The Red Heifer

Parashah Chukat “Decree"

Torah: Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:1 – 22:1

Haftarah: Shoftim (Judges) 11:1-33

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This Parashah contains one of the mysteries of Rabbinical Judaism, the Parah Adumah — the Red Heifer — and it is described by the Sages as "the quintessential decree of the Torah." But, since all teachings of the Torah are the product of God’s intelligence, therefore, the inability to fully comprehend them indicates our limitation, the students. There is nothing meaningless or purposeless in the Torah, and if it seems so, it is only a product of our own deficiency to understand the prophetic meaning or the application of the teaching and this deficiency often comes about from not studying the complete Scriptures, Tanakh and Brit Chadashah. The misunderstanding arises from the seemingly paradox: the ashes of the red heifer were needed for the purification of people who had become contaminated, and yet those who were engaged in the preparation of these ashes, who were required to be clean to begin with, became themselves contaminated in the process. For we read in the book of Bamidbar:

Zot Chukat haTorah asher tzivah Yehovah leamor daber el bnei Yisrael... “This is the decree of the Torah which Yehovah has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, which has no blemish, and upon which never came yoke; you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may bring it forth outside the camp, and one shall slay it before his face; and one shall burn the heifer in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn; and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the people of Israel for a water of sprinkling; it is a purification offering. And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening; and it shall be to the people of Israel, and to the stranger who sojourns among them, for a statute forever.’” Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:2-10

The conclusion of the Sages was that it was not the corpse of the heifer that caused contamination or its ashes that caused purity, but they had no answer what caused either. Accordingly, the ritual cleansing with the ashes of the Red Heifer must have a different meaning beyond the obvious. Also, an important note, this commandment was to be performed not only by the Jews but by any (in the text: the stranger) who would desire purification from sin, and this commandment was to be for a statute forever, an eternal decree. But how can anyone perform this commandment today without the sacrificial system of the Temple in Jerusalem?

Verse 13 of Bamidbar 19 further says that a person not cleansed by the sprinkling of the ashes of the Red Heifer will contaminate the Temple of God, therefore, without a red heifer the Temple cannot be rebuilt. The ultra-orthodox Jews not stepping foot on the Temple mount without being purified by the ashes of the heifer is based on this verse which says that the one who defiles the Temple will be cut off from Israel. Does that mean that the Jews have not been able to be cleansed from their sins for almost 2000 years?

The tradition says: “Nine red heifers rituals were performed from the time the Jews were given this mitzvah, until the destruction of the Second Temple. The first heifer was performed by Moshe, the tenth will be performed by the Moshiah - may he speedily be revealed" (Ramban). It is said that today in Israel all is ready for the rebuilding of the Temple except the Red Heifer. Hopes were raised as early as 1997 with the birth of Melody, a red heifer that became blemished with the appearance of a few white hairs — a heifer needs to be three years old before it can be sacrificed based on Genesis 15:9: “Take me a heifer three years old.” Today, “The Temple Institute” in Israel is taken the initiative of raising such a heifer. Please see updates on their website: https://templeinstitute.org/

For Rabbinical Judaism the quest remains even though the answer has been given almost two thousand years ago. In the letter to the Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 we read:

“For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have become unclean, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Moshiah who through the eternal Ruach haKodesh offered Himself without defect to God, purify our conscience from dead works in order to serve the living God? For the Torah, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come, can never by the same yearly sacrifices make perfect those drawing near. Otherwise, would these not have stopped being offered, because the worshipers, having experienced purification even once, would no longer have had consciousness of sin? But by those sacrifices there is a remembrance and a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "’Sacrifice and offering You did not desire but a body You prepared for Me; burnt offering and sin offering You have not desired.’ Then I said, ‘Look, here I am, I have come, it is written about Me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will, O God’" [quote from Psalm 40:6-8].

"He takes away the first system in order to establish the second. It is by this that we will have been set apart through the korban [offering] of Yeshua haMoshiach, once and for all. Every kohen stands daily ministering and offering again and again the same korbanot that can never take away sins; but He, having offered up one korban for sins for all time, "Sat down at the right hand of God," [quote from Psalm 110:1].

