Parashat Massei - "Journeys"

29 July 2011                                                                                                                                                 27 Tammuz 5771

Parashat Massei - "Journeys"

Numbers 33:1-36:13; Jer 2:4-28; 3:4; 4:1-2; Matthew 24:1-25:46

Yeshua asks us, "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) The Levites are an example of those that forfeit this world that they might inherit the world to come. They inherited no portion in the land, nor did they gain for themselves through career and industry. Instead, their lot in life was God Himself, as He tells the priests in Numbers 18:20, "You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel."

Levites for Messiah

In the Torah this week, Moses calls for the establishment of Levitical cities among the Israelites. Disciples of Yeshua are like Levites for Messiah. The Levites were the servants of the Temple and of the Priesthood. Messiah is the living Temple. He is our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. As His disciples, we are His servants--His Levites.

In the same sense that the Levites were the property of the priesthood and the Tabernacle, we are the property of Yeshua. Our diligence in the kingdom falls along the same lines as much of the Levitical work. Like the Levites, we are to be facilitators for those seeking to worship God. We point the way, carry the burden, assemble the institutions and build the congregations that facilitate people encountering God. Like the Levites, we are to provide people with teaching. We are entrusted with the words of the Master and the teaching of Torah. We are to teach the ordinances to Jacob and the Torah to Israel. Like Levites, we are scattered among the People of God, and our job is to function as salt and light in their midst.

Maimonides regarded the Levites' consecrated life as a model worthy of emulation. His words apply well to the high calling of discipleship. As with the Levites, the call of discipleship often involves revocation of earthly pursuits like career and property.

And [this is true] not only of the tribe of Levi, but of every man throughout the world whose spirit has made him willing, and whose intellect has guided him, to set himself apart to stand before the LORD, to minister unto Him and to serve Him with a view to knowing the LORD, following the right [path] according to the LORD's design, and casting off his shoulders the yoke of the many [worldly] affairs sought after by man. [He who has thus dedicated himself] is sanctified in the highest degree, and the LORD becomes his portion and his inheritance for all eternity, and will grant him in this world whatever will suffice for his needs, even as He has done to the Priests and the Levites. (Mishneh Torah, Zeraim, Hilcoth Shemitah Ve-Yobel 13:12-13)

It is helpful to think of the role of the local Torah community as a sort of Levitical city in the midst of Israel. Our communities are scattered. They are very distinct from the other congregations around them. Yet they are not to be too insular. Their role is to 'teach the ordinances.' We are to be a ministry, a witness and an example to those outside of the community.  Our communities are meant to be cities of refuge and reservoirs of Torah.

My comment:- I would like to think that in some small measure, we are achieving this at Beit Ariel.

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Aharon’s death                                                                   by Dr Ketriel Blad

“They traveled from Kadesh, and encamped in Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. Aharon the Priest went up into Mount Hor at the command of HaShem, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Yisra'el were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. Aharon was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died in Mount Hor. (Num. 33:37-39)

What secret is hidden in the journey number 33? The High Priest Aharon died at the 33rd camp from the exodus from Egypt, on a mountain called Hor, which means “mountain”. He was a mashiach, an anointed one, the first one in the Scriptures to be called mashiach (Lev 4:3, 5, 16).

This event is a prophetic picture of Yeshua HaMashiach, who also died on a mountain at age 33, which lines up with Israel’s 33rd camp starting from the Exodus. It is written that Aharon died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt. This is a reference to Yeshua’s death and resurrection 4,000 years after the creation of Adam.

In Genesis 13:10, Egypt is compared to the Garden of Eden. There is also a connection between Adam and Chavah being driven out of paradise and the children of Israel leaving Egypt. In the same way that Aharon, the anointed one, died forty years after the exodus from Egypt, Yeshua the Messiah died 4,000 (100 x 40) years after the exodus of the first man and woman from the Garden of Eden.

Furthermore, Aharon died the first day of the fifth month, exactly three and a half months after the date of the exodus, which was the 15th day of the first month. The three and a half months refer to the Messiah’s ministry, which lasted for three and a half years. Similarly to the way that Aharon died three and a half months after the date of the exodus, Yeshua died three and a half years after beginning his public ministry. Aharon lived to be three years older than his brother, Moshe, who was 120 years old when he died. These three years also speak of the Messiah, his three plus years of ministry, his 30 plus years of life until death, and the three days that he was in the innermost part of the earth before he was resurrected. The mountain Hor, is mentioned three times in this text.