Midbar: INTO the WILDERNESS

 Into the Wilderness: midbar, masculine noun (Strong’s 4057), from root word dabar/davar (Strong’s 1697), meaning “word”.

Root: מִדְבָּר

Sounds like: meed’bar

Last week we looked into the single phrase, “out of the garden”, which in Hebrew is the single word migan. This word is strongly connected to the word midbar, meaning meaning into the wilderness. Together these two words form the main plot of the Biblical metanarrative. The Adam and Eve story takes us  out of the Garden and into the Wilderness, and the subsequent Biblical story was all about finding humanity’s way back home. If you haven’t read that post yet, I encourage you to start there.  This week we follow up with a look at YHWH’s relationship to His wilderness children, and our part in turning this terrestrial wilderness into a flourishing garden.

Wilderness is often depicted as a desert space in the Bible… the place of harshness, where water is scarce and the ability to grow is limited. In my neck of the woods, the wilderness is the uncultivated forest or the winter tundra… a place where sunlight is limited and the cold is harsh and biting. Generally the wilderness is a hard-to-thrive place.

As an historian, I’m hesitant to promote anything from the “History Channel”, but their show “Alone” captures what it means to truly live by yourself in the wilderness. I’ve recently watched a few seasons filmed in the Canadian arctic (North West Territories) and I’m amazed at the tenacity of humans who survive on the most basic of necessities: shelter, fire, and food (if they’re fortunate enough to capture it). A meager diet of berries, fish and porcupine isn’t my idea of a grand meal, but when Moses and the Hebrew people wandered in the wilderness they lived on quail, manna, and water and survived by the grace of God (but not without complaint!).  The majority of us hardly struggle to find the basic necessities of life and it’s easy for us to forget that, as followers of YHWH, we’re living in a wilderness world that doesn’t want God to be its Gardener.

The out-of-the-garden / into-the-wilderness theme is paramount in the metanarrative of the Bible. In the creation story we read that God sent humanity out of the Garden when they were no longer fit to live there (because they had poisoned themselves with sin). As you may recall, Genesis 3:23 is the only place in the Bible where you will find the Hebrew word migan (out of (mi-) the garden (gan)).

Humans would only be sent out of Eden once. There would be no going back and forth. It was a once and one time only deal. When we humans get to go back to YHWH’s Garden Kingdom, we get to stay… forever. For those who have a relationship with their Creator, this is the place that awaits them at the end of their days… a triumphal return to the Garden Kingdom of YHWH. Exile once, return forever.

Meeting God in the Wilderness

Many people in the Bible faced the wilderness (literal and metaphorical). Let’s take a look at Hagar, for example. She ran away from her mistress, Sarai who, out of jealousy, treated her with cruelty. Hagar was found, by the Angel of YHWH, “in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר]” (Genesis 16:7). He told her that in her pregnant state she needed to return to Abraham and Sarai.  In response, Hagar marvelled at the encounter with YHWH, saying, “You are a God who sees me” (Genesis 16:13) and she was in awe that she saw Him and lived to tell the tale. Hagar was an Egyptian slave who had been mistreated. She must felt alone, unseen, and unheard, until the Angel of YHWH/YHWH came to her in the wilderness. The God of the Universe saw her, spoke with her, and listened to her. She named the place the well of the Living One who sees me, and she would go on to name her son, Ishmael, meaning God hears. 

Later, after Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, the two of them were sent out  “in the wilderness” by Abram and Sarai. But, again, they were not alone; God met them  “in the wilderness” and announced that they would be the ancestors of a great nation  (Genesis 21:14) who would live “in the wilderness” (Genesis 21:20-21). Hagar was a mother of wilderness wanderers. Even though she was an Egyptian, (Sarah and Abraham call her Hagar, which means the (ha) foreigner (gar)), God favoured her and came to where she was in the form of the Angel of YHWH. There He met with her, face to face. This God was her God, because she felt seen and heard, which is the basis of every strong relationship.

