A couple months ago, my wife and I had our insurance come up for renewal. We were already paying a lot, and they wanted to hike the rate quite a bit. So we decided to ask around for an insurance quote or two. It’s a good thing we did; we cut what we would have been paying in half. Yes, really. The L-RD is good! Now here’s my commentary on D’varim. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is D’varim or “words” and covers Deuteronomy chapter 1 through chapter 3, verse 22. Today’s reading represents the beginning of the home stretch in our yearly Torah cycle. As the book begins, Moses is addressing the people of Israel and retelling them their history since coming out of Egypt.

Much of the book of Deuteronomy is like this, a review of everything that has happened over the forty years Israel has spent in the wilderness, and the first time or two you read it, it can, quite honestly, be a bit off-putting. After all, one might say, didn’t we just read the previous four books of the Torah? Is this review prior to an exam, or do they just think we’re too dense to grasp the previous four books, and so Deuteronomy is offered as a mix between a Reader’s Digest condensed version, and a Cliff Notes on the previous four books.

However, there is more going on here than a simple review; we’re getting details that simply were not given in the earlier books of Torah. The most dramatic example of this, of course, is God’s response to Moses when Israel asks not to hear the voice of the L-RD anymore or they will die. When this is related in Exodus 20:19, no direct response from God is recorded, but He no longer speaks to all of Israel, but only with Moses in the Tent of Meeting. But when the same event is related in an upcoming weekly reading, in Deuteronomy 18:15-22, the L-RD’s response to Moses to this request is recorded in detail. And this is not the only instance of this, so those who would ignore Deuteronomy altogether because, “It’s nothing but review,” are missing out on a lot.

The first question that comes to mind, however, is why God would direct Moses to review all that had happened like this; the answer is obvious if we’ve been paying attention to the last few readings in the book of Numbers. Because of several episodes of sin and rebellion, the L-RD had promised the people of the generation of the exodus that not one of them age 20 or older – except for Caleb and Joshua – would live to see the Promised Land; they would all die in the desert. And the L-RD had made good on this promise.

We just read a couple weeks ago about how a new census was taken, consisting of none of those who were counted by Moses and Aaron at the beginning of the Exodus period, in the beginning of the book of Numbers. And it is this new crowd to which Moses is speaking.

That’s why he’s reviewing so much of what has happened over the past forty years! Most of them don’t remember it themselves! At this point, No one in Israel, except for Moses, Joshua, Caleb and maybe Eleazar are older than sixty years old. Only those between the ages of 41 and 60 were alive when the desert exile began, and anyone 40 and under would have no memories other than life in the desert; they would not remember slavery in Egypt, the crossing of the sea on dry land, the giving of the ten commands at Sinai, or the rebellion of Korach.

You see, the reality of the situation the children of Israel are facing is that they are about to lose their mediator! Moses is soon to be gathered to his people and he is one of the last people alive among them who remembers everything, all that has gone before. He is soon to leave them, and so God charges him with retelling the history of their people, so that it might be remembered in the hearts of every Israelite.

You see, beyond the Moabites, beyond the Amorites, beyond Og, king of Bashan, the greatest risk the children of Israel are facing is a loss of their own sense of identity and history, that certainty of who they are as a people. Keep in mind, this is a people who are many generations removed from any generation that might recall the called-out nature of their people.

They endured generations of slavery in Egypt, living among the Egyptians and their culture, picking up some of it and incorporating it into the way they lived themselves. We see this in the sin of the Golden Calf, which was an impulse to return to that with which they had become familiar in Egypt, a culture of idol worship.

They endured after that an entire generation in the desert, surrounded on all sides by peoples and cultures who did not know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in spirit and in truth, and whose practices influenced their own; we see this in the patriarchal system in Israel, the urge to treat women as property rather than people, which God confronted by granting the daughters of Zelophehad property rights. And much of this has happened with Moses, their own chosen mediator between the L-RD and themselves, around! How much Moses must have feared they would drift even further from true worship of the true God without him!

So, as with anyone who is about to leave, Moses begins a long goodbye, a goodbye filled with reminders of who God is, what He as done for them, and who they are as a people. This long goodbye becomes the book we are about to begin studying for the next several weeks.

