Greetings again, after a long recess:

Reviewing the Torah Portions from 2011, Vayera to Vayakhel

This year's first Torah portion began on January 1^st, 2011. That Shabbat, we studied Parashat Vayera. During our time of discussion, we discussed Moses' reluctance to go back to Egypt in Exodus 4:10-17.

Exodus 4:10-17
¹⁰ ¶ But Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue." ¹¹ Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." ¹³ But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." ¹⁴ Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, "Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. ¹⁶ He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. ¹⁷ And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs."

Moses had to choose whom he would fear. Would he fear God only or would he bow to the fears he had about speaking to Pharaoh? God did not really give Moses a choice. Moses had just handled snakes and had been cured from a leprous hand" God was very persuasive. Moses chose to fear God. Moses knew that if he went to Egypt, he would have to face the leaders of Egypt, with whom he most likely had had personal relationships. Perhaps they would want to have him killed. However, in verse 4:14, when God gets angry, Moses realized he had no choice. Better to die in Egypt than reap the wrath of God.

    On January 8^th, we read Parashat Bo. During this passage, we read about how God plans to save Israel, and at the same time, discipline Egypt. In order for Israel to be saved, they had to prepare for celebration. How ironic that the celebration came BEFORE the deliverance. And this day—Passover—was to be commemorated for all generations. We commemorate it still.

Exodus 12:14 ¶ "'This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to ADONAI; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation."

So, those Israelites who put the blood on their doorframe and remembered the words of God received a supernatural deliverance. Yet, they could not see what was coming. They could not understand what an Angel of Death was. By trusting Moses' words, they obeyed, and that was their choice in the deliverance. In spite of how odd putting blood on one's door must have been, it was the difference between life and death.

Later, in Egypt's history, during the time of Jeremiah and Judah's being sent into captivity by Babylon, Egypt suffered the same fate:

Jeremiah 46:13-17
¹³ ¶ The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt: ¹⁴ "Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes; say, 'Stand ready and be prepared, for the sword shall devour around you.' ¹⁵ Why are your mighty ones face down? They do not stand because the LORD thrust them down. ¹⁶ He made many stumble, and they fell, and they said one to another, 'Arise, and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth, because of the sword of the oppressor.' ¹⁷ Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 'Noisy one who lets the hour go by.'

The word "the hour" in this verse is the same word as in Leviticus 23. The word is "moedim." So, in this case, it appears that Jeremiah is prophesying that Egypt is going to be destroyed because they had forgotten the Passover. It is interesting to think that through the consistent celebration of the Passover by the Israelites, that this would have served as a reminder to the Egyptians, even generations later. Moreover, it served as a reminder to Judah about trusting in a military alliance with Egypt to save them from the destruction of Babylon. Who would Judah trust? Their military and alliances with foreign powers, or would they trust God alone? This message is still strong for us today. We believe strongly in the US's alliance with Israel, but how long will that last? We must trust God alone.

    On January 15^th, we read Parashat Beshlach. In this portion, we read about a kind of process that God's people go through as they move from an attitude or spirit of fear to an attitude or spirit of praise. In Exodus 13, God brings Israel to a dead end at the Red Sea. Egypt was bearing down on them from the west, and they were pressed up against the sea with nowhere to go. Their fear turned to anger when they cried out complaining that God had brought them there to die. No one had thought that God brought them there so that He could let them walk on dry land through the Red Sea (Ex. 14). Many times, when we are pressed up against problems, we never think about the possible miracle that God had planned all along, we just complain about what we see with our eyes. But, fear and anger give way when they are presented with the miracle. Imagine the Israelites' disbelief as they walked through the sea. "Is this really happening?" Even once they were on the other side, could they believe what had just happened? This disbelief is reinforced by the fact that they complained again about thirst in hunger within the same week of having walked through the sea (Ex. 16-17). God will test even our flesh. They were also tested again when the Amalekites came to attack them. But when the Israelites defeated them—again by God's miracle—their disbelief is reinforced with assurance, and that assurance gives way to belief. Finally, our belief will lead to victory, and our victory will lead to praise (Ex 15). So the process looks like this: FearàangeràMIRACLEàdisbeliefàassuranceàbeliefàvictoryàPRAISE!!!

    On January 22^nd, we read Parashat Yitro (Ex. 18, 19, and 20). In it, we discussed the relevance of the 10 commandments, not only on the culture of Moses' day, but on hundreds of world culture everywhere. We compared on contrasted the ancient Israelite's use of the 10 commandments, the use during Yeshua's day, the use of the Rabbinic tradition, the use by historical Christian theology, the use by Americans and its reflection in the American constitution, and even the use by Muslims. All of these cultures base much of what they do on the concepts in the 10 commandments (or 10 Words). Most cultures are against killing people.

In our discussion, we discussed the use of the 10 commandments in a legalistic way, in a liberal way, and in a way that shows our love for God and our neighbors.

Matthew 22:36-40
³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

As we apply the 10 commandments, we learn that love is what guides what we do, not just keeping laws, fulfilling obligations. However, love does not free us to do whatever we feel leads to love, because we are bound by how the Words define love. Keeping the commandments not only shows us what love is and is not, but it is the love itself.

1 John 4:20-21
²⁰ If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

    On January 29^th, we expanded on this topic of loving God and loving our neighbors through the study of individual commandments (mitzvot) listed in Parashat Mishpatim. One of the examples we discussed was the example of the servant who loved his master. Once the servant has a wife and children whom he loves, knowing that they belong to the master, the servant offers himself to his master for life. The commandment for when one does this is the piercing of the servant's ear upon the doorpost of the master's home.

Exodus 21:5-6
⁵ But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' ⁶ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

Imagine the allusion here, of Yeshua offering up his blood upon a doorpost for the sake of his wife (or children). Yeshua often refers to His Father has His Master.

