Mount Zion Center Torah Club Vol II

Beha'alot'cha

Shadows of the Messiah "When you set up" Numbers 8:1-12:16 Zechariah 2:10-4:7

TITLES OF MESSIAH Stone with Seven Eyes - Zechariah 3:9 Lamb with Seven Horns and Seven Eyes - Revelation 5:6 He Who Holds the Seven Stars - Revelation 1 :20 He Who Walks among the Seven Lamps - Revelation 1:20 Son of the clouds - b.Sanhedrin 96b Anani (He of the clouds) - Targum on I Chronicles 3:24 SEVEN ANGELS OF THE SEVEN LAMPS Speak to Aaron and say to him, "When you mount the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in the front of the lampstand.(Numbers 8:2) "And the light dwells with Him." Daniel 2:22 He is "the Light [that] shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (John 1:5) Menorah in the Book of Revelation And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Rev 4:5)1 Yeshua refers to Himself as "the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lamp stands." (Rev 2:1) "The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies, and the seven lamp stands are the seven assemblies." (Rev 1:20) "He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars." Revelation 3:1 When Messiah is seen as the atoning Lamb who was slain, John describes the lamb as having "seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." (Rev 5:6) Seven eyes in the Book of Zechariah: "For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes, Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it, declares the LORD of hosts, "and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. (Zech 3:9) These are the seven "eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth." (Zechariah 4: 10) Nonetheless, it seems safe to conclude from the words of Revelation that the seven flames of the heavenly menorah symbolize seven archangels.2 Book of Hebrews: God makes "His ministers a flame of fire" (Hebrews 1 :7) The Master's authority over the angels: When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels. as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. (Hebrews 1:3-4) THE SECOND PASSOVER But there were some men who were unclean because of the dead person, so that they could not observe Passover on that day; so they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. (v.6 Numbers 9:1-14) Several men of the community had become unclean through contact with a corpse. Purification from corpse contamination took seven days. They would not be able to participate in the Passover. On that basis, they protested to Moses. Moses took their complaint to God, and the LORD introduced the commandment of the second Passover. The second Passover was celebrated one month after the first.
1 2

Cf Corpse Contamination Leviticus 21:15 Numbers 5:14 Numbers 19

The "seven Spirits of God" are sometimes explained as a seven-fold anointing derived from Isaiah 11:2. Though Jewish angelology usually identifies only four cardinal angels (a list that includes Gabriel and Michael), the apocryphal book Tobit refers to "seven angels who enter and serve before the 'Glory of the Lord." (Tobit 12:15) Apparently the four cardinal angels are a subgroup of the seven.

In the traditional explanations of the Rabbis, the dead body that engendered the uncleanness of the men in Numbers 9 was none other than the corpse of Joseph, the son of Jacob, as they left Egypt. Once again, Joseph prefigures the Messiah. On the Passover of the Master's death, two men found themselves ritually unclean by caring for the Master's body. Nicodemus (Nakdimon ben Gorion) and Joseph of Arimathea, two secret disciples of the Master, both members of the Sanhedrin, removed the Master's body from the cross. NOR BREAK A BONE OF IT They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it. (Numbers 9:12) Yeshua, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture. (John 19:31-36) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, hut the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. (Psalm 34:19) They removed Him from the cross, and two of His disciples buried Him immediately, fulfilling the words, "They shall not leave [him] until morning." (Num 9:12) TRUMPETS AND CLOUDS So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. (v.16 Numbers 9:15-23, 10:1-35) Throughout the Israelites' journey in the wilderness, the LORD accompanied them by means of the miraculous cloud of glory to indicate when the camp should break and move out and when to camp. Teruah (long trumpet blast) to alert that the time for setting out had arrived. Tekia (staccato trumpet blasts) to convene the assembly. The word teruah (a broken sound) appears three times in the Bible in the context of the shofar, from which the Talmud derives the rule that three such sounds must be made. You shall proclaim [with a] teruah of a shofar. (Lev 25:9) It shall be a Sabbath for you, a remembrance [through] the teruah. (Lev 23:24) A day of teruah it shall be for you. (Numbers 29:1) Messiahs coming: "with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man." (Daniel 7:13) The Targum on I Chronicles 3:24 picks out the Israelite name Anani as a title for Messiah. Anani means "he of the clouds". Yeshua told His disciples that He would come as "the Son of Man coming in a cloud" (Luke 21:27) accompanied by a great trumpet blast for the purpose of assembling the people of Israel." When He ascended, He was received into a cloud. (Acts 1:11) Paul tells us to anticipate the day when Yeshua "will descend from heaven with a [teruah], with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God... Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." (I Thes 4:16-17) Paul states that "at the last trumpet...the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (I Cor 15:52) "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him," (Rev 1:7) The Master speaks with a "voice like the sound of a trumpet." (Rev 1:10) Messiah seated on a white cloud, "having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand " Rev 14:14) The cloud and trumpets of Torah that led the hosts of Israel in the wilderness prefigure the coming of Messiah.

Examples in the Tanach: Samson (Judges 13:6-7) Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11) (Cf Amos 2:11-12)

In addition, other verses connect the word tekiah (an unbroken sound) to teruah twice, thus leading the Talmud to rule that each teruah must be preceded and followed by a tekiah, leading to a total of nine blasts. A system of three sounds was therefore devised to account for all the possibilities: o Sh'varim is composed of three connected short sounds. o Teruah is a series of nine very short notes divided into three broken sequences of three notes each. o T'qiah is slightly longer than the length of either the shevarim or the teruah.

