Zion's Voice

Torah Portion for 16th August - 22nd August

Torah portion            Deuteronomy 16:18 to 21:9

Haftarah portion     Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12

“Judges”

Righteous living together

What amazing insights the LORD gave to Moses in His instructions to the Israelites as they were about to become a Nation with a land to call their own. It was to be a place of righteously living together.

Today these instructions may appear boring and repetitious. They might well be, if viewed as ancient and out of date rules, with no relevance to modern living. But there is much more to these instructions than first meets the eye. When read with an open heart to learn, they are as precious, relevant, and important for us today, as they were to the Israelites of old.

Moses is told to appoint Judges. Peers of the people, to make judgements and decisions in disputes between those who cannot compromise on an issue of disagreement. This procedure is still in place in Judaism today. Courts of the people are established in many major synagogues. They are called “Beit Din” (House of Judgement), comprising two or three prominent, trustworthy, members of the Synagogue. It was to this ‘Beit Din’ that serious disputes were to be taken in the discourse in Matthew 18:15-20.  It was to the ‘Beit Din’ of “two or three gathered in My Name” that God promised His presence (Matthew 18:20) as they met. It was to the ‘Beit Din’ that the power of binding and loosing (Matthew 18:18) was given. (A serious neglect of the Hebrew roots of our faith, has caused a mal-nourished church to incorrectly interpret and teach the meaning of that Matthew 18 passage today).  There is NO equivalent body of reference established within modern day church structures. Instead we find major disputes taken to secular courts, with disastrous relationship consequences. That was not, and is not, God’s way for ‘brethren to  dwell together in unity’

Chapter 17 opens with God being uncompromisingly clear in His condemnation of the people who choose to worship “other gods”. The words seem amazingly harsh to us. But to get the message in perspective, God is intent on building this people as a Nation of priests before Himself as a witness and example to the other Nations with whom they come into contact.

“I am the LORD, I do not change” are the words which ring in my ears as I read this passage. Those who are called to be “joint heirs with Christ” are expected to act and behave in a manner which is worthy of that high calling. Too often, we are indistinguishable in our conversation and actions from anyone around us, our neighbours, our friends, our work colleagues. Our salvation is the free gift of Almighty God, as it was for the Israelites in our scripture passage. Retention of that salvation before a Holy God required personal life choices and behavioural decisions.

The outstanding promise of God in this passage is in Deuteronomy 18:15.

About 1,500 years after God gave this promise to Moses, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach was sent to this earth. He is the ‘promised prophet like Moses’.

It would be a good exercise to list for yourself the characteristics and events in the life of both Moses and Yeshua where it is possible to identify likenesses. You will be blessed as you ponder this thought. But I want to offer a less obvious likeness for your thoughtful consideration.

Moses met with God on the mountain and received the ‘TEN WORDS’ which comprised the initial covenant of God with the people, (“His special treasure”). Moses came down off the mountain and found the people worshipping a manmade golden calf .. idolatry. Moses returned to the mountain, spent another 40 days in the presence of God and came down with a new set of instructions. (Which we call Torah).

Yeshua came ‘down’ from heaven, finding the people observing, not the Torah of God as given by Moses (“the old covenant, which Hebrews 8 tells us is becoming obsolete”), but the traditions of men .. idolatry.  Yeshua returned to His Father in heaven, where He is today seated at the right hand of the Father. There will be a time in the future that He will return to earth as King of kings, with a new set of instructions, a New Covenant. Read carefully and honestly the conditions of that New Covenant to be made “with the House of Judah and the House of Israel”, stated in Jeremiah 31, repeated in Hebrew 8. You might conclude, as I have, that those conditions are not yet with us. They tell of a time when He will be King over all the earth. When we will all live righteously together, under a New Covenant. A prophet like Moses!!  Think prayerfully about it.                       

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 9th August - 15th August

Torah portion        Deuteronomy 11:26 to 16:17

Haftarah portion   Isaiah 54:11 – 55:5

“Re’eh”

Keep My commandments

The Torah portion this week contains a repetition by Moses of some important commandments and observances which the LORD had given him ‘on the mountain’.

