Read Numbers 4:1-20 at Bible Gateway.
The Teaching Tools of Scripture
Genesis 1:1-2:3, The Teaching Tools of Scripture, part one and part two
Genesis 6, And the Strong Themes Teaching Tool
Genesis 1:1-6:8, Finding the Topic Themes of Scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
4:1-16 {p} Duty of Kohath under Eleazar the priest
4:17-20 {p} That Kohath may live and not die
Strong themes of the parashah
4:1-20 {p+p} Duty of Kohath under Eleazar the priest, that Kohath may live and not die
Numbers 4:1-20 Chiastic Structure
Download the fully expanded Num 4:1-20 Triennial Nassa et-rosh chiasm pdf.
Theme of the parashah
Duty of Kohath under Eleazar the priest, that Kohath may live and not die.
Finding Messiah in Triennial Nassa et-rosh
When the camp prepared to move, Aaron and his sons covered the ark of the covenant with the veil that separated the Most Holy Place. Then they covered it with skins, then a blue cloth. When they set its poles through its rings, it was ready to move. Likewise the table of showbread was spread with a blue cloth, then its utensils, and its bread, then it was covered with a scarlet cloth. Then a covering of skins, then they inserted its poles and it was ready to move. The lampstand and golden altar of incense was covered with blue. The altar of burnt offering was covered with a purple cloth. Why not a blue cloth?
We have seen the blue, purple, and scarlet colors mentioned before. The curtains and veil of the tabernacle were made very specifically in these colors. Blue represents heaven, also God by extension. The heavens are blue, to an observer on earth. When Moses and the elders of Israel saw YHVH, under His feet was a paved work of sapphire stone.
And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as the body of heaven in its clearness. Exo 24:10
Jewish tradition says that when the pillar of fire led them through the wilderness by night, the color of the fire was blue. Blue is a distinct primary color, not a mixture.
Scarlet represents man, as adam, the Hebrew word for man, literally means, ruddy, or blood in the face. Red is a distinct primary color, not a mixture. When blue and red come together, a new color is born, which is 100% blue and 100% red: purple. When God and man come together into one person, Messiah is born. The purple cloth covers the altar of sacrifice, because Messiah was born on this earth to offer Himself up once for all, the Lamb which God had provided for Himself.
He does not daily need, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s, for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. Heb 7:27
The sons of Kohath were given the charge of carrying these things. But they had to take care that they did not even watch Aaron and his sons covering them and getting them ready to move, lest they die, let alone touch them themselves. God is emphasizing His absolute separateness from man, from even the Levites, lest they die. Because of these commands in Torah, His separateness was absolutely seared upon the consciousness of Israel.
Yeshua, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split … Mat 27:50-51
So you can imagine what the veil being torn by supernatural means at the death of Yeshua said to Israel. It would be a paradigm shift of tectonic proportions.
Additional readings in this parashah
Psa 94 (my notes) | 1 Sam 6 (my notes) | 1 Cor 12 (my notes)
Studies in Triennial Nassa et-rosh
Numbers 4, Bible for Beginners
Numbers 3:1-4:20, Chiastic structure
Numbers 3 and 4, Levites in the place of the firstborn
Off-site Studies
Blue, purple, and scarlet in the Tabernacle – Brad Scott
SCRIPTURE REVEALED SERIES by CHRISTINE MILLER:
THE LAW of LOVE | FINDING MESSIAH in TORAH | NUMBERS in CHIASTIC STRUCTURE
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