Netzarim, Original followers of Yeshua & His 12

Parasha 39: Hukkat

Parasha 39: Hukkat (Regulation) Numbers 19:1 - 22:1; Haftarah reading: Judges 11:1-33. B'rit Hadasha suggested reading: John 3:9-21; 4:3-30; 12:27-50.

Today's lesson: Today's parasha begins with Moshe being taught the laws of the red heifer whose ashes purify a person who has been contaminated by contact with a dead body. We also witness the death of both Miriam and Aharon (Moshe's sister and brother); and see Moshe leading the people in battles against the Emorite kings Sichon and Og (who seek to prevent Israel’s passage through their territory) and conquering their lands, which lie east of the Jordan.

What struck me in Numbers 19:1-22 was the continuous reiteration of "cleanness" because it showed that, no matter what point in time we are in, one cannot come before YHWH in a filthy state, body or mind:

Numbers 19: 1 ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, 2 "This is the regulation from the Torah which ADONAI has commanded. Tell the people of Isra'el to bring you a young red female cow without fault or defect and which has never borne a yoke. 3 You are to give it to El'azar the cohen; it is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in front of him. 4 El'azar the cohen is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle this blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 The heifer is to be burned to ashes before his eyes -its skin, meat, blood and dung is to be burned to ashes.

6 The cohen is to take cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them onto the heifer as it is burning up. 7 Then the cohen is to wash his clothes and himself in water, after which he may re-enter the camp; but the cohen will remain unclean until evening. 8 The person who burned up the heifer is to wash his clothes and himself in water, but he will remain unclean until evening. 9 A man who is clean is to collect the ashes of the heifer and store them outside the camp in a clean place. They are to be kept for the community of the people of Isra'el to prepare water for purification from sin. 10 The one who collected the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. For the people of Isra'el and for the foreigner staying with them this will be a permanent regulation.

The people of Israel were to do these rituals for the purification of sin - and in verse 10 we see that this was to be a permanent regulation! Obviously, we cannot obey that particular rule today because (1) there is no Temple nor cohens (priests) who can perform these rituals right now (but there will be once the Third Temple is rebuilt: http://www.therefinersfire.org/third_temple.htm); and (2) Yeshua was our Final SIN Sacrifice! Today, thanks to Him, we have the opportunity to repent for our sins and do our best to "get right" with God and go on from there. No killing of innocent animals or need to "live outside the camp" for seven days, etc. Halleluyah!

This whole chapter showed the people of Israel how to separate the events of life from the holiness of the Temple. They could not come into YHWH's Presence unless they were clean - physically, morally, or spiritually - and neither can we, today! If we go through a period of "uncleanness" of any type, we MUST take personal steps to return to cleanness before entering into His Presence.

Numbers 19: 11 "Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, will be unclean for seven days. 12 He must purify himself with [these ashes] on the third and seventh days; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, and does not purify himself has defiled the tabernacle of ADONAI. That person will be cut off from Isra'el, because the water for purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him. 14 "This is the law: when a person dies in a tent, everyone who enters the tent and everything in the tent will be unclean for seven days.

Numbers 19: 20 The person who remains unclean and does not purify himself will be cut off from the community because he has defiled the sanctuary of ADONAI. The water for purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

Verses 13 and 20 show how very adamant YHWH is about being CLEAN before Him, in every sense of the word!

While most of us never have or had any occasion to touch a corpse, the idea is, certain things make us unclean, and we cannot enter into the Presence of YHWH with earthly filth on us (filth - literally and figuratively). We must remember, the people wandering in the desert for 40 years did not have running water or the sanitary equipment we take for granted today and so YHWH provided special instructions that allowed time for people to recognize how and why they were "unclean" and then they were forced to wait until such a time as when He would render them "clean." (Either that or - and this is just a guess - the germs to died off naturally on their own.) The bottom line is, He constantly showed them who was God!

There was a man in our former synagogue who liked to call himself a prophet and announced one day that the Holy Spirit had told him to stop bathing for two years. After six months, there were people who actually left that synagogue because they couldn't stand the smell he carried into the room as he grew "riper" with every passing week. This man - who was obviously delusional and clearly going against Scripture - refused correction by the Rabbi and the elders because he was convinced that the Holy Spirit had told him to stop bathing. Ultimately, he was asked to leave, whereupon he turned vicious and began verbal attacks against the Rabbi. The reason I relay this up is to illustrate the importance of following Scripture. If something cannot be verified in Scripture, then it is NOT of God! In the case of this man, he was clearly demonized because even when showed various scriptures to illustrate how he was off the mark, he simply could not understand that the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) would NEVER have told him not to bathe as we are commanded to BE CLEAN BEFORE entering into the Presence of God!