Firstly, Moses declares that these observances are NOT mere suggestions but commandments. He emphasises this fact by foretelling the blessings and the curses which Joshua eventually spoke in the presence of the whole congregation of the tribes at Mt Gerazim and Mt Ebal. (see Deuteronomy 28,29). Conditions to which they all agreed.

He then gets specific in relation to:-

• Breaking down the ‘high places’ of the pagan deities. (we touched on that last week)
• The LORD Himself would determine the place for their worship of Him.
• Testing the ‘spirit’ of prophets. (don’t we need that today?). and what they should do about false prophets.
• Avoidance of heathen practices. (related to the first point above)
• Purpose and manner of tithing ( ouch !! we appear to have  changed the rules about tithing haven’t we?)
• The ‘shemitah’ year of release. (2015 is a ‘shemitah’ year)
• The dedication of the ‘first-born’. (still practised today in Judaism)
• Observance of the ‘pilgrimage’ festivals. (Pesach, Shavu’ot and Tabernacles)

We have a veritable feast of teaching available from this passage of Scripture. The real beauty being that the LORD is able to speak directly into our spirit the specific message He wants to convey to us individually as we ponder truth from His word.  My ‘reflection’ this week is from Chapter 13, regarding the prophets amongst us .. and ONE of those prophets in particular.

Yeshua came to this earth 2,000 years ago with a “prophetic” ministry. To that has been added His “priestly” ministry, (after the order of Mechi-tzedek) and in time to come He will be anointed KING . Thus He will be “Prophet, Priest and King”, before whom every knee will bow.

Deuteronomy 13 acknowledges that there will be those in the community who are able to perform miraculous signs and wonders. And that many will be deceived by these events. But in verse 2 (‘serving other gods’) and verse 4 (‘You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him’) Moses provides the test by which that prophet is to be judged.

Yeshua came as “the prophet like Moses” to His own people. (“the lost sheep of the house of Israel” Mathew 10 and 15).  Many thousands of Jews believed Him and worshipped Him as Messiah. Acts 21:20 tells us that “myriads” of Jews had become believers. Hallelujah.

Space does not permit a full explanation here, but by 324 C.E. Rome was ‘top dog’ and Constantine effectively severed all connection between Gentile believers and Judaism. (in my view that division is Satan’s greatest victory over mankind).

That situation persists today. We see anti-Semitism rampant in sections of the modern day church, and there is an even worse consequence. The Jesus who is worshipped in most churches today is unrecognizable to Jews as the Torah observant Yeshua of the Bible. Jews are presented with a Jesus whose principal role in salvation seems to take them away from the very commandments of God that Moses declares in our reading today, as being vital to their relationship to a Holy God, and the conditional promises regarding the occupation of the land of Promise.

There is a parallel here between Yeshau and Joseph of old who was similarly not recognized by his brothers (Genesis 45:1-3) because of the way he was presented to them. Is history is repeating itself again today? Yeshua will make Himself known to His brothers. (Zechariah 12:10)

I close this reflection by reminding ourselves of the words of the Apostle

Paul in Romans 11 : 18

“Remember that you do not support the root, the root supports you”.

Our actions speak louder than all the words in the dictionary !!  Yeshua said 

“If you love me you WILL keep My commandments”

John 14:15 (correct translation)

Just like Moses said in our portion today !!      

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 2nd August - 8th August

Torah portion            Deuteronomy 7:12 to 11:25

Haftarah portion     Isaiah 49:14   to  51:3

“ekev”

A special treasure for God

Moses continues to remind the people of the special status they have in the eyes of God. He wants them to KNOW that they are special, and different to the people they will eventually displace as they occupy the Land of Promise.

Immediately we pick up the message that those who are chosen to be part of His Kingdom, are likewise ‘special to God’. No exceptions. But just as in the case of the Israelites of old, that special status is retained through obedience to His commandments in the way we choose to live our lives. No exceptions.

In Deuteronomy 7::5, they have a specific instruction about destroying the altars, the sacred pillars, the wooden images and carved images.(see also Deuteronomy 12 and Deuteronomy 33) which are also referred to as “high places”. (It is these instructions which have caused an increasing number of Christians today to question the relevance and propriety of the celebration of Christmas and Easter, because neither are “mo’edim” of God, but both festivals have origins in pagan culture long past, and therefor considered to be ‘high places’ where the deity of that culture was worshipped).