"For by one korban He has perfected forever the ones being set apart; and the Ruach haKodesh also bears witness to us; for after saying, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put My Torah in the mind of them and I will inscribe it on their heart" [quote from Jeremiah 31:33],

"He then says, "And their wickedness and their sin I will remember no more" [quote from Jeremiah 31:34].”

Man’s failure to understand the truth does not make it untrue. If we truly study and understand the Biblical Judaism - not the Rabbinical/Talmudic Judaism - we find that Yeshua is the answer. He fulfilled the requirement of purification of the Red Heifer as well as of all other sacrifices of the Temple system and that it is why the Temple became absolute, therefore, God allowed it to be destroyed. Yeshua's sacrifice is the only one than can remove the condemnation for sin once and for all. The Red Heifer ritual was performed outside the camp, on the Mount of Olives. Yeshua too was put to death outside the walls of the Temple. The people who handled the red heifer were unclean till evening after they washed their clothes, so, too, the ones who crucified Yeshua, who thought that were clean, were unclean until they believed and were made clean by the washing with His shed blood. Also, please note that the commandment of the Torah implies that the worshiper, based on his or her own desire to be cleansed, handles the ashes himself or herself as a purification offering - there is no intermediary. Just as today, one must first desire to be cleansed from sin and then come on his or her own to Yeshua, without an intermediary (such as a rabbi or a priest), and just as the ones who were unclean could not enter the physical Temple so, too, one must be cleansed in order to be part of the new spiritual Temple, the body of believers, the Ekklesia.

And God, as to give us another clue of the mystery, continues in the Parashah by describing another incident in which that which is humanly viewed as unclean can make one clean. Bamidbar 21:6-9: “And Yehovah sent venomous serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to Moshe, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against Yehovah, and against you; pray to Yehovah, that He take away the serpents from us.’ And Moshe prayed for the people. And Yehovah said to Moshe, ‘Make a venomous serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.’ And Moshe made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.”

Throughout the Diaspora experience the Jewish people have received a distorted image of their Messiah. In this Parashah Israelis are confronted by God to look to that which was an object of hatred and receive healing from the very thing they had despised. Verse 4 says that ancient Israelis, which had been so miraculously and powerfully redeemed from Egyptian bondage, had become weary or impatient on their journey toward the Promised Land. In verse 5 we read that they had become miserable and ungrateful. They equated God with an abandoning Father — implying that He was unreliable, distant, and expected too much of them. When God heard their distorted view flowing from their hearts, He decided that the nation needed to have their viewpoint corrected. Verse 6 tells us that He sent fiery serpents among them which bit many of them so that many died.

When we look back over these last two millennia of dispersion, we see that Jewish people were slain by the thousands by some of those who named the name of Christ - these too were fiery serpents. Consequently, the Jewish people came to despise the very Messiah that loved them so much, that He was lifted upon a pole and died of a horrible death for the forgiveness of their sins. In a wonderfully explicit depiction of what would happen to Israel in the future we see what instruction Moshe received. He was told to take the very thing Israelis hated and to lift it up on a pole, as verse 8 relates, so that whoever is bitten may look to it and live. Just as today, the people of Israel are told to look to the One in whose name they were bitten - persecuted throughout centuries - and receive healing.

In a fulfillment to take place in the future, Isaiah writes: “Thus says Yehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation - goi - loathes, to a servant of rulers, ‘Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall prostrate themselves, because of Yehovah who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’” Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 49:7

The Redeemer of Israel speaks to "the despised One, the One abhorred by the nation" (in Hebrew this word 'nation' is 'goi,' and here appears in its singular form, therefore, in this context, it is the nation of Israel), and He promises in the next verse from Isaiah that this One despised by the nation of Israel is the very One that God gives to the Jewish nation as a covenant, “to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage.”

At this time in which we see what the situation in Israel is, we realize all the more that it is not until Israel looks to the One they have despised and abhorred, who seemed a serpent bringing death because of those who misrepresented Him and used their twisted theology to destroy them, that it is not until they look to Yeshua of Nazareth as their Messiah, that they, as a people, and the land will come into the fullness of life that God has promised them ages past.

May God give us wisdom and courage to present Yeshua, the One who is viewed as the One who contaminates and who is abhorred, to our Jewish friends as the only One who can give them cleansing, freedom and Shalom from the condemnation of sin; the One whose love knows no depths in spite of how much He is abhorred and despised.

