We
now come to the last Aliyah of parashat “B’ha’alotcha” Miryam,
Moshe's sister, spoke negatively of Moshes' decision to take a Cushite wife.
YHVH was highly displeased by this talk against His servant, and Miryam was
stricken with tzara'at ("leprosy") for one week.
Num 12:1 Now Miryam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh
because of the Kushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Kushite
woman.
א וַתְּדַבֵּר
מִרְיָם וְאַהֲרֹן בְּמֹשֶׁה, עַל-אֹדוֹת הָאִשָּׁה הַכֻּשִׁית אֲשֶׁר
לָקָח: כִּי-אִשָּׁה כֻשִׁית, לָקָח.
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1 And Miryam and Aaron spoke against
the reasons(ahdot) which brought about Moshes taking a Cushite woman – because he (actually) took a Cushite woman.
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Note the
feminine verb employed in the first of the passuk (verse) it implies that maybe
Miryam instigated this rebellion against Moshe and Aaron agreed to go along
with it. The Hebrew word “ahdot” implies that they were discussing amongst
themselves how Moshe could have taken the liberty to actually have taken a Cushite
woman as a companion and wife. Miryam and Aaron obviously reasoned amongst
themselves that it was a gross error of judgment on Moshe’s part and because
they also “heard” from YHVH, Moshe needed to consider the error of his ways.
Num 12:2 And they said, “Has יהוה spoken only through Mosheh? Has He not
also spoken through us?” And יהוה heard it.
This verse (2) lays the absolute foundation in this life
and age as to whether or not we have heard from YHVH.
THE TEST IS THIS: IF WHAT WE HAVE HEARD DOES NOT AGREE WITH
WHAT MOSHE HAS HEARD AND SAID – IT DOES NOT COME FROM YHVH.
The fact is that YHVH nor His Son Yahshua will ever
contradict what Moshe said, because what Moshe said he received from YHVH and
what Yahshua said he received from YHVH.
Num 12:3 And the man
Mosheh was very humble, more than
all men who were on the face of the earth.
The English word “humble” comes from the Hebrew word
“anah” and can also mean “depressed and afflicted.”
This carries a Messianic tone of suffering and laying
down one’s life for others.
There is also an interesting variation of the spelling of
the Hebrew word “anav”(from anah)as it is used in this passuk (verse). This
word can also be spelled with a “yud” (anaiv). Some commentators believe that
the use of the particular spelling in the Torah scroll was meant to draw
attention to a permutation of the root “ayin, nun vav (anav).” This can be
changed to “ayin, vav,nun sopheit”(avon) which means “iniquity” in Hebrew. One
can assume that there is also a hidden Messianic implication in this permutation
in the root letters.
Num 12:4 And suddenly יהוה said to
Mosheh, and Aharon, and Miryam, “You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting!”
So the three came out. Num 12:5 And יהוה came down in the column of cloud and stood in the door of the
Tent, and called Aharon and Miryam. And they both went forward. Num 12:6 And He said, “Hear now My words: If your
prophet is of יהוה, I make Myself known to him in a vision,
and I speak to him in a dream.
Num 12:7 “Not so
with My servant Mosheh, he is trustworthy in all My house. Num 12:8 “I speak with him mouth
to mouth, and plainly, and not in riddles. And he sees the form of יהוה. So why were
you not afraid to speak against My servant Mosheh?”
Hebrew says “pe el pe” or mouth to mouth. This remains
the evidence of whether or not we speak the truth. Are the words we speak the
same words that Moshe speaks or are they different to what Moshe speaks.
Messiah came to confirm every word that Moshe spoke – yet
tragically Moshe’s words still fall on deaf ears and even worse many have taken
the liberty to change his words or do away with them completely.
I have selected a few instructions Moshe gave us so that
we can see whether or not we speak the same words as Moshe or whether we, like Miryam
and Aaron, challenge his words.
1. (2) Exo 20:3
“You have no other mighty ones against My face”.
Yet for centuries Christians have replaced YHVH with Yahshua. Christians
have spoken against Moshe.