We also discussed the logic that the Jewish sages have developed over the years in regards to these commandments/mitzvot. We looked at the Shabbat and the 39 actions of work that were prohibited on Shabbat. We discussed the purpose and function of Talmud, and the logic behind how the sages derived their interpretations from the Torah. What we saw was that the parallel structures of Hebrew create a pendulum of interpretations where there are sets of actions that can be derived from a single Torah commandment. For example, the commandment about Shabbat not only says that on the seventh day, they were to refrain from working, but also that 6 days they were to work. What is work? The 39 types of creative work were derived from the 39 types of works that were done in the creation of the Tabernacle. Thus, all work today is filtered through the 39 prohibitions of what is work.

Now, in American culture, American individuals simply take what they read more linearly, so that when they say that they are not to work, they define work by whatever each individual "feels" is work, and thus refrain from doing that. In reality, they violate this whenever it "feels" right to do so. Individualism wins out over tradition. Some overdefine work, it there might be who refrain from doing ANYTHING on the Sabbath, which tends to be more of a legalism than a proper interpretation.

There is no conclusion to this issue regarding Talmud, regarding the pendulum swings of interpretation, or regarding liberalism versus legalism. However, Yeshua established the sieve of love by which to filter the commandments of Torah. In Jewish thought, motivation matters as much as the action itself. Sometimes, believers what to have good motivations, but then they refrain from even doing the commandment at all. "Well, I meant to keep the Sabbath holy, but I had a bad day, and then I yelled at someone, so I gave up." This is not a Biblical way of thinking. Mishpatim offers many examples of what believers must live up to in order to show their neighbor that they are loved.

    On February 6^th, we read and studied Terumah (Ex. 27-30). We read about the fantastic details which God asked for in creating the Tabernacle. The obedience and contributions of the Israelites were an expression of their love for God.

During this study, we also read Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. In this Scripture, we read about the wheat and the tares.

Matthew 13:24-30
²⁴ ¶ He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷ And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' ²⁸ He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' ²⁹ But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Yeshua explained that the weeds amongst the wheat could not be removed without also harming the good wheat. It is clear that there are those who do not believe in God are mixed in with those who do. There are those who live a liberal life with no rules, creating their own laws unto themselves, disobeying God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And there are those who believe that following all of the rules, but without love or compassion for others will inherit his kingdom.

Matthew 19:16-22 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" ¹⁷ And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." ¹⁸ He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ²⁰ The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" ²¹ Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." ²² When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Thus, in the assemblies of believers all across the world, there are those within the walls of our lives that cause great frustration and anger, perhaps. But knowing that the tares must be amongst the family ought to create within us a great sense of mercy. How do we know if someone we may not like might actually turn out in the future to find Messiah? Or, how do we know that if someone we think walks closely with the Lord is in fact faking his or her walk with God so as to stay within a believing culture; but in reality, this person does not really know God. The end result is that we treat each other with great mercy at all times, no matter the circumstance, because Yeshua warned his disciples all along, only HE would remove the tares, and ONLY when it is the RIGHT TIME. So, we treat all people equally, and we show no partiality with ALL who enter.

James 2:1-7 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

    On February 13^th, we read Parashat Tzetzevah, where we read about the priestly garments and the priestly ordination service (Ex. 27:20, 28, 29). The garments of the priests are sacred, or set apart, because they have a godly function. When the priest puts these garments on, the garments are a reminder of his service to God and the commandments that must be performed before a Holy God. God is a God of order, and not just feel-good worship services. Not only did the priest have special clothes, but there were specific sacrifices that were to be made at the initial ceremony consecrating the priests: sin offerings and free-will offerings (See Lev. 1 and 4.) The priest was not to believe that he was special by some virtue, but rather than he, too, was a sinner in need of God's mercy. The bull sin offering was only for the priest, not for the people. Finally, after the initial sacrifices of the tabernacle, there were to be daily sacrifices that would have begun at that time and lasted until the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE. And then again, the sacrifices resumed until 70 AD. In other words, the daily sacrifices remained from the time of Moses until the beginning of the present era. We still maintain these sacrifices through saying Shema twice daily and praying to God and acknowledging His daily presence in our lives.

    In the same way that priests wore garments and offered sacrifices daily, so too are we to take up the full armor of God daily.

Ephesians 6:11-18 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Note that the "rulers, authorities, worldly powers and spiritual forces of evil are all references to human agents in the Greek language. Some like to use this passage of Scripture to justify all sorts of pseudo-spiritual demon hunts within churches, casting out of demons, and such, none of which have anything to do with this passage. Without the belt, the pants would fall down. The priest also wore a belt that kept the breastplate which bore the 12 stones of Israel and kept the umim and thurim in place. The truth is the Word. Righteousness is kept in the heart, where decisions are made. (Only in Greek/European thinking has the concept that decisions are made in the brain and that love is in the heart. The Hebraic thought places decisions and thinking in the heart and love in the mind/head. This is a significant difference of concept when applied in real life.) Thus, the righteous actions are determined by what we CHOOSE to do or obey, not by how we feel. In fact, doing the right thing is often in contradiction with how we feel. Our shoes are ready to take us in the direction that our righteousness determines. The gospel (or the Torah) provides completedness (shalom). It does not necessarily mean we will be free of conflict. We take up the shield of faith (or trust) to extinguish the darts (or lies) of the enemy. We believe in God, even though we do not see Him. The enemy doesn't want us to believe and trust that God is there for us, that He loves us. By faith, we reject the enemies' lies. Finally, the helmet of salvation, similar to the headpiece of the priest, consecrates us as holy. It is the helmet of salvation—we accept Yeshua into our mind—the place where we exhibit love. (Again, it's that Greek—Hebraic conceptual difference.) Finally, just like the priests offered twice daily sacrifices, which today we understand is prayer, so too, Paul encourages the believers in taking up their armor for the purpose of prayer. Prayer really does matter, and it must be done daily, twice daily, at all times praying.

