By Matthew Moshe Nolan

Bamidbar (Numbers) 1:1 – 4:20

This should have been a very short book – the journey should have taken but a few short weeks to the Promised Land. Instead, we have 36 chapters, which begin in the 2^nd month of the 2^nd year and end 40 years later with a new generation!

Corinthiyah Aleph 10:1 (Torah is relevant) I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our ahvot were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all immersed into Moshe in the cloud and in the sea…

V.5 But with many of them YHWH was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples…

V.11 Now all these things happened to them for examples: and they are written as our warning, upon whom the end of the olam hazeh has come.

Come out of Egypt…Babylon –  42 camping spots, 42 months of the tribulation.

What made it a long book when it should have been a short book? Unbelief at one very important moment in time.

Belief - Past, Present, Future

• Present belief is what gives us supernatural traction – what separates the wheat from the chaff – what distinguishes from reading Torah to living Yeshua’s supernatural Torah.
• Ruach Ha Kodesh was give in the past – Ruach Ha Kodesh will be poured out in the future – what about now?
• Belief that is present is action, it activates, it takes possession in now, and it overcomes!
• Calev quieted the people before Moshe Rabainu in Bamidbar 13 and said: Let us go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it. Not were, not we will in a bit, but let us ascend at once.

Bamidbar 1:1 And YHWH spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Senai, in the Tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second moon, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Mitzrayim.

We are in a season of new beginnings – fast approaching Shavuot. At Israel’s juncture Bamidbar this was an opportunity for a new beginning.

Numbers 1:1, the 2^nd month is a new beginning. If you missed Pesach you are given another opportunity.

Genesis 7:11,  17^th day of the 2^nd month, the Flood.

Genesis 8:14,  27^th day of the 2^nd month, the earth dried up.

Exodus 16:1, 15^th day of the 2^nd month, Israel departed Elim for the Bamidbar.

Numbers 9:11, 14^th of the 2^nd month,  2^nd Pesach opportunity.

Numbers 10:11, 20^th day of the 2^nd month, Israel left Sinai.

I Kings/II Chronicles, 2^nd day of the 2^nd month, Solomon began to build the temple.

Ezekiel 3:8,  2^nd month of the 2^nd year after the Babylonian captivity, Ezra rebuilds the Temple.

I want to talk about:

• the age of accountability and how our children are placed to be Ruach Ha Kodesh guides for their families and communities.
• YHWH’s Kavod (glory) – winged Cherubim, a flying chariot, and Ruach Ha Kodesh on you.
• How to train up our children.
• Prophetic intercession.
• Pidyon Ha Ben – redemption of the first born, how it relates to Yeshua and how it relates to us as the first born in Moshiach today.
• Our Parsha will also reveal who the head of Israel is and prophecy where his rule would settle.

The head of Israel:

Numbers 1:2 Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Yisrael, after their mishpachot, by the bayit of their ahvot, with the number of their names, every male head by head את (gool-ge-lotam > Golgotha, head or skull – where all of Israel will be numbered) 3 from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go out to war in Yisrael: you and Aharon shall number them by their divisions. 4And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the bayit of his ahvot. 5 And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you:….

Age of accountability and children as Ruach Ha Kodesh guides:

V17 And Moshe and Aharon took these men who were called by their names: 18 And they assembled the entire congregation together on the first day of the second moon, and they declared their ancestry after their mishpachot, by the bayit of their ahvot, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head. 19 As YHWH commanded Moshe, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Senai.20 And the children of Reuven, Yisrael’s eldest son, by their generations, after their mishpachot, by the bayit of their ahvot, according to the number of the names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go to war; 21 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuven, were forty six thousand five hundred. 22 Of the children of Shimeon, by their generations, after their mishpachot, by the bayit of their ahvot, those that were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go out to war; 23 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Shimeon, were fifty nine thousand three hundred. 24 Of the children of Gad, by their generations, after their mishpachot, by the bayit of their ahvot, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go out to war; 25 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty five thousand six hundred fifty. 26 Of the children of Yahudah, by their generations, after their mishpachot, by the bayit of their ahvot, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go out to war.