It is against this backdrop and this understanding that we must begin our study of this week’s Torah portion. One of the overriding themes of this week’s portion is how God is a keeper of His promises; not just in the here and now, but in the generations to come. What does that mean? How can He keep His promises generations after the people He made them to are gone from this life? To get an idea of what I mean, we read this in:

Deuteronomy 2:4-6
Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

Now, think about that for a moment. We first met Esau, the brother of Isaac, early in Genesis. We are hundreds of years removed from the generation of Esau, and yet here is God, directing the descendants of Esau’s brother, Isaac, not to provoke them to war, but to show them kindness, because the L-RD had promised that land to Esau’s descendants, just as He had promised the Promised Land to Isaac’s descendants.

Would Esau know the difference? He’s been dead for hundreds of years! Would the people who live there now, Esau’s descendants, remember the promises made by the L-RD? I would suggest they might not, since there’s no indication they still followed the creator God of Israel. Esau, remember, sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.

But here’s the thing: God would know the difference. He had promised that land to Esau just as he had promised the promised land to the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. And God holds Himself accountable for the keeping of His own promises far better than any of us do in keeping ours.

So the exodus and the promised land was not some random destination, some kingdom where Moses sensed weakness and a chance for victory. If that was all he was seeking, Moses could have led an attack on any of a number of kingdoms and lands. But this was not the case with the children of Israel; God had a specific land in mind, a land he’d promised originally to Abraham, and there would be no substitutions.

As we read in:

Deuteronomy 2:24-25
“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

As the narrative continues, we see that the L-RD gives Israel a significant and complete victory over Sihon the Amorite. Their conquering of the land was careful and calculated, not random. And because they obeyed the L-RD, they are given a victory. We see this obedience to the warnings of the L-RD not to attack the lands promised to Esau or Lot in:

Deuteronomy 2:36-37
From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. But in accordance with the command of the LORD our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

We can trace the L-RD’s direction right back to his original promises to Esau and Lot. After a struggle for the blessing of their father Isaac, years later, Esau and Jacob made peace with each other, sacrificed to the L-RD, and Esau was given his own land as an inheritance. We read this in:

Genesis 36:6-9
Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir. This is the account of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

In much the same way, Lot was given his choice of land by agreement with Abraham and the L-RD. We read this in:

Genesis 13:7-12
And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

When the L-RD destroyed the cities of the plain, most notably Sodom and Gomorrah, for their wickedness, Lot and his family was spared, although his wife perished when she looked back at the destruction. And so the land promised to Lot changes, as we read in:

Genesis 19:30, 36-38
Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave … So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

So, this is why the L-RD ordered the Israelites not to go to war with the Edomites, Ammonites, or most of the Moabites, or take their land from them; because God, as a promise-keeper, had promised those lands to the descendants of Esau and Lot, just as he had promised the Promised Land to the descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel. Even though the people the L-RD had made these promises to were gathered to their ancestors for hundreds and hundreds of years, the L-RD Himself kept continued to keep His promises because he is not someone who breaks His promises.

Which leads us to this closing thought. If the L-RD can keep His promises to Esau and Lot hundreds of years after they were gone, how much more is he capable of keeping his promises to us in this life and in the world to come? And if the L-RD calls us to follow Him and be like Him, through the Messiah Yeshua, then shouldn’t we also seek to be keepers of the promises we make, both to the L-RD and each other, by simply letting our yes be yes, and our no be no?

Shabbat Shalom.

It’s amazing to believe the children of Israel spent nearly 40 years in the desert following the Exodus and yet their clothes and shoes never wore out. Sure, it’s one of the ways the L-RD took care of His people, to be sure, but they had all ages with them! I don’t know any kid who can keep a good pair of breeches more than a few months… Anyway, here’s my Matot-Masei commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Today we have a double portion, so our parashahs for today are Matot or “tribes,” as well as Masei or “journeys of,” and covers Numbers 30:1 through 36:13, which closes out our time in the book of Numbers. There is a lot going on in these final two portions, so I have a couple asides to cover before we get to our main topic.

First, if this was your first time through the book of Numbers, it’s possible that you may have been surprised a couple weeks ago during our study of Balaam in the portion called Balak. Surprised because if you skim the surface of the text, Balaam seems to come off like an obedient servant of the L-RD, yet we discussed how his heart was becoming hardened and how he may not have been as obedient to the L-RD as he seems on the surface of things.

