[First posted August 13, 2014. We are into the ‘season of light’, more like the season of artificial lights. Man-made spectacles using light dominate this month of December—enjoyable, impressive maybe, but never reaching the level of “awesome” even if that word is quite overused and in fact badly or wrongly or mindlessly used. What exactly might deserve the proper use of that word? Read on.
The symbolism of light in Hebrew Scripture begins as early as Creation day one . . .
“Let there be light and there was light.”
Image from www.kingjamesbibleonline.org
Casual readers sometimes miss the point that since the heavenly visible sources of light such as the sun, moon and stars were not created until day four, not much thought goes into the ‘light’ that appeared as early as day one.
Think about this: the phenomenon of light truly overpowers and dominates any space it could penetrate through, so that in total
darkness, a mere matchstick is immediately visible . . . and yet in the light-space, you cannot have the same effect of the opposite of a matchstick. In effect, light overcomes and overpowers darkness and for darkness to appear, light has to withdraw from that space, or not be allowed to get through.
Image from flickrhivemind.net
Then light symbolism also extends beyond the visual. YHWH manifests in the TNK as light, or fire or glory cloud (Shekinah), NEVER as a human being, regardless of what Christian interpreters claim such as, for instance, one of the ‘3 men’ who show up at Abraham’s camp before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire and brimstone from heaven do their destructive work. When YHWH’s light withdraws, this world is indeed left in darkness. When man withdraws from YHWH’s LIGHT as in belief that God exists or ignorance of the TORAH, or worse, rejection of the TORAH by claiming it is irrelevant, antiquated, obsolete, only for the Jews and not for the world—darkness in mind and heart leads to the domination of man’s ways, each human decides what is right, there is no standard of right. Truth and Right become relative, to each his own.
YHWH is the LIGHT of the world; and His Torah is light and life-giving, and His chosen servant, Israel, is the light-bearer which delivers the Torah to the nations.
Whoever clings to YHWH as Lord and God, and lives YHWH’s Torah, becomes a light-bearer just like Israel. What a privilege indeed and what a beautiful image for any Torah-observant gentile who, just like the Moabitess Ruth chooses to embrace Israel’s God as her God.
This chapter is self-explanatory but we include the commentary of Pentateuch and Haftarah, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz, as usual and our translation is EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1]
Image from www.nccg.org
NumbersBamidbar 8
THE MENORAH
VIIII, 1-4. The making of the Menorah is described in Exod. XXV. The command to light the lamps in the Tabernacle had been given briefly in Exod. XXV,37; and in Exod. XXVII,21 Aaron and his sons are specially entrusted with that duty.
YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
2 Speak to Aharon and say to him; When you draw up the lampwicks, toward the front of the lampstand let the seven lampwicks give light.
when thou lightest the lamps. lit. ‘when thou causest the lamps to go up”; .i.e. when thou causest the flame of the lamps to go up.
‘Why does this command follow immediately after the consecration of the Altar?’ asks the Midrash. The answer is: when Aaron saw the rich gifts which the princes offered on that occasion, his heart grew faint that neither he nor his tribe had a part in that consecration. Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, reassured him in the words, ‘By thy life, thine is greater glory than theirs, for thou lightest the Menorah.’ There is a further Rabbinical saying: “The Sanctuary will on another occasion also be dedicated by kindling the lights, and then it will be done by thy descendants, the Hasmoneans. Thus greater glory is destined for thee than for the princes. Their offerings to the Sanctuary will be employed only as long as it endures, but the lights of the Chanukah festival shall shine for ever.’
give light in front of the candlestick. Aaron is here bidden to arrange the wicks of the seven lamps in such a way that they shall give out one combined blaze of light over against the central shaft of the candelabrum itself (Talmud). Israel said before the God: “LORD of the Universe, Thou commandest us to illumine before Thee; art Thou not the Light of the world, and with Whom light dwelleth?” ‘Not that I require your light,’ was the Divine reply, ‘but that you may perpetuate the light which I conferred on you as an example to the nations of the world’ (Talmud).