We are to train our children from the ground up. An olive tree is to mature from the ground up. (Bar/Bat Mitzvah and council and might)

Yeshayahu 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Yishai, and a Netzer-Branch shall grow out of His roots: 2 And the Ruach Hakodesh of YHWH shall rest upon Him, the Ruach of chochmah and binah, the Ruach of counsel and might, the Ruach of da’at and of the fear of YHWH.

Infant/child baptism at 7/8, you impose accountability upon a child who can’t possibly be held accountable – later they could resent you.

Corinthiyah Aleph 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is set-apart by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set-apart by the husband: otherwise your children would be unclean; but now are they kadosh.

Bamidbar 14:31 your little ones, who you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised. 32 But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.

Shemot 30:12 When you take the census of the children of Yisrael after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his being to YHWH, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them. 13 This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the Kadosh-Place: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) a half shekel shall be the offering of YHWH. 14 Every one that passes among them that is numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to YHWH.

Behold, the voice of one crying out BAMIDBAR (in the wilderness) – is what? The Ruach of Eliyahu. Eliyahu Ha Navi influences our children heavily:

Malaki 4:5 Behold, I will send you Eliyahu ha navi before the coming of the great and dreadful Yom YHWH: 6 And he shall turn the lev of the ahvot to the children, and the lev of the children to their ahvot,

Our children often look upon their parent’s lev’im and speak words of exhortation….

As adults we need to allow our lev’im to be turned toward our children – this is where the anointing flows.

YHWH’s KAVOD, winged Cherubim, a flying Chariot and Ruach Ha Kodesh on you – In our narrative, the KAVOD (glory) of YHWH – that was upon Har Sinai has transferred itself to the MIDBAR MISHKAN – the wilderness Tabernacle.

• YHWH’s KAVOD has again been transferred (Yirm 31:31/Ivrim
• Its visibility is a sign to Israel and the nations.
• In our narrative, the divine presence would descend upon the ark.
• Now, the divine presence falls heavy upon our lev’im – because that’s the new covenant ark where the Torah is housed.
• The sight of the ark in battle holds out the promise that Israel will be victorious in battle (our war isn’t with flesh and blood).
• Absence of the ark is a sure sign that Israel would be defeated.
• Ark – flanked by two-winged cheruvim, representing a flying chariot, meaning YHWH’s Kavod isn’t confined to the Tabernacle/our inner man, but is to be unrestrained to move from person to person.

Pidyon Ha Ben (ceremony/redemption of the first-born):

Bamidbar 3:12 See, I have taken the Lewiym from among the children of Yisrael instead of all the bachor that pehter the womb among the children of Yisrael.

Pehter, open, or open the womb. Peter, Yahshua’s disciple, opened the womb of Renewed Covenant Yisrael, on the Day of the Feast of Weeks in the Temple (YHWH’s House not an upper room) allowing Yisrael’s promised renewal to begin. In Greek, peter is rock, but in Hebrew it means, “to open.”

Pidyon Ha Ben (ceremony/redemption of the first-born), can be performed anytime after 30 days.

Bamidbar 3:12 ….therefore the Lewiym shall be Mine; V. 13 Because all the bachor are Mine; for on the day that I smote all the bachor in the land of Mitzrayim I made all the bachor in Yisrael kadosh to Me, both man and beast: they shall be Mine: I am YHWH. 14 And YHWH spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Senai, saying, 15 Number the children of Lewi after the bayit of their ahvot, by their mishpachot: every male from a moon old and upward shall you number them. 16 And Moshe numbered them according to the word of YHWH, as he was commanded.

V.22 Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a moon old and upward, even those that were numbered of them were 7500.

V.28 The number of all the males, from a moon old and upward were 8600, keeping the duty of the Kadosh-Place.

V.34 And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a moon old and upward, were 6200. (total is 22,300.)

V.39 All that were numbered of the Lewiym, which Moshe and Aharon (*****  jots) numbered at the command of YHWH, by their mishpachot, all the males from a moon old and upward, were 22,000

The numbers don’t match! The jots reveal that Aaron and the first born of Levi aren’t counted because they’re already YHWH’s. It’s also a Sode level messianic sign revealing Moshiach will be the first born among many brethren. The jots point out that 300 are first-born sons of Levi, including Aaron. 300 of Levi already belong to YHWH, they’ve been redeemed already, so can’t be counted again as a substitution for the first born – security in times of trouble – we’ve already been counted, redeemed!

