Rabbi's Drash

Chukkat Balak

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5 7 6 9

Numbers 19:1-25:9
 

This portion takes place 39 years after the 12 spies had gone in to reconnoiter the land... in the 40th year in the wilderness, just before entering the Promised Land. Miriam and Aharon had died and now Moshe is being prepared for his death before the people can enter the land. Our sages have great difficulty believing that what Moshe did was such a big sin that he was denied entry. Why was losing his temper such a big deal? All the generation who had left Egypt had died in the wilderness and Moshe was now speaking to the new generation. They didn't need to be treated like the older generation who had been so rebellious. Yes they too were complaining but Moses had lost his temper before. What was so different now? And in comparison to the others, why was his treatment to harsh? The people of Israel had seen G-d's Hand in everything. Even though they complained, he could have easily reasoned with them like a loving father explaining G-d's miracles again. He really didn't need to get so upset but he was fed up. It is understandable and there are many leader who go through the same thing; but this type of behavior is an indication that a leader needs to leave. Here G-d was changing the old guard. He was telling Moshe….you've had it, now let a younger man take over. You did a good job. Come home to your rest. It is also important to understand that the more that is given to you, the more that is required from you. Moshe had been placed in a very important position by G-d. His action of striking the rock twice to bring forth water instead of simply speaking to it, was showing the people that he was the one in control, and that he was not trusting that G-d would do it . He was usurping the Glory that should have gone to the Creator. It was time that Moses left (Num 287:14; Deut 32:51). Humans have the tendency to make people and things into gods and G-d did not want Israel to made Moses into an idol. In Numbers 21: 5 we read …"they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" Take note that this generation was never in Egypt. They were the new generation. So the Lord sent venomous snakes which bit the people and many died. It continues in verses 7-9 "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." Yeshua was referring to this when in John 3:14, he said "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up…" In 2 Kings 1:-4 we read "In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan). Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for bronze and snake and unclean thing referring to niddah, women's menstruation. In the Wisdom of Solomon 16: [5] Even when the fearful rage of wild animals overtook them and they were perishing from the bites of the writhing snake, your retribution did not continue to the end. [6] Affliction struck them briefly, by way of warning, and they had a saving token to remind them of the commandment of your Torah, [7] for whoever turn to it was saved, not by what he looked at, but by You, The Saviour of all [13] Yes, You are the One with the power over life and death bringing to the gates of Hades and back again. Here it is clear that it is only G-d who has the power to save us and to give us life and death. Have you heard the question…" what happened to the Jewish people to make them so blind that they cannot see the Jesus Christ of Christianity as the true Messiah? How can they be so hard headed that they rejected something that is so obvious?" For me the answer is just as obvious…the Jewish community is being presented with Nehustan as the savior instead of the true Savior. Israel cannot accept idea of the man lifted up on the cross who so clearly resembles the bronze serpent as their Messiah. We are being told…look up to the cross and be saved instead of look to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be saved. They cry out to us…"you have to have faith!" and we say, "Faith in what?" This has created so much confusion. We haven't understood which god we are being asked to believe in. We know that Yeshua provided the "means and way" through which we can be saved BUT when the "means and the Way" becomes the god we face idolatry and not the G-d of Israel. Yes. Messianic Jews believe in the Messiah. His coming was a pivotal moment in history. Nehustan is so embedded with Messianic prophecies and is so important in understanding how we see Jesus today. Before Yeshua came to earth the idea of healing coming through the bronze serpent being lifted up was well understood in Israel. The purpose of this teaching is that we need to be very careful that in our own zeal to worship G-d we do not become idolaters. Sometimes we emphasize the symbols more than G-d. There are sects that do that with the Sabbath which becomes the object to worship instead of G-d who gave us the day of rest. What is your idol of choice…food, your children, your parents, your spouse, an idea, money, position, your time, illness…? Today we have made our own Nehustan but we can never be renewed by these gods. There is only one G-d who can give us new life.    May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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