Well, in this week’s parashah, as Israel is making war on Midian and Moses is receiving a report from his soldiers, any room for doubt about Balaam is taken away when we read:

Numbers 31:14-16
Moses was angry with the officers of the army–the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds–who returned from the battle. “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the L-RD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the L-RD’s people.

So we learn here that even though Balaam left Balak when he was unable to curse the people of Israel, it has Balaam who came up with the idea to send the Moabite women into the camp of Israel and tempt their men into sexual and spiritual sin. So indeed, Balaam’s heart was hardened against the people of Israel and, ultimately, their God.

With this understanding of events, it becomes that much easier to see why the L-RD sent an angel to oppose Balaam along his way to see Balak; he was sending Balaam warning after warning that Balaam was not following the L-RD’s true will for him, but was heading down a path to his own destruction. And that destruction is made complete as we learn the final fate of Balaam in:

Numbers 31:6-8
Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling. They fought against Midian, as the L-RD commanded Moses, and killed every man. Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba–the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

This instructs us on how unwise it can be to ignore the L-RD and go our own way. The tale of Balaam should remain a cautionary story, giving reason for each of us to pause as we seek the L-RD to ensure that – whatever we are doing in our lives – we are doing it truly seeking out His will and direction, rather than our own. The L-RD will allow us ultimately the freedom to do anything; yet only he knows which paths lead to destruction and we ignore His prompting at our own peril.

The next aside I’d like to travel down briefly concerns the daughters of Zelophehad, who we studied last week. The God of Israel granting women property rights was an important message by the L-RD that women are not property, even when surrounded by other cultures that treat them as such. So many people love to use the excuse, “Well, so-and-so was a product of their time,” as though right and wrong changes depending on time and culture. This is not so with the L-RD.

And yet, due to the patriarchal system in Israel, the ruling of the L-RD does raise other questions about the future of Zelophehad’s inheritance . We read about this in:

Numbers 36:2-4
They said, “When the L-RD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away. When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our forefathers.”

One can see how this would certainly be a concern for the Israelites. God’s ruling, while just, needed further explanation to avoid the inheritance of land becoming a confusing mess in future generations as land passed from wife to husband to daughter and back again. Here is how the L-RD settled it:

Numbers 36:5-10
Then at the L-RD’s command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: “What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right. This is what the L-RD commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of their father. No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers. Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers. No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.” So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the L-RD commanded Moses.

What does this tell us? Perhaps this: that God is a God of order and He desires to prevent sin, not permit it. Had this ruling not have been made, then as the portion points out, Zelophehad’s name would have been but a faint memory long ago. Had He not made this ruling, it’s a very real possibility that some among Israel would have sought out Zelophehad’s daughters simply to add to their own inheritance and take some of what had been given to another tribe for their own. By inviting the L-RD into our lives and decision-making, we are often protected from consequences we do not see and cannot foresee. What better reason could one come up with to allow God to take control?

Finally, the main teaching I’d like to explore today is the establishment of sanctuary cities in the promised land. These cities were to be among the cities of the Levites, with a total of six sanctuary cities in all, three on one side of the Jordan and three on the other side of the Jordan.

What are sanctuary cities? They are places where someone who has caused a death unintentionally and without malice may flee to escape the vengeance of a grieving relative who wants to take their life for the life that was taken by them.

You see, in the time of Moses, if someone became a murderer by intentionally killing someone, there had not always been a system of court trials, appeals and endless delays before justice was delivered. Instead, if a person’s guilt in a murder could be established by two or more witnesses, then a relative of the deceased could take on the role of a “blood avenger” and could take the life of that murderer at any time. We read this in:

Numbers 35:20-21
If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies or if in hostility he hits him with his fist so that he dies, that person shall be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

Prior to the establishment of sanctuary cities, there was nowhere for a person involved in the death of another to flee in order to escape these blood avengers. As a result, many who otherwise had not slain another person out of malice, but were simply involved in the accidental taking of lives, were themselves being unjustly put to death.

So sanctuary cities are established under the control of the priesthood, and in these cities blood avengers are not allowed to take revenge. Now, does this mean things are paradise on earth for the person who has caused an accidental death? Hardly. We read this in:

Numbers 35:22-28
“‘But if without hostility someone suddenly shoves another or throws something at him unintentionally or, without seeing him, drops a stone on him that could kill him, and he dies, then since he was not his enemy and he did not intend to harm him, the assembly must judge between him and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send him back to the city of refuge to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he has fled and the avenger of blood finds him outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. The accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may he return to his own property.

