Defense

We were once very confident that the defense systems of our nations, especially those that were the most elaborate, sophisticated, and powerful in the world, were perfectly able to protect us against foreign attack...until the bright, clear morning of September 11, 2001. The world found out that no army, navy, or air force, no matter how advanced, was able to defend any nation in every circumstance. We were vulnerable then, and we remain vulnerable now. However, there is a Defense that IS sure, and cannot be shaken. In the Book of Numbers, or B'Midbar in Hebrew, which means "In the Wilderness", we read that the LORD divided the hundreds of thousands of Israelite men, whom the LORD called His armies, into divisions for war. Each tribal division, and in the case of the Levites, the priests, divisions within the division, camped under an identifying banner. The LORD armed His people with His Word, given to them from Mount Sinai, and the LORD covered His people, and enforced the placement of His anointed and appointed covering, Moses and Aaron. We saw last week that the people of God rashly rebelled against this covering the LORD had provided for them. The LORD's presence was strategically positioned in the midst of His people, in His Tabernacle. Sometimes the Israelite armies would go into natural battle against an enemy, but the greatest enemies they faced were not natural, but spiritual. However, the LORD had set in place a powerful defense system over His people. It is the title of this week's Sabbath reading portion, Chukkat, meaning "Ordinance of". The Hebrew letters that compose the word chukkat, or "ordinance of", are cheth, vaw, qoph, tav. Each of these letters have an individual meaning that, when joined together in this word, can mean "The fence, the tent wall, that separates and protects is joined together into a circle from the head and behind by a nail and a cross, the sign of the covenant". Chukkat, the ordinance of God, is the defense system for His people. The very first verses of Chukkat, this week's reading beginning in Numbers 20, reveals a wealth of information for us in order to study this defense system: "Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was burried there. Now there was no water for the congregation..." (Num. 20:1-2a). The people were not journeying and encamping according to their own whims. They were being led by the Pillar of Smoke during the day, and the Pillar of Fire by night, and following the Ark of the Covenant (see. Num. 10:33-36). The people are now in the Wilderness of Zin, which means "a low palm tree, desert, to prick". They were staying in Kadesh. The root word of Kadesh in Hebrew, Qadas, means "holy, sanctify, be hallowed, be separate, sacred, purify, clean, the Sabbath, consecrated as a priest, to declare holy". As the people of God, we can understand the nature of holiness found in this word qadas. From this holy root word, qadas, we will move closer up towards our word "Kadesh" with the next root word, qades. However, something has happened to corrupt the holiness of qadas. Qades, contrarily means "unclean, male devotee to licentious idolatry of Venus or Astarte, consecrated prostitute to an idol". Finally, the word of the place mentioned in the above verse, Kadesh, means "holy, sanctuary, libidinous worship of Astarte or Venus, harlot". Why had God directed His people to such a place? The people of God were encamped in a place of spiritual warfare. Their enemy is a spirit that twists and perverts the idea of the holiness of God. Holiness is attacked by corrupting the principle of consecration, and twisting it into depravity. The people have arrived in "the first month", yet there is no mention of Passover, which was last mentioned in Num. 9, during another first month, when the people were in the Wilderness of Sinai. The LORD had to command them then to keep the Passover, even though the Feasts of the LORD had been established earlier as an eternal ordinance of God (Num. 9:1-5). Miriam, Moses' sister and prophetess, died at this time in the Wilderness of Zin. Also there was no water in the land. However, the people did not turn to their defense system. Instead, they turned against it: "And the people contended (rib - grapple, wrangle, debate, strive, seize one another by the hair, rend each other's garments, contend with blows, defend) with Moses and spoke, saying: 'If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! Why have you brought up the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) assembly of the LORD into this wilderness that we and our animals should die here? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place?" (Num. 10:3-5a). Of course, Moses didn't choose to be the one to deliver the people out of Egypt, or to determine their path to the Promised Land. This was done by God. We have additional information that this account was taking place at the time of the appointed Feasts of the LORD that were an ordinance for the first month, because the people were looking for grains, figs, vines and pomegranates (v. 5), which are the fruits of the Feast of Tabernacles. They could not find those fruits in this Wilderness of Zin at Kadesh. Because of the contention of the people against them, Moses and Aaron left the congregation and went to the door of the Tabernacle where they fell on their faces, and the glory of the LORD appeared (v. 6). The people had tried to defend themselves against the evil of that place by contending with Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron, on the other hand, would receive an ordinance of defense from the LORD: "Then the LORD spoke...'Take the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) rod: you and your brother Aaron gather the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; and you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) congregation and their animals..." (v. 7-8). In this "evil" place where the idea of the holiness of God has been defiled, leaving the land a barren, waterless desert, the LORD answered His complaining people with His glory, and with the Rock of His Salvation. It is a Rock filled with enough water to provide not only for the hundreds of thousands of numbered males plus women and children, but for their flocks and herds as well. Jesus spoke of Himself as an infinite supply of living water: "Whoever drinks of this water (a well established by Jacob) will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (Jn. 4:13-14). Jesus gave this revelation promise to a woman whom many would have considered to be immoral, and her land, Samaria, was also despised by the religiously minded, for worshipping God in an unacceptable manner. The New Testament also clearly identified this Rock at Kadesh as Christ: "...all our fathers...drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. 