Business/Startup thread by @AriLamm

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Why Read The Bible In Hebrew?

Let's talk about how to read all those names and stats in the Book of Numbers. Is it ACTUALLY important to read any of those?

Why exactly does the Bible even tell us that stuff?

A thread (for non-Hebrew readers too!) 🧵 1

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Why does the Bible have all those endless lists?

Why not just give us some good stories (like in Genesis), or political philosophy (like in Exodus or Deuteronomy)?

Why, for instance, do we need to know the numbers of each tribe, or where all the tribes camped in the desert? 2

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Let's actually address that very question!

If you look at Numbers 2, Scripture gives us a very specific list of how many people were in each of the Israelite tribes, and the order in which they camped while traveling in the desert.

Let's super quickly review the list... 3

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Basically, the camp was arranged like a square.

-- On the East side: Judah, Issachar and Zebulun
-- South: Reuben, Simeon and Gad
-- West: Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin
-- North: Dan, Naphtali and Asher

...If I'm being honest, I almost feel asleep even typing that... 4

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And it gets worse! We have to hear about all the population stats of each group. Without boring you to death, it more or less goes like this:

-- Judah's group is the biggest.
-- Ephraim's group is the smallest.
-- The other two are in the middle.

First question: who cares?! 5

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In order to answer that question, we'll need to ask a second question: why are the tribes arranged in this order?

Is it random? That seems unlikely. Scripture spends too much time meticulously laying out the order. So what does it mean then? 6

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And I also have one more question, which we'll see has to do with the Hebrew wording of the text:

In Numbers 2, the direction of each group is quickly and precisely specified. For instance: "On the south side shall be the regimental encampment of Reuben..." (2:10). 7

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Same goes for all the other groups: "On the west side" (2:18), "On the north side" (2:25).

But for some reason, the east side—the group led by Judah—is different. The verse says, "On the east side toward the sunrise shall be the regimental encampment of Judah" (2:3).

Why? 8

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Okay, so let's first tackle the question about why the tribes are arranged the way they are. And let's begin with the tribes on the North side. Remember: those tribes are Dan, Naphtali and Asher.

Why are those tribes on the north side of the desert encampment? 9

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Well, if you take a look at the Book of Joshua, you'll see that when Joshua cast lots before the Lord to divide up the Promised Land, the tribes of Naphtali and Asher gets the portions all the way in the north of the country (19:24-39).

Ah, but what about the tribe of Dan? 10

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Well, at first Dan tries to settle on the west coast, but fails. So instead they go north (Joshua 19:47), and actually end up the northernmost tribe in the entire Land!

Hence the Biblical phrase meaning "from North to South" is "from Dan to Beersheba" (1 Sam 3:20). 11

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So why, in Numbers 2, does God have Dan, Naphtali and Asher camp to the north side?

Because He is preparing His people for their future in the Land...and so creates a Promised Land-in-miniature in the Wilderness!

You can see the same thing when you look to the south... 12

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Who camps to the south in the desert? Reuben, Simeon and Gad.

Why? Well, in Numbers 34:3 you'll notice the lands described as bordering Israel to the south all abut the cities of Reuben, Simeon and Gad.

Again, God is preparing the Israelites in the desert for their future! 13

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As for the rest of the tribes, the ones on the east and west sides are those who will one day dwell in the middle of the Land.

So God uses the Israelites' desert wandering to transform these downtrodden former slaves into a people who can one day build their own society. 14

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But hold on, you ask, what about the DIFFERENCES between those middle tribes?! After all, you can't just say well they all ended up living in the middle of the Promised Land. If that were all, it wouldn't matter who camped to the west in the desert, and who to the east! 15

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And that's actually a great question! Why do Judah, Issachar and Zebulun camp on the east? And why are Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin in the west?

We can begin to answer the question by noting the one clear factor each tribe has in common with its fellow group members... 16

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That is, what does Judah have in common with Issachar and Zebulun?

They're all children of Jacob's wife Leah!

And what does Ephraim share with Manasseh and Benjamin?

They're the descendants of Jacob's other wife Rachel! In fact, Ephraim and Manasseh are Joseph's children. 17

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So you have children of Leah on the east side of the desert camp, and Rachel's children across from them on the west. Surely that must be important...but how?

Well, this is where we need to return to that strange description of the east side of the camp. 18

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Recall, the verse tells us: ""On the east side toward the sunrise shall be the regimental encampment of Judah" (2:3).