Another example is Pastor Ted Haggard (http://www.therefinersfire.org/ted_haggard.htm) who deceived his congregation in Colorado for several years while he was preaching against homosexuality behind his pulpit at New Life Church (which at that time boasted some 14,000 members), while secretly meeting with a homosexual prostitute. If Haggard had actually known Torah instead of giving lip service to just the last third of the Bible (and specifically passages like the ones we read in today's lesson), he would either have recognized that he was no longer a representative of God and done the right thing by stepping down, or he would have stopped the sinning the moment he realized it and repented before YHWH and the New Life congregation. But, instead, he decided to re-write the Bible and is now pushing his sick ideas on the members of the new church he started recently: http://www.tedhaggard.com/

We find commands to be clean throughout the Torah. This is one of the reasons YHWH gave the command for "the people of Israel" to wear tzit-tzits (Numbers 15:37) which serve as reminders of His Torah all day long; and partly why He gave us His Shabbat rest: So that we can basically "shake the dust off" the week from any "carnality" or any sins we may have accidentally committed, or the "stuff" that happens in our daily lives; and simply REST in Him, become rejuvenated through the Word, and then face the world once more with a "clean" and refreshed and holy outlook....

Moving on to Numbers 20:1-2 we see the Israelites entering the Tzin Desert and shortly thereafter, the death of Moshe's sister, Miryam, who is buried in Kadesh. In verses 2-5 what do we see, but the people whining (again!), this time due to the lack of water. In verses 8-13, we are once again reminded that YHWH is not kidding around: He demands our trust and obedience! Here is how things unfolded:

Numbers 20: 8 "Take the staff, assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; and before their eyes, tell the rock to produce its water. You will bring them water out of the rock and thus enable the community and their livestock to drink." 9 Moshe took the staff from the presence of ADONAI, as he had ordered him. 10 But after Moshe and Aharon had assembled the community in front of the rock, he said to them, "Listen here, you rebels! Are we supposed to bring you water from this rock?" 11 Then Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his staff. Water flowed out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank. 12 But ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, "Because you did not trust in me, so as to cause me to be regarded as holy by the people of Isra'el, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them." 13 This is M'rivah Spring [Disputation Spring], where the people of Isra'el disputed with ADONAI, and he was caused to be regarded as holy by them.

WOW! Moshe and the High Priest Aharon were the holiest men on earth at the time - and because of their occasional failure to TRUST in YHWH, they did NOT get to enter the Promised Land. (And today we think today that we can get away with anything, just because we "believe"....Take the example of New York last week passing the law to make "gay" marriage legal. Imagine how many Christians were in the crowd applauding this event!) Today's parasha is a powerful example of the high expectation YHWH has for His leaders, and it's sad that most are not paying attention.

Numbers 20: 12 But ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, "Because you did not trust in me, so as to cause me to be regarded as holy by the people of Isra'el, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."

Numbers 20: 23 At Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, 24 "Aharon is about to be gathered to his people, because he is not to enter the land I have given to the people of Isra'el, inasmuch as you rebelled against what I said at the M'rivah Spring. 25 Take Aharon and El'azar his son, bring them up to Mount Hor, 26 remove the garments from Aharon and put them on El'azar his son. Aharon will be gathered to his people - he will die there."

In Numbers 21 we find Israel whining again, thus once more invoking YHWH's wrath:

Numbers 21: 5 The people spoke against God and against Moshe: "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? To die in the desert? There's no real food, there's no water, and we're sick of this miserable stuff we're eating!" 6 In response, ADONAI sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit the people, and many of Isra'el's people died. 7 The people came to Moshe and said, "We sinned by speaking against ADONAI and against you. Pray to ADONAI that he rid us of these snakes." Moshe prayed for the people, 8 and ADONAI answered Moshe: "Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live."

(The "snake on a pole" - mixed with some ancient myth - is where the modern medical symbol, the Caduceus, originated: http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forcaduc.html)

As usual, YHWH forgave them and gave them a way out of their dilemma. (Please see my article about the comparisons between Yeshua and Moshe: http://www.therefinersfire.org/comparing_yeshua_moshe.htm)

As an aside, many have written to The Refiner's Fire using scriptures such as the below as "proof" that "the Old Testament God was mean" and that "Jesus is a much gentler God." What they don't realize is, YHWH had no problems with the destruction of pagans and the ungodly/unbelievers - and He still doesn't! He never commanded the destruction of cities consisting of HIS people....

