יהוה spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai (1:1). Midrash B’midbar Rabbah 1.2 connects this verse with Jeremiah 2:31: “O generation, behold the word of יהוה! Have I been like a wilderness to Israel?” and explains that compared to slavery in Egypt, the wilderness experience was luxurious. Furthermore, according to this midrash, God assigned three mentors to sustain Israel in the wilderness: Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Due to the merits of Moses, the people ate manna; due to the merits of Aaron, God encircled Israel with clouds of glory; and due to the merits of Miriam, a miraculous well accompanied them. The passage continues, “How was the well constructed? It was rock-shaped like a kind of beehive, and wherever they journeyed it rolled along and came with them.” When the Israelites stopped and the portable Tabernacle was erected, the well would establish itself in the Tent of Meeting. “Then the leaders of the tribes would come and stand upon it and say, ‘Spring up, O well!’ (21:17) and it would rise.”
The Israelites shall camp each man with his standard, under the banners of their ancestral house (2:2). B’midbar Rabbah 2.7 relates that each tribe had a different colored flag, corresponding to the precious stones on Aaron’s breastplate. For example, “Reuben’s stone was ruby and the color of his flag was red, and embroidered on it were mandrakes.” (On mandrakes, see Genesis 30:14–15.) “Judah’s stone was a carbuncle and the color of his flag was something like the heavens; embroidered on it was a lion.” This midrash adds that the nations of the world provided themselves with distinctive flags based on Israel’s example.
But Nadab and Abihu died by the will of יהוה…and they left no sons (3:4). Midrash P’sikta D’Rav Kahana 26.9 explains that one of the reasons for the mysterious deaths of Aaron’s sons was their arrogance in refusing to marry, even though the chief priest was commanded to make atonement for himself and “his household” (Leviticus 16:6). The midrash explains that “his household” (literally “his house”) signifies “his wife” and relates that “many young women sat grieving, waiting in vain to be asked in marriage by Nadab or Abihu.” But the young men said, “Our father’s brother [Moses] is king (Deuteronomy 33:5), our mother’s brother [Nahshon] is prince (Exodus 6:23; Numbers 2:3), our father is chief priest; we are adjutants of the chief priest. What women are worthy of us?”
So it was Eleazar and Ithamar who served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron (3:4). The Rabbis were interested in how Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar shared their duties as priests. B’midbar Rabbah 2.26 reports that when one of those men was incapacitated, one of the others took on the role of chief priest in his stead. This text goes on to discuss a woman named Kimhith who lived many centuries later: she had seven sons and each of them served in the office of chief priest. On one occasion, two sons served as chief priest on the same day. The Rabbis paid her a visit and asked her, “What good deeds have you performed to merit such an honor?” She responded, “So help me Heaven! In all my life the rafters of my house have never looked upon the hair of my head.” Rabbinic society, like many surrounding cultures, believed that married women should cover their heads when they went out in public. Kimhith’s modesty was such that she did not uncover her hair, even in the privacy of her own home. Punning on her name, the Rabbis observed, “All flours (kimha) are flour; but the flour of Kimhith is fine flour,” and they applied to her Psalm 45:14, “All glorious is the king’s daughter within the palace,” as an indication that the domestic domain is the best place for a praiseworthy and virtuous woman.
record every male among them (3:15). The Rabbis asked, “Why every male, without mentioning every female?” and they responded, “Because the glory of the blessed Holy One is derived from the males.” This is proven by Psalm 127:3, “Sons are the provision of יהוה; the fruit of the womb, [God’s] reward.” The midrash explains that “provision of יהוה” refers to males, while if females come, they are also “a reward” (B’midbar Rabbah 3.8). Rabbinic Judaism valued males over females but recognized that women, too, have multiple virtues and are essential for human society and human continuity.
—Judith R Baskin