Deuteronomy 7:8 has a phrase which is viewed as a ‘throw-away’ generalization by some, meaning ‘for a very long indeterminate time’ and as a phrase of great significance to others.  Since a generation is generally thought to be 40 years, the ‘thousand generations’ means 4,000 years. The point being that it is now approximately 4,000 years since God cut the covenant with Abram !!

The real burden of Moses heart, I think, is expressed in Chapter 8. Please take time to read it. He reminds the people of the faithfulness of God in their wilderness travels. He encourages the people with a description of the fruitfulness of the Land of Promise. Then he agonises over the thought that when they are settled there, have built a life there, are comfortable there, in their own eyes become self-sufficient, that they will become slack in their worship and obedience :-

"Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;  …….  then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' from  Deuteronomy 8 : 8-17

Moses words to these Israelites 3,500 years ago might well have been addressed to Australia in 2015. How easy it is to forget that even our very next breath is a gift of God. By His grace, we are blessed. We need always to give grateful thanks to God for ‘all His benefits’. It may be appropriate to remember the words of Yeshua to the rich ruler as recorded by three of the gospel writers. (Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18).

A final ‘reflection’ on this Torah portion is found in Deut. 11:10 – 12. Here Moses provides a brief description of the fruitfulness of the Land. Then in verse 12 a statement about the Land we know as Israel, which every Christian should have burned into their consciousness :-

“ …..  the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,  a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.”

“Zion’s Voice” is a ministry of prayer and support for Israel. It did not come into being by accident. It was commenced by some ladies following the prompting of the Holy Spirit. What a special privilege those ladies have been granted to participate in a ministry which has benefit for those who are “a special treasure to God”, as is evident from the statement of Moses in Deuteronomy 11 quoted above.  

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 26th July - 1st August

Torah portion               Deuteronomy 3:23 to 7:11

Haftarah portion        Isaiah 40:1-26

“Va’etchanan”

As for God, His way is perfect

The Torah portion this week begins with Moses re-telling one of the most heartrending plea’s any one could make. Moses had been witness to the mighty hand of God in His dealings with this fledgling nation of Israel. He had the privilege of leading these folk through an amazing journey, out of Egypt to the very ‘gate’ of the Promised Land. He can ‘feel’ the presence of God about to display His might and power again in the conquest of the Land, and he wanted to be part of it.

Moses had come to terms with the decision God had made. He knew that the mantle was to pass to Joshua. But he was concerned that these Israelites, people he knew very well, had the capacity to be stubborn, or stiff-necked, or rebellious, or disobedient, or indifferent, or all of the above.

Deuteronomy 4:2 has a warning for this people, which could well apply to every one of us. How did Moses know what we would be like in 2015?  Read it for yourself please. Then move to verse 6. A plain message. If you wish to be seen as wise in the eyes of those around you, be careful to observe, diligently, all that the Lord has taught you.

Most of us have formed a view of the God we serve. There are MANY adjectives used to describe the nature and attributes of our God. It is extremely comforting to remember the attributes of love, mercy and grace (which I often do). He extends His love to us when we least deserve it. He even sent His Only Son to bear the punishment of our sin. But now look at Deuteronomy 4:24. Moses does not ‘gild the lily’ with his stern warning, an attribute of God which we rarely consider. “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God”.  Wow !!  If you are like me that is not one of God’s attributes which brings much comfort, does it?

In chapter 5 of our portion, we find a repeat of the “Ten Words” which God gave to Moses on the mountain. Then in chapter 6 of our text we find the most oft repeated passage of Scripture. The SHEMA. Spoken twice each day by every Orthodox Jew. It is the constant reminder of the central role of God in their everyday living. It is the commandment of God to teach their children, to wear the Scriptures (as in Tefilin), to decorate their homes (or at least the doorposts of their houses). It is the Scripture passage which distinguishes the Jewish people from all other nations on the Earth.

Some time ago I became aware of the writings of Lord Sacks. He is a former Chief Rabbi of England, now a peer in the House of Lords in London. A scholarly thought provoking writer and one for whom I have gained great respect. I commend to you his exposition of “The Shema” which you can access by following this link:- 

http://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation-5770-vaetchanan-the-mean...

I conclude this week’s ‘reflection’ by quoting from Rabbi Sacks’ insights (which you can read in full by following the link).

“ The ancient Greeks were “the people of sight, of the spatial and plastic sense . . . as if they thought to transpose the flowing, fleeting, ever related elements of life into rest, space, limitation . . . The Jew did not see so much as he heard . . . His organ was the ear . . . When Elijah perceived G-d, he heard only a still, small voice. For that reason the Jew never made an image of his G-d.”

That is why the keyword of Judaism is Shema. G-d is not something we see, but a voice we hear. This is how Moses put it elsewhere in this week’s sedra, describing the supreme revelation at Mount Sinai:

Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Deut. 4: 12)”

“Shema Yisrael does not mean “Hear, O Israel”. It means something like:

Listen. Concentrate. Give the word of G-d your most focused attention. Strive to understand. Engage all your faculties, intellectual and emotional. Make His will your own. For what He commands you to do is not irrational or arbitrary but for your welfare, the welfare of your people, and ultimately for the benefit of all humanity.”

Please read again,(and again!), the words we know as “The Shema” in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  This time with the benefit of the insight provided by Rabbi Lord Sacks echoing in your consciousness as you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest … and you will be blessed.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 19th July - 25th July

Torah portion  …….   Deuteronomy 1:1 to 3:22

Haftarah portion ….. Isaiah 1: 1-27

“Words”                                                                       

There are conditions ?

“Devarim”, Deuteronomy in English, consists of a number of discourses by Moses, preparing the Israelites for life, as a nation, in their new land after his days. They are, in effect, farewell messages, reminding the people of the instructions God had provided them for living righteously with each other and with Himself. Just as Leviticus contains a lot of legal detail concerning the Levites,( the Priesthood) so Deuteronomy contains much legal detail for the laity.

Neither Leviticus nor Deuteronomy involve journeying’s. They are purely instructive, and in many cases repetitious of instructions given to Moses ‘on the mountain’.

In this first portion from Deuteronomy, Moses recites the progress which has been made over the past 40 years, from the captivity in Egypt to the banks of the River Jordan on the plains of Moab. They are reminded of God’s faithfulness in all their travels, as a prelude to His promised care for them as they enter the Promised Land.

Moses must have been sad when he confessed before the congregation of Israel in Chapter 1: 37,38 that he would not be with them as they went into the Land, but he graciously instructed them to encourage Joshua in the task that lay before him. He also reminded them, that because of lack of trust in the promises of God, all those who had wavered at Kadesh Barnea were now dead.

So this is a sort of series of ‘sermons’ before they ENTER the land.

Now let us move forward approximately 900 years. The HAFTARAH portion, from Isaiah 1, contains the first ‘sermon’ to them as Isaiah prophesies that unless they change their ways, it will not be long before they are EXPELLED from the land. (which they were a few short years later in 586 b.c.e.)

The Land gift to Abraham’s descendants is certainly unconditional, it is theirs by God given right, but the occupation of the land given in the Mosaic covenant has always been conditional. Moses carefully reminds the people of that condition. It is all about OBEDIENCE to the instructions for righteous living (Torah) which God prepared for those He calls “His special treasure”. People who live differently to those around them.

I was brought up as a young Christian to believe “once saved, always saved”. The land is ours, no-one can throw us out, live as we like, a loving God will forgive us !!  It is a most comforting state of mind. But that is not what my Bible says. What?  there are conditions? Yes there are conditions. Or at least a condition, and that condition is willing OBEDIENCE.

Read what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 11: 11-22. Then read what Samuel said in 1 Samuel 15:22.

To finish our ‘reflection’ today, we must look at the really good news. It is found in the HAFTARAH. Isaiah was tasked with giving the people a sharp reminder of their shortcomings. It is evident that they had become most neglectful in their obedience (or lack of it) to God’s instructions for righteous living. Then God in His amazing mercy, love and grace provides a way. To this saved, but neglectfully disobedient people, these words :-

  "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like        crimson, They shall be as wool.

