Naso
"lift up"
Numbers 4:21-7:89
Judges 13:2-13:25
Psalm 67
Matthew 6:25-34
Naso is always the bookend after Shavuot, and Bamidbar precedes it, so Bamidbar and Naso are bookends of the Torah in the wilderness of Sinai. Rather than share our specific Torah study this week, I thought I’d share a story I wrote for MessiMagazine. It reinforces the teaching on the four winds from last week, and you can pick up the additional points from the live stream recording on Shabbat.
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It Was Worse Than I Thought
I’ve been working on sarcasm. Most of my life. And I mean that sincerely.
For example, I’d always read about Yeshua falling asleep in a boat on the Galilee. The King James Version even calls the boat a “ship.” I suppose it made the story more exciting, but once I saw the LAKE of Galilee, I realized that a couple of ships would be like toys bumping around in a bathtub. It’s boats. Boats sail on the Galilee, King James. Maybe it was the translators’ fault I built such a dramatic picture of Yeshua asleep on the sea in a storm so bad it could capsize a ship. When I saw how small the Galilee really was, it was hard not to roll my eyes at how scared the disciples were when a little storm blew over the lake at night, ship or no ship. Come on, disciples. You have real fishermen in the boat, and you’re used to fishing at night. What’s all the ruckus?
A couple of years ago, Kisha Gallagher and I took a tour group to Israel for Sukkot. We booked a hotel on the west side of the LAKE of Galilee in Tiberias for a night so that the group could go out on the LAKE in a boat. There’s a guy in the boat that sings, and most people love him, but I’m not a musical type of person. I like music. I like stories. I don’t like them together. So no musicals, not even The Sound of Music or Fiddler on the Roof. Either tell me a story, or sing me a song, but please, commit. Nothing in my coffee, either. Respect the bean. Each year I think of creative ways to dodge the singing boat ride.
Before the group even had a chance to board a boat, though, a strong wind blew up. I was staying on the top floor of the hotel, so I walked outside on the balcony to see what was going on. The sound was incredible, similar to when I’ve been in Oklahoma or Kentucky, and tornadoes were blowing through the area. As I looked around, I could see the boats all turning toward shore. The palm trees were bent like in a Florida hurricane. Debris was blowing everywhere.
I looked west, and the source of the storm was a huge cloud of sand blowing over the mountains. It was (so far) a completely rainless, but violent, dust storm. It reminded me of a white dust cloud Kisha and I had seen in the Tzin Wilderness a couple of years earlier, and it hovered west of us, but this one was barreling straight for the lake from the west.
The gale-force wind blew so hard that I had to get off the balcony. I went inside and secured the door and windows, and still, the curtains moved inward as if the windows were open, and the glass was rattling as if it would break. Concerned for the boats still out on the lake, I watched through the window, and even took some video with my phone. Now I could see what frightened the twelve disciples so badly. This was serious. Dangerous.
The storm finally ceased, but I knew we’d just witnessed something important. Yes, it was important that I quit thinking the disciples were a bunch of scaredy-cats, but there was something more. It was when we went through the Torah portion Bamidbar recently that I figured out why that particular little group of people needed to witness a storm on the Galilee during Sukkot of the Nations specifically.
The four banners of the four tribal encampments represented spirits. Each divisional banner represented one of the four living creatures of the Divine Chariot, the Spirits of Adonai (Ezek 1:10). They were not merely flags. They pictured how Israel would move at the command of the Ruach HaKodesh, east, west, north, or south, able to defend an attack from any direction without turning. Each tribe faced a specific direction:
East – Judah – lion banner - Gavriel
South – Reuven – man banner - Michael
West – Ephraim – bull banner - Refael
North – Dan – eagle banner - Uriel
Tradition associates each division with a certain angel as well, and this is repeated in Revelation:
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After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, 'Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.' (Re 7:1-4).
The purpose of the Israelite encampments in the wilderness was for more than to protect the Tabernacle. They functioned with the Ruach HaKodesh in the earth. When Israelites obeyed their Torah Covenant and maintained their good relationship with the Holy One, then angels of the four winds were “programmed” to blow favorable winds in season according to the needs of each nation. If not, then the angels released the chaos of the winds to reflect the chaos in the Camp.
Suddenly, there’s a deeper significance to Yeshua’s evening nap on the boat. The winds and sea were blowing chaotically, yet Yeshua commanded them to be still. This was something that ancient rabbis said King Messiah would be able to do. Only he would be able to retrieve the twelve tribes of Israel and Judah from the four winds where they’d been scattered. Only King Messiah would have the power of the Holy One to harmonize four winds programmed to respond to Israelite chaos with chaos.
Yeshua demonstrated on that stormy sea in “Galilee of the Nations” that he would raise up Israel, then call them home to their encampment and organize them into an army as Revelation Seven prophesied. They would be restored to the great Cloud of Witnesses to the Torah as in the wilderness when they traveled in Clouds of Glory.
Yeshua’s twelve fishing disciples, like the twelve tribes, would carry the message to the four winds of the exiles.
- I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth... (Is 43:6)
- I will not carry out My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; indeed, He will roar, and His sons will come trembling from the west. (Ho 11:9-10)
- And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET BLAST, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Mt 24:31)
Those four winds are blowing chaotically now, but just imagine how much more damage would be done if Israelites around the world were not turning back to their Covenant relationship with the Father. They are salt and light, but look out, world! One by one, family by family, group by group, Israelites are finding ways to make pilgrimages home, especially for the feasts. Nahum 1:15 says, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news; keep your feasts, O, Judah! The wicked one will no more pass through you.”
Judah always set out on the journey first, roaring to trumpet blasts. What a kiss on the cheek that Galilee storm was for our tour group! It was as if the Father nodded to that angel of the west wind and told him to let it blow on the Galilee so that we would see what was happening in all directions and tremble a bit like Ephraim coming home. The Lion of Judah is arising as prophesied. Now I’m listening much more closely for the roar. I’m ready to assemble at the windiest city of all, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city where the four winds harmonize for blessings, and those blessings extend across the earth.
So rightfully, the disciples trembled like the returning tribes at King Messiah’s power. Who could blame them? They should have written a musical.
For a more in-depth study on the prophetic four winds of the windiest city, join us on the YouTube live stream tomorrow at approximately 4:00 pm Eastern.
