The wilderness can mean different things to different people. Maybe you first think of mountains, desert, beach, or just a Motel 6. Whatever you imagine, today’s wilderness in the book of Numbers is wild. And the stories from the wilderness not only teach us life lessons, but the word wilderness interestingly enough is a lesson on life itself.
Segment 1
Scriptures:
Numbers 11:4-5 (Romanticizing the past)
Numbers 13:30-31 (The faith of Joshua and Caleb)
Numbers 14:6-10 (The Lord is with us, fear not)
Deuteronomy 1:2 (11 days journey)
Segment 2
Scriptures:
Numbers 1:1 (In the wilderness)
Numbers 1:2-3,19 (Numbers of the Israelites)
Numbers 1:20-47 (The accounting of the tribes)
Exodus 3:8 (Promised land)
Numbers 14:33-34 (40 years to wander and learn)
Quotes:
“If you want to leave your Egypt and get to your Promised Land, you have to be willing to traverse wilderness.” Midbar is a place of nothing. It is empty. There are no guarantees in wilderness, no assurances. It can be scary. It is a place of wandering (which can, at times, feel endless). But it is also a place of discovery. Midbar—from the root דבר, which also is the root for "word" in Hebrew—is where Torah (God’s word) is found. Wilderness is where we meet God. Wilderness is where we encounter our self. It is the place of growth. And there's no getting around it. Midbar is the only way to the Promised Land. It is a sacred place. (Rabbi Steven Kushner, “D’Var Torah”, as recorded in “Becoming Midbar” reformjudiasm.org)
Translations of book names in the Torah:
Genesis - bereishit = In the beginning
Exodus - shemot = Names
Leviticus - vayikra = And He called
Numbers - bamidbar = In the wilderness
Deuteronomy - devarim = Words
Segment 3
Scriptures:
Numbers 11:1-4 (The riffraff riling up contention)
Numbers 11:20,31-34 (Quail up to their noses)
Words of the General Authorities:
The concept—“the greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement”—also has profound spiritual applications. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are the ultimate Givers. The more we distance ourselves from Them, the more entitled we feel. We begin to think that we deserve grace and are owed blessings. We are more prone to look around, identify inequities, and feel aggrieved—even offended—by the unfairness we perceive. While the unfairness can range from trivial to gut-wrenching, when we are distant from God, even small inequities loom large. We feel that God has an obligation to fix things—and fix them right now! (Dale G. Renlund, “That I Might Draw All Men unto Me”, April 2016 General Conference)
Segment 4
Scriptures:
Numbers 15:32-36 (The punishment for Sabbath breaking)
Exodus 31:12-17 (Sabbath observance)
Numbers 20:3-12 (Moses and Aaron will not go to the Promised Land)
Deuteronomy 34:4-6 (Moses buried in the wilderness)
Segment 5
Scriptures:
Numbers 21:8 (Look to the serpent of brass and live)
CR: 2 Nephi 25:20
CR: Alma 33:19-22
CR: Helaman 8:14-15
Segment 6
Scriptures:
Numbers 27:1-8 (Daughters of Zelophehad)
Numbers 16:1-4 (Company of Korah)
Numbers 11:12 (Moses’s responsibility to Israel)
Isaiah 51:3 (The Lord will comfort us)
Quotes:
We focus so much on the things with which we struggle, we direct so much of our attention onto our hopes and dreams. Yet the place wherein we eat and sleep and argue and love, the day-to-day journeys that move us from and to and sometimes back again, the ordinary landscape of life somehow gets overshadowed. But, well we know, it is the most important part. (Rabbi Steven Kushner, “D’Var Torah”, as recorded in “Becoming Midbar” reformjudiasm.org)
Read the transcript here.