One last thought about the priestly garments and the armor. When we believe that Paul chose a Roman soldier's garment to prove that we are to take up arms and fight against evil, I believe that we can overuse this illustration to justify something Paul did not mean. This call to arms is not one of military might, guns, bullets, etc. It is a call to prayer, serious prayer. Are there places in Scripture that allows for people to defend themselves? Certainly, but this is not the point here. To argue about when it is OK to defend oneself is beside the point. We need to be in prayer, both for our families and friends, but similar to the wheat and tares, even for our enemies. God does not wish that any should perish.

    Last week, in Ki Tisa, we read about the sin of the golden calf (Ex. 30-34.) Ki Tisa also offers us an important set of bookends. The first half of this portion concludes the instructions for building the tabernacle. The final stanza before the chapter on the golden calf is an encouragement to keep the Shabbat.

Exodus 31:12-18
¹² ¶ And the LORD said to Moses, ¹³ "You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. ¹⁶ Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. ¹⁷ It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'" ¹⁸ ¶ And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

While Moses was up on Mount Sinai, the people had created a god that they could see. Now, some interpret this act of idol making a rejection of God as though He did not exist. However, others recognize that these actions were not really a rejection of God, but rather a lack of trust in a God they could not see. They preferred to establish God in an image that they would be able to understand, thus confining God into a limitation that they could handle. Remember, in Ex. 19, the Israelites had met God. Idolatry does not have to mean worshipping a false god, but rather to worship God falsely. God commanded the people not to make graven images, because graven images confine God in unnatural ways. We choose not to represent God with images because we recognize that He is infinite and cannot be contained by anything. The Israelites were guilty, and perhaps they were going to receive greater judgment than a pagan kingdom because God was ready to wipe them out and start over with Moses.

Exodus 32:9-10
⁹ And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."

But the important lesson here Moses' willingness and desire to intercede on behalf of his people. Some of the Jewish sages actually indicate that this is the crux of the test: not that the people were weak and unsuitable for God, God already knew this; but rather, the test was to see if Moses would respond in love for his people; would he willingly give himself on behalf of the people. The Jewish concept of Messiah has always included the act of self-sacrifice for others due to a great love. Moses showed this great love.

This great love is the great conflict that each of us have in our lives at this moment. Can we love one another enough to form a true community? There are already churches and synagogues in the world that go through motions. Perhaps the greatest tragedy in American religious life is that because of American culture, people are only interested in a surface relationship with God and with others. Meanwhile, there are activities of pleasure by which we can distract ourselves. (Most of you are probably reading this on-line because you spend a good deal of time here, both talking—perhaps gossiping—with others, watching movies or TV, or playing games, or looking up crafts, or reading news, or any manner of other activities that require internet access.) The question is whether or not someone, anyone, will put what they are doing down and intercede with the Almighty God in an act of mercy.

Exodus 32:11-14 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" ¹⁴ And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

I challenge you to pray these words above again, but personalize it for us, for our communities, for Jews, for Christians alike, even for Muslims and the whole world. Forgive us, God!

    Finally, yesterday we did not meet because of the glazing of ice throughout the city. I didn't want to see anyone hurt, which I understand was possible throughout town. This week, we were to read Vayakhel (Ex. 35:1-38:20.) In this passage, Bazalel and Oholiab are put in motion, and they work to finish the tabernacle, with all of their workers, and begin the process of the tabernacle ceremonies. The haftarah reflected the same theme in I Kings 7:40-50, as Solomon finished the construction of the Temple.

But there is a different direction to consider, as can be read in I Cor. 3, especially 3:11 and 19.

1 Corinthians 3:10-20
¹⁰ ¶ According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- ¹³ each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. ¹⁶ ¶ Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. ¹⁸ ¶ Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," ²⁰ and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."

In this passage, we realize that there is a calling not just to "build" a Temple, like God had commanded Moses. Instead, we realize that we "are" the Temple, being fit together. Notice also that we are unable to use any other foundation other than the foundation that Yeshua already laid. What does that mean? Consider many of the past conversations from these last few weeks. We must balance the notions of Torah liberalism and Torah legalism against the Torah commandments motivated by love. If Yeshua died on for His people, then He also died for the whole world. This is the message that must go out through the whole world. Not a theological "you can only have grace through Jesus" message, but rather, a pragmatic, "Jesus is the only way you can fix your life now" message. Our hope isn't that Yeshua will come and destroy the world, but like Moses, that we will intercede on behalf of our world and say "Let's do something NOW!" Now read this next passage:

1 Corinthians 6:1-20 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? ² Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! ⁴ So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, ⁶ but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? ⁷ ¶ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud--even your own brothers! ⁹ ¶ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ¹² ¶ "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. ¹³ "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"--and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

This is quite humbling, really. First, we must realize that we have sinned, and that we used to be under no one's law. Many believers accept Yeshua for salvation, but they do not live under His law, they live liberally, however they feel like it. Others, in response to liberalism, decide to sue everyone, and they bring even their brothers before worldly courts, trying to prove they are the more righteous organization. We must stop this crazy competition!

Second, we must realize that if we live according to Torah, we have authority to rule over the world. I don't think that means we can take up arms, but I think it does mean we do not back down about truth and sharing the truth. There are trivial differences between believers right now, but isn't it better to be slandered and live with that than to destroy the view of God before those who do not believe? If believers would not stand against each other, but rather stood up for what is right in the world, and would be humble and generous and merciful with our fellow believers, then the world would have less to accuse us of. It doesn't matter if this context is Jewish or Christian or Messianic, all need to find that common ground now, or a greater persecution will cause us to find it out of necessity.

