As the world spins around on the wheels of the Ofanim, the Master Potter presses here and pulls there giving it shape, elevating it from the realm of matter, Asiyah, to the dimension of shape, Yetzirah. The manifestation of this role is His 42 letter Name, alluded to in the 42 journeys of Klal YIsroel in the desert that elevated them from the profanity of Egypt to the holiness of Eretz Yisrael.
The hardships of the desert were the potters wheel where our nation was molded. There we were being prepared for the transition from Egypt, the flat shapeless land of matter, to the land of hills, crowned with the hill of the throne of His Holy Majesty, Jerusalem.
The book of Bamidbar started with the 12 Tribes in careful formation in the desert, and culminates with the careful delineation of the upcoming permanent settlement in their own land. This is also the culmination of the four books of the Written Torah given to Moshe that started with the world being 'tohu vavohu', devoid of shape and meaning, and finishes with a meticulously shaped nation in a land carefully structured to correlate to the Supernal Forces which they embodied. They were thus a properly shaped vessel for the endless heavenly blessings that Hashem wants so much to bestow on Mankind.
Based on Rabbi Vali's book on Bamidbar. Questions and subscriptions can be mailed to: the Yeshiva