Shabbat Shalom!

The Twelve Spies

Parashah Shelach Lecha “Send forth"

Torah: Bamidbar (Numbers) 13:1 – 15:41
Haftarah: Yehoshua (Joshua) 2:1-24

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The Twelve Spies

This Parashah is about the consequences of disobedience and about God’s mercy. Just as in our lives one action can have consequences reverberating through many years, so, too, the incident which begins this Parashah will have an impact in the next forty years in the lives of Israelis. “And Yehovah spoke to Moshe, saying, Shelach-lecha anashim - ‘Send forth men for yourself, and let them investigate the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel; one men of every tribe of their fathers shall you send, every one a leader among them.’ And Moshe sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the word of Yehovah; all those men were chiefs of the sons of Israel.” Bamidbar (Numbers) 13:1-3

At a first reading it may seem that Yehovah tells them to go and investigate the land, but a closer analysis of the words “for yourself” indicate that Yehovah is allowing this mission at the request of the people. Indeed, we read in Devarim the words of Moshe explaining this incident: “Behold, Yehovah your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as Yehovah the God of your fathers has said to you; ‘fear not, nor be discouraged.’ And you approached me, every one of you, and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, and they shall search us out the land for us and bring us word again by which way we must go up, and to what cities we shall come against.’ And the saying pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one from each tribe.” Devarim 1:21

God knows the outcome of our actions, but most of the time He does not intervene because He gives us free will to choose to follow His commandments or not. God told Israelis that He gave them the Land, He set it up before them, the only thing they needed to do was to have faith, go up, and possess it. Instead, they sent twelve spies, ten of which brought a report viewed through their humanity and limited understanding (except for Yehoshua and Caleb), disregarding God’s instruction which made people rebel against God. After all that Yehovah showed them through the miracles of exodus, they still did not believe in Him. Yehovah was not pleased and decreed that that generation will not enter into the Land but wander into the wilderness for forty years until every one of them will die. God punished the ten spies with instant death but showed mercy to the people allowing them forty years to die of natural causes.

This unbelief and disobedience from the leaders of the people was prevalent years later in the time of Yeshua and we are also seeing it today. Yeshua, talking with the leaders of His time, used a story to exemplify this kind of disobedience: “’What do you think? A man had two sons. And having approached the first, the man said, “My son, go today and work in the vineyard.” But the first son said in reply, “I will not.” But later, having changed his mind, he went. And having approached the other son, the man spoke similarly. But the second son, in reply, said, “I will go, sir.” Yet he did not go. Which of the two did the will of the father?’ They say, ‘The first.’ Yeshua says to them, ‘Omein, I say to you, that the tax-collectors and the sinners are going in ahead of you into the Malchut Yehovah (Kingdom of God).” Matthew 21:28-31

The leaders of the people who study the Torah and confess to know God’s commandments are not doing what they learned and also lead others astray, but the sinners, who initially disregard the commandments, repent and receive forgiveness ahead of the leaders.

But God in His mercy provides opportunities for everyone to repent no matter if educated or ignorant, for we further read in the Parashah: “’You shall have one Torah for him who sins through ignorance, both for him who is born among the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the soul who does anything presumptuously, whether he is born in the land, or a stranger, that person blasphemes Yehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of Yehovah, and has broken His commandment, that soul shall surely be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.’ While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks upon the Shabbat day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moshe and Aharon, and to all the congregation. And they put him in custody, because it was not told what should be done to him. And Yehovah said to Moshe, ‘The man shall be surely put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.’ And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as Yehovah commanded Moshe. And Yehovah spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, and bid them that they make them tzitzith in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the tzitzith of the borders a thread of blue; and it shall be to you for a tzitzith, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Yehovah, and do them; and that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, which incline you to go astray; That you may remember, and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. I am Yehovah your God.’” Bamidbar (Numbers) 15:29-41

God intended from the beginning for the Torah teaching to be for both Jews and Gentiles. God does not make a difference between people, thus His blessings and punishments are just. After making a distinction between a sin from ignorance and one made presumptuously, which is equated with blasphemy because is a direct attack on God, despising His commandments thus His authority, the Torah gives a concrete example of an intentional sin through the Shabbat desecration. Torah juxtaposes the sins of idolatry and Shabbat desecration because they represent the same concept. Just as the idolater denies the sovereignty of God and blasphemes, so, too, one who shows contempt for Shabbat, which testifies of God's creation of the universe, declares his lack of faith in the Creator. But then God extends His grace, He gives a practical commandment in order to help people remember His teachings and not sin, the wearing of tzitzith.