Third, we live in an oversexualized and greedy culture. This is not new, this is exactly why Paul wrote Corinthians. The Corinthian congregation lived in an sensual and touchy-feely culture that permitted everything. The world culture is coming to this. I can no longer say this is an American phenomenon, because we are witnessing the birth of liberalism everywhere in the world, mostly fueled by the young. Do we expect this to go well for people of faith? The movement we see developing in the Middle East has been picked up in China, but also in places like Wisconsin. And the fuel to the fire is added by CNN and media outlets pushing for anarchy. What is this freedom that they seek? …freedom to live how they want, free, without rules—but also—without Torah, without Jesus? The US was originally founded to protect people's freedom to worship God. These movements seem aimed at freeing the world from the worship of God. It's not the same, and we need to be aware. This passage is also very clear about the place of the homosexual culture in Corinth. God at no point sanctions this behavior, so much so that in Greek, there are two terms for the homosexual actors, which make this behavior more explicitly rejected by Paul; but to be clear, it is just as much to be rejected as is greed, thieves, drunks and the rest. We must work to help those who are hindered by these sinful lifestyles. We aren't to reject people because we are all sinners, but we need to be careful not to sanction these lifestyles.

Finally, we need to continue to seek to be one people, a unified people, a single Temple. If there is any theme that returns from all of these passages, it is that God has had a plan for this small group of believers here in the KC Torah Community—and that is that we behave as one people, loving each other, loving others, and growing the community. We are in a place against the Sea, not knowing how God will deliver us from the approaching enemy, but we need to prepare ourselves for a miracle. What a wonderful thing that Passover is almost here. We need to be in preparation not just for holding a Seder, but for God's coming deliverance. We need to have our bread ready to go. We need to live out the 10 commandments, not in a liberal or legalistic way, but in love for God and love for our neighbors. We need to understand that we will be able to keep the commandments perfectly when we see Yeshua reigning from Israel, but right now, we need to be patient with ourselves and others. We need to live rightly, but in patience, because we do not know who are tares and who are wheat. We need to enter at all times in prayer, both for our own nourishment with the Father through His Son, but also we need to pray on behalf of our brothers, even if they are falsely worshipping God. (We cannot turn aside the many Christians who are struggling. God is the judge, not us. We need to be available for them.) We are to put on the armor, but also the priestly garments, preparing ourselves for when others are ready to bring their offerings to God, too.

God bless you all this week. I will be praying for you. Pray for Marjie and I, and all of c+hildren, too.

Parashat Re’eh, Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17

There is an unusual progression of topics in this portion. I thought that it might be helpful to have a little bit of a map, and then a summary:

1. In the first part, Dt. 11:26-32, God reminds the people that they have a choice regarding obeying God. If they obey, there is a blessing; but if they disobey, they will receive the curse. A blessing is a supernatural gift that God gives those who live according to the Torah, or the Word. But the curse is also a supernatural withholding of the blessing in which the natural consequences of not living according to the Torah have its effect. Thus the blessings appear to us as supernatural gifts, but the curses appear to us as natural events.
   
2. In Dt.12, God establishes how the Israelites are to receive the land. They must remove all idols from their inheritance, and also they must establish the Temple as a place of worship. The place of worship must be holy (set apart) and the land it is in must be holy; in other words, it cannot be mixed with other forms of worship. Our lives need to literally and spiritually be holy, not mixed with other interferences that keep up from worshipping God. In the land, people lived according to the commands of God, and thus were a testimony to all the nations about God. Our lives can reflect this as well.
   
3. However, Dt. 13, God warns us of how people begin their walk away from God. It begins with a dream or a prophecy or something placed within the mind or heart of an individual. This person believe that they have heard something special, but what they say does not line up with God's Word, but instead leads back into slavery, the kind of slavery Egypt represented. In Israel's history, there were people such as Ahab and Jezebel who exemplify how this works. Today, there are groups and individuals who lead people into believing that their dreams or visions or feelings have equal weight as God's Word, and they label this as having "listened to the Holy Spirit." We are not to show mercy to such people. In Torah, they are immediately stoned. For us, if the individual is not willing to repent, we would do well to stay far, far away from such people. Notice that in Dt, 13:18, it is the commandments that we obey, not visions, hopes, and dreams.
   
4. In Dt. 14, God reiterates what is clean and unclean, as well as how to bring the tithe to the Temple. This may not seem like an act of worship, but in fact, it may be one of the most neglected acts of worship that we miss—the act of eating. We are reminded to put only clean food into our bodies, and we are reminded to give the tithe of the produce. Finally, we are reminded to not forget the Levites within our midst. All of these are basic acts of worship, and they are practical things that can be done, they are not mystical or highly spiritual. We need to remind ourselves that "being spiritual" does not mean that we must act in some super-pious, holy way that puts us at odds with the culture around us. Instead, our behavior must stand out in such a way as to cause others to desire to seek out God. Thus, our differences do not make us stand out for the purpose of feeling superior, which would be a false feeling; but rather, we do things differently because God asked us to, and if we do them, then perhaps others will want to do them, too. God receive the glory, not man.
   
5. In chapter 15, how we treat those in need is discussed. Every seven years, there is to be debt redemption. For the most part, this chapter deals with those who have received the blessing. Notice that the one who is in debt has received this natural consequence for having lived in disobedience to something. It's not super-spiritual curse, it is just a natural consequence for living outside of God's design. Sure, there are those who appear to have great wealth and do not follow God's Word; they steal from widows and orphans and the poor. But it must be remembered that these are temporary conditions and judgment will one day come. When godly people have wealth, than there are no poor. The fact that there are poor is a reflection of disobedience on a cultural level. It seems odd that a commandment to let land lie fallow for a year would actually cause greater wealth, but this seems to be the supernatural consequence to obeying God…we don't actually work as hard.
   
6. Finally, this Torah portion is closed with the reminder to keep Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Again, this is a reminder that this whole section is about worship. During these festivals, we have a whole week that we set aside for doing different acts of worship. People were created to have fellowship with God and with others, and these are times that God asks us to set aside to fellowship with Him and with others.
   