Exo 15:11 “Who is like You, O יהוה, among the
mighty ones? Who is like You, great in set-apartness, awesome in praises,
working wonders?
Even the
Messiah said that YHVH was greater than himself.
Joh 14:28 ….’ for My Father is greater than I.
Joh 5:19
Therefore יהושע responded and
said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son is able to do none at all by
Himself, but only that which He sees the Father doing, because whatever He
does, the Son also likewise does.
Joh 5:38 “And you do not have His Word staying in you,
because you do not believe him whom He sent.
Joh 5:39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think
you possess everlasting life in them. And these are the ones that bear witness
of Me.
Joh 5:40 “But you do not desire to come to Me in order
to possess life.
Joh 5:41 “I do not receive esteem
from men, (yet this has become the sole purpose of the church)
Joh 5:42 but I know you, that you do not have the love
of Elohim in you.
Joh 5:45 “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the
Father. There is one who accuses you: Mosheh, in whom you have set your
expectation. Joh 5:46 “For if you
believed Mosheh, you would have believed Me, since he wrote about Me.
Joh 5:47 “But if you do not believe his writings,1
how shall you believe My words?” Footnote: 1Lk. 9:33, Lk. 16:31,
Mal. 4:4-5.
2.
(3)
YHVH alone is YHVH.
Yahshua is NOT YHVH!
Deu 6:4 “Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one!
Even Yahshua
testifies to this truth.
Yoch/Joh 17:3 “And this is everlasting life, that they
should know You, the only true Elohim, and יהושע Messiah whom You have sent.
Also:
Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes coming near, hearing
them reasoning together, knowing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first (protos) command of
all?”
Mar 12:29 And יהושע answered him,
“The first of all the commands is, ‘Hear, O Yisra’ĕl, יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one.
Mar 12:30 ‘And you
shall love יהוה your Elohim
with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind, and with
all your strength.’ This is the first (protos)* command.
Mar 12:31 “And the
second, like it, is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is
no other command greater than these.” Mar 12:32
And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the
truth, for there is one Elohim, and there is no other besides Him. Mar
12:33 “And to love Him with all the
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the being, and with all the
strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is more than all the burnt
offerings and offerings.”
Mar 12:34 And when יהושע saw that he answered wisely, He said to
him, “You are not far from the reign of Elohim.” And after that no one was bold
enough to question Him.
* G4413 πρῶτος
prōtos Contracted superlative
of G4253; foremost (in time, place, order or importance): -
before, beginning, best, chief (-est), first (of all), former. In other words
on this prototype commandment all other commandments follow.
3. (7) We must not
profane His Name.
Lev 22:32 “And do not profane My set-apart Name, and I
shall be set-apart among the children of Yisra’ĕl. I am יהוה, who sets you
apart,
We might not know how to exactly pronounce
His Name (YHVH) – but why do we continue to address Him with a name that is not
His Name?
4 (13) Love
your neighbour as yourself.
Lev
19:17 ‘Do not hate your brother in your
heart. Reprove your neighbour, for certain, and bear no sin because of him.
Lev 19:18
‘Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your
people. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am יהוה.
5. (22) Study Torah.
Deu 6:6 “And these Words which I am commanding you
today shall be in your heart, Deu 6:7
and you shall impress them upon your children, and shall speak of them
when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie
down, and when you rise up ..
6. (50) Do not
erect a pillar in a public place of worship.
Deu 16:22 “And do not set up a pillar, which יהוה your
Elohim hates.
What about church towers?
7. (56) Not to make a covenant
with idolaters. (Unequally yoked)
Deu
7:1 “When יהוה your Elohim
brings you into the land which you go to possess, He shall also clear away many
nations before you: the Ḥittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Kenaʽanites
and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites and the Yeḇusites,
seven nations greater and mightier than you.
Deu 7:2 “And when יהוה your Elohim
gives them over to you, you shall smite them and put them under the ban,
completely. Make no covenant with them, and show them no favour.
8. (58) Idolaters not to dwell in the land. (Includes Jew
and non Jew)
Exo 23:33 “Let them not dwell in your land, lest they
make you sin against Me when you serve their mighty ones, when it becomes a
snare to you.”
