Why the Sabbath is an important first step in learning how to worship God (Numbers 25:10-30:1)
Selfless love. Righteousness. Mercy. These teach us how to be strong in our walk through life, how to keep from wandering from the path that the God of Israel has shown as the way life works best. These three show us what the point of our journey through life. They are the key lessons from the LORD’s appointments with humanity, further explained in the Torah reading פינחס Pinchas (“Phinehas,” Numbers 25:10-30:1). Discover why chief among those appointments and the entry point for new believers is the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath).
Another key lesson in Pinchas is about the man after whom this reading is named. This junior priest, who would later be known as the “anointed for war,” looks forward to the coming Day of the LORD, when Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, the Melchizedek high priest, will serve on Earth side by side with the legacy of the Aaronic priesthood.
Selfless love. Righteousness. Mercy. These teach us how to be strong in our walk through life, how to keep from wandering from the path that the God of Israel has shown as the way life works best. These three show us what the point of our journey through life. They are the key lessons from the LORD’s appointments with humanity, further explained in the Torah reading פינחס Pinchas (“Phinehas,” Numbers 25:10-30:1). And chief among the appointments and the entry point for new believers is one that comes each week, the Shabbat (Sabbath).
Another key lesson in Pinchas is about the man after whom this reading is named. This junior priest, who would later be known as the “anointed for war,” looks forward to the coming Day of the LORD, when Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, the Melchizedek high priest, will serve on Earth side by side with the legacy of the Aaronic priesthood.
Pinchas (Phineas) was the grandson of Israel’s first high priest, Aaron, and son of Eleazer, who with Itamar were the two surviving sons to carry on the priestly family.
Israel indeed had two eternal priesthoods: Pinchas, who lived on through the line of Zadok to become the Sadducees, and Yeshua, Who was born human through the kingly line of Yehudah (Judah), yet was the chief intercessor of Heaven before creation.
When we study what the symbols of the qorbanot (offerings) of the Tabernacle of God for Israel, we discover why apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12 that our actions and intentions behind them are offerings we can bring to God regardless of whether there is a Temple standing.
The list of offerings for the festivals in Numbers 29 teaches that the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) is an entry point to God, where a sin offering isn’t part of the commemoration. Thus, Acts 15 connects starting laws for gentiles with Bible study on the Shabbat for new believers.