So, imagine that. Even if you are judged innocent of murder – that you had caused a death unintentionally – the grieving relative, the avenger of blood, can still take your life if you wander out of the sanctuary city and he finds you, all without ever being considered guilty of murder himself. In fact, the only way one who has caused such a death can actually leave a sanctuary city and return to his home is if the high priest who was in that position at the time of the accidental death dies himself. Considering that a high priest could live decades beyond a particular event like that, this is no small matter. An older offender who causes an accidental death near the beginning of the tenure of a younger high priest might never outlive that high priest, and therefore must remain in that sanctuary city for the rest of their lives.

So where is the mercy in this regulation on sanctuary cities? The mercy is in the alternative; if you intentionally cause the death of another person and were found to be guilty of murder, you could be put to death yourself. Spending a lifetime in a sanctuary city may not seem merciful, but compared to a death penalty, it is.

What can we draw from this? Well, as we saw in Genesis in how the L-RD dealt with Kayin, the first murderer, marking him as someone not to be murdered himself, to how he suggests here the Israelites are to deal with those who cause a death unintentionally, the L-RD is not lacking in compassion even for those guilty of the heaviest of sins. While He remains a holy God who cannot allow sin to enter into His presence, he does offer everyone any possible chance for genuine repentance, for them to turn away from their sin and live a life devoted to the L-RD and obeying his teachings.

While many who cling to replacement theology claim that the Torah is nothing but judgment and paints a picture of a God lacking in mercy, the establishment of these sanctuary cities in Israel paints a contrary portrait of the L-RD. As we are advised by Peter in this passage from:

II Peter 3:9
The L-RD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

May this teaching on sanctuary cities remind us of the patience of the L-RD, and to pray for those who have strayed from obedience to Him, desiring to see them turn away from sin and experience His forgiveness, just as we have enjoyed the protection of our spiritual sanctuary city, the Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

Golly, I’ve been tired this past week. I had jury duty and so that made for long days, plus I went into work after hours to make sure stuff got done on time. It was a long week and only finally caught up enough today (Sunday) to finally get a good night’s sleep. Still feel drawn out, like I could use a good massage, a workout, maybe some time in the sauna and the pool, perhaps even some eye cream to make the stress fade. But the worst is over; the trial’s done and it’s back to the regular grind, praise the L-RD. Here’s my commentary on Pinchas. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Pinchas or “Phineas,” and covers Numbers 25:10 through 29:40. This is a very active Torah portion with many things going on in the space of only a few verses, and there are a lot of them, more than one could cover in a single commentary. So, I’ve chosen to focus in on three points of interest.

The first comes when the L-RD orders another census to be taken of the people. Initially, because some of the numbers are so similar, one could leap to the conclusion that not much time has passed; but this is not the case. The L-RD had earlier promised that not one of the generation of the Exodus aged 20 and up, except for Joshua and Caleb, would see the Promised Land because of their rebellion, and here we find out that forty years have passed and the L-RD’s promise has come to fruition.

Yet because of the L-RD’s goodness and for the sake of their righteous ancestors, the L-RD has not allowed the people of Israel to grow weak in the desert due to this passage of time and the deaths of so many. In the census taken at the beginning of the book of numbers, the number of men of military age – ages 20 and up – were 603,550. Now, forty years later after nearly that entire generation has died off, the number of men of military age is 601,730. The L-RD has kept their numbers strong so that when they enter the Promised Land, they will be ready for the battles that await them.

Of that initial generation, only two remain, as we read in:

Numbers 26:63-65
These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. For the L-RD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

To make matters even more interesting, the number of male Levites a month old or more has actually gone up. In the census at the beginning of Numbers, the Levites who were set apart by God from military service for service in the Tent of Meeting were 22,273. Now, they number 23,000.

So, this shows that the L-RD has honored the request of Moses, who begged the L-RD not to slay the generation of the Exodus all at once and thus give Egypt a reason to curse the L-RD. Instead, the L-RD has let their numbers perish, most often by their own disobedience and foolishness, over a period of forty years. In fact, the L-RD has gone beyond that promise and has actually allowed the Israelites to thrive, despite enduring a long period of testing in the wilderness.

The L-RD also shows his goodness toward women in this week’s reading. While many Bible critics will point out that Israel was a highly patriarchal society and that its women were treated more like property than people, that reputation comes more through the actions of some people than the commands of the L-RD.

Let’s take a look at this episode, in which the L-RD grants the daughters of Zelophehad property rights. And let me point out, this was nearly unheard of during the time of Moses among the cultures surrounding Israel.

We read of this in:

Numbers 27:1ff-4
They approached the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly, and said, “Our father died in the desert. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the L-RD, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”

Now, the case they are making is a good one. After all, in the previous chapter, we see that Korach’s line is still counted among the Levites even though he was the point man for a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. If the line of Korach can remain among the Levites, why should a man not part of the rebellion see his line and inheritance die out, simply because he had no sons? So Moses takes their request before the L-RD and we get this ruling in:

Numbers 27:6-11
And the L-RD said to him, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and turn their father’s inheritance over to them. “Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter. If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to be a legal requirement for the Israelites, as the L-RD commanded Moses.’”

In this way, the L-RD shows that while Israel as a society is indeed patriarchal, it is not the L-RD’s will for things to be one-sided between men and women. Israel was surrounded by societies that indeed treated women was nothing more than property, and some of those societies – their descendants, anyway – still do to this day.

Yet this ruling in favor of he daughters of Zelophehad does raise this question for the people of Moses’ time: can property own property? Of course not! Through this ruling, the L-RD is offering a reminder of the sense of right-relatedness between men and women that was found in the Garden. While it remains elusive due to sin, the L-RD does remind us here, just as he did in Genesis that, “male and female, he created them.”

The world is fallen; the Adversary of the L-RD seeks to destroy all that God has created as good, and keeping men and women at odds – either through men treating women unfairly or, in other cases, women treating men unfairly – this is a goal of an Adversary bent on a mission to kill and destroy.

If God were truly as unjust toward women as His critics claim, the daughters of Zelophehad never would have had their case heard, let alone decided in their favor. That their case was both heard and decided in their favor is a testimony to Israel’s surrounding cultures that the L-RD does not look at what man looks at; man looks at the outward appearance, but the L-RD looks at the heart. He is just and is no respecter of persons, and that extends to whether someone is male or female; His justice, the prayer shawl or tallit of His protection, covers us all.

Finally, our study brings us to a sad episode in the life of Moses; he is about to be told his punishment that the L-RD has chosen for striking the rock to get water to flow forth, rather than speaking to it as the L-RD commanded. We read this in:

Numbers 27:12-14
Then the L-RD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)

Moses knows what this means; for as humble as he was – and Moses was declared by the L-RD to be the most humble man on the face of the earth – his own sins and failures catch up with him. And I think it’s interesting to note here exactly where Moses failed.

Let’s remember when we first met Moses. He sees an Egyptian guard mistreating a Hebrew slave, and he strikes the guard down, killing him. Moses comes down from the Mount after receiving the tablets written by the L-RD’s hand to see the Golden Calf, and he flies into a rage that includes grinding the false idol to dust and forcing the Israelites to drink it. And then, at Meribah Kadesh, once again frustrated with the people, he strikes the rock rather than speaking to it as the L-RD commanded him to do.

What does all this sound like to you?

That’s right; as unlikely as it may seem for a man so humble, one of the big sins Moses struggled with has been right in front of us all along; he is a man prone to anger. And while God calls Moses a friend and honors him with intimacy that may never have been matched by anyone but the L-RD’s relationship with Messiah Yeshua himself, while He has honored Moses above all others among the patriarchs, it is true that Moses’ own sin – his anger – is what undoes him and prevents him from seeing the Promised Land.

Of course, Moses was wise enough to see this coming; from at least the time when God announced that of the generation of the Exodus, only Caleb and Joshua would be living when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, he must have suspected that his own survival was in doubt. Yet Moses faces his own mortality with a maturity the young cannot understand. Perhaps better than anyone aside from Yeshua, Moses knew this life was but an illusion and the world to come, the world the L-RD told him he was about to become part of, was the reality; God’s kingdom was ready to receive him, and yet we know that Moses has much yet to complete before he draws his final breath.