The commandment of tzitzith is a vehicle that enables us to remember not only to observe the Shabbat, but all the Torah's teachings. The heart and the eyes are like the body's spies, brokering for it the sins. The heart covets and the eyes seek out, and the body sins. This Parashah begins with the spies being sent out to search the Land, but they went looking not for the things of God but for dangers that would justify their own earthly preoccupations, and they sinned. The Parashah ends with the warning not to be taken in by the lures that appeal to heart and eyes; instead, one must be ruled by his faith, by looking and being preoccupied with the things of faith. Even though we are taken out of the world of sin, out of Egypt as it were, our sinful nature needs a constant practical reminder to live a holy life, and God gave us one such reminder by wearing the tzitzith.

The Tallith: The commandment of tzitzith is performed today by means of the tallith - the prayer shawl, and the tallith katan - the small tallith. The term tallith is derived from the Hebrew verb which means to cover. Its construction is of a rectangular shape with tzitzith, or fringes, on all four corners. The tallith katan has an opening in the center large enough to admit the head and it is worn by the pious Jews during the entire day.

The tzitzith is made of eight threads with five knots. After the dispersion, the method of dying the threads sky-blue became a forgotten art, and the use of the blue thread was discontinued.

The tallith is used during early morning devotions (Shacharith prayers), for Shabbat, and Holy day worship: it is not used in the afternoon services except on the ninth of Av, and on Yom Kippur Eve. The tallith varies in size and style. It must be made either of wool, linen, or silk, but under no circumstances may the materials be mixed. The stripes in the tallith may be blue, black, or purple. To make them things of beauty, many Prayer Shawls are embroidered or ornamented; the prayer for putting on the tallith is often woven into the fabric of the neck-band, called the Attarah:

Baruch Atah Adonay Eloheinu Melech Ha-olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu lehitatef ba’tzitzit. Blessed are You, 0 Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your commandments, and has commanded us to enwrap ourselves in the fringed garment.

In putting on the tallith the worshiper takes hold of both ends of the neck-band, kisses each side, covers his head within its folds while reciting the blessing, and then wraps the garment around his shoulders like a scarf. The tallith may not be worn upside down or inside out, thus the Attarah must always be on top and outside.

Women are exempt from wearing the tallith. Boys who reach the age of Bar Mitzvah are usually presented with a tallith. It is customary to present the bridegroom with a tallith on his wedding day. It is also the custom to inter the deceased wrapped in his tallith from which the Attarah is removed and one thread of one tzitzah severed.

Shabbat Shalom!

Parashah Beha'alotecha “When you Kindle"

Torah: Bamidbar (Numbers) 8:1 – 12:16
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14 - 4:7

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Kindled Obedience

This Parashah introduces beautiful concepts in the traditional Judaism: the kindling of the Menorah, the laying of hands as a form of consecration, the Second Passover as God's given second chance of repentance, and the blowing of the Shofarim on the day of one’s gladness including Rosh Chodesh and Shabbat. These can also be used as expressions of faith in the Messianic Judaism as we worship a God who is the same from eternity past, to present, and to eternity future. But the main theme of this Parashah is obedience to God, obedience in the spiritual issues as well as obedience in the physical issues.

After a long recitation of the offerings brought by the tribal leaders for the Tabernacle in the previous Parashah, the first aliyah of this week's Parashah starts with an interesting instruction:

Vaidaber Yehovah el Moshe lemor: Daber el Aharon ve’amarta elai beha’alotecha et hanerot,

"And Yehovah spoke to Moshe, saying, 'Speak to Aharon, and say to him, "When you kindle the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the Menorah."' And Aharon did so; he kindled its lamps to give light in front of the Menorah, as Yehovah commanded Moshe." Bamidbar (Numbers) 8:1-3

Why is this instruction regarding the kindling of the Menorah, placed immediately after the passage about the offerings brought by the leaders of each tribe? To signify that each person has his, or her, unique role in worshiping God. Each member of the body of believers is an important instrument for the Kingdom. Because Aharon did not bring an offering as the other leaders, he was given other tasks to perform.

The rabbis teach that the kindling of the Menorah in this passage alludes to another Menorah, that of Hanukkah. God was even alluding to Aharon that his role was greater than that of the other leaders, because there would be a time when the Temple service would stop and the Torah would be on the verge of being forgotten. Only the faith and heroism of the Hasmoneans, a family of Aharon's priestly descendants, would succeed in driving out the enemy, purifying the Temple, and once more kindling the Menorah. The offerings of the tribal leaders were great and impressive, but they were temporary. Aaron's contribution would be eternal.

To us, the Messianic believers, the kindling of the Menorah has a deeper meaning. The Menorah is the symbol of the Ekklesia, as Yochanan reveals in the book of Revelation:

"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and, having turned, I saw seven golden Menorot and in the midst of the Menorot stood One like the Ben haAdam... And He had in the right hand seven stars and out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword going forth and His face was like the sun shining in its power. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead, and he placed His right hand upon me saying, 'Do not fear; I am the First and the Last and the Living One, and I was dead, and—hinei!—I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of Death and of She'ol. Therefore, write down the things you saw and the things which are and the things which are about to happen after these things. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand and the seven golden Menorot: the seven stars are the malachim (angels) of the Kehillot (Congregations) and the seven Menorot are the seven Kehillot.'" Revelation 1:12-20

Therefore, if the Menorah represents a congregation, the lights of the Menorah represent individual believers. The kindling of these lights symbolizes the fact that each believer can make a difference in the lives of others by letting his or her light shine brightly after being lit by our High Priest, the Author of light, Yeshua. Maintaining the place of worship is important but it must be followed by discipleship, not only by kindling the light that we have received and displaying it for all to see, but also share this light with others so they in turn become lights. May each of us be indeed a bright light in this increasingly darkening world and stimulate each other to study and worship with prayer, fellowship and mitzvot. Our contribution in kindling the Gospel’s light will be eternal as was Aharon’s.

With the completion of the Tabernacle, the Presence of the Lord was physically felt among the Israelis and here we have a beautiful example of obedience as everyone kept the commandments of God, albeit temporarily:

"And on the day that the Tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony; and at the evening there was upon the Tabernacle like the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was always; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, then after that the people of Israel journeyed; and in the place where the cloud abode, there the people of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of Yehovah the people of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of Yehovah they camped; as long as the cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when the cloud remained long upon the Tabernacle many days, then the people of Israel kept the charge of Yehovah and did not journey. And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the Tabernacle; according to the commandment of Yehovah they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of Yehovah they journeyed. Or whether it was two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud stayed upon the Tabernacle, remaining on it, the people of Israel abode in their tents, and did not journey; but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of Yehovah they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of Yehovah they journeyed; they kept the charge of Yehovah, at the commandment of Yehovah by the hand of Moshe." Bamidbar (Numbers) 9:15-23

Unfortunately, this harmonious period – a glimpse of heaven – is interrupted by disobedience. When we remove our gaze from the heavenly and focus on the earthly matters the Adversary always finds a way to interrupt our relationship with our Heavenly Father. There are two incidents in this Parashah which from the human perspective could have an explanation, but they were attacks on the spiritual realm, and, since we are spiritual new creations, they serve as practical examples of our walk in obedience to our Lord Yeshua and God’s plan for salvation.

The first incident came right after the dedication of the Tabernacle. “The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Yisra'el also wept again, and said, ‘Who shall give us flesh to eat? ...but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all save this manna to look on.’“ Bamidbar (Numbers) 11:4-6

After this spiritual high point, people complained about not having meat to eat. It was true then and it is true now, after an uplifting spiritual event such as we have experienced at Shavuot, our humanity is the most vulnerable to fall prey to the Adversary. God supplied to them manna from heaven, ”the bread of angels,” (Tehilim 78:25) a perfect food with all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and calories needed to sustain life perfectly, but people's taste buds were not satisfied, the flesh wanted something else.