10:4). In the Wilderness of Zin, the LORD did not deal with the spirits of darkness by contending with them, but by overcoming them with the glory of His holiness, and with the provision of His Son, the Messiah, as water to His rebellious people. In the same way, the LORD did not manifest His Son to us because we deserved Him. Scripture says that while we were yet sinners and enemies of God, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8-11). However, not only is this the Rock of Salvation, but it is a Rock of defense, as we read in the Psalms: "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength (rock), in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies...He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved...the LORD has been my defense, and my God the rock of my refuge." (Ps. 18:2-3, Ps. 62:2, 6, Ps. 94:22). As Moses was given the command to take the rod and speak to this rock before all of the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) congregation, The holiness of the LORD was again profaned by bitterness in this place of Kadesh. Moses, in His outrage, did not speak to the rock, as he was commanded, but struck the rock twice with the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) rod, saying: "Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" (Num. 20:10-11). For this error, Moses and Aaron were told by the LORD that they would not be bringing His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) congregation into the (eres) land/earth/world which the LORD had given them because "...you did not believe Me, to hallow (qadas - see above root of Kadesh) Me in the eyes of the children of Israel..." (v. 12). The LORD brought His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) congregation to this forsaken place, made desolate by the perversion of holiness, in order to be enthroned in His qadas holiness. However, this would now be known as "the water of Meribah (meaning strife, contention, provocation)" because the children of Israel contended with the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) LORD (Yehovah) here (v. 13). The LORD had brought His people to this desolate place for a reason and a purpose - not to punish them, but to exalt Himself and establish His holiness over the spirits of darkness in this place. Psalm 99 is also assigned reading for this Sabbath of Chukkat or "Ordinance". It says in part: "The LORD reigns...Let the earth be moved...He is holy (qados/qadas)...Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool - He is holy (qados/qadas) ...You were to them God-Who-Forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds. Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy (qados/qadas) hill; For the LORD our God is holy (qados/qadas)." (v. 3, 5, 9). This is something for us to keep in mind today also as we see darkness twist the holy character of the LORD before the people. As God's people left Kadesh, they traveled to Mount Hor, where Aaron would die by the Word of the LORD, and his son, Eleazar, would become high priest in his place. Mount Hor in Hebrew means "mountain mountain". It is also referred to as "the everlasting mountains" and "the eternal hills". The LORD said that this was the place where Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there" (Num. 20:26). It is south of the Dead Sea, and the local people have referred to it as "the Mountain of Aaron the prophet". Aaron would be gathered to his people at this place and time, "for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) word at the water of Meribah." (v. 24). Here the LORD gives us an idea of what He intended to accomplish with the Rock at Kadesh. It is not something that we would immediately be able to see and understand without looking at the Hebrew words involved. Moses rebelled against the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) "word" of the LORD regarding the Rock. The Hebrew used for "word" is not dabar, as we usually see, but pe. Pe/pa'a means "mouth, lip, commandment, blowing, breathing/splitting, cleaving, break in pieces, shatter, blow away, scatter with wind". This (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) "word" was going to blow , scatter, shatter, those perverse spirits of darkness that had tried to rule over that area. Psalm 68:1-2 describes how God's enemies are scattered (pus - shake, break, or dash to pieces, scatter abroad) and driven away (nadap - diffused, dispersed, driven about especially by wind) like smoke. The Chukkat ordinance or command of God regarding the Rock at Kadesh was like a blowing of holy wind from the mouth of God in order to break His enemies to pieces and scatter those pieces in the wind. Unfortunately for Moses and Aaron, they did not keep this "blowing" pe word from the mouth of the LORD. We can learn from this lesson, can't we? If you would like to know more about God's perfect plan of defense on behalf of His people, you can pray with me: "Lord, You are my Rock of defense and Salvation (Yeshua/Jesus). The breath of Your mouth scatters Your enemies, and the throne of Your holiness will never be overcome. The whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD, and we shout, "GLORY!" to the LORD who reigns in holiness. Guide me by Your Holy Spirit, and use the steps of my appointed journey with You to establish Your holiness in the earth, as it is in heaven. Let me not lean on my own understanding, nor be subject to the spirita of this world, but to trust in You only as my defense. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."