As we continue through Numbers and on into Deuteronomy soon, keep in mind that Moses knows he is living on borrowed time growing ever briefer. It is a thought that could lead to much prayer, for in time, God willing, all of us will be “gathered to our people.”

When we are young, this seems like a fearful notion. For someone like Moses, who had spent so much time in the presence of the L-RD, one has to wonder if it was not something that brought joy and relief, rather than fear. We have much left to learn yet from Moses, this shadow of the Messiah. We can even learn how to face our own mortality with the joy and relief of being reunited with Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

I get unique emails sometimes. I’m not talking about the junk email we all get and have filtered out and auto-deleted. I mean the strange stuff, like someone asking me what AED is all about. Do I know this? No, but that link should explain it all for you, OK? Now, what I really know about: Torah. Here’s my commentary on Balak. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Balak and covers Numbers 22:2 through 25:9. This week’s reading carries with it a contradiction. I’m not talking about the Torah contradicting itself; no, the contradiction I’m speaking of is found in the stark contrast between how much the L-RD is protecting His people Israel from dangers of which they are unaware, and yet how little appreciation the people of Israel show to the L-RD for all that he has done for them, and how the only thing bringing ruin upon these people are what they do to themselves.

But let’s start with how the L-RD is protecting Israel in ways they do not even know about. We read this in:

Numbers 22:4b-6
So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the River, in his native land. Balak said: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”

So this is the threat Israel is facing, even though they as a people are unaware of it. The people of Moab fear the Israelites because they are far greater in number than are the Moabites. So what do they do? They seek the services of Balaam, who has a reputation for both blessing and cursing others. It is a reputation for which he is well-known because he is thought to be effective.

Balaam appears to be from Midian. Who else have we been introduced to who was from Midian? Jethro, the father in law of Moses, who was a priest in Midian. Now, the case of Balaam is an interesting one; in at least one point in the text, Balaam is described as deciding not to, “resort to sorcery as he did at other times,” as it says in Numbers 24:1, but instead chooses at each step along the path to say only what the L-RD says, and not to speak anything the L-RD has not commanded him to speak.

This is perplexing at first blush; if Balaam is a sorcerer, practicing any sort of witchcraft or divination, the Torah is clear that the L-RD cannot be on the side of Balaam, for all such occult practices are forbidden by the L-RD. And yet, the text also indicates that Balaam indeed has some form of communication with the Holy One of Israel, as we read in:

Numbers 22:8-12
“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will bring you back the answer the L-RD gives me.” So the Moabite princes stayed with him. God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?” Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’” But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

So it is apparent here and throughout this week’s reading that, at least at some level, Balaam has some sort of communication with the L-RD. So I decided to investigate this further.

What I found is that, according to Jewish tradition, Balaam is one of seven heathen prophets mentioned in the Tenakh. He is able to communicate with the L-RD, but this is not necessarily a sign of the L-RD’s favor resting upon Balaam. Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia has to say about Balaam:

JewishEncyclopedia.com
At first a mere interpreter of dreams, Balaam later became a magician, until finally the spirit of prophecy descended upon him. He possessed a special gift of being able to ascertain the exact moment during which God is wroth – a gift bestowed upon no other creature. Balaam’s intention was to curse the Israelites at this moment of wrath; but God purposely restrained His anger in order to baffle the wicked prophet and save the nation from extermination.

So we can see here that there is at least a tradition about Balaam as being a heathen prophet with a genuine gifting; however, since Balaam was not someone who followed the God is Israel, he did not remain so for long. In how the L-RD deals with Balaam, we are given a hint that the L-RD is reminding Balaam that He is the giver of all spiritual gifts, and he may either give them or take them away.

In Numbers, it is clear that, at least at this point, Balaam is aware of this. Although offered riches and rewards beyond compare by the evil king Balak in exchange for pronouncing a curse on Israel, Balaam refuses to do only as Balak requests. We read this in:

Numbers 22:18-19
But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the L-RD my God. Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the L-RD will tell me.”

Now, after a second group of dignitaries from Balak visit Balaam to enlist his services, the L-RD gives Balaam permission to go with them, but tells Balaam to only speak the words the L-RD himself gives him. Now, I believe that what we are witnessing here is a hardening of Balaam’s heart. The Bible teaches we should simply let our yes be yes, and our no be no. But here, we see that Balaam has given his no twice, but does not end it there; instead, he keeps returning to the L-RD to seek His permission to go with Balak’s entourage.