To parallel this with our Messianic life, God gave us the Manna from heaven, Yeshua haMoshiach - the Bread of Life, and He also gave us the Ruach haKodesh with an uplifting infilling event at Shavuot, but some of us are not satisfied – it is our flesh, it is our human nature that surfaces its ugly character. We want something else; we want to add to the pure message of salvation our own good works, or even foreign doctrine. But we are warned. In the second letter to the Corinthians the apostle Shaul writes:

“But I am afraid that, as the Serpent deceived Havah by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity {of devotion} to Moshiach. For if one comes and preaches another Yeshua, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different Gospel which you have not accepted, you bear him well enough." 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

God was not pleased with the people of Israel's request for meat and He will not be pleased with us if we stray away from the purity of the Gospel. The many denominations that preach another Yeshua are a testimony that the Adversary is at work, and we must be on guard. The apostle not only warned us but also gave us the remedy in the letter to the Ephesians: "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

And that "full armor" is studying the Scriptures - both Tanakh and Brit Chadashah - not Talmud, nor Kabbalah, or the book of Mormons, or the writings of Ellen White - but prayer, fellowship, and mitzvoth centered around the teachings of Yeshua.

The next incident involves Moshe’s brother and sister. After God gave to the seventy zakenim, elders, who were chosen by Moshe to be spiritual leaders of the congregation of Israel and his helpers in leading the people, an additional spirit of discernment and prophecy, and they did so, there came the work of the flesh – why can't we all prophesy, didn’t God speak to us also? Continuing in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers:

"And Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe because of the Kushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Kushite woman. And they said, 'Has Yehovah indeed spoken only by Moshe? Has He not spoken also by us?' And Yehovah heard it." Numbers 12:1-2

Moshe wife's origin had nothing to do with their grumbling; it was just an excuse for their envy for not receiving the same authority as the other elders. The sin of slandering Moshe their leader, though, was immediately punished with Miriam having been afflicted with a disease called "tzaraat," and she was confined outside the camp for seven days. Speaking against God’s anointed became a sign of rebellion against God and in the course of Israel’s history many prophets were rejected and even killed. Also, with time, the position of the seventy elders, the future Sanhedrin, became authoritarian and corrupt and, as Miriam, these leaders wanted to be the only ones to have authority over the religious matter.

By the time Yeshua came on the scene they could not even recognize God’s anointed, even though they were in charge with reading and preserving the Written Word and should have known better about their Messiah. Yeshua encountered opposition and lack of faith from these leaders just as the prophets of old were. It was the Sanhedrin who convicted Yeshua and gave Him up to the Romans to be crucified because they were more interested in maintaining their powerful status rather than in the truth.

But God’s plan of salvation was working all along, and the irony of this is that because these religious leaders rejected Yeshua, the good news of salvation spread to the entire world for we read in the book of Romans: “But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles.” But the apostle doesn’t stop there, he continues with an amazing prophecy: ”Now, if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!... For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” Romans 11:11-15

The leaders may fail us, but the question for us is, are we walking with or against the plan of God? Even though the leaders were disobedient and failed to recognize the Messiah, God’s plan will be accomplished somehow through you and me because the comforting prophecy given by the apostle is that: ”all Israel will be saved.” May we be found working for God and may Yeshua back come speedily in our time and see this prophecy fulfilled.

Shabbat Shalom!

PURIM – THE LAST HOLIDAY

The story of Purim is the story of the preservation of Jewish life, and one day this holiday, which ends the biblical year, will be the last holiday celebrated in the world. All biblical holydays were given to us as images of the plan of God for the redemption of mankind, as shadows of the things to come. When a holyday is fulfilled it becomes the most important and significant holyday of its age, until the next holyday is fulfilled.

