This week, the regular reading cycle includes a “double portion,” Matot/Masei (Numbers 30:2 through the End of the Book)

There are elements in this final part of the Book of Numbers that range from the politically-incorrect to the almost esoteric.

The first section, in Numbers chapter 30, has to do with not just “vows,” but “all that proceeds” from our mouths. Is He serious? Do fathers and husbands REALLY have that kind of authority over their wives and daughters?

And the masei – ‘stages,’ or journeys – described in chapter 33 at such length: what is the point of such a long list?

The Erev Shabbat reading outlines WHAT is evidently so important:

As Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship tries to make clear in the reading, the “words from our mouths,” ARE vitally important. And yet far too many just don’t understand how vital our own word is, and the Authority that He gave to husbands is, not only in marriage, but as foundation for a free society.

Which may make the contrast with the volumes of interpretation, ‘spiriitualization,’ and even almost gnostic mysticism surrounding the number 42 of those ‘stagest’ even more startling.

How can we be tempted to read SO much into what some might dismiss as “numerololgy,” gematria, or even ‘witchcraft’ in part of the story, while dismissing clear, undeniable intent from another?

It’s all clearly delineated in His Word. But what might be called “Biblical Patriarchy” is an understanding upon which all true societal Authority is ultimately based. And we have just plain ignored it for too long.

The combined two-part teaching is here: