Zeal

     This Sabbath reading portion, Pinchas, was a challenge, but what secrets it held! What is it saying to us, and how are we to apply the lesson to our walk of faith?

     Last week, we read about Balaam and King Balak. The king hired the soothsayer Balaam to curse the multitude of Israelites who had encamped next to his nation. Balaam refused to speak anything other than what the LORD told him to speak. However, scripture also tells us that Balaam advised King Balak on how to destroy the Israelites from within by sending Moabite/Midianite women to seduce and eventually separate the men of Israel from God. This plot is revealed to us when Moses angrily confronted the captains of the armies of Israelites after they returned from defeating the Midianites: "And Moses said to them: 'Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor (see below), and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD." (Num. 31:15-16). This Sabbath reading portion is titled Pinchas, or "Phinehas", a grandson of Aaron the priest, whose name means "mouth of brass", but we will look further into the meaning of his name later. 

     The story of Pinchas/Phinehas begins in Numbers 25: "Now Israel remained in Shittim (also meaning Acacia Grove/Grove of scourging thorns), and the people began to commit harlotry (zana - whoredom, commit fornication, great whore [see Rev. 17:1-6], cult prostitute, commit adultery or idolatry, go whoring after) with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined (samad - to bind, join, fasten, attach oneself, to be bound to, to serve) to Ba'al Peor (Ba'al peor/pa'ar - "lord of the gap", Moabite deity worshipped with licentious rites, mountain peak and cleft in Moab/to open wide, to gape, to open the mouth like ravenous beasts, of Hades), and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel." (v. 1-3).

     One of the Hebrew meanings shown above associated with Ba'al of Peor is to gape open the mouth like a ravenous beast. Psalm 22, is a prophetic Psalm depicting the crucifixion of Messiah/Christ. It was written by Daivd approximately one thousand years before the birth of Christ. It contains the verses: "Many bulls (par/parar - bull, bullock, fierce, breaking forth with wild strength, ferocity/break, make utterly void, shatter, break asunder, dissolve, divide, make ineffectual, to violate, defeat, destroy, make of none effect, break covenant) have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan (area of fertility and fruitfulness) have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion." (v. 12-13). Also, the Canaanite false god Ba'al is often shown in the form of a bull.

     The prophet Isaiah also describes Hell/Sheol/the place of death as enlarging and opening its mouth in order to receive people: "Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure." (Isa. 5:14). 

     As we can see from the Hebrew meanings above, this would be a great abomination in the eyes of the LORD as the LORD watched His people attaching themselves to this ancient and evil spirit of destruction. It is an ancient evil that denies Messiah/Christ and attempts to rob people of covenant with God and salvation. It is of antichrist. We associate the term "antichrist" with a single person, and a future apocalypse. The apostle John also associates this term with a spirit: "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist (antichristos - the adversary/opponent of the Messiah/Christ, a most pestilent being) is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us...but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." (1 Jn. 2:18-19). According to John, the antichrists were within the believers of Christ but were not really a part of the believers, just as those who were seduced to worship Ba'al in this Sabbath reading portion came out of God's covenant people but were never part of them, or chose to cease their covenant with God. Perhaps, like Ba'al, antichrists, seek fertile spiritual soil in which to reproduce. The church by its calling and purpose is to be very fruitful. God help us not to be a place used by evil to reproduce its fruit.

     As we read that this abomination took place while God's people were encamped in Shittim (see meaning above), it became like the "scourging thorns" that were used to crown Jesus in mockery before He was crucified. There is something going on here that is very serious as we continue to look at the Hebrew language and letters. The LORD said to Moses: "Take all the leaders of the people and hang (yaqa',yaqa' - hang, alienated, be out of joint [see Ps. 22:14-15], to be dislocated, to execute slowly, to impale, to abandon [see Ps. 22:1, Mt. 27:45-46]) the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.' So Moses said to the judges of Israel, 'Every one of you kill his men who were joined (see samad above) to Ba'al of Peor." (Num. 25:4-5).

     This may seem harsh and extreme to some and difficult to understand, but let's keep reading the account in Numbers 25 about Pinchas/Phinehas to see what truly is at stake here.

     All of Israel was weeping at the door of the tabernacle because of this terrible thing that was happening when an Israelite man presented (qarab - enter into, draw near, bring near, join, approach, of conjugal intercourse) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-a-Midianite-woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel." (v. 6). Not only did the man bring the woman into the congregation but also did so before the door of the tabernacle! The Midianite woman is designated as being associated with the Messiah/Christ by the written aleph-tav preceding, but instead, she is one of the women that the enemy king Balak used to commit abomination and to corrupt the worship and relationship of the Israelites with God. We see this again in the Book of Revelation when the Lord Jesus rebukes His church for holding "the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block (skandalon - any person or thing by which one is entrapped into error and sin, the movable stick of trigger of a trap that has been set) before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality." (Rev. 2:14). 

     When Pinchas/Phinehas saw what the man had done by bringing the Midianite woman before the people and the tabernacle, he rose and took a javelin in his hand; "and he went after the man of Israel into the tent (quba/qabab - large vaulted tent, princely tent, bedchamber/to utter a curse against, curse, to malign, to pierce, to perforate, to stab with words) and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body/belly (qoba/qabab - stomach, belly, abdomen/to curse, utter a curse against, to malign, to pierce, to perforate, to stab with words). So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died were twenty-four thousand." (v. 7-9). The javelin likely passed through the woman's womb or reproductive area. 

     The tent that the man and woman ran into has the meaning of "a princely tent". These two people are later identified as the son and daughter of leaders of their people. The man, Zimri ("my music", celebrated in song/praise, sing forth, sing psalms), was the son of the head of the Israelite tribe of Simeon (meaning "to hear, accept and obey diligently"), and the woman, Cozbi ("my lie", false, lying/be a liar, deceive, disappointing as water that is quickly drying up), was the daughter of the head of a father's house among the Midianites/Moabites. (see v. 14-15). So "the song of praises to God" were being joined to "the liar, the deceiver". The tent mentioned here was also a "large vaulted tent" or "bedchamber" according to the Hebrew meaning. This is perhaps also a resemblance to the womb, which has a vaulted shape within a woman's body.

     God's covenant people Israel carried the Seed and were purposed to bring forth Messiah/Christ for the whole world. They were extremely fruitful and multiplied in number, even while slaves in Egypt. The church of believers in Messiah/Christ, both Jew and Gentile, have been given the purpose by Jesus of bearing abundant fruit as well (see Jn. 15:4-8), and being the good soil in which the Seed of the Word of God may prosper and multiply (see Lk. 8:11-15, Mt. 13:23).

     The bellies of God's people are to pour forth "rivers of living water". (see Jn. 7:37-39). The Midianite woman's belly, however, would pour forth curses against God and His people instead. Again, in Revelation, Jesus rebukes a church which has allowed a woman whom He calls Jezebel (meaning "Baal exalts", "Baal is husband", "unchaste") within it. This woman calls herself a prophetess, "to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and she did not repent...I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works." (Rev. 2:20-23). Again we see the idea of a spiritual evil (antichrist, Ba'al) using the princely, vaulted chamber (see quba/qabab above) of the fertility and fruitfulness of the church in order to reproduce itself, having "children". 

     The Lord destroys the adders' nests of eggs (see Isa. 59:3-5), and condemns vipers, as He called the religious leaders of His day, who kept the people from salvation, and made sons of Hell (Mt. 23:15). This is a Messiah/Christ who will fight against the demons of Hell and their nests of reproduction, in order to protect His sheep - just as David reached into the mouths of lions to rescue the lamb of his flock. David told King Saul: "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine (referring to Goliath) will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. (1 Sam. 17:34-36). 

     The LORD said of Pinchas/Phinehas: "Phinehas....has turned back (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-My-wrath from the children of Israel, because He was zealous (qana - jealous, provoked to jealous anger, burning with zeal) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-with/for- My-zeal/sake among them, so that I did not consume (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for His God, and made atonement (kapar - atonement, purge, reconciliation, pardon, forgive, merciful, cleansed) for the children of Israel." (Num. 25:10-13). 

     The zeal that Phinehas had for the LORD became an atonement for Israel. It took zeal in the heart of only one man to spare all of the children of Israel. The Hebrew letters that make up the name Pinchas (Phinehas) are pe, nun, cheth, samek. The meanings of the individual letters when joined together can mean: "The mouth of strength that protects (and supports) with a dividing arrow the sprouting seed of the Heir to the Throne." We are also told to have zeal for our faith. Jesus commanded His church: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I chasten. Therefore be zealous (zeloo/zelos - zealously affect, desire, covet earnestly, be zealous in pursuit of good, to strive after, to have warmth of feeling/fervent mind, fervent of spirit, having an ardor for) and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3:18-20).

     The apostles also wrote to the church of having zealousness for the Lord Jesus, and for their saving faith in Him. (see Gal. 4:18-19, Titus 2:11-15, Jude 1:3). Apostle Paul wrote: "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good...not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit (see zeloo/zelos above) serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." (Rom. 12:9-14, excerpt).

     We have not been given a javelin to hurl at people, as was the case with Pinchas/Phinehas, who was a shadow and type, because the weapons of our warfare are not natural/carnal, but spiritual and our warfare is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places. However, we have been given the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. The Word of God became flesh as Messiah/Christ Jesus (see Jn. 1:14). Jesus has already won the victory for us (see Col. 2:13-15, 1 Cor. 15:54-57) and is in us. He has been given to us for us to desire and to covet earnestly, fervently, and with great ardor (see zeloo/zelos above). The fruitfulness of the church of believers is not carnal or fleshly either (see Gal. 5:19-21), but of the Spirit of God, sent to us by Jesus. Those fruits of the Spirit of God are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering/patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Gal. 5:22-25, see also Rom. 12:9-14 quoted above). 

     If you would like to learn more about having zealousness in this present age, you can pray with me: "Blessed Father, You have given me Your Son, Jesus, to dwell in me and I in Him. He is the sprouting Seed of salvation, the Heir to the Throne to the Kingdom of God. You, Father, have made me a joint-heir with Messiah/Christ, to abide in the vine of Christ in order to bear abundant fruit for Your Kingdom. Father, help me to zealously protect, support that Seed of Christ, as Phinehas did, and to reproduce it, bearing the fruits of Your Spirit, and not the fruit of flesh and corruption. Forgive me, Lord, when I have given way to spirits of corruption and cursing, and have given them entrance into Your holy courts. Let Your rivers of living water flow out of me instead. I ask these things in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13. 

I would also like to recommend for additional reading and entry from the Mending The Breach blog, written by The Berean, titled The Blood Moon Bride. 