The book of Vayikra lists eight God-given Holydays called: “the appointed times of Yehovah, holy convocations” Eleh moadei Yehovah mikraei kodesh (Leviticus 23:4). Purim is not included in those eight because Purim is a later established historical holiday. Purim is the first to be called “a holiday for the Jews” (Esther 8:17), a Jewish Holiday, all other ones are called God’s Holydays. But Purim is the last holiday in the biblical calendar and within itself contains all the other holydays, which are: Passover (together with the Feast of Unleavened Bread - Hag haMatzoth and the first First Fruits - Hag haBikurim), Shavuot - second First Fruits, Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

Concerning Passover and its fulfillment, and how important it is for us during this age, Rav Shaul wrote in the Brit Chadashah: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Yeshua on the night in which He was betrayed took matzah and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way He took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.“ 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

During this age, between the first and the second coming of Messiah, for almost two thousand years, the most important and significant holiday to our Lord Yeshua, and therefore to us by His request, is Pesach. That is why the apostle Paul said in verse 26: “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.” But notice the last three words, "until He comes." When He comes there will be something added, another dimension and something else to focus on. But during this age the most important thing that we can do is to observe Pesach. This is the age of the fulfillment of the Pesach. We have seen its fulfillment, and its message has been poured out in our hearts at the feast of Shavuot. Passover and Shavuot are together, they are speaking of the same time in history. They say Yeshua died for our sins, than He rose, ascended to the Father's right hand to make intercession for us, and returned to us in the Ruach haKodesh, the Holy Spirit. When He came into our hearts He said, “I will be with you and I will be present with you at all times; the world will not behold Me but you will behold Me.”

So Pesach is not just a holiday, Pesach is reality, it has happened in the physical as well in the spiritual realm. Yet, when Yeshua returns to Zion, Pesach will be incorporated into the celebration of Sukkot. And Sukkot will become the most important holiday for all people to observe. “Assuredly, a time is coming — declares Yehovah — when it shall no more be said, 'As Yehovah lives who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.'” Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 16:14

God has said through the prophet that there is coming a time when we will no longer read the Passover Haggadah commemorating the exodus from Egypt, but we will say instead: “'As Yehovah lives who brought the Israelites out of the northland, and out of all the lands to which He banished them.' For I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their fathers.” Jer. 16:14

Certainly, we understand that the message of Pesach and Shavuot will be observed in the millennium in a different way. It will be observed by celebrating the fact that God has brought back all the sons and daughters of Israel from every country to which they were dispersed, specifically the land of the north, former Soviet Union, of which we have been witnessing that miracle already. Since 1948, the Jewish people have come out of many countries and are still coming out. God is going to do great and wondrous things and those will be remembered forever by the Jewish people and will cause the exodus from Egypt to pale in significance next to them. This time, God will be calling the Jewish people back into their Land. “Hineni, I am sending for many fishermen — declares Yehovah — and they shall haul them out; and after that I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them out of every mountain and out of every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.” Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 16:16

It will be a one-by-one, a personal in-gathering of the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel. At this time in history, it looks like the fishermen were already sent and many Jewish people made Aliyah (went up) for the lure of Zion, and now the hunters are coming. Anti-Semitism is rising, and the Jewish people will have no choice but to make Aliyah.

There are some Jews right now who are hiding from the world their Jewishness, just like Esther did. Or worst, they do not even know that they are Jewish. But God is going to gather them too because He knows who they are, and He is going to bring them back to Israel. He says that He will look on every mountain, and on every hill, and in the clefts of the rocks. He will look throughout this earth; He will turn every rock to find every Jew that is on the face of this earth, and bring him or her back to Zion, because He cares for every single Jewish person.

When this is fulfilled, the holydays that will come to pass are Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot — the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. And when these holidays will be fulfilled, they will also become reality, because they all speak of the return of the Jewish people, physically and then spiritually back to the land of Israel. Right now, these holidays are just holydays, but these biblical holydays are living events that will happen just as Passover and Shavuot did.

We know that when the great Shofar will sound, the gathering will begin for Israel and God will look for them on every mountain and on every hill. We also read about this gathering in Isaiah. What we read in Jeremiah is reiterated here and furthermore explained when this will take place: “And in that day, Yehovah will beat out [the peoples like grain] from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt; and you shall be picked up one by one, o children of Israel! And in that day, a great ram's horn (shofar) shall be sounded; and the strayed who are in the land of Assyria and the expelled who are in the land of Egypt shall come and worship Yehovah on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.” Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 27:12,13

