Numbers 10:35-36: “Whenever the ark set out, Moses said: ‘Arise O’Lord let the enemy be scattered, may your foes flee before you.’ Whenever it came to rest, he said: ‘Return Lord to the countless thousands of Israel.’”
This passage is set off in the original scrolls with two inverted nuns. They appear in some Hebrew texts as rectangles or two nuns put together. It is referred to by the Masoretes and in our Hebrew grammar books as a nun hafucha, although we could simply call it an inverted nun. Perhaps, we as teachers tend to overlook this lesson in grammar more for the reason that we are not sure what it means, its use has been debated. The inverted nun only appears twice in this passage and seven times in Psalms 107. Many Hebrew texts even delete it because it was considered just an unimportant marking by the Hebrew scribes.
Of the various Hebrew teachers I have sat under I only recall their reference to a nun hafucha as simple accent marks like other pointings and markers found in the Hebrew text and thus unimportant.
However, if the most ancient text shows the inverted nun, then there must be an important reason behind it. Some rabbis, your more liberal rabbis, would say that it was an indication that the inspired nature of this text was in question. Other’s more generously say the inverted nun indicates that there is a question of the divine nature of these verses and the nuns set them off as verses to be questioned until Elijah returns to declare if these verses are inspired or not. Some feel the inverted nuns are used to indicate that this portion of Scripture is more important than others.
The explanation that I like and feel most comfortable with is the more common explanation by the orthodox, esoteric rabbis and that is that this passage of Scripture is to be moved and placed in another position in Scripture after the Messiah returns. In this case it is to be moved to a place after Numbers 17:2. It would then be its proper place in
Scripture. More mystical Rabbis will say that the two inverted nuns form a roof or a completion. The 85 words in Numbers 10:35-36 actually form a separate book.. The Talmud teaches there are 7 books to Torah, not five. This would add another book, but it will not become a book until the Messiah returns. I am assuming the seventh book is the other place in Scripture where we find the inverted nuns and that is Psalms 107.
The fact that this creates a floating nature to Scripture, in other words the placement of a scripture verse can be moved by use of the inverted nun, would suggest that this is similar to what we in Christianity call ongoing prophecy. In other words a word of prophecy in the Old Testament may have a fulfillment in the time it was written but will also point to a future event as well. The abomination of desolation is one such ongoing prophecy. It has had multiple fulfillments starting with Antiochus Epiphanies who offered up a pig on the sacred altar in 168 B.C. and desecrated the temple of God. There is an event call the abomination of desolation which will also take place in the future.
Here we have the teaching of an event that took place in history and the use of the inverted nun to show that there will yet be a similar event to occur in the future when the Messiah returns. As we believe the Messiah has already come, we can claim this event over and over. Whenever the enemy approaches, and we are moving forward with the Lord as Israel moved forward carrying the ark with God presence. The presence of God now rest in us thanks to the work of the Messiah Jesus. Because of this our enemies will arise and God will scatter the enemy. When we rest in the presence of God He will return to us. The word return is shuvah which could come from the root word shuv which means to return. This, however, makes little sense in the context as God never left Israel when he scattered the enemy. For this reason I believe the root word is really shavah which literally means to take captive. We learn from this that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, the presence of God can now rest in us and as a result our enemies will not only arise and scatter, but it will be God who will take us captive. So long as we remain a captive or prisoner of God, the enemy can never touch us again.
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