numbers 33 and 34

Read Numbers 33 and 34 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for our chapters today are:

Num 33:1-39 {s} Journey of Israel from Egypt to the death of Aaron
Num 33:40-49 {s} Journey of Israel from Mt Hor to Acacia Grove
Num 33:50-56 {p} Israel shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and possess it
Num 34:1-15 {p} The boundaries of Canaan, which Israel is to inherit by lot
Num 34:16-29 {p} The leaders of the tribes who will divide the land

The first three of these paragraphs form a single strong theme. I ask myself, why? What is that theme, and what is its significance? Looking at the three together, it becomes clear that the goal of being delivered from Egypt in the first place, is so that Israel shall enter the land, dispossess its inhabitants, demolish its idolatry, divide the land for an inheritance by lot, and dwell in it. The goal of deliverance from Egypt is to possess the land, establishing the worship and way of YHVH in it.

We saw yesterday that there is a warfare that is the LORD’s warfare – a commanded warfare. That warfare, if the prophetic nature of Torah history holds for us today who believe in Messiah Yeshua, is at its root a spiritual warfare (Eph 6:10-13). For we ourselves were delivered from the kingdom of darkness, which is the kingdom of Egypt by type. The whole end of that deliverance, is so that we may enter into our promise – the kingdom of His dear Son! Now if the prophetic nature of Torah history holds, this is a promise for this world – not only for heaven. It is in this world that the LORD’s enemies are entrenched, not heaven. It is to this world that Jesus Christ is returning to rule and reign as king!

To establish His kingdom, we must dispossess its already established inhabitants: who are the principalities and powers. We have to remember who our warfare is with! We must demolish its idolatry, and dwell in the land, establishing the worship and way of YHVH in it. I don’t think we do that by picketing abortion clinics, because I don’t see Jesus or His disciples spending any time in things like that, even though the Roman society into which the church was birthed was far more depraved than our own.

I think we do it by, everywhere we go, being open and ready to preach in love the gospel that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We do it by reversing the oppression of hell, death, and the devil in people’s lives, by casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, calming the storms, and multiplying the food. We display God’s truth, love, and power, to set the prisoners free and break every yoke. I believe Scripture is teaching us, this is our warfare.

Now, there are forty years of journeys summarized in 49 verses in Num 33. Many, many things happened to Israel in the course of their 40 years of journeying. Only the details of a very few of them are recounted in this summary, so I assume they are included because they are important!

They depart Egypt following the Passover (vs. 3). They pass through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, then they journey for three days into the wilderness (vs. 8). In the entire summary, this is the only extent of time recorded from one place to the next – for a reason! When they arrive in the wilderness, they camp at Marah – where the water was bitter, and YHVH miraculously turned the bitter water sweet (vs. 8). Then they camp at Elim, where there are twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees (vs. 9).

Passover = crucifixion of Messiah Yeshua, our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7)
Crossing the midst of the sea = burial (Col 2:12, 1 Cor 10:2)
Three days to Marah = after three days, resurrection (our bitterness is turned to sweetness)
Oasis of Elim = rest, water, shade, 12 and 70.

We just saw that the twelve springs of water which nourish seventy palm trees, are the twelve tribes of Israel which nourish the seventy nations (in other words, all the nations) so that the nations may enter into His rest as well, through Messiah Yeshua! Here is Torah, preaching about Messiah and the gospel of grace through faith again! ♥