Covering

For me, this week's Sabbath reading portion deals with an issue that may still challenge each of us, which is "spiritual covering". Our spiritual covering is an even more powerful protective force than a natural covering such as the roof of a house. Imagine what damage can be done to the inside of a house if its roof is removed. Jesus described the Kingdom of God as a great tree that grew from a small seed, and the covering of that tree serves as a shelter and haven for the smallest and most defenseless of God's creatures (Mt. 13:31-32). If He covers the birds, how much more will He cover us? As God, in His grace, establishes His covering of salvation, peace, favor, protection, and provision over each of us, why would anyone attempt to remove it? Yet we do, as we will see, and we have done so since the divinely created (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Adam (Gen. 2:8) threw off the glorious covering of the royal dominion given to him by God in the Garden of Eden (meaning "delight, pleasure, dainty, finery, sumptuous, softly, to luxuriate"). This Sabbath, we are still in the fourth book of the Bible, which we call "Numbers", but is properly known in Hebrew as B'Midbar, meaning "In the wilderness" as mentioned in Numbers 1:1. Up to this point in our studies in Numbers, God has described His people as armies being set in order for war (see Num. 1:2-3). In the midst of this great army encampment, sat the Tabernacle of God. Encircling the Tabernacle, the Levites were encamped. They had been set apart in specific divisions within their tribe, depending upon their work of service in the Tabernacle before God. Outwardly from the Tabernacle and Levites in the center, the tribal divisions of the armies of God encamped to the north, south, east, and west in the form of a cross. This week's reading, which includes Num. 16-17, is titled Korach, which means "Bald, or to make oneself bald"! There is also a meaning associated with Korach having to do with ice and hail. From this we can get a picture of ice and hail, both being destructive forces, beating upon a surface until the covering, or hair, has been worn away. Korach also happened to be a man's name, Korah, who was one of the Levites (Num. 16:1). Korah and a handful of others led a rebellion against the leaders whom God had appointed to cover His people, Moses and Aaron. These same rebels convinced 250 of the most renowned elders of Israel to join them. It is a strategy of the spirit of rebellion to try to cover its intentions behind a facade of honor and respectability in men's eyes. Shakespeare wrote about this kind of strategy in his play based upon historical fact, "Julius Caesar". In this play, the group of assassins recruited Rome's most highly honored and respected citizen, Brutus, to join their plot by cloaking it in terms that would appeal to such an honorable man. Jesus prophesied our own vulnerability to liars and imposters in the time before His return (Mt. 24:23-25). More than ever, we will need the protection of the spiritual covering in our lives that God has provided, won't we?. In the situation involving the rebels in the Israelite camp in the wilderness, there was a bitterness, envy and resentment behind their voices as the rebels said to Moses and Aaron: "You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" (Num. 16"1-3). Bitterness, resentment, and envy sound like hot emotions, but they are really very cold, like the "ice and hail" that can "make bald" and destroy a covering. Moses' reaction was to fall on his face before the LORD (v. 4). The rebels against Moses and Aaron then stirred the whole congregation of Israel against them, and the glory of the LORD appeared and told Moses that He was about to consume in a moment all of the people. Moses immediately began to re-establish a covering over the people before the LORD (Num. 16:19-24). The LORD then only dealt with the rebels and the 250 renowned elders who initiated the rebellion in a terrifying manner. The earth opened under Korah and his conspirators, and they went down alive into the pit, and the 250 elders were consumed by fire that came out from the LORD (v. 31-35). The people around them were horrified by the sight. Strong action had been necessary for God to re-affirm His appointed leaders, and to re-establish His covering over the Israelites. Amazingly, this may not have been the end of Korah's story. There is a deep mystery here involving God's covering. We can view this important mystery that will have wider implications in Psalm 88. It is a Psalm of the sons of Korah, as it is revealed in the introduction to the Psalm. The sons of Korah were Levites who sang in anointed worship in the Temple. However, Korah and his whole household went alive down into the pit (see Num. 16:23-27, 31-33). So how are there sons of Korah to sing to the LORD generations later? There are various guesses as to how this could have happened, but none of those guesses consider a miracle of the LORD. The Psalm is a desperate cry from someone alive in the lowest pit (v. 6-7). Part of that cry to the LORD is: "Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? (Selah). Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?" (v. 10-11). Did you know that God can hear your cries and cover you even in your lowest pit? David knew that (Ps. 139:5-12). David called this knowledge of God's covering "too wonderful" for him. Jonah knew it, as he cried out from the Sheol pit (place of the dead) in the belly of the fish (Jonah 2:1-6). It is even based upon this mystery of Jonah that Christ declared the sign of His own resurrection from death (Mt. 12:38-41). A man named Heman wrote Psalm 88. The name Heman/aman means "faithful/believe, assurance, bring up, nurse, to be carried by a nurse, support, foster mother/father". Heman, grandson of Samuel, who was also a miracle son of Korah, stood in and wrote for this person who was in the hopelessness of the pit. I will leave this mystery of the covering of God in Psalm 88 here. Back to the Israelites in the wilderness. The spiritual forces of ice and hail that make one bald, and had tried to destroy the covering of God over His people for their survival, were not done yet. The very next day, after the earth had swallowed up the rebels, all the congregation of Israel accused Moses and Aaron saying: "You have killed the people of God." (Num. 16:41). It seems that lies always rise up in an instant, but are slow to die. Again, because the people were rejecting His appointed covering for the people, God told Moses that He would consume this congregation in a moment, and a deadly plague broke out among the people (v. 44-45). Again, Moses fell on his face, not for his own sake, but to cover a people who kept trying to throw off their divine covering. Following Moses' instructions, Aaron then took his priestly censor, and ran into the midst of the people making atonement for them: "And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." Over fourteen thousand people had been killed by the plague (v. 46-50). God did not stop here, however. In order to further make clear the importance of the prophetic and priestly covering that God, not man, had appointed in order to preserve His people, God caused Moses to collect all of the rods that represented the leaders of the twelve tribes, or armies, of Israel, including Aaron's rod representing the tribe of Levi, the priests. The rods represented the names of the fathers and identities of each tribe, and the authority of the leader of each tribe. The rods were collected and placed within the Tabernacle before the Ark of Testimony. The next day, as the rods were collected, Aaron's (aleph-tav[Alpha and Omega]) rod had not only budded in flowers (sis/sus - blossom, flower, shining gold plate on high priest's turban, a wing gleaming in the air/blossom, shine, sparkle, gleam, show forth), but had also produced ripe almonds (saqed/saqad - almond tree, earliest bloom, first to awake from winter/watch, wake, remain, hasten) (Num. 17:1-9, see also Mt. 24:42-44, Mt. 25:13, Lk. 21:29-36, 2 Peter 3:10-12, 1 Thess. 5:1-6). This miraculous event fulfilled the prophecy that the LORD made in v. 5. We can see in the Hebrew meanings that the appointment of Aaron, and God's re-affirming of Aaron as Israel's priestly covering, also pertains to the Messiah's or Christ's covering over God's people. The LORD said that the budded and fruited (aleph-tav) rod of Aaron the high priest was to be kept in the Tabernacle, before the Ark of the Testimony" as an (aleph-vaw-tav = "God nailed to the Cross") sign (ot - sign, mark, evidence, miracle) against the rebels (meri/mara - bitter, bitterness/to stroke or lash with a whip, to resist, oppose), that you may put their complaints away from Me." (v. 10). We see again in the meaning of the Hebrew word for "rebels" the cold ice and hail of bitterness. In another portion from Korach/Bald, this week's Sabbath reading in 1 Samuel 11, an enemy, Nahash (meaning "serpent, dragon, snake, serpent idol, divination, enchanter, whisper"), king of the the Ammonites ("tribe, kindred, people together, to grow dark, held dark, overshadow, eclipse"), laid siege to Jabesh (yabes - dry, dried up, utterly withered, ashamed, confounded, wither away) in Gilead (meaning "hard, stony region") in Israel. From the Hebrew meanings here, this is about the worst enemy, the serpent, the dragon himself, Satan, that anyone can have. This enemy, named here as Nahash, brought spiritual darkness upon the land, and in that vein, he threatened to put out the right eyes of all the men of Jabesh so that all Israel would suffer reproach (1 Sam. 11:2). The forced removal of an eye was considered cruel and degrading punishment when a people were conquered. The town that this enemy came against, Jabesh, had become a (spiritual) withering, dry place that had drawn this powerful enemy's attack. How had this city fallen into this withered condition which caused them to become vulnerable to this enemy? The people of Israel, had just rejected God's appointed prophet/priest Samuel, who judged them righteously (see 1 Sam. 7:2-6), as a covering over them. They instead demanded a king like the other nations around them (see 1 Sam. 8:4-7, 21-22). God chose Saul to be anointed king over Israel (1 Sam. 9:15-16, 1 Sam. 10:1), even as He warned the people that they would regret rejecting Him as their covering and King, in exchange for a man like themselves to rule them. However, even as the LORD commanded that Saul be made king: "...some rebels said, 'How can this man save us?' So they despised him (Saul), and brought him no presents. But he (Saul) held his peace." (1 Sam. 10:27). The "rebels" spoken of in this verse are also called "the sons/children of Belial" meaning "worthless, wicked, vile, ruin, destruction, destroyer, ungodly". Again there were those who rejected first God, and then Samuel as the covering that the LORD had appointed over His people, and then they rejected the king who had been ordained by God to cover His people. A king like Nahash, who is named to represent Satan himself, would understand the significance of God's people rejecting their supernatural covering. Satan was described in scripture as "the anointed cherub who covers...perfect...", who had been established on the holy mountain of God. This covering angel became filled with violence and pride, and had to be cast out from the mountain of God (Ezek. 28:13-17). King Saul would eventually prove out the warning that God gave the people about the oppression of having a king, but he also, being moved by the Spirit of God, mustered an army of 330,000 from all of Israel on this occasion, crossed