   If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; …” Isaiah 1: 18,19

Those words are just as true for us today as they were for the Israelites of Isaiah’s day. Trust me, when you see the word IF in a sentence, as in the Scripture quotation above, it means that “there are conditions”.

Do you remember what Yeshua said in John 14:15 ? The more accurate Nestle-Aland Greek and United Bible Societies text ( NU text) reads “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments”. So yes, there are conditions through which we show our love for Him.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 12th July - 18th July

Torah portion  …….   Numbers 30:2 to 36:13

Haftarah portion …. Jeremiah 2: 4 – 28 and 3: 4

Prepare the way

“Tribes / Stages”

This week there are TWO Torah portions, which are combined and read as one in ‘ordinary’ years, and read separately in leap years. The Hebrew calendar has 7 leap years in every 19 years. The reason for this is that the Hebrew calendar has a LUNAR cycle, whereas the Gregorian calendar has a SOLAR cycle.

The Lord continued to give Moses instructions regarding the occupation and division of the Land of Promise amongst the TWELVE  “ tribes” .. but they still do not “go in and possess the land”. (The actual borders of that Land of Promise is specified in Numbers chapter 34, it is far larger than the present day Land of Israel).  The taking of the Land would eventually come under Joshua’s leadership, after the death of Moses, but first it was necessary to ‘prepare the way’.

Numbers Chapter 33 is the historical account of the “stages” of the journey the Israelites have already made since their departure from Egypt almost 40 years earlier.

That explains the names given to these particular Torah portions.

Now another obstacle arises, the Midianites. The Midianites were a nomadic people descended from the fourth son born to Abraham by Keturah. Before Abraham died, and his inheritance was bequeathed to Isaac, he called his other sons together, settled a portion (called ‘gifts’ in the text) of his estate on them and sent them away. (Genesis  25:6) Just like Ishmael before him, Midian and his descendants became a problem for the Israelites thereafter. (Remember, Joseph’s brothers sold him to Midianite traders, who had formed an association with the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar.) Genesis 37:28. After the incident when Balaam was unable to pronounce a curse on the Israelites, it was the Midianite women who enticed the Israelite men to worship idols and foreign gods. (Numbers 25)

The children of Israel, probably over 2 million of them, together with their substantial herds of livestock were camped on ‘the plains of Moab’, present day Jordan, looking across the Jordan River to the land of Canaan. The Moabites had been subdued by the Amorites, and they in turn had been conquered by the Israelites.  TWO of the tribes, REUBEN and GAD liked the look of the place where they were camped and requested that they be allowed to make permanent settlement there. Moses agreed to this on condition that the Reubenites and the Gadites stood side by side with the other tribes in the conquest of the land occupied by the Canaanites. But first, they sent 12,000 men to remove the Midianites from the land, in fact to ‘prepare the way’.

They were, “the little foxes that spoil the vine”. (Song of Solomon 2:15)

Here is the message for us in this part of the story. In typology, our journey to the Promised Land, follows our salvation. God has provided well defined instructions for righteous living (commandments and precepts) regarding our conduct if we are to remain in that “land”.

It is quite fashionable for those who totally misunderstand the teaching of the Apostle Paul to say, ‘you are not under law but under grace’. An eight word phrase at the end of a sentence, which very few people who quote it can tell you how that sentence begins.. or even the context of where appears in the scriptures. Furthermore, Yeshua taught very differently (Matthew 5 to 7) to the conventional church teaching on this phrase.

In our lives there are “midianites”, little foxes that spoil the vine, that need to be chased out and put to death if we are to fully enjoy all that the Lord has prepared for us in His Land of Promise. In this context we could call it ‘preparing the way’. He seeks to bless us abundantly, but we have a part to play in making ourselves ready to receive that blessing.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 5th July - 11th July

Torah portion             Numbers 25:10 to 30:1

Haftarah portion      Jeremiah 1: 1 to 2: 3

Counted .. for God!

Phinehas, was a grandson of Aaron. He was zealous for God. He had been trained as a child to know and love His precepts and commandments. He had a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. Then in a time of deep crisis for the Israelites, he ‘stepped up to the plate’ and was counted for God.