One thing that is true about the L-RD is that if we keep asking him for something He has already advised us against, He will eventually allow us to pursue our own desires. This is not necessarily a sign of His blessing, however; this is often a sign that He is allowing someone to harden their heart and go their own way, rather than following Him. As it is written in:

Acts 7:42a
But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies.

What this verse communicates is that if someone is persistent in wanting what they want, God will eventually turn away and give them over to their desires; the worship of God in spirit and in truth is a choice, a willful act, and if one desires something else, God will warn those who seek Him, but if they persist, He will eventually give them what they want… but it’s not a blessing or even a good thing. The fact that it is not a good thing in the case of Balaam is underlined by what happens next. Even though Balaam has received the L-RD permission to go to Balak, he encounters an angel set to oppose him along the way, while riding his donkey. Only when the angel secures another promise from Balaam that he will only say that which the L-RD puts in his mouth does he allow Balaam to continue.

What does this mean? Possibly that Balaam, in his heart, wanted to do as Balak wished, rather than what he had promised the L-RD he would do.

Once Balaam arrives and meets with Balak, Balak is baffled by why it took Balaam so long to come. It’s clear Balak believes that pronouncing a curse upon Israel is a simple thing, easily done. Yet to Balaam’s credit, he submits his own desire to satisfy Balak to the L-RD’s will.

Now, Balaam knows enough about the L-RD to know some of the right steps to take. He has seven alters built and on them offers up seven bulls and seven rams. He follows the very steps the L-RD set down in the Torah for offerings by Aaron and his sons. Yet is it enough? Does following these instructions mean the L-RD will automatically answer anyone according to their desires? Certainly not. We read this in:

Numbers 23:5-10
The L-RD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.” So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab. Then Balaam uttered his oracle: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’ How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the L-RD has not denounced? From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!”

Of course, this is hardly was Balak was expecting; he did not hire Balaam to bless Israel, but to curse them. So two more times – a total of three times in all – Balak asks Balaam to try again to successfully curse Israel, and whether Balaam wants to or not, he is unable to utter anything than what the
L-RD places in his mouth, which are blessings over Israel.

After the final attempt fails, Balak asks Balaam to stop blessing Israel his enemy, but even at that, Balaam is unable to even keep his mouth shut, but offers a prophecy about Israel’s future in the promised land. We read this in:

Numbers 24:17-19
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”

Echoing the prophecy against the serpent in the Garden, Balaam’s prophecy here is a rare example of a Messianic promise over the children of Israel by a prophet who was not himself an Israelite.

The truth of Balaam’s life – whether he served the God of Israel faithfully, at least up to a point; or whether, like Pharaoh, he was used in spite of himself to accomplish the purposes of the L-RD – what is clear here is that Balak presented a threat to the safety of the Israelites and yet, due to the work of the L-RD, the one who might have been able to curse the Israelites ultimately blessed them instead. Not one Israelite died as a result of Balak’s attempt to enlist the aid of the blessing and cursing prophet, Balaam.

Here’s where the irony comes in, the contradiction I spoke of earlier. In the very next chapter, after the L-RD’s significant victory, we read this:

Numbers 25:1-3
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the L-RD’s anger burned against them.

In the preceding chapters, disaster against the people of Israel has just been avoided as the L-RD protected His chosen people from a threat they didn’t even know was there, and now, not long after that episode, the Israelites invite disaster into their camp of their own volition. Not only do they indulge in sexual immorality, but spiritual immorality as well, worshiping the god Baal these very Moabites worship. Is it any wonder that the L-RD’s anger burns against them?

So brazen were the people of the Exodus in their sin at this point, that even as a plague was spreading among the people and God was ordering Moses to have the judges put to the sword all who were guilty of this episode of sin, one Israelite brings a Moabite woman into the camp, and into his tent, as all this is playing out. The episode ends in tragic bloodshed, as we read in:

Numbers 25:7-9
When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them–through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

What can we draw from all this bloodshed? One thing is how much the L-RD is a keeper of His promises, protecting us from disaster even when we are at our most rebellious. May we learn from this episode in the history of the Israelites, appreciate the L-RD for all He has done, and be granted to strength to resist the temptation to ever do likewise.

Shabbat Shalom.