to Jabesh on the eastern side of the Jordan River, and defeated the serpent king, Nahash of the Ammonites, rescuing the people of Jabesh Gilead (1 Sam. 11:8, 11). At a later date, David would walk in the understanding of God's covering when King Saul relentlessly chased him in order to kill him. David refused to do harm to Saul when given the opportunity, understanding the danger of removing the covering which God had put into place over His people (see 1 Sam. 24:4-7). As Saul became more and more corrupt, God eventually dealt with him, ending his life. In another example of the glory of God's covering of His people, Psalm 91 praises Him: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." (Ps. 91:1-2). The Psalm continues, with great power, describing the covering and protection of the LORD. So important is the concept of the covering of God, that God makes sure to tell us that He even covers Himself (see Ps. 97:2, Ps. 18:11, Ex. 19:9, Deut. 4:11-12). The Messiah, Jesus, as the ultimate Anointed covering (for sin), was sent to God's people. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, prophetically seeing the consequences of their rejection of His covering: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate (eremos - lonely, deprived of aid and protection, bereft like a flock deserted by the shepherd, or a woman rejected by her husband); for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Mt. 23:37-39, see also Lk. 19:41-44). Imagine also the moment when Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor within Caesar's empire, offered Jesus to the people as their king, but the people of God again rejected this anointed and appointed covering, shouting, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!...We have no king but Caesar!" How dangerous it was for Pilate personally to call Jesus a king of the people, when he knew that the only kings approved to rule Israel by the Roman Emperor, were the Herods! Yet Pilate called Jesus "Your King". (Jn. 19:13-16). This was not the way for a Roman governor to live long and prosper in the Roman Empire. However, even Pilate knew the importance of the One whom the people of God refused to receive. Perhaps we think that we, the Church of believers, would never reject the covering that God has set into place over us. However, everyday we make the choice to receive or reject His covering. All of these lessons recorded in scripture above, were recorded for our benefit and learning, not only for the benefit of the generation that had to learn it the hard way (2 Tim. 3:16-17). In one example of falling into the temptation of rejecting God's covering, Paul wrote to a church of "foolish" Galatians, because they had rejected faith in the covering of grace achieved by the death of their Savior, and chose instead legalistic doctrines of seeking righteousness by man's own efforts (Gal. 3:1-9). The covering of God is something that cannot be bought, nor established by men's own efforts. This covering is sovereignly anointed and appointed in and by the LORD. The Lord is looking for us to receive His covering joyfully and thankfully in faith, and the trusting obedience that accompanies faith. To enter into the covering of God, or to learn more about it, you can join with my prayer: "Father of all creation, from the beginning, You provided Your covering to man, so that he wouldn't be destroyed. You covered Your people in the wilderness, as You established their purposes in You. You provided the ultimate covering of Your Kingdom in the atoning blood of your Son, Jesus, that alone delivers us from death. I receive Your covering over my life with thanks. Help me by Your Holy Spirit to remain under the shadow of Your covering, so that I do not wander from it. Cleanse me of the pride and self-will that might rise up in my heart against Your covering. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."

SilverTrumpets

This week's Sabbath reading portion is from the Book of Numbers, or B'Midbar in Hebrew, which means "In the wilderness". The title of this week's reading portion is Bha'alot'cha, meaning, "When you step up/go up". In this Book of Numbers so far, God has already numbered, or set apart, His people as armies. He has numbered His priesthood, and set them apart in groups, depending upon the specific service they were to perform before Him in His house, the Tabernacle. Each priestly group, named after their fathers, had a purpose in the glory of the tabernacle, which was God's dwelling in the midst of His people. They were set apart in divisions of purpose, but they were not divided against one another - a good lesson for the Church of believers in Christ! As God continued to appoint and set apart His people according to His will and His Word, He presented them with what I consider to be a gift: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 'Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps...The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God." (Num. 10:1-10). The two trumpets mentioned here are not shofars, or rams' horns. They are in Hebrew, hassosra/hasar, meaning "straight trumpet, clarion/sounding, blow, to surround with a stockade in order to separate from open country". These were two straight trumpets, and were to be made (asa - prepare, accomplish, appoint, bestow, create, produce by labor) from a whole piece (miqsa/miqse/qasa - beaten from one whole piece/turned rounded work/tough, severe, severe labor of a woman, endure, struggle against) of hammered silver (kesep/kasap - price, pieces of silver, money/yearn for, long for). There were to be two of these trumpets. The number "two" plays a significant role in this week's reading. The number "two" is senayim/seni/sana in Hebrew, with the meaning: "two, twice, twelve, twenty, both of them, double/again/change, alter, to transfer to another place, to be changed". We are reminded immediately of the verses in the New Testament: "Behold, I tell you a mystery (hidden truth): We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Cor. 15:51-52, see also 1 Thess. 