Aliyah Reviee 22:39-23:12
Num
22:39 And Bilʽam went with Balaq, and they came to Qiryath Ḥutsoth – (city of streets-
creates impression that this was a busy place)
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.
“High place worship is
a false system that rebels against YHVH’s call to go up to Yerushalayim.” It is
not based on worshiping YHVH in spirit and in truth – Yoch 4:23
Today “high places”
could be considered to be places that offer up a kind of religion which in
essence opposes the instructions of the way Messiah taught Torah.
The prophet speaks
directly to this problem in a very graphic and almost crude way.
Eze 16:24 that you also built an arched(Hb “gav”) place
for yourself, and made a high place in every street for yourself.
Eze 16:25 “You built your high places at the head of
every way, and made your loveliness to be loathed. And you parted(opened wide)
your feet(or legs) to everyone who passed by, and increased your whorings.
“Gav” or arched building was commonly known as a
place of idol worship as well as a brothel.
“High place” was a place of false worship – A place
of worship with a high tower.
A false place of worship is a place where you
received an impure or mixed “seed.”
Pro 29:18 Where there is no vision,(Hb “chazon” or
heavenly communication of Torah) the people are let loose,(become spiritually immoral)
But blessed is he who guards the Torah.
“
Proverbs 29:18 teaches that when a nation is without the Torah of YHVH, the
people become unbridled and give free expression to their sinful desires. They
become lawless and rush towards anarchy and destruction. YHVH’s Torah empowered
by the Ruach Ha Kodesh (the Set apart Spirit) has the power to restrain man so
that he does not give free reign to the lusts of his flesh.”
High places are
strongholds in our thought patterns often brought through pagan influences and
the Torahless teachings of religion.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
fight according to the flesh.
2Co 10:4 For the weapons we fight with are not fleshly
but mighty in Elohim for overthrowing strongholds,
2Co 10:5 overthrowing reasonings and every high matter
that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, taking captive every
thought to make it obedient to the Messiah,
2Co 10:6 and being ready to punish all disobedience,
when your obedience is complete.1 Footnote: 1John 3:36. (disobedience to what? - Torah!)
Eze 16:32 “The wife who commits adultery who takes
strangers instead of her husband!
Eze 16:33 “To all whores they give gifts, but you gave
gifts to all your lovers, and bribed them to come to you from all around in
your whorings.
Eze 16:34 “Thus you are different from other women in
your whorings, because no one whores after you, and in you giving a gift, while
a gift was not given to you. Thus you are different.”
Eze 16:35 ‘Therefore, O whore, hear the word of יהוה!
YHVH is speaking to Yisrael.
We have opened up our hearts(legs) to receive a
strange seed or a mixed seed. – You cannot sow two different seeds in the same
field. Lev 19:19
The Torah is the perfect seed and cannot be mixed
with other seed.
Psa 19:7 The Torah of יהוה is perfect,
bringing back the being;
Perfect law of liberty - Jas
1:25 But he that looked into the perfect
Torah, that of freedom,1 and continues in it, not becoming a hearer
that forgets, but a doer of work, this one shall be blessed in his doing of
the Torah. Footnote: 1See 2:12.
Num 23:1 And
Bilʽam said to Balaq, “Build seven altars for
me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
Num 23:2 And
Balaq did as Bilʽam had spoken, and Balaq and Bilʽam offered a bull and a ram
on each altar.
Num 23:3
Bilʽam then said to Balaq, “Stand by your burnt offering, and let me go
on. It might be that יהוה does come to
meet me, and whatever He shows me I shall declare to you.” And he went to a
bare height.
Num 23:4 And
Elohim came to Bilʽam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars,
and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
ד וַיִּקָּר אֱלֹהִים,
אֶל-בִּלְעָם; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֶת-שִׁבְעַת הַמִּזְבְּחֹת עָרַכְתִּי, וָאַעַל
פָּר וָאַיִל, בַּמִּזְבֵּחַ.
Note the past tense of verbs used by YHVH – He HAS
offered up a bull and a ram.
“It
doesn't say, "I have prepared seven altars," but "I have
prepared the seven altars." Balaam said to YHVH: The ancestors of
this people built You seven altars, and I have prepared the equivalent of them
all. Abraham built four (Genesis 12:7, 12:8, 13:18 and at Mount Moriah [22:9]);
Isaac built one (ibid. 26:25); and Jacob built two--on at Shechem (ibid. 33:20)
and one at Beth-El (ibid. 35:7).” Rashi.
Bilam in vs 1 is hinting at
replacing the seven altars that YHVH instructed the patriachs to erect
specifically to confirm the covenant between Himself and Yisrael.
This is possibly a hidden revelation of ‘replacement
theology.” See how Bilaam tries to replace the covenantal promises YHVH made
with Yisrael. Bilaam seeks to establish new covenantal order without the Torah
and without Yisrael.
