Living Fully

This is what you must do so that they live (v’ḥayu), and not die when they come into the Holy of Holies.                               Numbers 4:19

Ba’al haTurim connects our verse’s use of the word “v’ḥayu” with its use in Zachariah [10:9]:   

And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live (v’ḥayu) with their children, and shall return.

          My father elucidated Ba’al haTurim’s comment thus: It is when “they live with their children,” without a generation gap and the children following the parents’ traditions, that the parents truly live.

          Perhaps, there is a reciprocal connection between the verses, and as our verse provides understanding of that of Zechariah, so too Zechariah’s prophecy elucidates our verse. When in exile, Israel can merely achieve the status of not dying, but its national life is incomplete.  Zechariah prophesied Israel’s return to its Land, which is the necessary condition for Israel to live fully.