Mattot (Tribes) Masa’ei (stages) Numbers/B’midbar 30:2-36:13
Now on to my question of the week which was, As you read through the Torah portion Masa’ei we see a listing of 42 journeys the Israelites made during their journey in the wilderness. Some of them we have heard of before but many we have not. Consider your own life in light of this portion, what point do you think this listing of places is making that also would be relevant to our own life?
Keep your seatbelts on because in this short portion we read about forty two stops the children of Israel made during their exodus from Egypt until where they stand across the river from the Promised Land. Some of these are mentioned earlier yet some are not in this list. Fourteen of these stops took place in the first year following their exit from Egypt. Eight more took place after the death of Aaron. So in the intervening years between exit and entry to Israel we have the remaining twenty stops. Even the description of some of the stops are very basic, such as, we left X and arrived at Y. So why does Torah spend all this time on a somewhat bland list of names? I read an article this week that I think shed some light on this question for me. Nelson Mandela talked in one of his speeches about the “long walk to freedom.” Remember the distance from Egypt to Israel could have been covered in a few days so why did it take forty years? In scripture, G-d says in Exodus 13:17, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” What can we learn from this? Freedom takes time to flower. We all are, in some ways, on this same journey. This list of places teaches us an important lesson. If you notice this list ends at the door of Israel. However, the people still had a way to go. They had to cross the river. They had battles to fight like in Jericho and Ai. So why stop the list here?
Let us tackle this one step at a time. It would seem to me G-d is making a point here in this seemingly dry list. Our journey to freedom is a spiritual journey and it has to do with how we learn to be free from our own spiritual Egypt. It does not happen all at once. It happens in the failures we experience along the way and how we handle them. That is what this portion is all about. Our journey is long, starting when we came to the L-rd, or even before that, when we began to ask, “Is this all there is to life? Is it just about getting what we can with no regard for anyone except ourselves?”
No, it is so much more. It is about knowing He is with us every day and in everything we do or experience. He is there to bring us into true freedom, step by step. He is there to pick us up when we fall. He is our encourager to keep moving in His direction. Here in this section there were many stops. Our journey does not end until we draw our last breath and are gathered into the arms of G-d. Every experience is to teach us. Every experience is to bring us closer to Him, even the experiences that are hard while we are going through them. Even the times when we miss it and make choices that were not the best, G-d does not give up on us. He is there to shed light on where we are and the mistakes we have made, expecting us to learn from them.
I am sure each of us have had those times when we see our errors or sins. We learn from those times and move on, closer and closer to our Heavenly Father until that time we rest in His arms.
Bless each of you fellow travelers. G-d loves us and will show us a better way if we are committed and willing to follow Him.