V.40 And YHWH said to Moshe, number all the bachor of the males of the children of Yisrael from a moon old and upward, and take the number of their names. 41 And you shall take the Lewiym for Me – I am YHWH – instead of all the bachor among the children of Yisrael, and the cattle of the Lewiym instead of all the bachor among the cattle of the children of Yisrael. 42 And Moshe numbered, as YHWH commanded him, all the bachor among the children of Yisrael. 43 And all the bachor males by the number of names, from a moon old and upward, of those that were numbered, were twenty two thousand two hundred seventy three. 44 And YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying, 45 Take the Lewiym instead of all the bachor among the children of Yisrael, and the cattle of the Lewiym instead of their cattle; and the Lewiym shall be Mine: I am YHWH. 46 And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and seventy three of the bachor of the children of Yisrael, which are more than the Lewiym; 47 You shall even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the Kadosh-Place shall you take them, the shekel of twenty gerahs. 48 And you shall give the money, by which the excess number of them is to be redeemed, to Aharon and to his sons. 49 And Moshe took the redemption money of those that were over and above those that were redeemed by the Lewiym: 50 From the bachor of the children of Yisrael he took the money; one thousand three hundred sixty five shekels, after the shekel of the Kadosh-Place: 51 And Moshe gave the money of those that were redeemed to Aharon and to his sons, according to the word of YHWH, as YHWH commanded Moshe.

We are the first born of YHWH through Yeshua.  We are adopted and can’t be taken away. The native born can be taken away – they are natural descendants. The bachor belong to YHWH – we owe our life to YHWH.

Yeshua has come to establish the Bayit Bachorim – house of the first-born.

Ivrim 12:23 To the gathering and congregation of the bachorim, that is enrolled in the shamayim, and to YHWH the Shophet of all, and to the ruachim of tzadikim made perfect.

1 Chron.5…is not physical decent. Yaakov’s blessing with the crossed hands changed everything – the natural born BACHOR is bypassed for the adopted/grafted BACHOR of the Ruach from amongst the gentiles. Reuvens birthright was given to the sons of Joseph – the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed (gabar) over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s.”

Prophetic intercession:

Corinthiyah Aleph 14:1 Follow after ahava, and desire spiritual gifts, but specifically that you may prophesy. 22…. prophesying serves not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.

• Come and see…come and feel… (if the Ruach is present)
• Sefer Bamidbar details Moshe Rabainu’s prophetic intercession on behalf of the people: See Bamidbar 11:2, 12:13, 14:13-20, 16:22, and 21:7.
• We know from past experience that YHWH admits that prophetic intercession is effective:

Shemot 32:10 Now therefore leave Me alone (so much as don’t intercede), that My anger may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make from you a great nation.11 And Moshe besought YHWH his Elohim,

• The psalmist records prophetic intercession:

Tehillim 106:23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moshe His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His anger, lest He should destroy them.

• The navi/neviyah can avert destructive wrath and avert punishment (danger in Yaakov’s trouble).

Yehezchel 23:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the breach, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out My indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My anger: their own derech have I repaid upon their heads, says the Master YHWH.

Bamidbar 11:29 And Moshe said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? O that all YHWH’S people were neviim, and that YHWH would put His Ruach upon them!

• The time that Moshe Rabainu had hoped for has happened: Yoel/Acts After… I will pour out my Ruach upon all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophecy.

Our critics have come to me and suggested that allowing the free flowing of Ruach Ha Kodesh and letting anyone prophecy will eventually bring a challenge to my leadership here as the rabbi…. Didn’t Moshe Rabainu brush aside Joshua’s concern that Eldad and Medad’s prophesying was a threat to his leadership.

Conclusion:

• The head of Israel – settled at Golgotha.
• We qre redeemed.
• Age of accountability – Ruach Ha Kodesh guides for their families and communities.
• YHWH’s Kavod-glory – winged Cherubim, a flying chariot and Ruach Ha Kodesh on you…
• Prophetic intercession – Bamidbar/tribulation – for testing and endurance.