4:15-18)). These two silver trumpets of Num. 10:2 were to be used for certain purposes. The Hebrew word for "use" here is haya/hava, which is not about the use of something. This Hebrew word and its root have a prophetic meaning of "come to pass, become, accomplish, happen". These two trumpets may be used in the present, but they also have the prophetic sound of future events as we will see. We have already seen above the connection of these trumpets to "the change" which shall occur to all who believe in Christ, those who are dead, and those who are alive. In Num. 10 above, we see that the two trumpets are for the calling out (migra/qara - called out, called together sacred assembly, rehearsal/loud sound, summoned, named, chosen) of the assembly (eda/ed/ud - company, congregation/witness, testimony, prince/restore again, testify, bear witness), and the journeying (massa/nasa - journey, departure, pull up stakes/removing whole stones from a quarry, pulled up, plucked up, cause to spring up, remove) of the aleph-tav camps (mahane/hana/hanan - host, tents, armies, battle/rested, grows to an end, lay siege against, lie, dwell/favor, gracious, merciful). After these two silver trumpets were created, the people of God moved out on a prophetic journey from Mt. Sinai: "Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year...the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran." (Num. 10:11-12). The journey would take three days. The people had received God's Word on Sinai, meaning "thorny", and the Word in the form of the Ark of the Covenant, carried by and accompanied by God's people, would travel three days to a place of caverns (Paran/Pa'ar). The meaning of this place of abundance of caverns, which are beneath the earth, also includes "to boil up, to be hot, to examine the boughs in order to glean them". However, also included in the meaning of this place of Paran/Pa'ar is "glorify, beautify, adorn, to gleam". Here, prophetically, we can see in this prophetic journey in the wilderness, called out by the silver trumpets, the three day journey of Christ, and those who belong to Him, from thorns and suffering to the underworld place of boiling heat, but ultimately, the place that will produce His (and our) glorification and beauty as He overcame it. It was absolutely necessary for the people to prophetically accompany the Word of God (which is Jesus: Jn. 1:1-3) in the Ark of the Covenant through this wilderness journey, because we accompanied Jesus on His journey from the cross, through death, and His resurrection by the glory of God. Paul wrote this: "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly, we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection...Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (Rom. 6:3-8, excerpt, see also Col. 2:12-13, 2 Tim. 2:10-11). There is also a meaning above to Paran/Pa;ar, the place of abundance of caverns, that refers to "examining the boughs in order to glean the fruit". Again, we find this concept of the fruit of our death and resurrection with Christ, Who is the Word: First we become dead to the Law through the death of Christ, and then we become "married...to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God". (Rom. 7:4). God is examining the boughs, looking for the fruit that comes from our being joined to the death and resurrection of Christ. I call these two silver trumpets a gift from God, because they move God's people, not only in the "now", but into the prophetic future. God's people not only "are", but they are changed, and they "become" on their journey. Moses also declared the prophetic purpose of the Ark of the Covenant, the first time this term is being used for the Ark in Num. 10:35-36: "And it came to pass (haya/hava - see above), when the ark set out, that Moses said: 'Rise up (qum - rise up, become powerful, rouse up, raise up one fallen down (Jesus fell down carrying the cross, but stood up again), preserve alive), O LORD! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.' And when it rested (nuah/Noah), he said: 'Return (sub - come back, return again, deliver, recover, refresh, restore), O LORD, to the many thousands of Israel." The Hebrew letter "nun", which normally means "Heir to the throne, offspring, descendant, fish), is written in reverse, both before, and after these two verses. It is rare in written Hebrew scripture to find letters reversed. There are various opinions about why this happened here, but in general, it can be agreed that the two reversed nun letters would cause anyone reading these verses in Hebrew to pay special attention to them, and so should we. When I read these verses from Num. 10 regarding the Ark of the Covenant and the people's three day journey to Paran, I see the resurrection of "the Heir to the throne" in v. 35, and the return , or coming again of the "Heir to the throne", Jesus, in v. 36. The "rising" of the LORD scatters His enemies in these verses from Num. 10. The last enemy to be defeated by this rising of the Lord is death itself (1 Cor. 15:25-26). As Moses called for the Ark to return to the people of Israel, the Church is commanded to call for the return of the Lord, Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:12, 17, 20). The prophetic promise of Christ's return was made by Jesus Himself (Jn. 14:1-4), and that same prophetic promise runs through both Old and New Testament scriptures (ex. Zech. 12:10-14, 13:1). Again, with the return of the Lord (Num. 10:36 above), wickedness is consumed with His breath, and destroyed by the brightness of His appearing (2 Thess. 