Netzarim, Original followers of Yeshua & His 12

Parasha 42: Mattot (Tribes)

TODAY'S SHABBAT LESSON:

Parasha 42: Mattot (Tribes) - Numbers 30:1 – 32:42; Haftarah reading: Jeremiah 1:1 – 2:3. B'rit Hadasha suggested reading: Matthew 5:33-37. (Tanach Scriptures are from Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible; B’rit Hadasha Scriptures from the AENT.)

Today's lesson: Discusses how critical spoken words can be. Volumes could be written about the first verse in Numbers 30!

Numbers 30: 1 Then Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Isra'el. He said, "Here is what ADONAI has ordered: 2 when a man makes a vow to ADONAI or formally obligates himself by swearing an oath, he is not to break his word but is to do everything he said he would do.

YHWH takes oaths very seriously, especially vows that were made to Him! Today, contracts don’t seem to hold any meaning anymore because, many believe contracts were made to be broken and/or re-written to suit a certain purpose, and many couples who are married in church and pledged to stay together “unto death” end up in divorce. Unbeknownst to them, the vows that were made before YHWH stand, regardless! YHWH doesn’t care what the reasoning, whether simple carnal desire or profit of some kind. A contract is a contract. We are to hold to our word...Every word that comes from our mouth has a consequence!

Remember the story about Bil’am in Numbers 22-24, who was originally hired to put a curse on Israel, but was ultimately forced to do YHWH’s will, instead? Well, check out Numbers 31:8 which tells us he was killed by the sword! Bil’am was NOT a good man, and YHWH intervened to use for good what Bil’am had originally meant for evil.

Words...oaths...curses. We are told to guard our mouths and even to take every thought captive (Psalm 141:3, Proverbs 21:23, 2 Corinthians 10:5, etc).

In the remainder of chapter 30 we see that YHWH holds women to a little different standard. Her vows don’t actually stand unless sanctioned by a male figure/head of the house. Although this idea would anger some women today, the fact remains, YHWH made women to be man’s companion/helpmate (Genesis 2:18-25). This does not mean she is a “second-class citizen”; rather it means YHWH has a certain hierarchy for human families. Two people cannot be “head” of a family; they need to share the responsibilities, but one must be the final decision maker. YHWH has always expected males to be the “heads” of their homes. Today, with the world basically “turned upside-down” and mankind having veered from Torah, many men have allowed themselves to become the “helpmate” while the women in their lives have usurped the men’s responsibilities.

Moving on to Numbers 31, we see YHWH commanding the Children of Israel to take vengeance against the Midianites:

Numbers 31: 1 ADONAI said to Moshe, 2 "On behalf of the people of Isra'el, take vengeance on the Midyanim. After that, you will be gathered to your people." 3 Moshe said to the people, "Equip men from among yourselves for war. They are to go and fight Midyan, in order to carry out ADONAI's vengeance on Midyan. 4 You are to send to the war a thousand men from every one of Isra'el's tribes." 5So out of the thousands of people in Isra'el, a thousand armed men from each tribe, 12,000 altogether, were mustered for war. 6Moshe sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war; he sent them and Pinchas the son of El'azar the cohen to the war, with the holy utensils and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his care.

7 They fought against Midyan, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe, and killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midyan along with the others who were slain - Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Hur and Reva, the five kings of Midyan. They also killed Bil'am the son of B'or with the sword. 9 The people of Isra'el took captive the women of Midyan and their little ones, and they took as booty all their cattle, flocks and other goods. 10 They set fire to all their cities in the areas where they lived and all their camps. 11 They took all the booty, all the people and animals they had captured, 12 and brought the captives, booty and spoil to Moshe, El'azar the cohen and the community of Isra'el in the camp on the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden across from Yericho.

In verses 14-20, Moshe became very angry with the commanders for allowing the women who participated in the orgies to live. (This reveals how very adamant YHWH is about purity and morality!) He commanded every male among the young to be killed, along with every woman who has ever lain with a man. The rest were allowed to live.

The soldiers were told to encamp outside the camp for a seven-day period. Whoever killed a person or touched a corpse was to purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day – both they and their captives. Every garment, every vessel of hide, everything made of that which comes from goat hair, and every vessel of wood, was to be purify. Only the gold, and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead was to be passed through fire for purification. They were to immerse their garments on the seventh day and for purification; afterward they could enter the camp.

Numbers 31:21-24 teaches the methods by which the utensils taken or bought from non-Hebrews can be made kosher. If there is no problem other than ritual contamination, immersion in a mikveh (water cleansing) is sufficient, but utensils used in cooking and eating had to be purged of any absorbed taste or non-kosher residue still on the surface.

As an aside, heat causes the pores of metal to expand which causes the absorption of the taste of the foods that came in contact with it. To remove what has been absorbed, the utensil must first be heated.

Atheists love to use scriptures such as those in Numbers 31 as proof that YHWH is a “mean God” because He ordered the Israelites to “take vengeance on the Midyanim” (Numbers 31:1-21) and ultimately, to “take all the booty, both people and animals…and divide it” (Numbers 31:25-54). Those who don’t know the Torah don’t realize that YHWH had a plan for His people to own what is now known as Israel, and that anyone standing in their way (i.e., the Gentiles/pagans/ungodly/those who worshipped “other gods) were nothing more than collateral damage. The ungodly mean absolutely nothing to YHWH and, as Creator, He has every right to feel that way.

In Numbers 32:13-15 we discover why YHWH keeps reiterating His commands:

Numbers 32: 13 Thus ADONAI's anger blazed against Isra'el, so that he made them wander here and there in the desert forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of ADONAI had died out. 14 Now you, another brood of sinners, have arisen in your fathers' place to increase still more the fierce anger of ADONAI toward Isra'el! 15 For if you turn away from him, he will leave them in the desert again, and thus you will cause the destruction of all these people!"

YHWH was continuously teaching Israel HIS ways. And His ways, contrary to popular belief, continued right on through to the New Testament, as we see in today's Brit Chadasha portion:

Matthew 5: 33. Again you have heard that it has been said to those before that you should not lie in your oath. But complete your oath to Master YHWH. 34. But I say, you should not say I swear, not by heaven because that is the throne of Elohim. 35. And not by the earth because it is the footstool that is beneath his feet, and not by Urishlim because it is the city of the great king. 36. And not by your head should you swear, because you are not able to make in it one part of the hair black or white. 37. But your word should be but yes, yes, no and no, anything more than these is from evil.

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.

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