“When the ark moved forward, Moshe said,
‘Arise, Adonai! May your enemies be scattered!
Let those who hate you flee before you!”
When it stopped, he said,
“Return, Adonai of the many, many
thousands of Israel!‘”
-Numbers 10:35-36
Alrighty, Numbers Chapter 10 comes to a finish with an ancient poem that anyone who has attended a Messianic Synagogue for any length of time should know.
The closing verses begin with the word “Arise“.
The Hebrew term for “Arise” is KAM.
What’s interesting about this word is that it is a distinctly military term that means to “position oneself to make an attack“.
I like that thought.
The Lord, the God of Israel, is going to personally go up ahead of Israel and thrash Israel’s enemies ahead of time to ensure victory for His People.
This reminds of the following quote from an Israeli military commander:
“Apparently someone in heaven was watching over us. Every unintended action they took and every unintended action we took was always turned to our advantage.”–Commander Rafael Eytan of the 35th Brigade commenting on the 6-Day War.
You’re darn right “someone” in heaven is watching over you.
His Name is יהוה.
One question that is sometimes asked is was the divine presence of the Lord hovering above the Ark when it was being carried outside as the Israelites marched towards their destination?
I would say the answer is no because based on what we’ve studied so far, the Divine Presence only manifests itself at the Ark when it is properly placed inside the tent sanctuary.
And again, read verse 36:
“And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel”.
The picture being presented to us is that of HASHEM rising away from the Ark and going out ahead of the camp to make war with Israel’s enemies and then coming back to the Ark.
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