Of course it was “in the wilderness” (Exodus 3:1) where Moses faced God/the Angel of YHWH in the burning bush and discovered that the name of God was, indeed, YHWH. This was a break-through in the relationship. To be able to call each other by name brings intimacy to every relationship. YHWH, the God of the Universe, came down to earth to face humanity and share His name. It was an incredibly beautiful moment that tends to get overlooked.

The biggest Biblical wilderness wandering was the forty years in the desert. It was precipitated by asking Pharaoh to let them go so that they could worship YHWH “in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1,3; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:27). It was a move from being enslaved in the metro-wilderness of Egypt to being free in the desert wilderness. Both locations meant an uneasy life, but it was better to be free in the wilderness than enslaved in it (although some of the people later questioned that logic).

As the story goes, Pharaoh refused their request and the plagues hit Egypt until Pharaoh was forced to submit and let them go. But it wouldn’t be long before he would change his mind:

Exodus 14:3

Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, “They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness [ha-mid’bar הַמִּדְבָּֽר] has shut them in.”

And so Pharaoh brought his army to take back the Hebrew people and return them to slavery:

Exodus 14:10-12

…As Pharaoh approached, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were coming after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to YHWH. Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר]? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר]!”

In their fear they felt that remaining enslaved without YHWH was better than wandering in the wilderness with YHWH. This was a grave mistake. Living truly free means being dependent on YHWH. The wilderness was where we learned that God could lead us home from the darkest of places.

Regardless of their fear and complaints, YHWH brought down Pharaoh’s army and saved His people. He brought them through the wilderness by providing water and food, fire and cloud cover (which is a really nice thing to have in the desert). 

The lesson: it was in the wilderness that they would rise up! It was in the wilderness that they would resurrect… and the hand of God was in every part of it.

Forgetting God in the Wilderness

Hosea 13:4-6

Yet I have been YHWH your God since the land of Egypt; and you were not to know any god except Me, for there is no saviour besides Me. I cared for you in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר], in the land of drought. As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and as they became satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me.

After claiming God’s promised land to them, the Hebrew people garnered some success as a nation. They began to forget their wilderness struggles and their reliance on God for good living. They became complacent in their abundance and proud of their self-reliance. They forgot about God and began to adopt the gods of their foreign neighbours. In their abundance they created their own wilderness.

In the prophetic writings after the Torah, the phrase into the wilderness became a stalwart metaphor for living outside of God’s presence.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

This is what YHWH says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from YHWH. For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר], a land of salt that is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in YHWH, and whose trust is YHWH. For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream, and does not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.”

Reviving the Wilderness

The dry wilderness was typically juxtaposed with the image of abundantly watered gardens. The prophets of the Babylonian invasion era described the fall of Jerusalem in terms of going from good and lush, to dry and parched:

Ezekiel 19:10-14

”Your mother [Israel]  was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the waters; It was fruitful and thick with branches because of abundant waters. And it had strong stems fit for scepters of rulers, and its height was raised above the clouds so that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

But it was uprooted in fury; it was thrown down to the ground; and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong stem was torn out so that it withered; the fire consumed it. And now it is planted in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַמִּדְבָּ֑ר], in a dry and thirsty land. ‘And fire has gone out from its stem; it has consumed its shoots and fruit, so that there is no strong stem in it, a scepter to rule.’”

This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.

Although the exile out of Israel was a time of intense grief and mourning, there was hope. God would not abandon them. The prophet Isaiah frequently used the competing imagery of dry parched wilderness and fertile watered land:

Isaiah 32:14-18

”For the palace has been neglected, the populated city abandoned. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks, until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness [midbar מִדְבָּר֙] becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is considered as a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness [ba-mid’baar בַּמִּדְבָּ֖ר], and righteousness will remain in the fertile field. And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. Then my people will live in a peaceful settlement, in secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places.

Isaiah 41:17-20

“The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongues are parched with thirst. I, YHWH, will answer them Myself; as the God of Israel I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness [mid’bar מִדְבָּר֙] a pool of water, and the dry land fountains of water. I will put the cedar in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּר֙], the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert, together with the elm tree and the cypress, so that they may see and recognize, and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of YHWH has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Isaiah 35:1-2a, 4-6

The wilderness [mid’bar מִדְבָּ֖ר] and the desert will rejoice, and the desert will shout for joy and blossom; like the crocus it will blossom profusely and rejoice with joy and jubilation…

…Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the retribution of God will come, but He will save you.” 

