

    Hi, regarding the remarks about the pope’s Swiss guard (established 1501): they have always been Catholics, up to this day. The Swiss were probably chosen simply because Swiss mercenaries (= hired soldiers) were renown for their superb fighting skills, fierceness and loyalty. Groups of Swiss fighters were highly sought after during the Renaissance and fought for many different princes, dukes, kings etc., which resulted with Swiss even sometimes fighting Swiss in several battles.
    thanks for your always interesting and edifying teachings.

  • Lulu says:

    In the German language, there is a noun “Schlamassel” which means a mess, a word still used today.
    Your teachings are excellent, I always enjoy listening to and learning from them every year.

  • marietta lynch says:

    another blessing Thank You.. we are redeemed indeed! hallelujah!

  • Ted Craven says:

    I think Numbers is one of the most interesting books of the Bible because it is very likely prophetic and much of it may pertain to our time.

    After the Exodus, Joshua and Caleb urged Israel to enter the promised land. They were ignored and Israel was forced to wander in the desert for 40 years, subjected to periodic attacks by bands of hostile gentiles.

    In 27CE (or thereabouts) Yeshua and John the Baptist urged Israel to enter the spiritual promised land. They were ignored and Israel has now spent coming up on 40 Jubilee years wandering outside the land, subjected to periodic attacks by bands of hostile gentiles.

    So the entry into the land under Joshua (with Caleb) may have prophetic implications for the second coming of Yeshua (with Elijah). If we are in the period just before the second coming, that would correspond to the 40th year of wandering. And a good part of Numbers is devoted to just this period.

    The death of Miriam (whose name means “rebellion”) may symbolize the end of the “wicked and adulterous” generation in Matthew 16:4. And we have seen that the postwar generation seems to differ from previous generations in that it is less wedded to the traditions of it’s elders and more willing to reexamine it’s basic beliefs.

    The death of Aaron and his replacement by Eleazer may symbolize a changing of the guard in the Jewish religious leadership.

    In John 3:14-16, Yeshua identifies himself with the brazen serpent. The fiery serpent episode where people look upon the brazen serpent (Yeshua) and are healed seems to forecast the birth of a Jewish church. And in fact, a growing Jewish Messianic church has appeared in the last few decades.

    Unfortunately, I cannot decode the rest of the prophecy. The identity of Balaam is key. Taken literally, the last part of Numbers 25 would seem to forecast some kind of a sex/corruption scandal involving Israeli men and women of Jordan or Arabia, ultimately leading to a successful Israeli attack on one or both of those countries. But I somehow doubt that this is really what is being predicted. There seems to be a religious component to the “whoredom”. However, in the unlikely event that what I have described actually takes place, then brace for impact because I think that is just about the last significant event before the entry into the promised land.

  • daniel says:

    Thanks for this rebroadcast – I always get a little misty hearing that story of Reggie’s last day. I was a big fan, and remember getting choked up as he held the Lombardi Trophy after sb31(#32 was the last one I ever cared to watch). Peduyay Yehovah – gotta be better than his best day. I can only hope and pray for a similar message.

  • Stoehr says:

    Yes, “Lavern and Shirley” is a spin-off of “Happy Days”

  • Gary says:

    Didn’t Jacob say of Levi that he was a sin of blood, or something like that, could that be why Yehovah chose Levi?

    *[[Gen 49:5]] KJV* Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

  • Geoff Robinson says:

    Nehemia,
    I have a quick language question. The Hebrew name for Numbers is Bamidbar בְּמִדְבַּר or “In the desert.” I believe the root or shoresh of the word is d’bar דבר which means “to speak to one another.” As I look at the meaning in my Maskilon root dictionary, all the meanings have to do with speaking, words, things, commandments, etc. Nothing I can see with the definition of a desert. What is the relationship between d’bar and “desert?”

    It is not that I have not thought this over. My thoughts are that as I read about the children of Israel in the desert, the Torah usually states “God spoke to Moses” using דבר (d’bar) instructing Moses to אָמַר (amer) tell the Children of Israel. My thoughts were that the root of desert came from God giving to the Children of Israel over the 40 years. He provided for them, gave them food and water, gave them the Torah and generally developed them into the group of people that would settle the land. This was my best rationalization. I am curious what you would have to comment on this.

    Shalom,

    Geoff
    Fort Collins

  • Lori Young says:

    What is the Hebrew word for Testimony, and is it the same as the word witness?

  • Krzysztof says:

    Exciting study. Yehovah be with You

  • Josh Brown says:

    Not to nit-pick… But the meter is not based on a physical object – it has been defined as a “fundamental constant”. The kilogram is based on a physical object though. There is a great radio lab on this actually: http://www.radiolab.org/story/kg/

    “The SI base unit of mass, the kilogram, is the last remaining physical artifact. All other base units have been defined in terms of fundamental constants. In 1999, the 21st CGPM recommended that national measurement institutes (NMI) continue their efforts to refine experiments that link the unit of mass to fundamental or atomic constants with a view to a future redefinition of the kilogram.”

    http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/mass.cfm

  • J'ahdor says:

    You guys make this so fun, even better the third time around. Padua Yehovah – tears. Oh, btw, I am American – What’s a meter?

  • David Daggett says:

    If you do the math, the 7500 Gershonites (Num 3:21-22), 8600 Kohathites (Num 3:27-28), and 6200 Merarites (Num 3:33-34) add up to 22,300. Verse 39 states that there were only 22,000. What happened to the other 300?

    • Joy says:

      My question exactly!! 22300 is MORE than the 22273, making all the redemption shekels irrelevant. Please clarify, Nehemia!!

  • Nicholas Mansfield says:

    Keith Johnson’s comment regarding the title: Numbers vs. In The Desert.
    Anyone making an in-depth study of Torah via English and using a KJV must note the peculiarities which occur. These are shown through repetition and italicisation in the KJV text. Assistance is given to the English reader, or Freemason, later on in the Psalms where the Hebrew alphabet is given. I recently read somewhere, or heard, that the term matrix is given in the Torah. It is also given in the Qur’an. God’s reckoning is based entirely on high level mathematics but he has given us many clues in low level maths that any literate sheep-herder could use.
    I’ll listen to the rest of the audio now.

    • Michael says:

      Get that Freemasonry garbage outta here. Claiming all gods are actually the same God shows an absolute multitude of ignorance not only pertaining to Yah and his Extremely specific and simple ways but to the study of other religions as a whole. Lots of family and friends who err in this way and dedicate themselves to their own made up God and made up ways to go with it.

  • Darrell Deyne says:

    Concerning the idea of the first born I surmize is in reference to the male babies only, as is shown through the command of the king of Egypt to the midwives to kill the male babies when they are born. But, the midwives did not obey the King of Egypt and excused themselves from obeying the command of the king of Egypt by saying that the Hebrew women are stronger than the Egyptian women and have their babies before they arrive. So, the King of Egypt ordered his soldiers to throw the male babies into the Nile river to drown them. GOD blessed the midwives for their mercy towards the male babies and HE showed mercy on them by not allowing the King of Egypt to take revenge upon the midwives. So the midwives were redeemed through their faithfulness in GOD’s people. This is a theam throughout the BIBLE.

  • Leesa Neeley says:

    Really really good gentlemen. Thank you so much for sharing.
    Shabbat shalom