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

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).

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 the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1–22:1) is a pattern of what Heaven had planned for the healing mission of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).

A talking donkey may seem like fodder for a cartoon, but the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9) contains a very real message for Israel about its future and the Messiah. Often, the Creator uses what we don’t expect — a donkey or Bil’am (Balaam), a prophet not of Israel — to shake up the complacent and underscore the gravity of the situation. And the donkey Yeshua rode on His triumphal entry to Yeshushalayim (Jerusalem) spoke volumes to Israel’s leaders who knew from prophecy what the Messiah would ride.