Remnant

Often our eyes become focused on the horrible events happening across the world. Right has become wrong, and wrong has become right, and often it seems that the Church is silent. However, this week's Sabbath reading, titled Pinchas, which is the Hebrew version of the name Phinehas, focuses our eyes on something else - the faithful "remnant" of God. No matter how far astray God's people had gone from Him, He assured us in His Word that He always had a remnant, or preserved remainder, who continued to worship Him, remain obedient to Him, and accomplish great things in His name. We will see the qualities that make up the faithful remnant from this Sabbath's reading. From Number 25, we read that the congregation of the children of Israel had begun to join with idolatrous Moabite women. As they joined themselves to these idolators, the Israelites began to worship the Moabite god, Ba'al, instead of the God of Israel. In last week's entry, we read that Balak, the king of Moab, and also the Midianite people, sought out a soothsayer named Balaam, to get him to curse the Israelites for a reward. God did not allow Balaam to curse His people, but Balaam, we find out later in scripture, told the king of Moab how he could destroy God's people from within the congregation by sending the idolatrous Moabite women into their midst (see Num. 31:16). The Israelites would then leave the worship of their God and turn to the false god, Ba'al, Balaam promised the king. Jesus warned the Church that this kind of strategy is still being used to try to destroy the Body of Christ from within, turning the Church away from the Word of God to embrace the lies of men and devils (see Rev. 2:14-15). Once we fall for a lie, we fall period. This is what the Israelites experienced. As they joined themselves to the Moabite women, they also joined themselves to Ba'al: "...the women of Moab...invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to (samad - to fasten to, attach oneself to, to combine with) Ba'al of Pe'or, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. Scripture later tells us that the god Ba'al also required the sacrifice of living children in fire (see Jer. 19:4-6, Jer. 32:35, 2 Chron. 28:1-3). As a result of their idolatry, a plague broke out among the congregation of the children of Israel. One man dared to bring his Midianite woman in front of Moses and the weeping congregation standing before the tabernacle. "When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel and the Midianite woman, into the tent, and thrust both of them through...So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand." (Num. 25:6-9). The LORD said: "Phinehas...has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My Zeal. Therefore...behold, I give to him My covenant of peace;... to him and his descendants... a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel." (v. 11-13). Phinehas, out of the whole congregation, acted in zeal (qana -jealousy) for God. God allowed the zeal of Phinehas to satisfy His own, and the plague was stopped. A remnant is zealous for God. However, we are not zealous with natural javelins hurled into flesh and blood. The remnant of the new covenant in Christ is a remnant of the Spirit of God. This remnant does not use natural weapons, but spiritual weapons against spiritual powers, and that warfare begins within ourselves, through our obedience. By this spiritual warfare, we "make atonement" for many. This warfare is so powerful that it pulls down evil spiritual powers and strongholds over whole nations (2 Cor. 10:3-6, Eph. 6:11-18). Although this is spiritual warfare, it comes from the same place of zeal within the remnant as the zeal of Phinehas. The remnant is not here to gaze in horror at the trainwreck of wickedness in the world, but to spiritually act in the zeal of God. In another portion of this Sabbath's reading in Numbers 27, five daughters of Zelophehad (meaning "first born"), were denied their father's inheritance because they were not numbered among the men of Israel. As a result of that omission, they came before Moses and stood for their deceased father's inheritance saying: "Our father died in the wilderness; but he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the LORD...Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son?..." (v. 1-4). Moses brought the issue before God and the LORD agreed with Zelophehad's daughters, and commanded that they should receive the inheritance in their father's name. Not only did they inherit, but it became the commandment of God that if a man died with no son, his inheritance should go to his daughter(s) (v. 7-8). A faithful remnant brings an injustice before God, and not only causes the injustice to be changed for themselves, but, as a result of the power of God's righteousness, for many others at the same time. In the same manner, the faithful remnant of the new covenant also stands in the inheritance of the Father's Firstborn Son, Jesus, not only on their own behalf, but on the behalf of many, even all creation (see Rom. 8:16-21, Eph. 1:11-14, Gal. 3:26-29). In another portion from this Sabbath's reading, the great prophet of Israel, Elijah, became overcome with fear and with bitterness against the people of Israel, believing that only he was left to defend the LORD before a wicked, and idolatrous queen and her false prophets (1 Kings 19:10, 14). In bitterness he prayed that he might die, that he had had enough! (1 Kings 19:1-4). It was wrong for Elijah to despise the people, because he was unintentionally despising the remnant in the midst of the people. Although he was a prophet, Elijah was unaware that God had kept a remnant for Himself among the people. God answered Elijah: "Yet I have reserved ( sa'ar- remain, remnant, survive, spare, keep over, to leave as a gift, reserve) seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Ba'al, and every mouth that has not kissed him." (v. 18). The LORD then commanded Elijah to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place (v. 16). Elijah was to be removed from his position, and, in a miraculous way, he would be called home to God. In the first chapter of Isaiah, the LORD reveals His Word to the prophet regarding the nation of Israel's evil ways and rebellion against God (v. 2-4). As a result, the nation had been stricken with terrible spiritual wounds (v. 5-6). The nation was desolate in the sight of God, with this exception: "Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah..." (v. 7-9). In our despair over rampaging sin and violence, we tend to forget about the remnant of God, and its purpose. However, God does not forget. Their presence in a nation can act as a restraint against total destruction, as the LORD revealed to Isaiah, above. In this case, the LORD directed the remnant into repentance. Would they obey and heed the LORD for the sake of the land? Phinehas made atonement for the people by the zeal of the LORD. In this example From Isaiah 1, atonement could be made by the remnant only through repentance. Do we understand the responsibility and the grace of God given to His remnant? Paul had to remind the smug and prideful Gentile Church that God had a remnant in Israel which He had not forgotten, beloved for the sake of the fathers, called to receive salvation, and that He would keep His promise that "All Israel shall be saved." (Rom. 11:5, 26, 28-29). The hidden remnant in Israel that Paul recognized would act as a seed of salvation for all Israel. Micah 5:7 describes His remnant as being "...like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass..." in the midst of many peoples. God always has a remnant in the earth, although we may not always see or know them. The remnant stands with and for the LORD, and brings changes to the earth. If you would like to know more about being part of the remnant of God, you can join me in my prayer: "Heavenly Father, You have called a remnant in Your Son, Jesus, led by Your Holy Spirit, to stand in the earth among the people and the nations. Show me how to walk as part of Your remnant, zealous in the Spirit, but not warring against flesh and blood, standing for the name and inheritance of our Father, not to consume it upon myself, but for the benefit of many. In these challenging times, help me to pray for the remnant so that we will walk in obedience, wisdom, truth, and revelation. I ask these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."