The Book of Numbers (Bamidbar) is well named isn’t it? Here in our portion today we have another census. This time it is of men of arms- bearing age, those deemed ready for war. Doesn’t it strike you as a bit strange that God, in His wisdom, having brought these Israelites to the place where they could actually see the land He had promised to give them, that He then tells them that they are going to have to fight to possess it. It is a gift to them, YES, but it has to be taken by their own efforts. There is a ‘messianic’ message here I think. Our salvation certainly is a free gift of God through Messiah Yeshua, YES, but there are choices we have to make for ourselves in order to ‘live in the land’. It is the choice of being counted for God, not imagining we can go on with our lives in the same manner we were before He called us to Himself.

There are many preachers of ‘a prosperity gospel’ in churches today. It is an “easy” gospel. “Come to Jesus and have all your problems solved” is the message. I do not find that in my Bible. It is costly to be counted for God. Look only at the thousands of men and women who are martyred for their faith in Islamic countries today  .. and pray for them.  (Read Luke 24: 25 – 35 and see if you have a Bible like mine.)

Numbers 26  : 64,65 gives us a glimpse of the justice of the God of Israel. He had declared that those who had voted against the ‘short route’ conquest of the Promised Land would not enter it. In our passage today, we are told that they had all died in the wilderness travels (Numbers 14:23)

Using the same justice, God then acts to replace Moses for the journey into the Land. I am really sad. I feel so sorry for Moses, a faithful, humble man. To the Israelites, even to this very day, a GIANT of a man. But we need to take note that God uses all of His dealings with the Israelites for our instruction and understanding of Himself. One does  not need the intelligence of an Einstein to see that the lesson here is that we trifle with God at our peril. Remember Hebrews 10:31 again!

We cannot leave this portion, as it ends, without a mention of the ‘mo’edim’. The appointed times of the Lord. The children of Israel were about to enter the Land of Promise under the leadership of Joshua. During the past 38 years, they had been moulded into a disciplined people, an army no less. They had seen the Shekinah of God over the Tabernacle, they understood that God required them to worship Him in the way, and at the times, He had declared. Sure there had been times when they grumbled and grizzled about their lot. But they had a genuine “fear of the Lord”.

Now the time was near when God had put all the pieces into place.

Chapter 29 of Numbers is worthy of our ‘reflection’, and I commend it to you for private study. It details the observation of the festivals of the seventh month of their year. It is highly significant in understanding the prophetic significance of the final three festivals of the Lord. They are prophetic of the return to this Earth of Yeshua Ha’maschiach.

Trumpets .. which herald the return of the Lord/

Day of Atonement .. which heralds the final judgement.

Tabernacles .. which is the great ingathering, and speaks of the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Hands up all those who want to be there for this marriage supper.

Those who will be at this last feast will, I believe, be those who have been “counted for God”. It is never too late to begin the journey.

Shabbat shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 28th June - 4th July

Torah portion            Numbers 22:2 to 25:9

Haftarah portion       Micah 5:6 to 6:8

When God speaks.. listen!

The journey of the Israelites had brought them to the land occupied by the Moabites. It is quite interesting to follow the route by which they had come, and you can read it in Numbers 21.

The Amorites, who shared a border with the Moabites, had refused the Israelites safe passage through their land, and lost it in the battle that ensued. Balak, king of the Moabites (Genesis 19:37.) at that time, was petrified that he would suffer the same fate as the Amorites. He looked down to the plain where the Israelites were camped and all he could see was ‘wall to wall’ Israelites. (We tried to visualize this scene in an earlier ‘reflection’ didn’t we? Even today, looking down on that area from Mt Nebo is quite a scene).  So Balak decided to enlist some help.

The story which follows is most interesting. It involves a ‘celebrity’ seer, a prophet with a successful history apparently (Numbers 22:6), called Balaam.

As the story unfolds, we have an incident in which the donkey on which Balaam is riding sees an Angel of the Lord blocking the road, and refuses to proceed, Balaam does not see the Angel and begins to hit the donkey. Then amazingly, the donkey speaks!! It asks Balaam why the beating? MORE AMAZINGLY, to me, Balaam enters into conversation with the donkey !!!!!

