Tag: Numbers 20

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How Messiah makes the best-laid plans of snake and men go oft awry (Numbers 19–24)

How Messiah makes the best-laid plans of snake and men go oft awry (Numbers 19-24). Photorealistic image of a copper snake slithering across a leather surface.

In the Torah readings of חֻקַּת‎ Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1–22:1) and בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9), we see the mysterious instructions for the red heifer, Israel’s apostasy; judgment by “fiery” snakes then the brass serpent; and also a talking donkey. One may wonder why all of these are coming together.

One thread through it all is the downhill slide of the first generation of Israel post-Exodus as they are dying off and the second generation are ascending into leadership. Chukat and Balak cover nearly 40 years of time in the history of Israel between the Exodus from Mitzraim (Egypt) and her entry into the Promised Land.

How the snake relates to the donkey and the savior finds its fullness in the arrival of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).

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Torah readings

Parashot Chukat–Balak: Numbers 19:1–25:9

Studies in Torah

This week’s double Torah reading, Chukat-Balak (Numbers 19:1-25:9), contains key prophecies about the Messiah: life-giving water from “the rock,” the death of an exceptional offering would give life, a mighty King would arise from Israel. That’s why the red heifer, “living water” and Balaam are brought up repeatedly in the New Testament to teach us more about Yeshua (Jesus).

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Torah readings

Parashat Chukat (חקת): Numbers 19:1–22:1

Studies in Torah

Death seems normal, because we see it all around us. But a major message of the Bible is death is out of place in the order God created. The mysterious ritual of the red heifer sacrifice detailed in this week’s reading — Chukat (“statute of”) — is a pattern of what Heaven had planned for the healing mission of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).

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Discussions Torah

Snakes on the brain: Poison of the critical spirit (Numbers 20–21)

Snakes on the brain: Poison of the critical spirit (Numbers 20-21)

What kingdom do you prefer to inhabit? The Kingdom of Death (that which doesn’t persist long term) or the Kingdom of Life (that which persists eternally)? Some believe that out of the ashes of chaos comes revolution that will result in a new golden age of peace, comfort and stability. But is this true?

The Torah section חֻקַּת‎ Chukat/Khuqat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1–22:1) reveals the deadly viper poised to strike in the propaganda of our age.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 19-20: Learning to trust that ‘all things work together for good’

A medieval woman with long red hair contemplates the sunset from a mountain summit

The Creator of Heaven and Earth can make what appears good and bad to exchange places, shuffled like a deck of cards based on the circumstances. This isn’t to say that what’s bad actually becomes good. Rather, that a bad situation or person can be part of a something bigger. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1-22:1), Moses saved the second generation of Israel from dying of thirst, but they entered the Promised Land, while he didn’t. In a parallel account, the bandit Yiftakh (Jephthah) lost his daughter to a rash vow made after gaining something great.

Through these accounts and the strange ritual of the red heifer to “decontaminate” those who touch the dead, we see shadows of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), Who took on death to bring rebirth to all of us who are “dead in our transgressions.”

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 19–21; 1Corinthians 15: Death is the enemy, so choose life!

The word calls us to choose death but God pleads with us to choose life. (Graphic created with wordclouds.com)

Death is out of place in the order God created. The biblical offering of the red heifer and the purification water made from its ashes are poured into were designed by God to be a physical cleanser and a spiritual cleanser. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat (Numbers 19-21), instructions are given for its use to remove any physical remnants of death that clings to a person who helped take care of the final rest for the dead, but it was also a spiritual cleanser used to clear away the spiritual stench of death.

Death cannot inhabit the realm of life. Even thought death is all around us, we don’t have to wallow in it. God gives us a message of life in a culture of death. A life that the Creator is looking to restore. That is the consistent message from Genesis to Revelation. 

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 19–21: Life and salvation amid death and rebellion

Red, Cooper, Fire, Serpents and Seraphim. Photo from FreeImages.com/Josh Peltier. Creative Commons License.

A major message of the Bible is death is out of place in the order God created. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat/Khuqat (“statute of”), we will learn more about Heaven’s antidote to death, foretold in the rituals of the red heifer and the bronze serpent. Both point to the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).