A Torah Tidbit

Numbers 33:5 The Israelites left Rameses and camped at Succoth. 6 They left Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert. 7 They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol. 8 They left Pi Hahiroth and passed through the sea into the desert, and when they had traveled for three days in the Desert of Etham, they camped at Marah. 9 They left Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

While reading the passage above, two verses stood out in our minds as we read. It’s very easy to see Yeshua in these passages, especially verse 8 and 9. If we look at some of the definitions of the words, we can get a pretty vivid picture of Yeshua’s work of Salvation. This is not all-inclusive and much more could be said, but here is just a prophetic snapshot.

In verse 8, Israel passed through and was ‘baptized’ in the sea, which is a picture of Yeshua’s baptism as well. They traveled into the desert after their ‘baptism’ just as Yeshua was driven into the wilderness after His. Israel journeyed in the desert of Etham three days    (just as Yeshua was 3 days and 3 nights in the grave Matt 12:40) and camped in Marah. Israel left Marah and entered Elim, a place of 12 springs and 70 palms.

Let’s look a little closer at some of these words. The word ‘etham’ ( translated as ‘plowshare’ by some) is ‘Aleph Tav Mem’ – The Aleph Tav or ‘The First and Last’, ‘The Beginning and The End’ and the mem is a masculine plural ending ( as in elohim), an interesting combination of letters, to say the least. The word translated ‘camped’ can also mean ‘to bend down or lay siege to’. Marah is ‘bitterness’ and Elim is ‘palms’ and is also the root word for ‘ayil’ or ram, door post, tree, prominence and it is where we get the word ‘Jubilee’. Yeshua is all these things – the blood on the door post, the One Who hung on the tree, the One Who is the Lamb and the Ram, and the One given Prominence and Preeminence from His Father. Messiah Yeshua ‘traveled’ three days and three nights through death – ‘The Wilderness’ that only He, The First and Last, could endure. He bowed down ( “no man takes My life; I lay it down;” John 10:17-18) and laid siege to ‘bitterness’ and emerged on the other side, ‘plowing’ the way for His people to be able to experience eternal ‘Jubilee’. Elim is a place of 12 springs and 70 palms. The 12 springs and 70 palms are a picture of the 12 Tribes and 70 nations, the wild branches and the natural branches being brought together in Yeshua in the Kingdom in these last days.
Shalom U’Vrachot – Peace & Blessings to you and yours – R&J