Then the eyes of those who are blind will be opened, and the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped. Then those who limp will leap like a deer, and the tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַמִּדְבָּר֙], and streams in the desert.”

YHWH promised to, one day, turn the wilderness into a lush garden in order for us to live peacefully… with food security, physical security, and spiritual security:

Ezekiel 34:25-28

“And I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful animals from the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַמִּדְבָּר֙] and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will make showers fall in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am YHWH, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have saved them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the animals of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid.”

Death: Missing the Gushing Flood

YHWH’s promise of flourishing deliverance was good news… but only for those who grasped for YHWH and, with determination, found their way to the Garden path. By their choosing, they were headed for a life of abundance. In contrast, those who rejected YHWH and turned away from Him would miss the thirst-quenching waters and all that life had to offer:

Isaiah 28:118a

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact.’ The gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by, because we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.” 

Therefore this is what the Lord YHWH says: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. The one who believes in it will not be disturbed.

I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level; then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the secret place. Your covenant with death will be canceled, and your pact with Sheol will not stand.”

Those who did not place their faith in the Cornerstone of God’s plan would miss the gushing flood of revival in the wilderness. YHWH had a plan to save His people to bring them back into the Garden for a beautiful life of eternity, but YHWH always gave humanity a choice. They didn’t have to accept the offer of abundant life, instead they could hold tightly and blindly onto the pact with death that they, themselves, had made. The choice was theirs and the choice is ours… and the choice not to choose will get you nowhere. 

Yeshua in the Wilderness

This grand meta-narrative of being exiled out of the garden (migan), living in the wilderness (midbar), and finding our way back to the Garden, gets amped up with the arrival of Yeshua (Jesus). After centuries of struggling in this wilderness world, YHWH’s plan for salvation was revealed in His Son. 

The path to the Garden Kingdom of YHWH would be available to anyone, but God’s people had strayed and got lost in the wilderness. Yeshua would point the way back home. He would also provide the way for a tainted humanity to enter God’s pure Garden. This would not be an easy feat.

Isaiah 40:3

A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for YHWH in the wilderness [ba-mid’bar בַּמִּדְבָּ֕ר]; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.”

John the Baptiser had been waiting for the Messiah to come. By sight he was the epitome of a wild wanderer, eating bugs and honey and dressing in animal skins, but his feet were firmly planted on the Garden path. He lived up to Isaiah’s prophecy as the one who prepared the way in the wilderness for Yeshua’s ministry… the ministry that would lead them home. He began a movement baptising people and revitalized the nation’s interest in the coming Messiah. John also understood the wilderness metaphor that the prophets of the Tanakh spoke so frequently about. When those who were living like wilderness promoters (Sadducees and Pharisees) came to him for baptism, John was quick to react:

Matthew 3:7-10

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance; and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.”

After John chastised the Sadducees and Pharisees, Yeshua arrived on the scene to be baptised by John. When Yeshua rose up out of the water, the voice of God spoke out:

Matthew 3:17, 4:1-11

And behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness [Greek: eis ten eremon] to be tested by the devil. And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”

Then the devil took Him along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and he said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written: ‘He will give His angels orders concerning you’; and ‘on their hands they will lift you up, so that you do not stroke your foot against a stone.’” 

Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the LORD your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took Him along to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 

Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only.’” 

Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him.

This was a cosmic battle between YHWH and Ha-Satan, the Prince of Peace and the prince of earth. Yeshua was willing to go into the space that the Adversary claimed as his own: the wilderness. Although the Adversary tried to bring Yeshua down to his level, Yeshua remained unmoved. He was there to turn the wilderness into a garden and he wouldn’t give the Adversary and inch to move on.

A taunt against the King of Babylon, found in the scroll of Isaiah, can also be seen as a taunt against the Adversary (Ha-Satan) of God. They both relished the chaos of the wilderness; they both desired power, elevation, and pubic admiration. 

