Parashat Behaalot’ha (When You Kindle)
Bamidbar (Numbers) 8:1–12:6
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14-4:7 (2:10 in the Hebrew Bible)

How does God’s presence translate into our everyday lives? In other words, what are the things that we would do or not do if He were dwelling among us in a physical sense today? The truth is that God’s presence is a fact; His spirit dwells within and among us. Although He is not yet with us in the physical sense, He is indeed here in spirit, and He reveals Himself to us in various ways.

This past weekend, I had a moment reflecting on our great privilege to prepare the Kingdom for Messiah’s return. I was then thinking about our Messiah’s second coming, and how that would affect the things I do and say if He were physically present with us today.

As I read this week’s Parashah, I was struck once again by the fact that God, the creator of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the holy God of Israel, desires to dwell among us humans. And not only that, but the mere fact that He chose us to reflect His Glory and to be His ambassadors is almost too much for me to comprehend!

In the Parashah, we read of how God chose to dwell among His children during their time in the wilderness:

Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until morning. That is how it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp. At the command of the LORD the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped. Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would comply with the LORD’s ordinance and not set out. If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, in accordance with the command of the LORD they remained camped. Then in accordance with the command of the LORD they set out. If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning they would set out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out. Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out. At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out; they did what the LORD required, in accordance with the command of the LORD through Moses.
Numbers 9:15-23

The term “tent” (or as more accurately translated from the Hebrew as “the dwelling place of the testimony”) really caught my attention. God’s actual presence was the dwelling place of the testimony (the “tent”); it was the testimony of His might, holiness, love, grace, faithfulness, and His desire to be in relationship with us.

In my opinion, this raises two questions, “What does this mean for me? What does it mean that God almighty desires to be in relationship with me; is it just a sobering thought, or does it lead me into action?”

It is astounding to me that the same God who dwelled among the children of Israel in the desert is the same God who chose to send His Son to dwell among us as a physical testimony of His might, holiness, love, grace and faithfulness:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

The Haftarah speaks of a time when God will once again dwell among us:

“Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the LORD. “And many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of armies has sent Me to you.”
Zechariah 2:10-11 (2:14-15 in the Hebrew text)

Until that incredible day, how can we live in the realness of His presence? What are the things that we can do right now (and conversely, would not be doing) as if He were dwelling among us in the physical sense today?

We are called to be living testimonies, to be His ambassadors and His people as is written in 1 Peter 2:10-11:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; or you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

We were chosen not to simply claim that we were chosen, but rather to carry God’s testimony to the nations. We are to proclaim His might, holiness, love, grace, faithfulness, and the fact that He still desires to dwell among us.

Shabbat Shalom,
Moran