Va’ydaber ADONAI el Moshe lay’mor:
NASO et-rosh b’nei Gershon gam-hem l’veit avotam l’mishpechotam. (Numbers 4:21-22)
And the LORD spoke to Moses saying:
TAKE a census of the sons of Gershon also by their fathers’ houses and their families (clans).
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.” (Acts
16:31, emph. mine) Paul and Silas to the Philippian jailor.
Notice how meticulous God is in placing us in relationship. In Ba’Midbar (last week) we focused
on the whole issue of genealogy but in this parashah the Torah goes more broadly into family
and clan. 1 Corinthians 11:3 shows how God views humanity: “But I would have you know, that
the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ
is God.” God views humanity in terms of Head-Body relationships which mirrors his own
interconnectedness. The Godhead has a Head (God the Father) and a Body (Messiah the Son) in
Union with The Divine Breath (the Holy Spirit—cf. John 4:24, “God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”; and 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the
Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”)
In NASO the phrase “l’veit avotam”—“by the house of their fathers”—followed by
“l’mishpechotam”—“by their families”—shows that God groups us as micro-communities
within the large Family of Mankind. The New Testament indication of this same point shows
that in the expansion of the Gospel among the Nations in general God wills that we come to
him as whole units—Marriages, Families, Tribes—Nations.
In our day we are witnessing one of the most remarkable fulfillments of Biblical prophecy of all
time: the resurrection of the Nation of Israel and its becoming united with the Body of Nations.
Guess what! This too is a Head-Body relationship!
Jeremiah 31:7 declares, “For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among
the chief of the nations…Israel.” The Hebrew for “and shout among the chief of the nations” is
“v’tsahaloo be’ROSH ha’goiim”—"and shout among THE HEAD of the Nations!”
In effect, God views Humanity in terms of Covenant in a Head-Body relationship! Romans 9-11
details how that will work in the finality of things—all Humanity and all Israel will be reconciled
to God as a Family under the Headship of the Messiah—Ben Elohim/Ben Adam—Yeshua
ha’Notzri. He will be King (HEAD, under God the Father Who is HEAD of the Godhead) over all
Mankind from Jerusalem in the Completion of the Messianic Age that is coming. And Nations
will not learn war anymore, and the lion will lie down with the lamb, and shalom will be the
mark of that time and all souls will know the Presence of God like water covers the sea.
LORD, draw us ever more near to that Day.
