God did not create the ritual of the red heifer, described in Numbers 19, to prevent the spread of disease but to make sure we don’t treat the death of a fellow human being casually. That’s regardless of whether their death was recent or many years ago. Death is our enemy. Death is not natural. Death is not our friend. The symbol of the red heifer points to the Messiah, and we can learn how much Yeshua did for us through that symbol.
In 2nd Kings 5, we should see a connection between Yeshua (Jesus) and Elisha the prophet. Aramite captain Naaman, a pagan, was not the only one being examined in his healing from leprosy. The king of Israel and Elisha’s servant Gehazi were also being examined or tested.
In an account of Yeshua’s healing 10 lepers, only a Samaritan, a “foreigner,” returned to give God praise. Both Naaman and the Samaritan paid spiritually by having to acknowledge that salvation comes from Israel, not from their false views of God.
We have two parallel foreshadowings — prophecies — of Messiah Yeshua in the accounts of Elisha in 2nd Kings 4 and Eliyahu (Elijah) in 1st Kings 17. In this shadow of things to come, the lesson is that people from the nations, aka “gentiles” or “goyim,” can have a lot of power of the Spirit of God but lack “understanding” about God, while people of Israel can have “understanding” about God but lack the power of the Spirit. Both can be “saved” — fully enter the Kingdom of God — if they are willing to seek what they are lacking.
Elisha is a representation of the Messiah, Who is the ultimate high priest. Both Elisha and Messiah gave a profound gift directly to the people. It’s strictly symbolic, but it’s beautiful. The story of Elisha happened about 700 years before “the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” These accounts in 1st and 2nd Kings were recorded so Israel could recognize the Messiah when He came about seven centuries later.
Moshe (Moses) is still on the mountain and receiving the instruction from God about how to build the Tabernacle but in this chapter, God is telling Moshe the procedure He wants Moshe to do to prepare Aharon (Aaron) and his sons for ministry in the Temple. Why does God ask Moshe to this complicated, 7 day ritual? The end of the chapter tell us the punchline. Although Moshe will be doing all of this but it really God will do all the sanctification, not Moshe.
“I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aharon and his sons to minister as priests to Me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.” (Ex. 29:44–46)
The entire purpose of ordaining Aharon in this laborious process is shown at he end of the chapter. Moshe did all this so God could dwell with His people in the Tabernacle and so Aharon and his sons could perform all the duties of the Tabernacle.
Yeshua did what He did so God can dwell with us.
There are those who teach that God is not “picky,” that we can “come as we are” to Him, anytime we want, any way we want. But is that the lesson of all Scripture? The further you read into Exodus, the more you see how “picky” God really is.
From this point on, the point of the book of Exodus is about the Tabernacle. It was revealed to Moses over the course of the 40 days on the mountain, yet God also inspired craftsmen and craftswomen who were not on the mountain with knowledge of God’s design as well.
God is “picky” — about anyone coming into His presence via any other means than by the High Priest. That one, Who is over all, is Yeshua (Jesus).
2nd Kings 1 is all about rebellion, the rebellion of Moab against Israelite rule after Ahab’s death as well as Ahab’s son’s rebellion against God and the consequences of that rebellion that flowed through Israel’s army. Eliyahu showed both Ahaziah and his army that God (and God’s servants) deserved respect.
This chapter recounts a beautiful example of a woman who trusted God. She was not a part of Israel, yet she trusted the God revealed by Israel. She spoke to Eliyahu (Elijah) about “the Lord your God” and she knew that this drought was due to the God of Israel.