Rav Richard

'Aharon'

Chaimberlin

NASOTHE second parashah (Torah reading) in the book of Numbers (B'midbar) is named Naso. This word is found in Numbers 4:22, which says, "Take a census of the sons of Gershon..." (NAS). A more literal translation would be, "Lift up the heads of the sons of Gershon." The Hebrew word naso literally means elevate or marry. Obviously, in context we are not talking about marriage in this chapter. We are counting the "heads" of the Levites between 30 and 50 years old. Since each of these men had only one head, the total number of heads equaled the total number Levite men between 30 and 50 years old, which was 8580 men (Num. 4:48).

     In the previous parashah, B'midbar, we had a census of the men who were able to serve in the newly formed army of Israel, which was 603,550 (Num. 1:46). The Levites were not to serve in the military. Therefore, the Levites were not counted in that earlier census. Instead, the duties of the Levites revolved around the ohel mo'ed (tent of meeting) and worship. At a later date, their duties revolved around the Beit HaMikdash, the Temple that was built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.[1]

     As mentioned in the first paragraph above, the word Naso (נָשָׂא) can mean lift up, elevate, or marry. This is the command or imperative version of the verb.  This makes very little sense in English that the same word that means lift up can also mean marry, which can also be transliterated as nasa (meaning “he married” or “he lifted up”). In earlier centuries, it was customary after the wedding for a Jewish groom to lift up his bride and carry her to the home that he had been preparing for the past year. This is no longer done. I'm not sure of the reason. Perhaps the brides got too heavy, or the grooms got too weak! You tell me. However, remnants of this tradition can be found in the modern tradition of the groom picking up the bride and carrying her across the threshold of their first home, as is often done even after Gentile weddings.

     The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has as its acronym NASA, which is most famous for putting men on the moon. However, NASA has also sent many satellites into orbit, as well as many unmanned rockets into space, ambitiously exploring our solar system, including all the planets and their moons, as well as comets and asteroids. As a result, we have amazing pictures of the planets and their moons, and the knowledge of our solar system has increased exponentially.

     NASA has also launched rockets that have gone well beyond the orbit of Pluto, and are now in interstellar space. It is interesting that this highly successful organization has the acronym NASA. In Hebrew, it means lift up or elevate. What does NASA do? It "lifts up" rockets into space! Is this just a coincidence? Possibly. But it is also possible some Jewish guy in the organization chose a name that would also have a very appropriate acronym, like NASA.

     I would like to revert to my previous comments about marriage and weddings. The first wedding described in the Bible is in Genesis 29, although I am sure that there were weddings before that. In Genesis 29, there is already the tradition of the seven-day pre-wedding feast, which we see repeated with Samson's wedding, in Judges 14:12. At the wedding in Cana, in Yochanan (John) 2:6, we have the miracle in which Yeshua turned the water into wine. This involved the water in six water pots, each containing 20 to 30 gallons of water (about 100 liters). The water pots were used for storing water for the mikveh (a bath used for tevilah (immersion for ritual cleansing purposes).

     Some Baptists might say, "Well, this was new wine," which they assume to be non-alcoholic. However, Hosea 4:11 tells us that even new wine "takes away understanding," perhaps like the May wine in Germany, which is partially fermented to about six percent alcohol. Yeshua did the miracle of producing about 600 liters of wine. Biblically, drunkenness is considered a sin, so I assume that this was spread out to a seven-day pre-wedding feast. I don't believe Yeshua would have encouraged drunkenness, although it was a real party!  Jewish weddings are festive occasions in which the wine flows. However, alcoholism has traditionally not been a Jewish vice.

     Sometime in the Inter-Testamental [2] period, it became the tradition to have a betrothal (erusin), which was usually about 12 months. There were no sexual relations during that period. However, to break this "engagement" period would require a get (bill of divorcement), just as would be required for dissolving a marriage. It was during this "betrothal" period that the groom would go to prepare a place for his bride, usually on his father's property. Yeshua gave us a similar analogy when He said, "Let your heart not be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many dwellings. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” [3] Yeshua went to prepare a place for us, and He will return for all who have accepted Him as Messiah and Savior. After 2,000 years, I am sure this place is fabulous!

     Since about the 16th Century, the two ceremonies of erusin (betrothal) and nisu'in (marriage) have been performed on the same day, separated only by the reading of the ketubah (marriage contract), which contains the mutual obligations between the bride and groom. The groom pledges a certain sum of money in the event of his death or divorce. The ketubah is often quite ornate, and written in Aramaic. A brief excerpt: "Be my wife according to the Law of Moses and Israel. I will work for you, and maintain you in accordance with the custom of Jewish husbands who work for their wives, honoring and supporting them, and maintaining them in truth...” [4] After the reading, it is handed over to the bride as a prized possession.

