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.