The Menorah is one of the favourite symbols of Judaism. Through its association with Chanukah, the Menorah has come to typify spiritual conquest, and that spiritual conquest is achieved neither by might nor by power, but by God’s spirit. . . . Israel, as the Servant of the LORD, is to perform his Divine task without violence. He is not to strive nor cry: ‘a bruised reed shall he not break, and the dimly burning wick shall he not quench’ (Isa. XLII,3). The image employed by Isaiah to describe Israel’s mission is the gentle agency of light, with its irresistible illumination of the surrounding darkness. ‘This is among the loftiest conceptions of all human thought. How new an idea it was, is measured by the length of time it has taken before the idea began slowly to make its way that force cannot conquer spirit’ (Moulton).
3 Aharon did thus; toward the front of the lampstand he drew up the lampwicks, as YHVH had commanded Moshe.4 Now this (was) the constructed-pattern of the lampstand: hammered-work of gold, (even) up to its stem, up to its petals, it was hammered-work. According to the vision that YHVH had Moshe see, thus the lampstand was made.
5-26. DEDICATION OF THE LEVITES
The choice of the Levites for the service of the Sanctuary is given in III,5-10 and their duties are detailed in IV. In view of the impending breakup of the camp, it was now necessary formally to dedicate them to the duties upon which they were about to enter.
5 Now YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:6 Take the Levites from the midst of the Children of Israel, and purify them.
take the Levites. ‘With kind words. Say unto them, Happy are ye inasmuch as ye have been found worthy to be servants to the Omnipresent’ (Rashi). ‘For God elevates no man to an office unless He has tried him and found him worthy of his calling. He did not say, “and the Levites shall be Mine,” before had tried this tribe and found them worthy. In Egypt none but the tribe of Levi observed the Torah, and clung to the token of the Abrahamic covenant; while the other tribes abandoning both Torah and token of covenant, like the Egyptians, practised idolatry. In the desert, also, it was this tribe alone that did not take part in the worship of the Golden Calf. Justly, therefore, did God’s choice fall upon this godly tribe, who on this day were considered as the servants of God and His sanctuary’ (Midrash).
cleanse them. Purify them from ritual uncleanness.
7 Thus you are to do to them, in order to purify them: sprinkle on them Water of Hattat/decontamination; they are to pass a razor across their whole body, and are to scrub their garments- then they will have purified themselves.
sprinkle. The Heb. is the infinitive. It does not, therefore, denote an act which Moses is ordered to perform himself—an act that would have taken one person many months—but an act which he is to order to be performed (Ehrlich).
water of purification. lit. ‘water of sin’; i.e. water which removes sin; according to Rashi, it was the water used in the rites connected with the ordinance of the Red Heifer (XIX,9) for the removal of the defilement due to contact with a dead body. Among the large number of Levites to be consecrated some must have required such purification.
and let them wash their clothes. An act enjoined in Scripture as a preparation for any special religious service; Gen.XXXV,2; Exod. XIX,10. This ceremonial cleansing symbolized the inward purity required of those who bore the vessels of the Sanctuary.
8 They are to take a bull, a young of the herd, and its grain-gift, flour mixed with oil, and a second bull, a young of the herd, you are to take for the hattat-offering. 9 You are to have the Levites come-near before the Tent of Appointment; then you are to assemble the entire community of the Children of Israel. 10 You are to have the Levites come-near, before the presence of YHVH, and the Children of Israel are to lean their hands upon the Levites.
before the LORD. Before the Altar of sacrifice.
lay their hands upon the Levites. The representatives of the Israelites laid their hands upon the representatives of the Levites, in order to indicate that the whole community offered them to the service of God; Lev.I,4.
11 Aharon is to elevate the Levites as an elevation-offering, before the presence of YHVH, on behalf of the Children of Israel, that they may serve the serving-tasks of YHVH.
offer. lit. ‘wave’, so also in v. 13, 15 and 21.
a wave offering. The Levites were probably led backwards and forwards by Aaron in the direction of the Holy of Holies, or he may have only waved his hand over them. The idea underlying was unmistakable. This is: having been given by the Israelites to God, the Levites were given back to the Israelites, whose servants they were to be in all matters appertaining to the Sanctuary.’