Num 23:5 And יהוה put a word in
the mouth of Bilʽam, and said, “Return to Balaq, and this is what you say.”
Num 23:6 And he
returned to him and saw him standing by his burnt offering, he and all the
heads of Mo’aḇ.
Num 23:7 And he
took up his proverb and said, “Balaq
the sovereign of Mo’aḇ has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the
east. ‘Come, curse Yaʽaqoḇ for me, and come, rage at Yisra’ĕl!’
“A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and
concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on
common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often
metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be
known as a maxim.”
Num 23:8 “How do I
curse whom Ěl has not cursed? And how do I rage at whom יהוה has not raged?
Num 23:9 “For from
the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I observe him. Look, a
people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations.
Num 23:10 “Who shall
count the dust of Yaʽaqoḇ, and the number
of one-fourth of Yisra’ĕl? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my
end be like his!”
Num 23:11 And
Balaq said to Bilʽam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my
enemies, and look, you have kept on blessing!”
Num 23:12 And he
answered and said, “Should I not take heed to speak what יהוה has put in my
mouth?”
Bilaam standing on the mountain peak is not filled with
dread or fear but with an overwhelming sense of jubilant praise to the Almighty
as he beholds Yisrael. Bilaam recognizes that Yisrael is different from all
other nations through its laws and instructions and that the Almighty has given
Israel to separate them from all other nations to Himself for His purpose.
“shall not be recognized among the nations” the hitpael
verb “hitchashav” is used and means to “consider
or recon itself.” This is the only place in the Torah and in the Tenach that
this hitpael verb is used, perhaps reminding us that those who have been
grafted into the root of Yisrael (Rom 11) are the only people who can consider
themselves as different from all other peoples. Note“different” but not
“superior.” It is our covenant relationship with YHVH that makes us different.
According to the Hertz Chumash page 675 – the scholars
explain how the Hebrew word for “four” is very similar to the Aramaic word for
“ashes” – Read in that context, the verse makes more sense.
Num
23:13 And Balaq said to him, “Please
come with me to another place from where you see them. You only see the
extremity but not all of them. Curse them for me from there
Num 23:14 And he took him to the field of Tsophim,
(“watchers” see Book of Enoch) to the top of Pisgah,(cast of restraint) and
built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Num
23:15 And he said to Balaq, “Stand here
by your burnt offering while I meet over there.” Num 23:16 And יהוה came to Bilʽam, and put a word in his
mouth, and said, “Go back to Balaq, and say this.” Num 23:17 So he went to him and saw him standing by his
burnt offering, and the heads of Mo’aḇ with him. And
Balaq asked
him, “What did יהוה say?”
Num 23:18 And he
took up his proverb and said, “Rise up, Balaq, and hear! Listen to me, son of
Tsippor! Num 23:19 “Ěl is not a man, to lie; nor a son of man, to repent! Has He
said, and would He not do it; or spoken, and would not confirm it?
Num 23:20 “See, I
have received, to bless. And He has blessed, and I do not reverse it. Num 23:21
“He has not looked upon wickedness in Yaʽaqoḇ, nor has He seen trouble in
Yisra’ĕl. יהוה his Elohim is
with him, and the shout of a Sovereign is in him.
Midrash: This verse is possibly saying that YHVH looks at
their iniquity in such a way as to provide a deliverance for them – because a
King will come who has the authority to take this iniquity away from them –
Yahshua.
Num 23:22 “Ěl who
brought them out of Mitsrayim, is for them like the horns of a wild ox.
Num 23:23 “For
there is no sorcery against Yaʽaqoḇ, nor is there any divination against
Yisra’ĕl. Now it is said to Yaʽaqoḇ and to Yisra’ĕl, ‘What has Ěl done!’
Num 23:24 “Look, a
people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it lies not down
until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
Num 23:25 And
Balaq said to Bilʽam, “Do not curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”
Num 23:26 And
Bilʽam answered and said to Balaq, “Have I not spoken to you, saying, ‘All that
יהוה speaks, that I
do’?”
Aliyah Shishi 23:27-24:14
Num 23:27 And Balaq said to Bilʽam, “Please come, let
me take you to another place. It might be right in the eyes of Elohim that you
curse them for me from there.”
Num 23:28
And Balaq took Bilʽam to the top of Peʽor, that overlooks the wasteland.
Num 23:29 And Bilʽam said to Balaq, “Build seven alters
for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
Num 23:30
And Balaq did as Bilʽam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each
altar.
Num 24:1 And when Bilʽam saw that it pleased יהוה to bless
Yisra’ĕl, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set
his face toward the wilderness.
