1/04/2018

Parashat 40 Portion 116 - Balak – B’Midbar 22:2-40 Michah 7:16-20 1Pet 5:5-7



Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch ata YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah.)


Balak - means “destroyer”

Perhaps the greatest destruction has and is still to come upon mankind because of the misrepresentation of THE ONE TRUE FAITH and how only the one true Messiah – Yahshua - is the full embodiment and revealer of this one true faith.
The spirit of “Balak” is still alive and well on planet earth, especially in the Christian church.

Yahshua clearly came to destroy the works of evil – see 1 Jn 3:8- and Yahshua came to bring healing and reconciliation and wholeness to mankind – but this has clearly been hindered and misunderstood. It will not always be this way.

In these days there is clearly a group of people who are seriously seeking to know who Yahshua really is. He is the only antidote to the poison of evil. (see previous parashah on how healing for rebellion came by looking upon a bronze serpent raised on a pole – Numbers/B’Midbar 28:8)

The only way we will not be destroyed by the poison of the serpent and also be established in the righteousness of YHVH is to be in complete and perfect agreement with the truth concerning His only brought-forth son.

Today YHVH asks us the same question Yahshua asked his talmadim (disciples) many years ago.
 Mat 16:13  Now when יהושע came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His taught ones, saying, “Who do men say the Son of Aḏam is?”

We need to understand that the only true Assembly can built on this revelation.
We need to understand that flesh and blood cannot reveal the true essence of Messiah Yahshua to us – See Yoh 3.

Sadly many claim to know him but they don’t. If we get Yahshua wrong we get everything wrong.

This Torah portion is about this arrogance and ignorance of man towards the True Elohim of Yisrael.

“For Balak is the Parshah of the future, where evil is transformed to good and curses emerge as blessings. It is in Balak that the most beautiful verses describing the uniqueness of Israel and the specialty of their relationship with the Almighty issue out of the vile mouth of Balaam, summoned by Balak to curse the Hebrew people. And it is in Balak that the most explicit reference to the era of  Moschiach in the Five Books of Moses is found, in the form of a prophecy by the same Balaam.
"Let Moses, who loves them, rebuke them," said YHVH when the people of Israel needed rebuke, for rebuke from a loving heart is many times more effective. "And let Balaam, who hates them, bless them," for the blessing of an enemy is so much more real than a lover's praises.
In the Parshah of Balak we enter a Moshiach-like world---a world of "the greater wisdom that comes from folly, and the greater light that comes from darkness" (Ecclesiastes 2:13).
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

The conclusion of this parashah is tragic, even though the people of Yisrael could not be cursed, they could self -destruct through their immoral behaviour. This has a deep spiritual application in our “marriage” to YHVH through His Covenant – The Torah.

 “Balaam’s personality is an old enigma, which has baffled the skill of commentators. It seems probable that he had from the first learned some elements of pure and true religion in his home in Mesopotamia, the cradle of the ancestors of Israel. He thus belongs, with Melchizedek, Job and Jethro, to the scattered worshippers of the true Elohim of Israel, at the same time he is represented in scripture as a heathen sorcerer, true prophet and the perverter who suggested a peculiarly abhorrent means of bringing about the ruin of Israel”

Jud 1:11  Woe to them! Because they have gone in the way of Qayin, and gave themselves to the delusion of Bilʽam for a reward, and perished in the rebellion of Qoraḥ.

Cain attacks like Esav, Bilaam is in it for the money and prestige and Korach makes it all possible by undermining the Torah of Moshe and so bringing destruction to the people of Israel. The church is obsessed in obtaining the blessing given to Israel and is too willing to destroy the credibility of the Torah and of the Jewish people.

Jud 1:12  These are rocky reefs in your love feasts, feasting with you, feeding themselves without fear, waterless clouds borne about by the winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots,
Jud 1:13  wild waves of the sea foaming up their own shame, straying stars for whom blackness of darkness is kept forever.

Number 40 (the number of this parashah) has to do with testing – We are all about to be tested.
  1. Rained 40 days flood – judgment on the world
  2. Yeshua 40 days of fasting and  wilderness after baptism, tempted by hasatan
  3. Israel 40 years in the wilderness
  4. in Midian 40 years
  5. Mosheh at Mt. Sinai 40 days
  6. Goliath defied Israel for 40 days.
  7. Jonah preaches 40 days
  8. Israel under the Philistines 40 years
  9. Mosheh in Egypt 40 years
  10. It is also understood that a woman's gestation period is forty weeks. If that is not a trial, I don't know what is. (Brad Scot)
This underscores the coming purging and testing upon mankind. This will burn away the dross and leave only that which is pure that survives the fire of testing.

1Jn 4:1  Beloved ones, do not believe every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of Elohim, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2  By this you know the Spirit of Elohim: Every spirit that confesses that יהושע Messiah has come in the flesh is of Elohim,
1Jn 4:3  and every spirit that does not confess that יהושע Messiah has come in the flesh is not of Elohim. And this is the spirit of the anti-messiah which you heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

Aliyah Rishon 22:2-12

Num 22:2  And Balaq son of Tsippor saw all that Yisra’ĕl had done to the Amorites.
Num 22:3  And Mo’aḇ was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Mo’aḇ was in dread because of the children of Yisra’ĕl.
Num 22:4  And Mo’aḇ said to the elders of Miḏyan, “Now this company is licking up all that is around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Now Balaq son of Tsippor was sovereign of the Mo’aḇites at that time,
Num 22:5  and he sent messengers to Bilʽam(means worthless people – Jer 2:5)) son of Beʽor at Pethor,(Hebrew word ‘patar’ means to interpret dreams) which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “See, a people has come from Mitsrayim. See, they have covered the surface of the land, and are settling next to me!
Num 22:6  “And now, please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too strong for me. It might be that I smite them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

So “prophetically speaking” what did Balak see that so totally overwhelmed and terrified them?