9. (59) Not to imitate them in customs and clothing.
Lev 20:22 ‘And you shall guard all My laws and all My
right-rulings, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to dwell
does not vomit you out. Lev 20:23 ‘And
do not walk in the laws of the nation which I am driving out before you, for
they do all these, and therefore I loathed them.
10. (60) Not to be superstitious.
Lev 19:26b “Do not practise
divination or magic.”
11. (64) Do not try contact the dead.
Deu 18:10 “Let no one be found among you who makes his
son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practises divination, or
a user of magic, or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer,
Deu 18:11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a
spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
12. (70,71) Men must not wear women's
clothing and women must not wear men's clothing.
Deu 22:5 “A woman does not wear that which pertains to
a man, nor does a man put on a woman’s garment, for whoever does this is an
abomination to יהוה your Elohim.
In the Hebrew community there should be no difficulty in
immediately distinguishing between male and female.
13. (72) Do not tattoo the skin.
Lev 19:28 ‘And do not make any cuttings in your flesh
for the dead, nor put tattoo marks on you. I am יהוה.
If one observes the
increase in the world of people being tattooed – it is clear that there is a
blatant disregard and even contempt for this Torah instruction.
14. (76) To say the Shema twice daily.
Deu
6:7 and you shall impress them upon your
children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk
by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up,
15. (77) To pray every day.
Exo 23:25 “And you shall serve יהוה your Elohim, and He shall bless your bread and your water. And
I shall remove sickness from your midst.
The Hebrew word for “serve” is “avodah” can also mean to
worship. Note if we eat every day we should worship or pray every day.
16.
(79,80) To wear tefillin (phylacteries) on the head and on the arm.
Deu 6:8 and
shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between
your eyes.
17. (81) To write Torah on your doorposts and gates.
Deu
6:9 “And you shall write them on the
doorposts of your house and on your gates.
18. (84) To have tzitzit on four-cornered garments.
Num 15:38
“Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and you shall say to them to make
tzitziyot1 on the corners of their garments throughout their
generations, and to put a blue cord in the tzitzit1 of the corners.
Footnote: 1See Explanatory notes - “Tzitzit” - plural Tzitziyot. Num
15:39 “And it shall be to you for a
tzitzit, and you shall see it, and shall remember all the commands of יהוה and shall do them,
and not search after your own heart and your own eyes after which you went
whoring, Num 15:40 so that
you remember, and shall do all My commands, and be set-apart unto your Elohim.
19. (85) To bless the Almighty after eating.
Deu 8:10
“And you shall eat and be satisfied, and shall bless יהוה your Elohim
for the good land which He has given you.
20. (86)
Gen 17:10 “This is My covenant which you guard between
Me and you, and your seed after you: Every male child among you is to be
circumcised.
21. (87) To rest on the seventh day.
Exo 23:12 “Six days you are to do your work, and on the
seventh day you rest, in order that your ox and your donkey might rest, and the
son of your female servant and the sojourner be refreshed.
22. (94) To afflict oneself on Yom Kippur.
Lev 16:29 “And this shall be for you a law forever: In
the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you afflict your beings, and
do no work, the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.
23. We are to keep all the appointments of
Leviticus/Vayikra 23.
24. (128) To perform yibbum. (Marry the widow of one's
childless brother)
Deu 25:5 “When brothers dwell together, and one of
them has died, and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not become a
stranger’s outside. Her husband’s brother does go in to her, and shall take her
as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. Deu 25:6 “And it shall be that the first-born son
which she bears does rise up for the name of his dead brother, so that his name
is not blotted out of Yisra’ĕl.
Deu 25:7 “But if the man does not desire to take his
brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders,
and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in
Yisra’ĕl, he does not agree to perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ Deu
25:8 “The elders of his city shall then
call him and speak to him, and he shall stand and say, ‘I have no desire to
take her,’ Deu 25:9 then his brother’s
wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and remove his sandal
from his foot, and shall spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘Thus it is done
to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’
Deu 25:10 “And in Yisra’ĕl his name shall be called,
‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’
25. (157)
Lev 18:22 ‘And do not lie with a male as with a woman,
it is an abomination.