The main thrust of our reading today, however, is to focus on the message contained therein, rather than the interesting detail of the events.

Balak had the clear intention to frustrate, if he could, the passage of these Israelites on their journey to the Land of Promise. To that extent, he may be viewed as an enemy of the Lord, an agent of Satan. Balaam, seems at first to be on Israel’s side, and to his credit declares that he will only speak that which God shows him.  Later it appears that he might be persuaded to speak a curse on Israel for the right price, even though he is prevented from so doing. The evidence for this is in the fact that he persisted FOUR times to accompany Balak in the pursuit of trying to utter a curse on Israel. In spite of that, of course, God was, and is, intent on BLESSING ISRAEL.

 (Note here that there are TWO different words used for “curse” in Hebrew, both are used in the same sentence in Genesis 12:3, … ‘I will curse those who curse you’ … the first curse in that phrase is ‘a’rar’, meaning to ‘bitterly curse’, and the second is ‘qalal’, meaning to ‘treat lightly’, or ‘to treat with contempt’. This is not a statement of wanton punishment, but a solemn conditional promise of God, and we should always be mindful of that).

The curse that Balak was seeking for the Israelites is the ‘a’rar.’ He wanted Balaam to ‘bitterly curse’ those Israelites. ( Note:- Jeremiah 48:1-46 prophesies a ‘bitter curse” of destruction for Moab in the end times, but not quite the total uninhabitable destruction which is the case with Edom and Babylon).

This is not the end of our association with Balaam. We will meet him again later in our “reflections”.

There is an ominous lesson in this story for those willing to learn. Within our churches today, there are many “balak’s” who, regardless of God’s clear declaration that these people are His  ‘special treasure’, deliberately  ‘qalal’ (treat with contempt) Israel, some even go as far as to “a’rar” (bitterly curse) Israel. It is a dangerous course to chart. God will keep ALL His promises, even the ones we don’t much care for.

Surely those of us who are ‘christian’ believers seek the blessing of Almighty God, don’t we?  Well, trust God on this. Find a way to BLESS ISRAEL, then He will fulfil the promise He made to Abraham, in you.

Shabbat shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 21st June - 27th June

Torah portion                 Number 19:1 to 22:1

Haftarah portion          Judges 11:1-3

“Ordinance”

God provides the way

What a feast of teaching there is in this week’s Torah portion.

• The death of both Miriam and Aaron.
• Water from the rock.
• Moses actions cause God to deny him access to the Land of Promise.
• The Edomites seal their eternal destiny by denying Israel rite of passage.
• The bronze serpent of Moses.
• The Amorites king, Sihon, also prevents Israel passing through their land. (I had the privilege to visit there late last year, which causes me to marvel at the fact that these millions of people were able to walk in such hostile hilly terrain)

But of all the teaching prospect in many of those incidents, there is another which I find quite irresistible. I refer to the place the Red Heifer has in their ordinances.

In our modern world view, it seems quite bizarre that the ashes of a dead cow, mixed with water, could do anything, let alone absolve someone of ritual uncleanness. BUT, God is God, His ways are not our ways .. are they ??

The very words “Red Heifer” speak of purity. Purity of breeding and purity of self. Unblemished and unused. Then this unblemished animal is taken OUTSIDE the camp and slaughtered. Some of its blood is sprinkled at the door of the Tabernacle and then it is burned to ashes, ALL of it. The one doing the slaughter become unclean. The ashes are placed in a ‘clean’ place and the one touching the ashes becomes unclean.

Miraculously, God ordained that those ashes when mixed with water and sprinkled onto an unclean person makes that person clean. Now there is more to this ritual, which you can read in Numbers 19, but effectively, that is how God chose to have these people act to become ritually clean.