2:8). As with the two silver trumpets, the sound of prophecy has been brought to the people in this chapter. This is not the only prophetic incident in this week's Sabbath reading of Bha'alot'cha, or "When you step up/go up". In Num. 11, the people were complaining, the anger of the LORD was building because of it, and Moses was begging the LORD to deliver him from this multitude of demanding people, which numbered over 600,000 counting just the males (Num. 11:21-22). They were getting on Moses' last nerve (v. 11-12). Where was the wonder of prophecy now for Moses!? After dealing with this latest situation, the LORD supplied relief to Moses. Moses gathered the seventy elders of the people around the tabernacle. The LORD came down and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses, and placed the same upon the elders. When the Spirit of God rested upon them, they began to prophesy that one time. Two of the elders who had remained in the camp, also began to prophesy there. The two elders who had remained in the camp, and yet received the Spirit and prophesied, were named Eldad ("God has loved", well beloved), and Medad (love, friend, loved one). (v. 24-26). Joshua, one of Moses' choice men, told Moses to forbid those two men, who had not come to the tabernacle, from prophesying (v. 28). "Then Moses said to him, 'Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His (aleph-tav) Spirit (ruho - to breathe, to blow, smell, scent, perceive odor, accept, of delight, understand, touch) upon them!" (v. 29). The Spirit that Moses identified here is the Spirit that is sent by the Messiah, Jesus. The aleph-tav is connected to the written word for "Spirit" here in Hebrew. Jesus called Himself "the aleph-tav" in the Book of Revelation when He referred to Himself as The Alpha and Omega translated into Greek. Also, The Hebrew word used here for "Spirit" means to breathe, to blow. This brings to mind what Jesus said to His disciples after His resurrection: "So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit." (Jn. 20:21-22). We see Jesus in the giving of the Spirit to the two men who remained in the camp, whose names relate to the love of God. Jesus came back again after His resurrection, for the specific purpose of appearing to Thomas, His disciple, who had not been with the others when Jesus had appeared to them earlier (Jn. 20:24-25). Jesus appeared again eight days later and spoke directly to Thomas, telling Thomas to touch Him (see ruho Spirit above) in the piercing wounds that Jesus had suffered. Jesus did this in order to help Thomas' unbelief in the resurrection (Jn. 20:26-29). This was an act of love for one man, and to pronounce a blessing upon all of those who would believe in Jesus without having seen and touched Him. We might question the fact that there were two men who remained in the camp of the Israelites, yet received the Spirit and prophesied, while Thomas is one man. However, Thomas' name means "the twin", twins (plural), coupled together, to be double". Again, we see the gift of the silver trumpets that prophesied and brought the gift of prophesy to the people of God in this episode. It was not just for that time, but for a time to come. Prophesy brings God's people from being anchored to the earth in the "now", to being able to "go up" into the eternal realms. This is where God's people get the direction for the journey. The prophetic promises and pictures given to us from this realm, change lives, and generations, and bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. Before closing this Bha'alot'cha, "When you step up/go up" Sabbath reading, I would like to share a beautiful revelation of dream and prayer from a servant of God named Fran. She wrote this for all of us: For the intercessor// who looks to the One Who sits on the Right Hand of the Father, Who holds the keys to death, hell and the grave// shall by His Spirit// pray and intercede for the one// and the ones of many// who have put on the garments reflecting the glories and the lights...// Those who by Strength of God and His Christ, who by Wisdom and Knowledge, Truth and Humility...// those who have chosen the narrow path of the seas, the way of trial and suffering// the way of the Cross...// those taking on the warfare of the Heavenly Mind against the flesh, the evil, the attacking ones of the world who appear as brethren, as of like kind, but are of devilish, treacherous ways and spirits, bodily demonics// For those shall ye pray and stand firmly// that they be uplifted and continued in their transformations and their fight of the good fight// That they keep pressing on in the waters and seas of life on earth that is awaiting the final and triumphant rising up of the sons to glory// For even when they weaken am I still bringing forth the Strength of My Righteous Right Arm// to usher them into the calm of the Deep, the purity of the River, the Wellspring// from which My Life of Forever// shall enrich them as One...// for they and you are My Kingdom and My Pattern of Heaven in Amen.// If you would like to know more about the gift of the Spirit of the LORD, and the love of the Lord from which He flows, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, out of love, You sent Your Son. Out of love, You poured out Your Spirit for Your people. Out of love, You prophesy through Your servants, not only to guide a current generation, but to lay the path of the Will of God for future generations. It is the way of Glory. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, so that I may understand, touch, and be enveloped in the fragrance of Christ who breathes on me. Let me prophesy, in Word, in prayer, in Spirit, so that I may speak the things of You that cause us to ascend, go up, and be raised up. Let me be a part of the answer to Moses' prayer when he said, "Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."

