The ever-repeated story.

But Midbar takes up the story as we left it towards the end of Schmoud.

The people who journeyed from Egypt to Mount Sinai.

There they received the Torah.

There they made the golden calf.

There they were forgiven after Moses' passionate plea.

And there they made the Mishkan, the tabernacle,

inaugurated on the first of Nissan almost a year after the Exodus.

Now, one month later, on the first day of the second month,

they are ready to move on to the second part of the journey from Sinai to the promised land.

Yet, there is a curious delay in the

narrative. Ten chapters passed until the Israelites actually begin to travel. First, there's a census.

Then there's an account of the arrangement of the tribes around the Ohamohay, the tent of meeting.

There's a long account of the Levites, their families and respective roles.

Then there are laws about the purity of the camp, restitution, the Sauta, the woman is suspected of

adultery, and the Nazarite. A lengthy series of passages describe the final preparations for the journey.

Only then do they set out why Why this long series of seeming

digressions? Well, it's easy to think of the Torah as simply telling events as they occurred,

interspersed with various commandments. On this view, the Torah is history plus law. This is what

happened. These are the rules we must obey.

And there's a connection between them, sometimes clear,

as in the case of laws accompanied by the reminder,

...