THREE DAYS AHEAD Thus they set out from the mount of the LORD three days' journey, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place ( ,menucha) for them. (Numbers 10:33) The three-day journey of the ark can be seen as alluding to Messiah. By willingly dying and entering the grave, Messiah traveled three days ahead of the rest of us in order to achieve eternal life for us. By means of His death, a three-day journey, He has gone "to prepare a place" for us in His father's house." (Cf Hebrews 4:3-5) REJECTING THE BREAD OF LIFE When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it. (v.9 Numbers 11:1-35) In the days of the Master, Messianic expectation anticipated that Messiah would make manna descend for Israel just as Moses had done. Messiah fulfill this expectation when He divided the loaves and fish and fed the multitudes. He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.(John 6:30-31) I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. (John 6:51) Many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. (John 6:66) Just as they rejected the manna in the Book of Numbers, they rejected the living manna in the book of john. THE HOLY SPIRIT Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone. (Numbers 11:17) When Moses complained that he was no longer able to alone lead Israel, God allowed him to appoint seventy elders. This was the first Sanhedrin. Thus the leadership of Israel was endowed with a portion of the Spirit that rested upon Moses. "The Spirit was not yet given, because Yeshua was not yet glorified." (John 7:39) All of the prophets prophesied by means of the Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of Messiah within them." (1 Peter 1:11) When Elijah ascended, his disciple Elisha received a double portion of the Holy Spirit that anointed him." (2 Kings 2:1-15) In Acts 2, the disciples received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a special share in the anointing of Messiah. THE PROPHECY OF ELDAD AND MEDAD "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." (Numbers 11 :27) Moses summoned the 70 elders and The LORD descended upon them in the form of the cloud of glory, "and He took of the Spirit who was upon [Moses] and placed [the Spirit] upon the seventy elders." (Numbers 11:24) The men of the Sanhedrin could be said to sit in the seat of Moses; that is, to carry a share of his spirit and his authority. As the elders in the Tabernacle began to prophesy, Eldad and Medad prophesied as well, even though they had not come to the Tabernacle. Whereas the elders in the Tabernacle prophesied only briefly, Eldad and Medad continued to prophesy in the camp.1 After His ascension, the Apostles prophesied and worked many miracles in the name of Yeshua and in the power of His Spirit.: "And it shall be in the last days," God says, "that I will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my bondslaves, hoth men and women,l will in those days pour forth of my spirit and they shall prophesy." (Peter in Acts 2:17- 18, quoting Joel 2:28-29) .
1

(Cf Matthew 23:2.3)

Rabbi Shimon says, [the two men] remained in the camp, because when they saw Moses choosing the elders, they said, "We are not worthy of this high position;' so they went and hid themselves. Said God, "You humbled yourselves: I will make you greater than all of them." (Sifri Beha'alotcha 95)" 2The Targum Yonaton creates oracles for them that ultimately prophesy regarding the battle of Gog and Magog at the end of days. The brief oracles supplied by the Targum are not really the prophecies of Eldad and Medad. Oracles begin with matters immediately relevant to the narrative context of Numbers II, but they quickly expand to speak of the final battle at the end of days, when King Messiah comes and makes war with the armies of Gog and Magog. The imagery of the eschatological battles is borrowed from Ezekiel 38-39:

CELIBACY AND MARRIAGE Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. (Numbers 12:1) The Torah tells a story in which Miriam and Aaron gossip about their brother Moses. The exact nature of the gossip is difficult to surmise. Apparently, it had something to do with Moses' Cushite wife and some gripe against the premier prophetic role Moses played in the community. Tradition explains that Moses was having marital troubles as the result of his decision to be celibate. Moses withdrew from sexual relations because he needed to maintain a constant state of ritual purity. Moses separated himself from his wife. On what basis did he do so? He said, "If the Torah said (Exodus 19:15) 'Let no man approach a woman' to the Israelites with whom the Dwelling Presence spoke only for a short time and at a designated appointment how much more should I abstain! God speaks to me at any moment and without warning:' (b. Yevamot 62a; cf. b.Shabbat 87a. b.Shemot Rabbah 19:3) For Yeshua. as with Moses, marriage was not an option because of the demands of His prophetic ministry. Though He never flinched from contracting ritual impurity if it meant alleviating human suffering, He might have avoided marriage for the sake of maintaining a state of purity. (Cf Matthew 19:11-12 "Eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.'') HOUSEHOLD OF GOD Not so, with My servant Moses, he is faithful in all My household. (Numbers 12:7) The writer of the book of Hebrews uses this passage from Numbers to argue for the supremacy of Messiah over Moses. He begins by comparing Yeshua and Moses. He says, "[Yeshua] was faithful to Him who appointed Him [just as] Moses also was [faithful] in all [God's] house." (Hebrews 3:2) o Moses is accounted a servant in God's household. o Yeshua is a Son in God's household. (Hebrews 3:5-6) THE GREATEST PROPHET With him I speak mouth to mouth. even openly, and not in dark sayings and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses? (Numbers 12:8) Moses was the greatest of all prophets who ever lived. God spoke to him "mouth to mouth," which is to say that He spoke with Moses conversationally. All the other prophets received their prophecies in the form of dreams, visions, riddles and oracles. Messiah is the "prophet like Moses" (Acts 3:22 Acts 7:37) 'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.'(Deut 18:18) "I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak." (John 12:49) If the revelation of Torah given to us through Moses is "unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty," (Hebrews 2:2), then the revelation of Messiah must be more so. "How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3) Anyone who sets aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:28-29)