26. List of forbidden sexual relationships are found
in Leviticua/Vayikra 18.
Note the Scriptures do not
give a list of sexually permitted relationships.
27. To eat only kosher animals – Leviticus/Vayikra 11
30. (202) Not
to eat
Lev 22:14 ‘And when a man eats the set-apart offering
by mistake, then he shall give a set-apart offering to the priest, and add
one-fifth to it.
31. (238) Not to wear shaatnez ,
a cloth woven of wool and linen.
Deu 22:11 “Do not put on a garment of different kinds,
of wool and linen together.
32. (301) To build the Temple.
Exo 25:8 “And they shall make Me a Set-apart Place,
and I shall dwell in their midst.
33. (581) Do not
change the words of the Torah.
Deu
4:2 “Do not add to the Word which I
command you, and do not take away from it1, so as to guard the
commands of יהוה your Elohim which I am commanding you.
Footnote: 1See also 12:32, Prov. 30:6, Rev. 22:18-19.
Deu 13:1 “When there arises among you a prophet or a
dreamer of dreams, and he shall give you a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2 and
the sign or the wonder shall come true, of which he has spoken to you, saying,
‘Let us go after other mighty ones – which you have not known – and serve
them,’
Deu 13:3 do
not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for יהוה your Elohim is
trying you to know whether you love יהוה your Elohim
with all your heart and with all your being. Deu 13:4 “Walk after יהוה your Elohim
and fear Him, and guard His commands and obey His voice, and serve Him and
cling to Him. Deu 13:5 “And that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams is put to death, because he has spoken
apostasy against יהוה your Elohim.Deu
32:46 he said to them, “Set your heart
on all the words with which I warn you today, so that you command your children
to guard to do all the Words of this Torah.
Deu 32:47
“For it is not a worthless Word for you, because it is your life, and by
this Word you prolong your days on the soil which you pass over the Yardĕn to
possess.”
34.
(586) A rebellious son.
Deu 21:18
“When a man has a wayward and rebellious son who is not listening to the
voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have
disciplined him, does not listen to them, Deu 21:19 then his father and his mother shall take
hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his
city, Deu 21:20 and shall say to the
elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is wayward and rebellious. He is not
listening to our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Deu 21:21 “Then all the men of his city shall stone him
to death with stones. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst. And let
all Yisra’ĕl hear, and fear.
35.
(596) Destroy Canaanite nations.
Deu 20:17
but you shall certainly put them under the ban: the Ḥittite and the Amorite
and the Kenaʽanite and the
Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite and the Yeḇusite, as יהוה your Elohim
has commanded you,
36.
(601) Not to dwell permanently in Mitsrayim/Egypt.
Deu 17:16
“Only, he is not to increase horses for himself, nor cause the people to
return to Mitsrayim to increase horses, for יהוה has said to
you, ‘Do not return that way again.’
These 36 commandments are just a sample of the 613
commandments. We also understand that many of the commandments can only be
fulfilled when the temple and priesthood is restored. We cannot and should not
try to change any one of the 613 or more commandments Moshe gave under the
pretense that we also “hear from YHVH.” The Ruach Ha Kodesh will not lead
anyone contrary to what the Torah says.
Back to our Torah portion:
Num 12:9 And the displeasure of יהוה burned against
them, and He left. Num 12:10 And the
cloud turned away from above the Tent, and look: Miryam was leprous, as white
as snow! And Aharon turned toward Miryam, and look: a leper! Num 12:11 And Aharon said to Mosheh, “Oh, my master!
Please do not hold against us the sin in which we have done foolishly and in
which we have sinned. Num 12:12 “Please
do not let her be as one dead when coming out of its mother’s womb, with our
flesh half consumed!” Num 12:13 And
Mosheh cried out to יהוה, saying, “O Ěl, please heal her, please!” Num
12:14 And יהוה said to
Mosheh, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven
days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after that let her be
readmitted.” Num 12:15 And Miryam was
shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miryam
was readmitted. Num 12:16 And afterward
the people departed from Ḥatsĕroth, and they camped in the Wilderness of
Paran.