“The return of Israel to the land, the ingathering of the twelve tribes, the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the temple service AND THE RETURN OF THE MESSIAH and the proclamation and complete obedience of Torah to all nations.”

Num 22:7  And the elders of Mo’aḇ and the elders of Miḏyan left with the fees for divination in their hand, and they came to Bilʽam and spoke the words of Balaq to him.
Num 22:8  And he said to them, “Spend the night here, and I shall bring back word to you, as יהוה speaks to me.” So the heads of Mo’aḇ stayed with Bilʽam.
Num 22:9  And Elohim came to Bilʽam and said, “Who are these men with you?”
Num 22:10  And Bilʽam said to Elohim, “Balaq, son of Tsippor, sovereign of Mo’aḇ, has sent to me, saying,
Num 22:11  ‘See, a people has come out of Mitsrayim and cover the surface of the land. Come now, curse them for me. It might be that I am able to fight against them and drive them out.’ ”
Num 22:12  And Elohim said to Bilʽam, “Do not go with them. You do not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
Num 22:13  And Bilʽam rose in the morning and said to the heads of Balaq, “Go back to your land, for יהוה has refused to allow me to go with you.”
Num 22:14  And the heads of Mo’aḇ arose and went to Balaq, and said, “Bilʽam refuses to come with us.”
Num 22:15  Then Balaq again sent heads, more numerous and more esteemed than they.
Num 22:16  And they came to Bilʽam and said to him, “This is what Balaq son of Tsippor said: ‘Do not be withheld from coming to me, please,
Num 22:17  for I esteem you very greatly, and whatever you say to me, I do. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ”
Num 22:18  And Bilʽam answered and said to the servants of Balaq, “Though Balaq were to give me his house filled with silver and gold, I am unable to go beyond the word of יהוה my Elohim, to do less or more.

Note the amazing so called “obedience and  integrity” of this false prophet. This is pure evil.

Num 22:19  “And now, please, you also stay here tonight, and let me find out what more יהוה says to me.”
Num 22:20  And Elohim came to Bilʽam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them, but only the word which I speak to you that you do.”

This is one of the most dangerous things that could ever happen to someone who claims to be a believer. When YHVH changes His mind regarding something that you have asked Him for, it could be that you have sinned away your day of favour and now you have been handed over to delusion and destruction and there will never be a way back for you.

Num 22:21  And Bilʽam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey, and went with the heads of Mo’aḇ.
Num 22:22  But the displeasure of Elohim burned because he went, and the Messenger (a messenger) of יהוה stationed Himself in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
Num 22:23  And the donkey saw the Messenger of יהוה standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Bilʽam beat the donkey to turn her back onto the way.
Num 22:24  Then the Messenger of יהוה stood in a narrow passage between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side.
Num 22:25  And when the donkey saw the Messenger of יהוה, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Bilʽam’s foot against the wall, so he beat her again.
Num 22:26  And the Messenger of יהוה went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn aside, right or left.
Num 22:27  And when the donkey saw the Messenger of יהוה, she lay down under Bilʽam. So Bilʽam’s displeasure burned, and he beat the donkey with his staff.
Num 22:28  Then יהוה opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Bilʽam, “What have I done to you, that you have beaten me these three times?”
Num 22:29  And Bilʽam said to the donkey, “Because you have mocked me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for I would have killed you by now!”
Num 22:30  And the donkey said to Bilʽam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever known to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”
Num 22:31  Then יהוה opened Bilʽam’s eyes, and he saw the Messenger of יהוה standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand. And he bowed his head and fell on his face.
Num 22:32  And the Messenger of יהוה said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? See, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is reckless before Me.
Num 22:33  “And the donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, I certainly would have killed you by now, and let her live.”
Num 22:34  And Bilʽam said to the Messenger of יהוה, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. And now, if evil is in Your eyes, let me turn back.”

YHVH always seems to choose the foolish things of this world.

1Co 1:27  But Elohim has chosen the foolish matters of the world to put to shame the wise, and Elohim has chosen the weak of the world to put to shame the strong.
1Co 1:28  And Elohim has chosen the low-born of the world and the despised, and the ones that are not, that He might bring to naught the ones that are,
1Co 1:29  so that no flesh should boast in His presence.
1Co 1:30  And of Him you are in Messiah יהושע, who became for us wisdom from Elohim, righteousness also, and set-apartness and redemption,

Num 22:35  And the Messenger of יהוה said to Bilʽam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you speak.” Bilʽam then went with the heads of Balaq.
Num 22:36  And when Balaq heard that Bilʽam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Mo’aḇ, which is on the border at the Arnon, which was in the extremity of the border.
Num 22:37  And Balaq said to Bilʽam, “Did I not urgently send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to esteem you?”
Num 22:38  And Bilʽam said to Balaq, “See, I have come to you! Now, am I at all able to say somewhat? The word that Elohim puts in my mouth, that I speak.”
Num 22:39  And Bilʽam went with Balaq, and they came to Qiryath Ḥutsoth.
Num 22:40  And Balaq slaughtered cattle and sheep, and he sent some to Bilʽam and to the heads who were with him.
Num 22:41  And it came to be the next day, that Balaq took Bilʽam and brought him up to the high places of Baʽal, and from there he saw the extremity of the camp.

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn