Bamidbar 34: Mama Mia Here We Go Again

Chapter 34 is split into two parts. The first is the delineation of the borders of the land of Israel and the second is the list of the new princes. This chapter follows a simple A/B/B/A structure with the beginning of the book. Numbers began 38 years ago at Mt. Sinai. Following the giving of the Ten Commandments, God tells Moshe to appoint 12 princes to lead the people. These 12 princes are listed in chapter 1 of Numbers. Chapter 2 of Numbers described the set up of the camp in the desert. Each of the four sides of the Mishkan had three tribes. In the middle was the Mishkan surrounded by the Leviim and kohanim. Chapter 34 discusses the same two ideas but in reverse order. The beginning of chapter 34 discusses the borders of the land of Israel. This matches the encampment structure in chapter 2. The second part of chapter 34 discusses the new princes appointed from the “second generation”. This part parallels chapter 1’s listing of the princes. If this AB/ BA structure exists then what is the centra “C” elements. There are many possibilities in the book of Bamidbar- the spies, the transition of leadership to Joshua, the rebellions, etc. Perhaps the Torah uses this same structure to explain that this was a reset of the same time after the giving of the Torah when the sin of the spies was a horrible nightmare in the future and the people were on their way to enter the land. Now, 38 years later, a new generation eagerly awaits their turn to enter the land.