In conclusion, this Torah portion is about proper acts of worship: When we are in fellowship with God and are worshipping Him according to the commandments, we receive the blessings—the inheritance of the land, the setting aside of the Temple, the cleanness of our bodies, the general wealth of the people in the land, the absence of the poor and a party set up by God three times a year. However, if we disobey God, we have a tendency to worship God falsely, in a way that we make up, we follow our own dreams and vision, or listen too closely to false prophets and worship something false, we skip paying our tithes, we ignore the widows, orphans, and poor, we ignore the Levites, we eat everything-even that which is not food, we hold our brothers debt in higher regard than our brother, and as a result, we don't even meet with God at the times He set aside for us, to fellowship with Him. This is the choice we have-to worship Him and receive supernatural blessings as a result of having a relationship with Him; or we can worship in a false way, listening to false prophets, and miss out on a relationship with Him, and receive the natural consequences of not knowing Him. This is the blessing and the curse.

Parashat Devarim: Parallelism between Deuteronomy 1:8-13 and Acts 1:6-12

Parashat Devarim, Torah : Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
Haftarah : Isaiah 1:1-27
Gospel : Acts 1-2

Deuteronomy 1:8-13
See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.' "At that time I said to you, 'I am not able to bear you by myself. The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads."

Acts 1:6-12 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

Deuteronomy and Acts are both very unique books when compared to the four books that preceded them both. From Genesis to Numbers, there is the telling of the story of Israel, along with the Torah mitzvot, given to Israel by God. From Matthew to John, there is the telling of the story of Israel and her Messiah, along with the Torah interpretations of the miztvot, given by Rabbi Yeshua. Deuteronomy, then, is the retelling of this story to a new generation of Israelites. This new generation of Israelites was charged with judging the nations that were within the land, and establishing the land of Israel as a beacon of the light of God as described by Torah. Similarly, Acts was written by Luke to Theophilus at a time when a new generations of believers was being charged with carrying the Gospel message of Yeshua as the Messiah to all of the nations. As we read in the book of Joshua and Judges, Israel fell significantly short of what God could have done, but they did bring about the conditions that God needed by which to come as Messiah. Similarly, the story of early Christianity and the acquiescence of early Messianic Judaism also fell short of what God could have done, for the early believing Gentiles withdrew from their Jewish counterparts, as is attested in early Church historical data.

But God is faithful to accomplish His work, even in the failure of His people. In Isaiah, God foretells the destruction of Israel and Judah that is coming, but that he will be faithful to save Israel yet again from their sin: Isaiah 1:21-26 How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers. Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe, And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow's plea come before them. Therefore the Lord God of hosts, The Mighty One of Israel declares, "Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries, And avenge Myself on My foes. "I will also turn My hand against you, And will smelt away your dross as with lye, And will remove all your alloy. "Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city." This day came when Judah was restored, and Jerusalem was rebuilt. But Israel again proved to be unfaithful, for the Temple was destroyed again in 70 AD and the all of Israel scattered. However, the beginning of that exile began in Acts 8:1-4: And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. How ironic that the man responsible for the dispersion of early Jewish believers into the Diaspora was also responsible for bringing these same Jewish people into the understanding of their role in sharing the Gospel with the nations. Furthermore, how ironic that these first non-Jewish believers were so quick to turn against the one whom brought them the message of their salvation in Yeshua the Messiah. This only goes to show that what we see in Joshua and Judges, what we see again in Acts, and is still what we see today: "Each man does what he seems is right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25).

There is still hope, and there is still judgment to come. In Obadiah, we read what happens to the people of Edom as a result of their persistent persecution of Jacob, their brothers. Yet, in the end of this book, there is a promise: Obadiah 1:15-21 "For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. "Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow, And become as if they had never existed. "But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions. "Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau," For the LORD has spoken. Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And those of the Shephelah the Philistine plain; Also, they will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin will possess Gilead. And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel, Who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Will possess the cities of the Negev. The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the LORD's. It may seem like the promise of Edom is eternal damnation, but instead the judgment leads to belonging to God. Scripture seems to be clear regarding Edom that there is an eternal promise given to them, distinct from the promises given to Israel, but in the end, they will belong to God, as all of the nations will one day belong to God. We read a similar account of God's restoring Israel from the account above in Isaiah 1.

What we see here, some term the progressive revelation of God's salvation. But this is really not progressive at all, because God is continually doing the same things. And God's people perpetually do the same things in working against God by NOT doing what He has asked of them to do. This never-ending cycle, though, will one day come to an end. There will be a great judgment of all the nations on the earth, as we read about in Obadiah. There will also be an eternal judgment, which we read about in Revelations. But the counterpoint to all of this is that we have a mission to accomplish. Just like the Israelites had a mission to accomplish by establishing Israel as a beacon of light to the nations; we similarly have a mission to be the light to the nations here in the Diaspora. Our future hope is to go to Israel to greet the King; but until that time, we have the urgency and responsibility to share with those around us the message for hope and of a future with Yeshua as King of Israel.

14 July 2010: God Hates Me

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Learning to accept victory: Numbers 31 and John 21

In Numbers 31:31-50, there is this strange passage of a disclosure of an amount of booty collected after having defeated the Midianites:

³¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. ³² ¶ Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶ And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ and the LORD's tribute of sheep was 675. ³⁸ The cattle were 36,000, of which the LORD's tribute was 72. ³⁹ The donkeys were 30,500, of which the LORD's tribute was 61. ⁴⁰ The persons were 16,000, of which the LORD's tribute was 32 persons. ⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the LORD, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses. ⁴² ¶ From the people of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army-- ⁴³ now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ and 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 persons-- ⁴⁷ from the people of Israel's half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses. ⁴⁸ ¶ Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses ⁴⁹ and said to Moses, "Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. ⁵⁰ And we have brought the LORD's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."

Defeating the Midiatintes had to bring no pleasure to Moses. The Israelites had had cordial relations with this tribe until the whole Balak & Balaam episode. Moses had lived with the Midianites after fleeing in Egypt. His wife was Midianite. Yethro, his father-in-law, had been a Midianite priest. Once Yethro left Moses while they were in the wilderness, some tension developed between Moses and the Midianites. A couple of generations had passed from the time of Moses left Egypt and the present wandering of Israel in the wilderness. From the text, we see that most of the Israelite fighters were those who were younger than 20 years old at the time of the tragedy of the 10 spies. The context of this passage lends us to believe that this whole set of circumstances was very grievous for Moses personally, as well as for Israel.