     It was part of HaShem's[5] permissive will to have more than one wife. However, His perfect will from the beginning is for a man to only have one wife. "For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become basar echad (one flesh).”  [6] In the beginning, it was Adam and Chava (Eve), and not Adam and Eve and Marcia, and certainly not Adam and Steve. From the very beginning, marriage was HaShem's perfect will for a heterosexual union between one man and one woman. One day, when Adam came home late, Chava (Eve) accused him, saying, "Have you been with another woman?" Adam denied the accusation, saying, "Of course not! Look, count my ribs!"

     Another element of the Jewish wedding is the khupa, or wedding canopy. This can be a beautifully embroidered large piece of cloth, or it can be a large tallit (prayer shawl). The couple getting married stand beneath the khupa. There are various theories regarding the origin of the khupa (also spelled chupa). The version I prefer is that it is reminiscent of the tent ceremony in biblical times, when it was customary to bring the veiled bride into the groom's tent. The portable canopy (khupa) originally was in front of the synagogue, under the canopy of heaven. Marriages were not performed by rabbis until the 14TH Century, perhaps in imitation of Christian weddings, which were performed by clergy. According to the Talmud, any Jew can perform the wedding ceremony. Eventually, the khupa and ceremony moved into the synagogue.

     The bride walks around the groom seven times under the khupa as part of the ceremony. This is done as an acting out of the verse from Jeremiah: "For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth - A woman shall encompass a man.” [7]   

     Sexuality was (and is) respectfully discussed openly in the Jewish family and in the yeshivas.[8] Sexual intercourse, however, was (and is) within the confines of marriage. The bride and groom look forward to actually having sex with each other. However, they withhold sex from each other until the wedding night, saving it as a special gift to give to each other on the wedding night. The system apparently works. Traditionally, the Jewish divorce rate is much lower than society in general, with much more stable marriages.

 

     The Jewish wedding ceremony also contains a prophetic fulfillment of the word naso, which means both “lift up” and “marry.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17, we read, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the shofar of God, and the dead in Messiah will arise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The “wedding” occurs for those who have accepted Yeshua and are living for Him at that are “lifted up” to the heavens. This is the event often called the “Rapture.”

     After this event comes what is called the Marriage of the Lamb” in Revelation 19:7-8: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the Marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous of the saints.”

     In Yochanan (John) 14:2-3, we read, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

In Biblical times, the groom would prepare a place for the bride near his father’s house. Yeshua is doing same thing. Yeshua was Co-Creator of the world, as we learn in John 1:1-3. This was done in only six days and nights. He has been preparing places for us over the past 2000 years! If the heavens and earth were created in only six days, let us try to imagine what has been done in 2000 years!

The Rapture is the good news. However, there is no “pre-Trib” rapture promised in Scripture. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, we read:

“Now we beseech you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and by our gathering together to Him, that you not be soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come, unless the apostacy comes first, and the man of Lawlessness (Torah-lessness) is revealed, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

Certain things must occur before the Rapture. The Beit HaMikdash (Temple) must be rebuilt. Only at that time can the “son of perdition” (the anti-Messiah) make his appearance, proclaiming himself as being God. Many Christians will be fooled, believing that this man cannot be the anti-Christ, because they are foolishly believing in a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Yeshua warned us, saying, “For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise, and who show signs and wonders, in order, if possible, to deceive even the very elect (Mark 13:22).”

In Matthew 24:29-31, Yeshua told us, “Immediately after the Tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars (angels, as in Job 38:6) shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together the elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

In Daniel 7:25, we read, “And he (the anti-Messiah) will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Most High, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in Law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time (three and a half years).”

In 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Rav Sha’ul tells us that Yeshua “delivers us from the wrath to come.” However, Yeshua tells us “You will have tribulation (John 16:33).” We believe in a “post-Trib, pre-Wrath” Rapture. Tribulation ends with the seventh shofar, in Revelation 11:15-19, which is also the last shofar mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:52. The Wrath of God mentioned in Revelation 15:1 and 16:1 then begins after the end of Tribulation.



[1] "Common Era," equivalent to A.D.

[2] Time between the writing of the Tanakh & NT.

[3] Yochanan (John) 14:1-3.

[4] Encyclopedia of Jewish Concepts, P. Birnbaum.

[5] Hebrew for "The Name (of God)."

[6] Genesis 2:24.

[7] Jeremiah 31:22 (31:21 in Jewish Bibles).

[8] Jewish religious schools.