Parashat Bamidbar, What do these have in common: Cohen (Priest), Husband, and Messiah?.

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This week’s study is from Parashat Bamidbar (Bamidbar / Numbers 1:1-4:20), the Lord God speaks to Moshe in the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Moed, בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד) saying  ב   שְֹאוּ אֶת-רֹאשׁ כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְֹרָאֵל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת כָּל-זָכָר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם:  1:2 ‘Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. (NASB)  The men who are to be numbered are those who are able to go to war, twenty years and older.  Moshe then proceeds to take a census of the people from each tribe, the number of men who are able to go to war from each tribe is given in Bamidbar 1:4-46.  The Levites however were not numbered among them because they are given to the service of the Lord in the Mishkhan (Tabernacle) (1:47-50).  The scriptures state that the Levites will camp around the Mishkhan so that there will be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Yisrael (1:53).  The Torah then lists who will camp on the north, east, south, and west sides of the Mishkhan (2:1-34).  The generations of Aharon are given in Bamidbar 3:1-4.  The Lord then commands that the Levites be brought before Aharon and declares יג   כִּי לִי כָּל-בְּכוֹר בְּיוֹם הַכֹּתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם הִקְדַּשְׁתִּי לִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּיִשְֹרָאֵל מֵאָדָם עַד-בְּהֵמָה לִי יִהְיוּ אֲנִי יְהוָֹה:  3:13‘For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.’(NASB)  Moshe then numbered them according to the command of the Lord (3:14) and so the number of the first born are given in Bamidbar 3:15-50.  This week’s reading ends with the mitzvot on what to do when the Mishkhan moves from one place to another, how the Levites are to prepare the Tabernacle for traveling (4:4-20).  Read more here.

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Duane D. Miller received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Akron Ohio. He is currently a Chemical Engineering Researcher. Duane’s research expertise has focused upon functional materials development for the control, conversion, and release of process gases in Energy production technologies. His R&D interests include computational chemistry, developing novel technologies for converting biomass to fuels and studying their fundamental interactions during the chemical conversion process. His past experience includes sorbent development for pre- and post-combustion CO2 and SO2 capture, selective absorption of H2S from methane streams, O2 capture for oxy-fuel combustion, photocatalytic reduction of alcohols, NOx reduction catalysis, the development of oxygen carriers to combust fossil fuels (CH4 and coal) for the chemical looping combustion processes, and the extraction of rare earth elements using patent pending sorbents. His research expertise has focused on operando-characterization using Infrared, Raman, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe the nature of the catalytic active sites and reaction intermediates under realistic reaction conditions, allowing direct correlation of molecular/electronic structures with catalyst performance during Gas-Solid / Liquid-Solid Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes with real time online analysis of reaction products using ICP-MS and mass spectrometry. His current work involves a multi-disciplinary approach to developing, understanding, and improving the catalytic gasification of coal and methane, high temperature chemical looping combustion, and the catalytic decomposition and gasification of biomass and coal using novel microwave reactor.​ He has been studying the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah for 20+ years and sharing what he has learned. The studies developed for MATSATI.COM are freely to be used by everyone, to God be the Glory!