As a result of the Balak & Balaam episode, as well as the evil worship of Baal Peor, the Israelites were required to render a military judgment upon the Midianites. In battle, the Israelites were victorious. In 31:49, the text reads that not one Israelite was killed. Yet, every Midianite fighter had been killed. Not one remained. Yet, the Israelites were not pleased to have killed them all. They had mercy and they left the women and children. In 31:14-15, Moses was angry, and he reminded them that these women were the same women who caused the Israelites to sin in the matter of Baal Peor. Thus, Moses had all of the boys, all mothers, and all remaining widows killed. Only unmarried women were allowed to remain alive. In today's political correct rhetoric, one could say that the Israelites would have been accused of a very serious crime against humanity. But God was not as concerned about the humaneness of rendering his judgment; He was concerned about the righteous actions of a young nation. Our self-righteousness is not the same as God's true righteousness. We must beware that when God acts in His righteousness, that often there is judgment. His judgment in the world often is fatal for humanity. When we ask for salvation, there is certainly a double meaning when we say, "Salvation is from the Lord." The Midianites sinful practices could not be tolerated in Israel, and the women may have been very unlikely to have adapted to the Israelite way of life and their trust in the One True God.

But what was Israel to do with all of the captured spoils of war? In other situations, the Israelites destroyed everything; but in this case, the Israelites were allowed to keep much of the booty. The only conditions were that a certain amount was to be presented to the priests and Levites as an offering. (In 31:40 we read that 32 people were set aside for the Lord.) It is interesting the large quantities of booty that Israel acquired. While it may seem that the Israelites were a desperate group of wanderers in the wilderness, they had a mission and vision for what needed to be done. Furthermore, God had always provided the resources by which to accomplish His purposes.

In John 21, we read that the disciples were pulling on all-nighter on their fishing boat: John 21:2-3
² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

After the death of Yeshua, the disciples seem to have felt defeated. In John 20, we read about Thomas's doubt. In every interaction with Yeshua after His resurrection, the disciples do not appear to have fully accepted that was in fact alive. They spent the whole evening fishing, but to with no success. Perhaps they were not even really concerned about the fish. When people are depressed, they will often find solace in doing something that is comfortable. In fact, therapists often recommend this as a positive course of action. However, there is no greater therapy than a personal encounter with Yeshua. When this man on the side of the lake tells them to cast their net on the other side, and when they do this, they suddenly have more fish than they can drag into the boat. The disciples may have not recognized His new form, but the certainly recognized His miracles. In verse 12, it appears that they were beginning to accept this concept of resurrection as reality: John 21:12
¹² Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord." So they sat down to eat breakfast with the Lord, accepting that everything they had known up to this point had permanently changed. Yet, at the same time, Yeshua was still concerned for their physical needs. He provided fish for them to eat. Of course, we are familiar with the text about Yeshua telling Peter to "feed His sheep." While Peter had failed Yeshua, Yeshua was still going to use Peter for the God-given purposes that he was created for. The commission to the nation of Israel was no small calling, but that was Peter's commission. Yeshua's last words in the book of John were the commissioning of Peter to do the work that God called him to do. The book of Acts proves that Peter achieved God's purposes. Not only that, but the fact that you are reading this blog proves that Peter achieved his purpose. God has purpose for each of us is not the same, but when we are faithful to God, He will use us.

This is a strange reality for most of us. We read in the Bible about God's miracles, we believe in the resurrection of Yeshua, and we believe that soon He is returning to accomplish the next phase of His purposes. But we seem to be like Thomas when he doubted. We are like Peter and the disciples who have gone fishing. We are like many of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness who never made it into the promised land. We act as if we have lost a war. But the reality is that the war has already been won. But how do we lift ourselves out of what we see every day, from being exhausted from the daily devastation that we experience in our life? The answer is that we have to fight! We may not be physically fighting Midianites, per se, but we do have to fight some things in our life that we may actually be fond of. We may have to fight our doubting friends or family members who put us down. In our context, we may be fighting against Jewish people criticizing us because of our belief in Yeshua. We may be fighting against Christian people who fight against us living out our faith in the Jewish context or against following Torah. It doesn't really matter, our focus in on proclaiming that Yeshua is the light of the Torah and that He is the Way, the fulfillment of the Tenakh. He is the Messiah. The reality that we need to accept is that there is much booty to have. While there may be many who are figuratively slain, ones who live as though they are dead, there are those who will be saved. If we will engage in the purposes of God, the needs that we will have will be taken care of. I'm not sure how many people 675,000 sheep will feed, nor how many steaks can be made from 72,000 cattle, but as we defeat enemies, we can be assured God will provide for those He saves.

As it says in the book of Joshua, "Be strong and of good courage." I believe we are entering a difficult time, but I also believe that these difficult times lead to ultimate victory. So let us be strong and let us take courage!

Parashat Balak, June 23, 2010

B'midbar/Numbers 22:2-25:9

 

Vocabulary:

 

Balak=devastator        Balaam (Baal=lord, god + Am=people, tribe, family)

 

Zippor, from the verb Zapar=tweet, twitter, whistle; (noun=sparrow; bird)

    Also, "to return"

 

Beor=burning, a torch; the verb is Ba'ar, meaning to burn, consume; also, to be brutish (stupid, dull heartd, unreceptive, or inhummane, cruel, barborous)

 

Baal Peor=a mount in Moab; the verb Pa'ar means "open wide" (the mouth); more rarely, "open bowels", "go to stool"; "voracious greed"; (in a couple of Scriptures, it is used in a good way for "an eager desire," Job 29:23, Ps. 119:131)

 

"the edge of the people"- Midrash explains this phrase to mean that the people were enclosed in the Shikinah or the glory of the L-rd. The non-Jewish peoples could not see what took place inside the camp because of the Cloud. All that Balak and Balaam could see was the cloud.

