Our forty-third Torah portion is Massey. It is the last of the book of Numbers. The Hebrew word Massey refers to the stages of the forty year trek that Moses rehearses in Chapter 33. This Sedrah is encompassed in Numbers 33-36. In this Chapter 33 Torah summarizes the entire route followed by Israel as directed by the Lord from the exodus from Egypt until they stood poised to cross the Jordan and enter the promised land. In all there were forty-two journeys; the first fourteen were before the mission of the twelve sent out to scout the land. The last eight journeys were in the fortieth year after Aaron's death. Thus during the thirty-eight intervening years there were only twenty journeys. The fact that these forty-two journeys are the same number of letters in the mystical forty-two letter name of God imply there may be revelations in these journeys hid from human view. In the midst of all their journeys the people saw it as going to their destination geographically. Whereas God's objective was the making of a unified nation. The children would not attain their goal until God had attained His. Verse 4 describes the Egyptians burying their firstborn sons as Israel boldly left the land. In smiting the firstborn of all living beings, man and beast, God smote objects of Egyptian worship. All the deity of Egypt were represented by some beast.
All these places named by Moses and the journey between each were meant to bring forth a flood of memories to the children and certainly their Lord's miraculous provision, His undisguised love and the reliability of His judgments would stand out through it all. For now, they were encamped by the river Jordan from Beth Jeshemoth to Abel-Shittim in the plains of Moab. It was here that the Lord gave these instructions "When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land, you shall destroy their idols and all their cult places of worship. You shall take possession of the land and settle in it for I have given it to you to possess it." They were to settle in the portion belonging unto their tribe. Each family's plot would be decided by lot, and if the family was large the lot would be increased, and if the family was small it would be reduced - all things being equal. They were told again if they did not dispossess the people of the land but let them remain, Israel, who was to be a light to the nations, would be swallowed up in the Canaanite evil and themselves be expelled from the Lord's land.
