The Shape of Numbers – Part Two

We continue the analysis of Numbers with the second of the five major cycles.

Read Part One here.

ANALYSIS CONTINUED

HIERARCHY: Exodus – Veil
The second Passover; leaving Sinai; leadership disputes, failure to enter the Land
(Numbers 9-14)

The second major cycle takes Israel from Sinai to the border of Canaan, a ten-day journey that was signified in the “ten days of awe” before the Day of Atonement. But this mustering would end in failure. Due to their uncircumcised hearts, it would not be a Canaanite city that was cut off, but this “Egyptian” generation of Israel. The Dominion pattern turns negative after step 2, but the Tabernacle pattern at least provides immediate mercy at step 6. Notice also the symmetry between the complaint about priestly food at step 3 and the offer of kingly food at step 5. As always, the cycle of failure has its roots in Genesis 2-3.

• The Initiation cycle corresponds to the call to worship in the sevenfold liturgy. The three elements included here together represent the Triune Office: Passover blood (priesthood), rule in darkness and light (kingdom), and bold testimony (prophecy). As the Passover/Delegation cycle, it begins with stipulations for those who cannot attend Passover because they are on a journey. The pillar of cloud and fire represents Israel’s journey “up” to Canaan as a fiery “ascension” offering. Instead of church bells, there are silver trumpets. Silver is the “bridal” metal, so this “breath” from heaven musters the “body.” Just as the tribes around the Tabernacle were a mobile “Mount Sinai” made out of people, so also the thunders of God at Sinai were now sourced in the lungs of holy men. The original reference is the breath of life in Genesis 2:7, a verse that prefigures this Tabernacle sequence in the creation of Adam. It also explains the “seven thunders” in Revelation, a prophecy that John would not write down but breathe over Jerusalem as a warning of the imminent “breath” of fiery wind of Jesus’ coming against “Jericho” in judgment. Although complete instructions were given in Numbers 2, only the eastern and southern tribes are mentioned here. The head tribes of east and south were Judah and Reuben, the lion and the man, so perhaps the omission is deliberate. 
• The Delegation cycle is sevenfold, with the cloud (Creation), the tabernacle being taken down (Division), and set up again (Ascension), as markers of the first three steps. The four standards mentioned are the four compass points of the Tabernacle: Judah (Ark), Reuben (Table), Dan (Lampstand), and Ephraim (Altar). Their order is a summary of the mission of Israel: God, priestly submission, kingly dominion, promised land. (For more details, see Jacob’s Ziggurat.) Dan’s is the kingly standard at step 4, and Moses’ request that his Midianite brother-in-law accompany them as a guide combines the step 5 Maturity symbols of seer and Gentile sponsor.

• The Presentation cycle seems to be a bit of a jumble until the architecture is taken into account. This is a “national” reprisal of the testing of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Instead of priestly submission to heaven, the people make “kingly” complaints concerning food. The manna was intended to feed them until they were mature enough in their faith to inherit the Land. The appointment of the seventy elders reminds us of the seventy nations of Genesis 10 that were represented by the seventy elders upon Sinai, those who dined with the Lord in Exodus 32. Their prophesying here was only a temporary sign, except for the remaining two witnesses. The passage divides neatly the complaints of the people and Moses as forming, the Spirit coming upon the elders as filling, and the quails and plague as an ironic future—“graves of craving.” Notice that the “circumcision” of the camp by fire was not enough to circumcise the hearts of the people. The remedy was prophets in the wilderness.
• The Purification cycle is the fourth step in the sequence, and thus prefigures the coming sin of adultery in the fourth cycle of the book, which is the fourth book. Josephus repeats a (possibly fanciful) story that Moses’ marriage occurred while he was in Pharaoh’s household. It is more likely that she was from the kingdom of Kush south of Egypt, so basically an Egyptian. ¹ Moses is not accused of polygamy, so the most likely scenario is that Zipporah had died and he had taken a wife from the “mixed multitude.” In context, the supposed concern was the nature of the marriage—and thus the character of Moses—that was in question. His older brother and sister were trying to discredit him, perhaps as a result of pressure from the people. Aaron’s failure concerning the golden calf was a similar capitulation. This is why the account includes the mention of Moses’ meekness (priestly submission) to God. Intermarriage is a core theme in the Old Testament because it is the cultural outcome of the “mixing” of priesthood and kingdom. The point is that Moses is the holy “head,” into whom the entire nation was baptized, and his “intermarriage with Egypt” had not been a compromise with the godless. Like the marriage of Joseph to a believing Egyptian, it pictured the ultimate reunion of Jew and Gentile under God. In contrast, Israel’s adultery would be the carnal outcome of Egyptian-hearted idolatry, putting the ministry of mediation for the nations in peril—as did the sons of Seth in Genesis 6. So this accusation was an act of sinful projection—a black heart possibly condemning dark skin. The purification comes with the “holy” but sterile whiteness of death rather than a pure life—disfigurement instead of transfiguration. “Leprosy” here is a condition of dusty, scaly skin, like that shed by a serpent. Miriam is sent outside the camp as the actual Woman who is compromised. The camp is a holy mountain and the “creeping things” must be sent to the bottom where they belong. Notice also the reference to a stillborn child as the seed of the serpent. A reversal of this imagery is found in Isaiah 11:8-9, where the serpent’s den is empty, and the mountain is free from harm. The passage ends with Israel traveling to Paran as a subtle clip over the head for those who knew the Scriptures: “And God was with the boy (Ishmael), and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt” (Genesis 21:20-21).
• The Transformation cycle works through the standard sevenfold pattern as a test of Israel’s spiritual maturity. Not only was the land that was barren in the time of Abraham now abundant in every way (just as Jacob’s tent was now also “abundant” in number), but there were oversized people as juicy grapes in God’s winepress, corrupt nations like those before the Great Flood who were now ripe for judgment (Genesis 15:16). Just as only two of the seventy prophets had continued to prophesy, so now only two of the spies possessed a conquering, “overcoming” faith in God. Symbolically, Israel’s claim that they were grasshoppers implies that they should have been locusts from the wilderness, which are the same species but change in both physiology and character when conditions are right. This failure is Israel’s tenth sin (Numbers 14:22), recapitulating in general terms the Ten Words, but also highlighting God’s justice and mercy in dealing with the “Egyptians” among them via plagues while preserving a faithful remnant. The first-century ministry of Jesus and the firstfruits church follows the same pattern (as does the book of Revelation), so this event is referred to numerous times in the New Testament. It is the key to understanding the destruction of Jerusalem and the ministry of the “two legal witnesses,” the Law and the Prophets.

• The Vindication cycle is an ironic play on the Day of Atonement. Instead of mourning for sin there is grumbling and a corporate death wish! Moses and Aaron fall on their faces as the offering of the bull’s blood (the “head” for the rulers) and Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes as the offering of the goats (the “body” for the people).
• The Representation cycle cuts off the Succession of the wicked and describes the inheritance of the faithful. Like Adam, the unfaithful have been disqualified from the office for which they were being prepared, and, after being warned about the Amalekites (Edomites) and Canaanites concealed in the valleys (like serpents crouching at the door), their lack of judgment leads to a disastrous attempt to enter the Land without God. In spiritual terms, the Jews of the first century faced the same temptation, but their “Egypt” was the kingdom of the Herods.

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)

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1. For a helpful discussion see Who was Moses’ wife?