12 Then the Levites are to lean their hands on the head of the bulls; they are to assign the one as a hattat-offering and the other as an offering-up to YHVH to effect-ransom for the Levites.
and the Levites. i.e. the chosen representatives of the Levites.
13 Thus you are to have the Levites stand before Aharon and before his sons and are to elevate them as an elevation-offering to YHVH.14 Now you are to separate the Levites from the midst of the Children of Israel, mine are the Levites to be!
15 After that the Levites may enter into the service of the Tent of Appointment, when you have purified them and elevated them as an elevation-offering.
16 For given-over, given-over are they to me from the midst of the Children of Israel, in place of the breacher of every womb, the firstborn of every one of the Children of Israel; I have taken them for myself.
for they are wholly given. lit. ‘for they are given, given’; given, for carrying the Tabernacle and its furniture; and given, for singing the chants of the Sanctuary (Rashi).
17 For mine is every firstborn among the Children of Israel, of man and of beast; at the time that I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I declared-them-holy for myself.18 Now I take the Levites in place of every firstborn from the Children of Israel,
19 and I give-over the Levites, (to be) given-over to Aharon and to his sons from the midst of the Children of Israel, to serve the serving-tasks of the Children of Israel in the Tent of Appointment, and to effect-ransom for the Children of Israel, that there not be among the Children of Israel (any) plague when the Children of Israel encroach on the holy-things.
the children of Israel. The five-fold repetition of these words in this verse indicates the love felt by God towards the bearers of the name of Israel (Midrash).
atonement. Here used not in the usual sense of making propitiation, but in the sense of ‘covering’, a meaning inherent in the Heb. root. The Levites were to form a sort of protective cordon for the Sanctuary.
no plague. The explanation is indicated in Rashi’s comment, which in effect states: “I have appointed the Levites to take over the service of the Sanctuary from the children of Israel, upon whom it had hitherto devolved, and thereby to prevent a plague amongst the latter; because if they came near the Sanctuary, there would certainly be a plague amongst them, since they have proved themselves unworthy of the priestly office.’
20 Moshe, Aharon, and the entire community of Israel did regarding the Levites according to all that YHVH had commanded Moshe regarding the Levites, thus they did regarding them, the Children of Israel.21 The Levites decontaminated-themselves and scrubbed their garments; Aharon elevated them as an elevation-offering before the presence of YHVH, and Aharon effected-purgation for them, to purify them.
purified themselves. By having the ‘water of expiation’ sprinkled upon them; v.7.
22 After that the Levites entered to serve their serving-tasks in the Tent of Appointment, in the presence of Aharon and in the presence of his sons: as YHVH had commanded Moshe regarding the Levites, thus they did regarding them.23 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
23-26. The Levites’ Period of Service. Additional regulations to those in IV, including a probationary period from the age of 25 to 30, as well as the regulations for Levites over 50 years of age.
24 This is what (is to be done) regarding the Levites: from the age of five and twenty years and upward, they are to enter the working-force, to join-the-force in the serving-tasks of the Tent of Appointment;
twenty and five years old and upward. ‘Then years of twenty-five to thirty were for initiation in connection with the lighter labours in the Sanctuary’ (Sifri).
25 and from the age of fifty years, they are to retire from being-on-the-force for the serving-tasks, and shall not serve anymore.
return from the service. Retire from active service in connection with the Sanctuary.
26 They may attend upon their brothers in the Tent of Appointment, to keep the maintenance-duty, but serving-tasks they are not to serve.Thus are you to do regarding the Levites in reference to their duties minister with their brethren. Assist their younger fellow-Levites, but shall do no essential or responsible service. According to the Rabbis, their work was that of closing the gates of the Sanctuary and assisting in the choral singing.
keep the charge. Assist in the dismantling and erecting the Tent of Meeting at the beginning or end of a journey (Rashi). A superannuated life need not be a useless life.