Tag: red heifer

Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Striking the rock, idolizing the snake: Lessons in trusting God’s provision (Numbers 19–21; 2Kings 18; John 3; 1Corinthians 10)

Striking the rock, idolizing the snake: Lessons in trusting God's provision (Numbers 19–21; 2Kings 18; John 3; 1Corinthians 10). Images of a stream of running water on the right side. Adobe Firefly AI image of a copper snake wrapped around a pole in a desert on the right side.

In this study on Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1–22:1), we focus on how the parabolic instructions for the red heifer, serpent on the pole and water from the rock reveal a profound lesson on trust in God. The red heifer’s ashes, both cleansing and toxic, underscore our need for an external source of purification beyond our own efforts. The bronze serpent, healing initially then much later worshipped itself, reminds us not to idolize symbols over the true Source of life — think Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. And the water from the rock, supposed to be accessed through Moses and Aaron’s humble submission, shows that our trust must be in God’s provision, not our own strength. These ancient parables challenge us to abandon self-reliance and surrender fully to Adonai in the modern world.

Categories
Torah readings

Torah reading Chukat (חקת): Numbers 19:1–22:1

Studies in Torah

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 this week’s 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).

Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Yeshua our Red Heifer: Who is worthy to bring in the Messianic age (Numbers 19; Ezekiel 36; Numbers 9)

Yeshua our Red Heifer: Who is worthy to bring in the Messianic age (Shabbat Parah: Numbers 19; Ezekiel 36; Hebrews 9). Artwork shows a red cow with horns on the Mount of Olives with modern Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock mosque sitting on the site of Israel's Temple.

The biblical offerings of Israel always were intended as shadows of heavenly truth (substance), teaching eternal lessons through rituals subject to the ravages of temporal humanity. As the Temple Institute now aims to resurrect the ancient offerings, starting with the red heifer, this study of Torah reading צו Tzav (“command,” Lev. 6:8–8:36) and of readings for Shabbat Parah (Sabbath of the Red Heifer) explores how only Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) perfectly “fleshes out” — fills full — what these patterns prefigured.

While some view restoring Temple worship as contradicting the gospel, others understand these shadows simply are a continual memorial to Messiah’s ultimate atoning work. When the time comes to reinstitute the prophesied Temple service, the Messiah’s key role in consecrating and offering the pure red heifer may resolve the two-millennia dilemma of who can inaugurate God’s eternal kingdom.

Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Red heifer and Messiah: Death isn’t supposed to a normal part of life (Numbers 19; Hebrews 9)

Death is not a normal part of life (Numbers 19; Hebrews 9)

The Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat (Numbers 19-21) is the prerequisite to understanding Hebrews 9, and the latter’s explanation of how Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Messiah) cleanses our consciences from rebellion against the Creator is essential to understanding the Torah’s life-affirming yet mysterious lessons of the red heifer and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

Categories
Discussions Torah

Snakes on the brain: Poison of the critical spirit (Numbers 20–21)

Snakes on the brain: Poison of the critical spirit (Numbers 20-21)

What kingdom do you prefer to inhabit? The Kingdom of Death (that which doesn’t persist long term) or the Kingdom of Life (that which persists eternally)? Some believe that out of the ashes of chaos comes revolution that will result in a new golden age of peace, comfort and stability. But is this true?

The Torah section חֻקַּת‎ Chukat/Khuqat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1–22:1) reveals the deadly viper poised to strike in the propaganda of our age.

Categories
Discussions Torah

So you say you want a revolution? Better watch where it’s headed (Numbers 19:1–25:9)

It’s apt that the double Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat and בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 19:1–25:9) this year includes Shabbat on July 4, when we here in the United States celebrate the Declaration of Independence and what it states about the intent for where this nation was going to go.

Ancient Israel was at a spiritual and literal crossroads. Would it embrace its destiny as the people beyond number (Genesis 15 and 22) and as a nation of priests (Exodus 19), taking the nations closer to the Creator?

Similarly, we in the U.S. can ask ourselves if we’re going to follow the God-led legacy of freedom started at Plymouth in 1620 or the greed-led legacy of bondage started in Jamestown in 1619? The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights point to the Spirit-led legacy of Abraham through Sinai and Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) to Plymouth, rather than flesh-led legacy of Jamestown.

And we’ll see in this study that we can ask ourselves which kind of legacy are we pursuing in how we walk out our lives today and in the days to come.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Numbers 19-20: Learning to trust that ‘all things work together for good’

A medieval woman with long red hair contemplates the sunset from a mountain summit

The Creator of Heaven and Earth can make what appears good and bad to exchange places, shuffled like a deck of cards based on the circumstances. This isn’t to say that what’s bad actually becomes good. Rather, that a bad situation or person can be part of a something bigger. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1-22:1), Moses saved the second generation of Israel from dying of thirst, but they entered the Promised Land, while he didn’t. In a parallel account, the bandit Yiftakh (Jephthah) lost his daughter to a rash vow made after gaining something great.

Through these accounts and the strange ritual of the red heifer to “decontaminate” those who touch the dead, we see shadows of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), Who took on death to bring rebirth to all of us who are “dead in our transgressions.”