 

Summary information from the previous Torah portion, "Chukat":

    Israel has arrived at the other side of Arnon in the wilderness Nu. 21:13. This is the border between Moab and the Amorite. In a previous time, the Amorites had defeated part of Moab, and they were settled into that land, 21:29. The Israelites then came along and defeated Sihon aand all the Amorites. Israel only asked to pass through the land, but Sihon brought out all his people against them, and they were defeated. (21:22-23.) Then they defeat Og and all of those from Bashan. SO at the end of this portion, Israel is now in possession of new land, and Balak, king of Moab, thinks that he is next.

 

Outline

1. Balak attempts to convince Balaam to come to Moab and curse Israel so that they might be successful in defeating Israel. (22:2-19)
   
   1. Moab joins with their enemies, the Midianites as well
      
   2. G-d and Balaam have conversations. If Balaam has a relationship with G-d, then this makes sense. But if Balaam is a sorcerer of sorts, how and why does G-d communicate with Balaam, reveal things to him? And why does Balaam regard so much that he never goes against the word of HaShem?
      
2. Balaam finally goes with the officers of Moab and is stopped by his talking donkey. (22:20-35)
   
   1. Who is the "Angel of the L-rd?"
      

   
    

3. Balak tries to get Balaam to curse Israel (22:36-24:25)
   
   1. The first blessing at the heights of Baal.
      
   2. What were the meanings of the seven altars, seven rams, seven bulls? These were called "burnt offerings." Why was Balaam hoping to hear something from HaShem with which to tell Balak?
      
   3. The second blessing at the "field of the lookouts."
      
   4. The third blesing at "the height that overlooks the face of the wasteland." This is known as Peor, as seen at the end of this parashat.
      
4. The Moabites and Midianites develop a plan to seduce Israel (25:1-9 and into the next parashat.)
   
   1. What is Baal Peor?
      
   2. What was the consequence of these people attaching themselves to this god?
      
   3. Who was Phinehas?
      
   4. How did the slaying of Zimri and Cozbi by Phinehas atone for the people? This is not a traditional type of Day of atonement, and it certainly was not an act of worship or a ceremony.
      

Comments

This year, as many of us look at the news, the concept of pride and arrogance come to mind. It is dangerous to mix modern politics with the Torah portion, so this will not be the subject of this comment. However, when one looks at what occurred with Balaam and the donkey, and then with Balak in his dealings with Balaam, it is inescapable to notice how arrogant both men were in their connection to God and in their hatred of Israel. With Balaam, there is a picture of those who do believe in God, who seem to be able to communicate with God, but at the same time, he does not desire the things that God has to offer. Balak, on the other hand, doesn't care what God says, but only cares for his desired outcomes.

Here is Balaam's arrogance: First, he does seem to be able to communicate with God, and he does seem to listen. He repeatedly tells Balak's officers, as well as Balak, that he was not free to say anything but what the Lord would reveal to him. So, he does regard what God says. However, Balaam does not desire what God had to offer. Fine, he was able to be a great communicator of God's message, but he had no interest in God's message. If he had, after seeing the beauty of Israel's tents, he should have run down to see what was required to join Israel and be a part of the community. As believers, we need to recognize that there are those people in our lives that can see that being a believer in Yeshua the Messiah is the most beautiful and necessary aspect of living life. But they are not interested. Why? Arrogance alone can explain this. This either takes the form of outward arrogance, the ones we recognize their arrogance by their constant parading of themselves and puffing themselves up. But we can also recognize some who are constantly downgrading themselves and trying to explain how their lives are so much worse than ours. In either case, the focus is on "self." (Just as an aside, but the English meaning and concept of "self" comes directly to us out of Hinduism. All of these "self-help" books all pretty much say the same thing: god is in you and part of you and you are part of god. This is called Monism, the belief that God is in everything; not to be confused with monotheism, the belief that there is One God, and He is distinct from creation.)

Here is Balak's arrogance: First, Balak knows the importance of offering the "Olam" offerings. In other words, Balak knew how to approach God. His purposes may not have been self-serving. He perhaps was legitimately taking care of Moab. (However, the Midrash says to the contrary. It says that he was not even a Moabite, but rather was asked to become the King of Moab because Moab was so scared of Israel. He was already a conniving thug before he was made king.) In whatever the case, he heard the message of God through Balaam three times, and each time he was angry and determined to go against Israel. There is an arrogance that leads to the desire to destroy Israel. This arrogance is almost supernatural. We need not unnecessarily puff up the Israelites in such a way as to believe that they were sinless and without error. The Torah is explicit describing the errors of Israel. However, the Torah is explicit about the humility of His people when they are behaving according to His ways. God has chosen Israel, not because of their righteousness, but because of His righteousness. Balak typifies the opposite of this.

We each have struggles with either type of these arrogances. If we are like Balaam, we are focused on our "selfs," and we are not listening to God. God is talking to us, we may even be telling others what God is saying, but we are not listening to Him and doing what He says. Or, we often find ourselves like Balak, we hear what God is saying, and then we do everything in our power to go against this. The worst version of this is when we move into anti-Semetic thinking, where we blame Jewish or Christian people for our problems. Some may move to hating all religious people equally. Rather than dealing with God in humility and confessing our sins and repenting, we blame religious people. We would be better served if we focused on asking ourselves what the judgment that we are under is all about. We would be better to ask for God's mercy, and receive the forgiveness that He promises to give. Arrogance is dangerous. As they adage goes, "Pride comes before the fall."

Our solution is always the same: Receive Yeshua by praying and asking for a relationship with Him. Don't pray and then not listen. Repent, and then receive forgiveness and His mercy. It isn't a religious thing. It is about having a relationship with our Creator. There is no arrogance before the Almighty God.

