Have a look at this:
This gorgeous little codex is only 12x10cm. It’s got 34 little folios (68 pages) and just 7 lines of biblical text per page. And, yes, that’s real gold leaf.
It was written in 1107, probably in what is now Iran, by Isaac b. Abraham the Levite, as he tells us on the back page:
It contains a single parashah:1 shlah lkha (Numbers 13-15), which itself contains 119 verses - an excellent number for those of us who love the Scriptures.
I don’t know (I’m not sure anyone does) why this parashah in particular was chosen, but as I’ve been examining this codex today I’ve been reflecting that these chapters from Numbers serve as a kind of mini-Bible within the Bible.
It starts with God’s gracious gift: a land flowing with milk and honey within which the Lord will live with His people (Numbers 13).
But we humans (spurred on by the doubt-inducing whispers of the serpent spies) reject the gift and refuse the Giver, and are thus cast out into the wilderness (Numbers 14).
But the word of judgement is immediately followed by a fresh word of grace: “When you enter the land I am giving you as a home” (Numbers 15:2). Human sin cannot negate the promises of God!
The way ahead is then laid out: a way of gratitude and trust (15:1-21), a way of holiness (15: 32-41), and—right at the heart of all that—a way made possible by forgiveness-achieved-through-sacrifice (15:22-31).
And as a beautiful seal to it all: the wedding vow of God spoken over His people: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God” (15:41).
To oversimplify: in Jewish tradition, the entire Torah is divided into 50+ portions, one of which is read each week of the year, such that the entire Torah is read each year. Each weekly portion is called a Parashah.
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