Naso, Lift Up
Numbers 4:21 to 7:89
Haftarah: Judges 13:2 to 25
Psalm 104
Apostolic Writings/Newer Testament/B’rit HaChadashah: Acts 2:1 to 11
This week we have celebrated Shavuos / Shavuot / Weeks / Pentecost in the Hebrew calendar, on Wednesday 19th May. In the Church calendar Pentecost is celebrated this coming Sunday, May 23rd. The reason for the difference is, of course, the Council of Nicea.
Shavuos is the fiftieth day after Pesach and marks the Counting of the Omer in its fullness. This is why in the book of Acts we read, “When the feast of Pentecost had fully come”.
I have heard it said many times that at the first Pentecost the Church was born. This is not correct. At the first Pentecost the Torah was given. Seven weeks after the miraculous escape from Egyptian captivity The Almighty had the people stop at Har Sinai – the Mountain called Sinai. There, Moshe Rabbenu – Moses our teacher – climbed the mountain and met face-to-face with The Almighty. There, Moses was given the Torah in its entirety. Some Rabbinic sources and traditions say that the Oral Torah was given to Moses at the same time as the written Torah. This is not the place to get into that discussion.
The word Naso, lift up, refers to the action of lifting one’s head. It therefore refers to a “head count”. This is one of a few accounts of a census being taken. Here, as with others, a gift is brought by those being counted. Each person brought exactly the same gift as everyone else. Each person (Tribe)’s gift was received on a separate day, and counted as if it were the only gift. Such is the attitude of The Almighty to our “gifts” or offerings to Him. Each is individually important.
Our Parsha this week has in it the “Aaronic Blessing”. May The L-RD bless you and keep you &c. This Blessing is recited each Sabbath by “Dad” over his family.
And G-d spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying: Thus shall you bless the children of Israel; say to them:
"May G-d bless you andkeep you. May G-d make His face shine upon you, and give you grace. May G-d lift up His face to you and give you peace."
And they shall set My name upon the children of Israel; andI will bless them.
The Kohanim (Priests) bless Israel; “Dad” blesses the family. As a result of the intention and act of imploring The Almighty to bless the people, The Almighty pledges to bless the Kohanim and each “Dad”.
The Haftarah this week tells us of the birth of Samson. A childless couple had a son as a result of Divine intervention. How many times have we read variations on that particular theme? Many of the heroes about whom we read in our Bible have this at the start of their lives. Just think of Isaac; Samuel; Yeshua.
So we read of this man who was very strong physically, and was a Nazirite from birth. We therefore read about the details of the Nazirite vow; this was the vow for which Saul / Paul paid in the book of Acts 18:18.
At the first Shavuos we were given the Torah, the most amazing blessing bestowed upon the people of Israel. In Romans chapter 9 we read that:
Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!Amen.
The Torah was given at Pentecost; the Ruach HaKodesh was given in a special way at Pentecost.
The full fullness of The Almighty is His Word and His Spirit, given to us.
Let’s celebrate that gift and that fullness!
Dawn and I will be in Belfast this coming weekend, to share in CMJ Ireland’s Bicentenary at St George’s Church; High Street; Belfast. Come along if you can, at 3pm.
There will be no “Thoughts” next week, as I’ll be away for most of the week.
The Parsha for next week is: Behaalotecha, When you step up - Numbers 8:1-12:16
The Haftarah is Zechariah chapters 2, 3 and 4
From the Lectionary we have Psalm 29, and John chapter 16
Shabbat Shalom!