Isaiah 14:12-17

“How you have fallen from heaven, you star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who defeated the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

Nevertheless you will be brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you, they will closely examine you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness [ka-mid’bar כַּמִּדְבָּ֖ר] and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’”

This is what Ha-Satan, the prince of the world, does. He creates chaos and elevates death over life. He does his best to maintain the lifeless desert wildness of this world by elevating greed, power, and ambition above love, humility, and compassion. His main objective is to imprison people with guilt and self-loathing so that they forget all about the Garden that awaits them. Under his influence humans become prisoners that never get to go home. They never make their way back to YHWH, where they belong.

Yeshua stood as a protester against greed, power and ambition… and that was not a subtle stance to take in a Greco-Roman society. The Jewish people had to bow to Rome’s authority in order to maintain a semblance of their heritage. Any public expression of faith was seen as “causing trouble” and so Yeshua was branded as a trouble maker by both Rome and the Jewish authorities (who were motivated to hate Yeshua because of their fear). They did not recognize that they were living in the wilderness and that Yeshua was the Gardener who would feed them, water them, care for and cultivate them. Instead these wilderness-inhabitants tried to destroy the only Gardener who could save them. They arrested Him on trumped up charges, found Him guilty (without proof) and sent Him to Golgotha to be executed.

As we know, Yeshua suffered horrible on the cross and His body gave way to death… but death could not hold Him down. He returned to life and visited His friends, starting with Mary:

John 20:15-16

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” 

Thinking that He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you put Him, and I will take Him away.” 

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” 

She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).

Although John uses the Greek word for “Teacher” (Didaskale), in Aramaic/Hebrew Rabboni, more literally means, “My Teacher”. Mary was claiming Yeshua as her own. He was hers and she was his. This is what a relationship looks like, and this is what we were made for… to be in right-relationship with our Creator, YHWH, and with each other. Life is not about greed, power and ambition (that’s wilderness living); it’s about connecting with each other through love, humility and compassion (that’s Garden living). 

Even after the crucifixion, the world was still a wilderness domain, but Yeshua pushed the gate much closer to the Garden. He showed the world what it meant to be a gardener in the desert… nurturing and cultivating relationships even in the harshest of climates. He also arranged for us to be indwelled with the Spirit of God to make us closer to God, and therefore better gardeners in the wilderness.

John 14:16-21

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.”

“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”

The prophet Joel foresaw this pouring of the Spirit, which would have its inaugural event at the first Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) after Yeshua’s death and resurrection (Acts 2). Joel was on the path to redemption. He envisioned the Garden of Eden before him and the wilderness behind him, with the best of things to come!  

Joel 2:3, 21-29

[Regarding the Day of YHWH:] A fire consumes before them, and behind them a flame devours. The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, but a desolate wilderness [mid’bar מִדְבַּ֣ר] behind them, and nothing at all escapes them…

…Do not fear, land; shout for joy and rejoice, for YHWH has done great things. Do not fear, animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness [mid’bar מִדְבָּ֑ר] have turned green, for the tree has produced its fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.

So shout for joy, you sons of Zion, and rejoice in YHWH your God; for He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has brought down for you the rain, the early and latter rain as before. The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil. 

Then I will compensate you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust— my great army which I sent among you. 

You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and you will praise the name of YHWH your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; then My people will never be put to shame. So you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am YHWH your God and there is no other; and My people will never be put to shame.

It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

Joel’s vision must have taken his breath away. He foresaw the day ahead when the Spirit of YHWH would be poured out over His people… a day of gushing water into a dry and dusty land.

What does it take to change the world from a chaotic desert wilderness to an abundant, thriving, garden? We need to stand up, like Yeshua, and be advocates for righteous living, which means we need to live in right-relationship with one another, regardless of age, sex, or status. While we live outside of YHWH’s Garden Kingdom, we must always show love and kindness and compassion to everyone we come in contact with… because we bear the Image of God to this thirsty world. By our character, we can point others to the path that leads to YHWH. The Garden is before us, so let’s cultivate what is around us and be prepared to leave the wilderness behind us.

Next week: The Assembly/The Congregation