Jealousy

This is a continuing look at the Sabbath reading portion titled Naso, meaning "to elevate, lift up". The first part of this study began last week, and is posted on an entry just below this one. We will start our story in the New Testament this time to see an example of the elevation of naso. The Pharisees and the chief priests, who were the religious leaders at the time, "...sent officers to take (piazo/biazo - take, caught, apprehend, lay hold of in order to imprison, arrest/apply force, inflict violence upon) Him (Jesus)...Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, 'Why have you not brought Him?'. The officers answered, 'No man ever spoke like this man!" (Jn. 7:32-45, excerpt). The Pharisees told the officers that they too were deceived like the ignorant crowd, saying, "....this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." (v. 47-49). The Pharisees were very confident that they, unlike the ignorant people, knew the law. One of their members, a secret disciple of Jesus, spoke up against the arrest action: "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" (v. 50-51). So the law was to fairly handle accusations, and not judge someone guilty without a hearing. What had Jesus said that had caused the temple officers to come back empty-handed? One thing He said during this time was at a Feast of the LORD: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (Jn. 7:37-38). On another occasion, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman by the well who had had several husbands, and "not-quite husbands": "...whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (Jn. 4:13-14). Then these debates of the religious leaders concerning Jesus broke up, and they returned to their homes. Meanwhile, Jesus had headed in a different direction. He went to the Mount of Olives, and early the next morning, He went to the temple in Jerusalem. There all the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them (Jn. 8:1-2). We can imagine how these same Pharisees felt when they saw all the people going to Jesus in the temple, and Him teaching them instead of themselves, as "the experts". Many times in Scripture, the religious leaders were described as jealous, envious, and enraged at the Words and miracles of Jesus (see Mt. 27:15-18, Lk. 6:9-11, Lk. 11:52-54, Jn. 11:47-53, 57). In their resentment of Him, the scribes and Pharisees immediately brought a woman before Jesus there in the temple that they said had been taken/caught (katalambano - apprehend, lay hold of, seize, come upon, perceive, to make a trial of) in adultery. From the meaning of the Greek word used here, this does not necessarily mean that the woman had already been proven guilty, but she had been seized under the allegation of adultery. However, they told Jesus that the woman was caught "in the very act" (Jn. 8:1-4). Were they telling Jesus the truth? These leaders had already proven that they had no problem bending the religious rules for their convenience, and Jesus had often condemned them for it. Jesus, who was without blame, had Himself been the victim of their false accusations many times. Jesus was about to give these religious leaders a demonstration of His superior, even omniscient knowledge of the Scriptures (He is the Word of God), as He applied the Law of Jealousy from Numbers 5, which is one of our Sabbath reading portions. This is the law of jealousy as given by the LORD to Moses: The spirit (ruah - breath, wind, spirit, mind, blast, vain, anger, seat of emotion, bitter, discontented, an unaccountable uncontrollable impulse) of jealousy (qinah/qana - jealousy, envy, zeal, ardor of anger/jealous anger) has entered into a man. Either his (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) wife has indeed committed adultery (defiled herself), but it was done in secret with no witnesses, having not been caught (tapas - taken, surprised, caught, seized, captured), or his (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) wife has not defiled herself, but is an innocent accused by the spirit of jealousy that has entered her husband. He is to bring his wife to the priest, and along with bringing a jealousy offering "for bringing iniquity to remembrance", she will be given holy water brought in an earthen vessel to drink in which dust (apar - dust, earth, powder, ashes) from the floor of the tabernacle has been mixed (Num. 5:11-.18). The priest would then have the woman swear an oath that if she is guilty of this iniquity, certain physical curses would come upon her (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) thigh/loins, and her (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) belly (womb) that would prevent her from having children, and cause her to be a curse among the people. The priest would write these curses in a book, "and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter." (v. 23-24). The LORD concluded His command saying: "This is the law of jealousy...". (Num. 5:29). This law, as we can see, is not about adultery, which has its own specific place in the law. It is about a spirit of jealousy that holds both the man and his wife in bondage. The husband cannot prove his wife's guilt, and the wife cannot prove her innocence. God provided a way in which an innocent may be supernaturally proven innocent, and both husband and wife may be delivered from the effects of this destructive spirit. Otherwise, there is no remedy for this situation which cannot be proven either way. Let's look at what Jesus did with this law of jealousy, and these religious leaders, whose motivations of jealousy, envy and rage, He was already very familiar with. The scribes and Pharisees said of the woman: "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?' This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up (nasa/naso in Hebrew - lift up, rise up, bear, carry in the arms, support, forgive, aid, assist, help, hold up, pardon, spare, to lay sin upon oneself) and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up (nasa/naso in Hebrew: see above meaning) and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, 'Woman, where are those accusers (kategoros - "against" + "the assembly", accuser, name given to the devil, as against one in the assembly) of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neiither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." (v. 5-11). We see the elements present here from the law of jealousy. The woman is accused of adultery. Jesus, had just taught that HE is the source of "the holy water", the living water of everlasting life of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:39). He wrote on the ground (ge - ground, earth) of the temple (tabernacle). Many believe that Jesus was writing the sins of her accusers in the ground. That's a good conclusion. Remember, though, that the law of jealousy required that the curses of that law be written. Jesus would know if the accusation against her was false, but He didn't say that it was. If the accusation was true and proven, why hadn't the men already stoned her before this? It was very convenient for them to come with this accused woman at that very moment when they were so angry with Jesus, in order to test Him. Jesus "raised Himself up" twice during the incident. Was He exercising the true meaning of nasa/naso in which the law of jealousy is found? The true meaning in "elevating or lifting up" of nasa/naso includes forgiveness, pardon, help, to spare, to lay sin upon oneself, as we saw above. We like the idea of ourselves being elevated, but the true elevation comes when we elevate others with us. All of these things are food for thought as we read and meditate upon naso, to elevate, to lift up. If you would like to know more about the grace of naso, you can pray with me: Heavenly Father, You made a provision to vindicate the innocent, and righteously judge the guilty. However, we are all guilty in our hearts, and need the forgiveness, pardon, and help of Your naso Son, Jesus. He said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." (Jn. 12:32). Fill me with Your Spirit, so that I can walk in the truth of elevation in Christ. You sent Your Son, so that I might be raised up with Him (Eph. 2:6). Let me be slow to accuse, and quick to elevate in forgiveness and prayer. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."