Who is he that you grumble against him? Parashat Korach, Numbers 16-18

There was an important difference between Moshe, Aaron, and Korach. Korach represents one who was hungry for worldly power and authority. Moses and Aaron represented ones who would have preferred to have not been given their positions. In Numbers 12:3, the Torah states, "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth." This is in contrast to the view that we have of most politicians. At the very beginning of Moses ministry, Moses declared to God that he did not want to go. Exodus 4:13-14
"But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, "Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart." After this time, Moses stood against Pharaoh, and he saw the wonders of God as the greatest kingdom on the earth fell before God, witnessed by Israel, in a very short time. Moses leads the people out of Egypt and stops at a dead end by the sea. Here, God destroys the greatest army on the earth in a single day, while the Israelites cross through the Reed Sea, again, in a short amount of time. Within days of this catastrophic event, the people grumble about thirst and hunger. Again, God delivers water from rocks and manna that appears with the dew in the morning, enough for everyone to eat and be full. Then God takes them to Mt. Sinai, where they are to receive the Torah, but also where they build a golden calf to worship God falsely. Moses intercedes on behalf of Israel and seeks God's forgiveness. Following a plague that kills many people, God relents. In relenting, he delivers to Moses a second time, the Torah written upon the tablets. Then, the Israelites set out from Mt. Sinai for the purpose of entering into the land, but they grumble again about not having meat. At this point, even Aaron and Miriam grumble against Moses regarding Zipporah. Miriam is stricken with leprosy, but is then healed. Next, they come to the land, where they send in spies, who come back with huge grapevines and other produce. They then turn and give false testimony about being consumed by the land and the people in it. This discourages most of the people. (Apparently, when they took their polls, a majority decided that they were against going into the land…so much for taking polls.) God sends the people back into the wilderness where he gives them their saddest news yet—God was promising them that they were going to die in the wilderness, but that their children would be able to take the land. Could anyone imagine being in the shoes of Moses during this time? Sure, he like no other prophet in Israel, save Yeshua, had direct access to God the way that he had. But it seems that this interaction with God, while it may have been more glorious than any other type of interaction any of us can dream up, this interaction was filled with sadness and discouragement. Everyone seemed to stand up against Moses at one time or another. Well, they weren't standing against Moses, they were standing against God, but Moses certainly ended up spending a great deal of time before God on his knees, begging God not to destroy Israel because of their faithlessness. Numbers 16:4 "When Moses heard it, he fell on his face…"

Moses leadership of the Israelites must have been the most unique leadership that we could have ever seen. While many of us think in terms of politics and policies, these are such worldly ways of thinking, it would be difficult for us to comprehend how Moses led, and even why he did it. This is not just some native people group from Indonesia, or Africa, or rural America, these are the Israelites. The Israelites, one could say, literally lived out the Torah. And how did that work out for them? I think we can draw some encouragement that living out the Torah is not necessarily a beautiful or idealistic thing. It is difficult and very unromantic, and even in many cases, very unspiritual.

At that very difficult moment, and at absolutely the worst possible time for Israel, along comes Korach. Korach was a first cousin to Moses and Aaron. Their fathers were brothers. Moses and Aaron's father was Amram, and Korach's father was Yitzhar. Amram and Yizhar' father was Kohath, the second born of Levi. If there were a line of succession to the priesthood, one could suppose that Korach would have been next behind Aaron, had Aaron not had sons. But this was not how God cuased this to work, and for whatever reason, at this worst possible time, Korach decides it was his time to stand against Aaron. One would figure that after Pharaoh, his army, the complainers about food and water, the golden calf worshippers, the 10 spies and the 70 elders who were just consumed, one would think that Korach should have been a little frightened. Yet, he goes and gets two fellow lead complainers from the tribe of Rueben. Certainly, they understood what is must have been like to have been set aside for a younger brother to have taken the family birthright. These three men led quite a few people against Moses and Aaron.

However, the response to Korach and his followers was pretty abrupt, and perhaps worse than all of the rest of the destruction of those who complained before. The Scripture says that Korach and his followers were swallowed by the earth directly into Sheol (16:30). On one hand, this could be a reference only to the ground or earth, which is a literal translation of Sheol. But could it be possible that this is a reference into hell, as well? The end result is that these men and their families existed no longer in Israel, and not even their descendants would go into Israel. This is such a warning about so many groups that go against God's leadership. Of course, by "God's leadership," I am not speaking about individuals who elevate themselves above all others for their own sake, their own glory. However, there are leadership structures out there, for example, the entirety of the Southern Baptist Convention, that have a certain type of halachic authority on the earth. Not that it is to be worshipped nor is it to be considered infallible. But this kind of organization, so long as it stays the course following God, is a type of leadership that we need to support, or at least, not rise up against for the sake of destroying it. The same could be said for the UMJC or the MJAA or other such groups. God does not bring people together without purpose, and within large groups such as these, there is a structure and there are leaders. Again, not like Moses. But they are there, and these leaders need prayer and support and encouragement. If there is any lesson we need to draw from Korach: Now is NOT the time to abandon our various institutions that God is using to spread the message of Messiah and hope for the lost. Now is the time to dig in and help.

Consider again what Moses said about Aaron to Korach: Numbers 16:11 "Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?" This may not seem very encouraging to Aaron, but by this point, Aaron understands what Moses is saying. He has already been scolded by God, along with Miriam. Aaron, too, was humble. We all have our areas of leading in which God is or should be calling us to. The Great Commission is a calling for all. But we are not anything in regards to what our calling is. If God is, who are we? Even the high priesthood of Israel was nothing before an Almighty God. Korach missed that point. There is no power in leadership that is not from God. Man can create a false type of power, of course, as we see on the news every day. But it is an illusion, and it is nothing more. Power lies with God alone, and there is no leader who can have that. Let us be faithful and let us be obedient, for who are we?