Tag: Numbers

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 19–21; 1Corinthians 15: Death is the enemy, so choose life!

The word calls us to choose death but God pleads with us to choose life. (Graphic created with wordclouds.com)

Death is out of place in the order God created. The biblical offering of the red heifer and the purification water made from its ashes are poured into were designed by God to be a physical cleanser and a spiritual cleanser. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat (Numbers 19-21), instructions are given for its use to remove any physical remnants of death that clings to a person who helped take care of the final rest for the dead, but it was also a spiritual cleanser used to clear away the spiritual stench of death.

Death cannot inhabit the realm of life. Even thought death is all around us, we don’t have to wallow in it. God gives us a message of life in a culture of death. A life that the Creator is looking to restore. That is the consistent message from Genesis to Revelation. 

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 30-36: We want Messiah to give us rest from our dumb oaths and vows

A picture postcard from 1908 with a humorous theme of women capturing prospective husbands during the leap year.

Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) emphasized that vows and oaths are not to be taken lightly (Matthew 5:33-37). Why then did the Holy One of Israel give instructions about vows and oaths? Part of it is our distance from the original language and meanings of these words. Another part is we aren’t seeing the lessons from Heaven in these instructions, namely, that just as the LORD promises to give a land of rest to Israel, so too, should those who make promises be as faithful to them.

The dual Torah reading מטות Matot (“tribes,” Numbers 30-32) and מסעי Massei/Mase’y (“journeys of,” Numbers 33-36) take us to the end of the 40 years of wandering judgment against the rebellious first generation post-Mitzraim (Egypt).

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 25:10-29:40: A ‘snake’ again becomes an icon of salvation

Snakes are cautious creatures but will strike with veracity if they feel threatened. Photo by Krys Squires/Freeimages.com under Creative Commons License

Serpents are quiet, cunning, quick to act when a threat is imminent. A serpent bought a curse on mankind (Genesis 3) and we now meet a “serpent” who boldly and decisively saved his people from those who would deceive them to destruction. Later, Eliyahu (Elijah) also learned that God’s preferred way to communicate with His people is not through thunder and lightning but a “still small voice.”

The Torah reading פינחס Pinchas (“Phinehas,” Numbers 25:10–29:40) starts with the culmination of the events in the prior portion (parashah). The culmination of Israel “playing the harlot” with idolatry ended when Pinchas (Phineas), Aaron’s grandson, speared a Shimonite chieftain and a Midianite chieftain’s daughter through with a spear. Both of them were mentioned by name so they were both people of reputation.

This event was so significant, it’s even spoken about in the book of Revelation (Jude 1:11; Revelation 2:14). We can miss the why if we don’t understand the why of the original event.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 22:1-25:9: God sent emissaries to the Gentiles too

Cartoon of Balaam and the King of Moab by Jack Foster of MrBibleHead.blogspot.com via Creative Commons License.

The prophet Bilam (Balaam) is not an isolated individual, an anomaly in Scripture. He was not the first or last emissary to the Gentiles. God did not leave them without guidance. Bilam is a foreshadowing of the ministry of Saul of Tarsus, aka the apostle Paul, whose experience on the road to Damascus echoes the account in the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak of Bilam’s experience with a “recalcitrant” she-donkey.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 19–21: Life and salvation amid death and rebellion

Red, Cooper, Fire, Serpents and Seraphim. Photo from FreeImages.com/Josh Peltier. Creative Commons License.

A major message of the Bible is death is out of place in the order God created. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat/Khuqat (“statute of”), we will learn more about Heaven’s antidote to death, foretold in the rituals of the red heifer and the bronze serpent. Both point to the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 16–18: Korah, an early anti-Messiah

Moses and Korah, 1466 manuscript miniature, National Library of Poland. Photo via Wikipedia Commons under Creative Commons License.

There are no shortcuts to holding a position of authority in God’s kingdom. People who try to take shortcuts to greatness will not prosper in the end. Just as Aaron and Moses are examples of how God and Yeshua interact with each other, Korah is an example of the “spirit of antichrist” (1John 4:3).

Novelist Catherine Aird wrote, “If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.” This fits very well this week’s Torah reading, aptly named קֹרַח Korakh/Korach, after the leader of this merry band of rebels.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 13–15: Overcoming fear in doing the right thing

Photos by Freeimages.com/Christopher Bruno

We all have “pivot points” in life, times when a decision or circumstance dramatically changes our lives, sometimes irreversibly. A pivot toward lifestyle and character in step with the Kingdom of God leads to a fulfilling life, regardless of good times or bad times. A pivot away from the Creator can be “sin that leads to death,” unless we respond to Heaven’s warning “today” and “enter His rest” via the Passover Lamb, Yeshua (Jesus).

Such a huge pivot in the history of our ancestors in faith is recounted in the Torah reading שְׁלַח Shelakh (“send,” Numbers 13–15), when a “bad report” about Israel’s prospects for settling in a land of giant warriors, walls and grapes persuaded many of the generation of the first Passover, Red Sea crossing, etc. to abandon the LORD’s leadership.