That translation isn't unreasonable...but it's also really just a best guess at what the text actually means. Why? Well, let's look at the Hebrew! 19

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The word being translated as "east" is "kedem". Which makes sense, because that's what it often means.

To take just one famous example, ever heard the phrase "east of Eden"? Like the Steinbeck novel? That's a term from Genesis 2:8, and the word for "east" there is "kedem"! 20

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But here's the thing. The word translated "the sunrise" is "mizrach". And know what THAT word usually means? Yup...also "east"!

Like when Scripture describes Solomon's temple, it talks about "the Levites...standing to the east (mizrach) of the altar" (2 Chronicles 5:12). 21

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So what the verse in Numbers 2, describing the east side of the camp, literally means is that Judah, Issachar and Zebulun camped "on the east side, on the east side"—it says "east" twice for seemingly no reason!

You can see why the English translations don't go with that... 22

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Now, to be fair, "sunrise" is not a CRAZY translation for the Hebrew word "mizrach". After all, the sun rises in the east...and the word "mizrach" itself can sometimes just straight up mean sunrise! As in "From the rising (mizrach) of the sun to its setting" (Psalm 113:3). 23

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But we're still left with our original question, why doesn't the Bible simply refer to "the east side" with a single word, just like it does for all the other camp directions?

Why introduce another word that means "east" for seemingly no reason at all?! 24

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The answer is that "mizrach" in Numbers 2 in fact DOES simply just mean "east". It's not referring to the sunrise.

It's actually the other word—the phrase's first word, "kedem"—that needs reinterpreting!

You see, while "kedem" can mean "east", it has another meaning too... 25

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Take Psalm 139:5 for example:

"You hem me in, behind and in front, and lay your hand upon me"

Can you guess the Hebrew word being translated as "in front"? Yessir..."kedem"!

So Numbers 2 isn't just telling us the camp had four sides. It also tells us which side was front. 26

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The front of the camp was the east—the side with Judah and Leah's children. Why is this important?

Well, think about it. We know that the Israelites traveling through the desert were near hostile nations. In Exodus 17 they even get attacked by a roving band of Amalekites! 27

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That's why the desert encampment wasn't just a hangout. It was, as Numbers 1 and 2 tell us, a military camp! That's why when the Book of Numbers counts the Israelites, it does so "from twenty years old and up, everyone in Israel able to go to war" (1:3). 28

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So if the east side was the front of the military camp, then that meant Judah, Issachar and Zebulun were in the vanguard. They were the Israelites' first protectors. Which is why, as I mentioned earlier, that group on the east of the desert encampment was the largest one! 29

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So Judah, Issachar and Zebulun were guardians. Whom were they protecting? Who stood directly behind them...and was, as I also mentioned earlier, the smallest of the desert groups?

Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin.

The children of Leah were protecting the children of Rachel. 30

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This brings the story of the Book of Genesis full circle. Genesis's central narrative feature is sibling rivalry. Cain vs. Abel; Ishmael vs. Isaac; Esau vs. Jacob.

And of all those stories, the richest and most complex is the story of Joseph and his brothers... 31

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In that story, Leah's children torment Rachel's son Joseph. And Judah is the ringleader, ultimately masterminding Joseph's sale into slavery:

"Then Judah said to his brothers: What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him..." (37:26). 32

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So now, here we are. Generations later. And the descendants of Judah and Joseph—of Leah and Rachel—once again find themselves in a situation where Judah is far stronger, more numerous and more powerful than Joseph.

And we wonder...will history repeat itself? 33

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That's when God steps in. He proclaims to the children of Leah and Rachel: history is not destiny!

Yes, once upon a time, the children of Leah tormented Rachel's son.

But today? As you prepare to build a virtuous new society? Leah's children will PROTECT Rachel's children! 34

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Judah will not banish Joseph into exile. He will guard him from harm.

To me, this idea–concretized in Numbers 2—represents the Bible's vision of history. The past is essential for understanding society. We can no more forget it than we can forget ourselves. 35

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This can be painful, because while the past can hold glorious triumphs of which we can be proud, it can also hold extraordinary pain—things we'd rather forget about others or even ourselves. 36

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So God tells us: do not fear the past! For if you use it well, then—as for Judah and Joseph—it can turn into a source of kindness, compassion...and ultimately national redemption! 36

Why Read The Bible In Hebrew? Let's talk about how to read all...

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