Did you know that the Rabbi’s have determined that since those instructions were given to Moses, there have only EVER been NINE such pure ‘Red Heifers’ found in all of Israel? They did not all appear at the same time, but sequentially and precisely when they were needed !! Breeders in America have now declared that they have managed to breed the TENTH. (Ultra Orthodox Jews see this as the ‘missing link’ in being able to get on with the construction of the next Temple !!)  The importance of this is that the whole system of Temple worship is “Red Heifer” dependent. What a mighty God we serve. As long as the Tabernacle and the Temple stood in Israel, in a PERFECTLY timely manner, exactly when they were needed, God provided those NINE ‘Red Heifers’ as the necessary means of ‘cleanliness’ for these Israelites, without which, the priests could not function.

For our teaching this week there is an even more important lesson. That is to be found in the ‘typology’ of the ‘Red Heifer’ to Messiah Yeshua.

In His PERFECT timing, with no Temple in Jerusalem, and no ‘Red Heifer’ required for Temple service, God provided the means of priestly ‘cleanliness’ before Himself. Yeshua Ha’mashiach.

• He was pure and unblemished.
• He was taken outside the camp and slaughtered.
• He was (metaphorically) reduced to ashes by being buried in the tomb.
• Through Him, is the only means of ‘cleanliness’ acceptable to a Holy God.
• The Temple as a vehicle of worship, is dependent on His sacrifice. Our body is today “the Temple” of the Holy Spirit. Unless we are cleansed by Him, our sacrifice is unacceptable to God.
• Our worship of God is “Yeshua” dependent.

As we said earlier, God is God, isn’t He?  “As for God, His way is perfect” Psalm 18:30 and 2 Sam 22:31

Be blessed as you read the Torah portion this week. You will see other lessons which arise from this unusual ritual of the slaughter of the exceptionally rare “Red Heifer”. Then you may care to share those insights with friends you seek to bless.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 14th June - 20th June

Torah portion              Number 16:1 to 18:32

Haftarah portion       1 Samuel 11:14 to12:22

“Korah”

Rebellion

Two weeks ago, we saw the anger God displayed against Miriam and Aaron because of their challenge to the authority of Moses.

Last week, we saw that God instructed Moses to tell the people to sew tassels on the corners of their garment in order to remind themselves of God’s statutes and commandments. Well, it appears that this was just a bit too much for some of them. Korah (name means ‘boldness’ in Hebrew), a descendant of Levi, together with a crowd of 250 that three men from the tribe of Reuben had pulled together, took it upon themselves to again challenge the authority of Moses !!

Moses was not pleased! He reminded Korah of the privilege the Levites enjoyed in serving in the Tabernacle of the Lord. “Are you seeking the priesthood as well?” he challenged. (Perhaps a gentle reminder to us today to be content in the role God, in His wisdom, has given us, and not be too ambitious (or envious), to do that in which we see others being successful)

Moses instructed all of them to appear at the entrance to the Tabernacle the next day, each with a censer of hot coals. “Let the Lord decide who has authority here” he said.

If Moses was angry, it is reasonable to think, from His reaction that the Lord was livid!!  The resulting events were staggering. Please read the account in Numbers 16:4-40.

I sometimes ponder if the writer to the Hebrews 10:31, had this incident in mind when he penned those famous, chilling words … “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”

It is so easy in 2015, for each of us, reading that account of the judgment of God, to take the high ground and scoff that we would never have fallen for such a circumstance. It is a ‘natural’ response, because we have the advantage of seeing the end as well as the beginning.

Did you know that the word “torah” in Hebrew comes from an archery term meaning to ‘hit the mark’? Did you also know that the word translated “sin” in our Bibles comes for another archery term in Hebrew, “chata” which means to miss the mark (and it does not specify by how much the mark is missed!)?

It is surely possible to list areas of our walk with a Holy God where we could do better, where we have “missed the mark”.  The prophet Isaiah saw, very clearly, these issues with his generation, and warned them of it. Jeremiah put it best perhaps

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit."The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give Every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

When I was a very young man (almost 70 years ago) I was privileged to be taken by my Sunday School teacher to hear a very young Billy Graham speaking in Pontypridd South Wales. The text of his talk is burned into my memory today, as it seemed he was speaking ONLY to me. It changed my life.

“Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting” Daniel 5:27

Korah and his companions were found wanting, and paid a terrible price for it. May God grant each one of us a desire to search our own hearts and minds  … and approach a loving God for His forgiveness, before He approaches us!!

Shabbat Shalom

RS