Parshat Masei- The Love of a Father
by Rabbi Lobel

After the Exodus from Egypt the Children of Israel, due to their sins and challenges with G-d, were punished to wander the desert for forty years. In Parshat Masei, G-d recounts their journeys and dwellings throughout the forty years.

Rashi, asking “Why were these journeys recounted?” (Numbers 33:1) refers to the Medrash Tanchuma parable to explain the reason for retelling the travels of the Jewish people in the desert:

A King’s son was deathly ill and the King took his son to many distant places to heal his illness. When the King returned with his recovered son, the King started to recount all of their travels and the son’s trials and tribulations towards the road to recovery.

The Children of Israel, after witnessing so many miracles from the destruction of the Egyptian people to receiving the Torah, sinned by challenging G-d numerous times. G-d was forced to punish the Jewish people to wander in the dessert for forty years. At the conclusion of those forty years, G-d recounts the Children of Israel's journeys, including the trials and tribulations the Jewish people had with G-d.

As the Tanchuma's parable explains G-d was not reminding the Jewish people of their sins, but rather recounting his children's road to recovery from illness. Sins against G-d are not viewed by G-d as personal challenges against him; rather, G-d views our sins as a sickness to overcome and become better people.