With the sound of the Shofar He begins His work here on earth to gather the unbelieving Jewish people back to Him and back to Zion, one by one. Rosh haShanah speaks of their gathering, Yom Kippur speaks of God's calling them to spiritual repentance, to receive Yeshua as the Messiah, to repent of having rejected Him and make teshuvah. And after this it is the great celebration called Sukkot, Chag haSukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, which will cause all celebrations and holidays that went before it to pale in comparison to the fulfillment of this holyday. This will be the most wonderful holiday fulfillment on the face of this earth. It will be a great exultation on Sukkot, when the Jewish people will see the very presence of the Lord Yeshua, the King Messiah reigning in Zion. At that moment, they will have repented of their rejection of the One who suffered and was pierced for their transgressions, but whom they despised all these years.

So then, what is Purim all about?

The fulfillment of Purim is revealed in the book of Revelation. The millennium is a time or an age when people will be celebrating Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, as Zechariah 14:16 says, by all people throughout the earth. But, into the new heavens and new earth, after the millennium is over, the Feast of Tabernacles will not be celebrated as the main holiday, because it will be incorporated into the holiday of Purim: “And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison.” Revelation 20:7

After Yeshua's return on earth Satan will be bound and put in prison. But after one thousand years of Yeshua's reign from Mount Zion, Satan will be released. For one thousand years Satan will not be able to tempt anyone, to hurt anyone, or to do anything to deceive anyone. This will be ample proof that people sin on their own without Satan's help. But at the close of the millennium, Satan will be set free to lead the nations against Yeshua, Israel, and the saints. “... and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog [terms for the nations that had attacked Israel previously, before the coming of Yeshua] to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” Revelation 20:8

Most people who will be born during the millennium will not really love Yeshua, they will stay in obedience to Him, or they will pretend to stay in obedience to Him, so that they will not have drought and other plagues upon them, but when Satan is let loose, he will lead them in an attack against Yeshua, Israel and the saints. The sand of the seashore is an idiom for numerous, they are uncountable, they may be billions of people. “And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [Jerusalem, where Jewish people have been gathered and have been experiencing the glory of the Lord for a thousand years] and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9

How did Haman get hanged on the gallows that he made for Mordecai? Just like that, it seems like fire came down from heaven and devoured him suddenly and he was hanged on the gallows quickly.

All these people will come up against the believers and the Jewish people and especially the King Messiah Yeshua and they will be devoured immediately. And that will bring about the greatest celebration of all times, because it will be over. No more of satanic business on earth; God is going to create a better world for all of us, where there will be no more evil. The book of Revelation gives us great hope for the future and for our eternity: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.’“ Revelation 21:1-4

That means that during the millennium God is not going to wipe away all tears from our eyes; it is not at that time that it will happen. Right now, there is pain in the world and there is pain among believers, but He is going to wipe away every tear when we go into the new Jerusalem, in the new heavens and the new earth: ... and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.' And He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' And He said, 'Write, for these words are faithful and true.'“ Revelation 21:4,5

There is going to come a time when we will never cry again over anything, when there will be no pain, there will be no sickness, there will be no assaults, no attacks, there will be no accidents happening, there will be no disease, there will be no death, and no one will have to mourn for anyone. There is coming a time in the New Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth, after the thousand-year reign of Messiah, when He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Everything that God has done will be summed up in Purim, the final, ultimate and complete deliverance of all the people of God. And only after all is fulfilled in Purim can there be a true Shabbat.

For right now we celebrate Shabbat, yet we realize that when it is over, we will have problems. But in that day, when Shabbat comes, we will enter into it and never leave it. “'For as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make shall endure by My will,' declares Yehovah, 'so shall your seed and your name endure. And Rosh Chodesh after Rosh Chodesh, and Shabbat after Shabbat, all flesh shall come up to worship Me,' said Yehovah.“ Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:22

Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon is emphasizing the fulfillment of the old heaven and earth and the re-creation of the perfect world which happens right after Purim. Even as the first month of the year, Aviv/Nisan, which is the month of Passover, begins a new year, it will begin a new creation. It will bring with it eternal peace without sin, a true Shabbat, and it can only come after the fulfillment of Purim.

This is the fulfillment and the reality that Purim represents. What we are looking forward is actually to live Purim in the new heavens and the new earth.

Hag Purim Sameah — Happy Purim!