Tag: Parashat Chukat

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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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Discussions Prophets and Writings

How to live a worthwhile life, rather than as a ‘worthless person’ (Judges 11)

How to live a worthwhile life. The sacrificial and Messianic obedience of Jephthah’s daughter. (Judges 11)

Judges 11, a parallel passage to the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19–21), focuses on Yiftakh (Jephthah), a judge/ruler of ancient Israel. The account doesn’t portray him or his friends in a kind light. It underscores a key lesson that Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ) taught that Heaven calls many to serve the good of the world, but those who aren’t transformed on the inside will only serve like did Yehudah Ish Kariot (Judas Iscariot).

https://hallel.info/chukat-2022-judges-11/

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Red heifer and Messiah: Death isn’t supposed to a normal part of life (Numbers 19; Hebrews 9)

Death is not a normal part of life (Numbers 19; Hebrews 9)

The Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat (Numbers 19-21) is the prerequisite to understanding Hebrews 9, and the latter’s explanation of how Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Messiah) cleanses our consciences from rebellion against the Creator is essential to understanding the Torah’s life-affirming yet mysterious lessons of the red heifer and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

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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

So you say you want a revolution? Better watch where it’s headed (Numbers 19:1–25:9)

It’s apt that the double Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat and בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 19:1–25:9) this year includes Shabbat on July 4, when we here in the United States celebrate the Declaration of Independence and what it states about the intent for where this nation was going to go.

Ancient Israel was at a spiritual and literal crossroads. Would it embrace its destiny as the people beyond number (Genesis 15 and 22) and as a nation of priests (Exodus 19), taking the nations closer to the Creator?

Similarly, we in the U.S. can ask ourselves if we’re going to follow the God-led legacy of freedom started at Plymouth in 1620 or the greed-led legacy of bondage started in Jamestown in 1619? The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights point to the Spirit-led legacy of Abraham through Sinai and Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) to Plymouth, rather than flesh-led legacy of Jamestown.

And we’ll see in this study that we can ask ourselves which kind of legacy are we pursuing in how we walk out our lives today and in the days to come.

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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.”