Numbers 21: 2 Isra'el made a vow to ADONAI, "If you will hand this people over to me, I will completely destroy their cities." 3 ADONAI listened to what Isra'el said and handed over the Kena'anim, so they completely destroyed them and their cities and named the place Hormah [complete destruction].

Numbers 21: 34 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Don't be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with all his people and his land. You will treat him just as you did Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon." 35 So they struck him down, with his sons and all his people, until there was no one left alive; and then they took control of his land.

In our Brit Chadasha portion today, there was something very interesting in the Book of John:

John 3: 12. I have explained earthly things and you do not believe. How then will I explain heavenly things? 13. And no man has ascended into Heaven except he who descended from Heaven. The Son of man is he who is in Heaven. 14. And as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus the Son of man is about to be lifted up 15. So that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have life that is eternal. 16. Thus, for Elohim loved the world so as he would give His Only-Begotten Son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but would have life that is eternal. 17. For Elohim did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to give life to the world through him. 18. He who does not believe in him is judged, and he who does not believe is already judged because he does not believe in his name, that of the Only-Begotten, the Son of Elohim. 19. Now this is the judgment: Because the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than the light, for their works are evil. 20. For everyone who does hateful things hates the light and does not come to the light, because his works will be hidden. 21. But he who does truthful things comes to the light that his may be known that they are done in Elohim. (AENT)

I purposely highlighted verse 16 because this is where most Christians begin and end in the context of that entire passage: “For God so loved the world….” If you continue reading, however, you can see the REST of the story that tells us, in order to gain that eternal life, it is necessary to not just “believe" in the Name of Yeshua, but also to turn from evil. And how else does one know the definition of evil but through Torah which is our Divine Instructions in Righteousness! One cannot be holy unless they are obeying Torah. Remember, sin is the transgression of Torah:

1 John 3: 4 Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah - indeed, sin is violation of Torah.

And Yeshua defines "eternal life" in John 17:3.

Today we learned the importance of TRUSTING in our obedience to YHWH. Moshe and Aaron were but humans, chosen for a God-sized task. They were not punished for their human frailties or slips in judgment. They were punished for their lack of trust! That lesson did not change with the gift of the Messiah as the Final Sin Sacrifice on our behalf. Yeshua tells us too, that our trust in YHWH is of supreme importance:

John 6: 29 Yeshua answered, "Here's what the work of God is: to trust in the one he sent!"

Thank you for reading our Torah study notes for this week, and I pray for you a blessed week ahead, that may you ever grow in your knowledge of YHWH.

There is so much more that could be said about today's study, and I wholeheartedly urge you to read the cited scriptures through, if you haven't already done so. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to write! Thank you for reading my Torah study notes for this week, and I pray for you a blessed week ahead, that may you ever grow in your knowledge of YHWH. And, as always, please let me know if you ever see anything in my newsletters that sounds "off the mark"! Nobody has the market cornered on absolute Truth; we are all learning and obeying to the best of our abilities....

The Torah consists of the first five Books of the Bible (Genesis - Deuteronomy). Torah contains all of YHWH's original Divine Instructions in Righteousness. In our studies we refer to "parashas" which are weekly Torah portions that begin with Genesis at the start of the Hebrew year (Rosh Hashanah - which falls on the September/October timeframe on our Gregorian calendars) during a ceremony called Simchat Torah ("Rejoicing in the Torah"). Simchat Torah is not one of the biblical feasts; rather, it marks the completion of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings that are read publicly in synagogues around the world. The Torah portions are strategically divided up so that all synagogues around the world can read exactly the same portions on any given Shabbat.

Haftarah consists of the portions from the Tanach (writings and prophets), and Brit Chadasha readings are from the “New Testament” scriptures – all of which correlate to that week's Torah portion. (For our studies we use OT scriptures from Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible; and NT scriptures from the AENT.)

The following is a blessing my husband always says before we begin our Torah study:

Hebrew Transliteration: Barukh attah Yahweh eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah. V'ha'arev na Yahweh eloheinu et divrei toratekha befinu uvfi amekha beit Yisrael. V'niyeh anachnu v'tze'etze'einu v'tze'etza'ei amekha beit Yisrael kullanu yodei sh'mekha v'lomdei toratekha lishmah. Barukh attah Yahweh hamelamed Torah le'amo Yisrael. Barukh attah Yahweh Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim venatan lanu et torato. Barukh attah Yahweh, noten haTorah.

English translation: Blessed art Thou, Yahweh our God, King of the universe, who has made us holy through His commandments and commanded us to actively study Torah. Please Yahweh, our God, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your desire. Blessed are You, Yahweh, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, Yahweh, Giver of the Torah.