Num 24:2 And
Bilʽam lifted up his eyes and saw Yisra’ĕl encamped according to their tribes.
And the Spirit of Elohim came upon him.
Num 24:3 And he
took up his proverb and said, “The saying of Bilʽam, son of Beʽor, and the
saying of the man whose eyes are opened,
Num 24:4 the
saying of him who hears the words of Ěl, who sees the vision of the Almighty,
who falls down, with eyes opened wide:
Num 24:5 “How good
are your tents, O Yaʽaqoḇ, your dwellings, O Yisra’ĕl!
Num 24:6 “Like
wadis that stretch out, like gardens by a river, like aloes planted by יהוה, like cedars
beside waters.
Num 24:7 “He makes
water flow from his buckets, and his seed is in many waters. His sovereign is
higher than Aḡaḡ, and his reign is exalted.
Num 24:8 “Ěl who
brought him out of Mitsrayim is for them like the horns of a wild ox; he
devours nations, his enemies; and he breaks their bones, and with his arrows he
smites.
Num 24:9 “He bowed
down, he lay down like a lion. And, like a lion, who would rouse him? Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed
is he who curses you.”
Num 24:10 Then the
displeasure of Balaq burned against Bilʽam, and he struck his hands together.
Balaq then said to Bilʽam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, and see, you
have kept on blessing, these three times!
Num 24:11 “And now
flee to your place. I said I would greatly esteem you, and see, יהוה has kept you
back from esteem.”
Num 24:12 And
Bilʽam said to Balaq, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to
me, saying,
Num 24:13 ‘If
Balaq should give me his house filled with silver and gold, I am unable to go
beyond the word of יהוה, to do either good or evil of my own heart. What יהוה speaks, that I
speak’?
Num 24:14 “And
now, see, I am going to my people. Come, let me advise you what this people is
going to do to your people in the latter days.” (now he is adding insult to
injury to Balak. Bilaam is now going to give the knock- out blow. Balak was
having a very bad day and it was about to get worse)
Aliyah Sheviee 24:15 – 25:9
Num 24:15 And he took up his proverb and said, “The saying of Bilʽam,
son of Beʽor, and the saying of the man whose eyes are opened,
Num 24:16
the saying of him who hears the words of Ěl, and knows the knowledge of
the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes
opened wide:
Num 24:17 “I see Him, but not now; I observe Him, but
not near. A Star shall come out of Yaʽaqoḇ, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Yisra’ĕl, and shall smite the corners of Mo’aḇ, and shall destroy all the sons
of Shĕth. (confusion)
Num 24:18
“And Eḏom shall be a possession; and Sĕʽir shall be a possession –
enemies – and Yisra’ĕl is doing mightily.
Num 24:19
“And out of Yaʽaqoḇ One shall rule and destroy the remnant from
Ar.” (‘ma ir” from the city)
Num 24:20 He
then looked on Amalĕq, and he took up his proverb and said, “Amalĕq was first
among the nations, but his latter end is to perish forever.”
Num 24:21 He
then looked on the Qĕynites, and he took up his proverb and said, “Firm is your
dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock,
Num 24:22
but Qayin is to be burned. Till when does Asshur keep you captive?”
Num 24:23
And he took up his proverb and said, “Oh, who does live when Ěl does
this?
Num 24:24
And ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, and they shall afflict
Asshur and afflict Ěḇer, and so shall Amalĕq, and he also perishes.”
Num 24:25
And Bilʽam arose and left, and returned to his place. And Balaq also
went his way.
Num 25:1 And
Yisra’ĕl dwelt in Shittim,(last halting place before they crossed the Jordon)
and the people began to whore with the daughters of Mo’aḇ,
Num 25:2 and they invited the people to the
slaughterings of their mighty ones, and the people ate and bowed down to their
mighty ones.
Num 25:3
Thus Yisra’ĕl was joined to Baʽal
Peʽor, and the displeasure of יהוה burned against Yisra’ĕl.
Num 25:4 And יהוה said to
Mosheh, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them up before יהוה, before the
sun, so that the burning displeasure of יהוה turns away
from Yisra’ĕl.”
Baal-peor
= “master(husband) of the gap”- the deity worshipped at Peor. The Torah says
that Yisrael “yoked” themselves to Baal Peor. Our forefathers made an alliance
with a demonic force that still controls most of mankind until this day.
Num 25:5 And
Mosheh said to the judges of Yisra’ĕl, “Each one of you slay his men who were
joined to Baʽal Peʽor.”
Num 25:6 And see,
one of the children of Yisra’ĕl came and brought to his brothers a Miḏyanite
woman before the eyes of Mosheh and before the eyes of all the congregation of
the children of Yisra’ĕl, who were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
Num 25:7 And when
Pineḥas, son of Elʽazar, son of Aharon the priest, saw it, he rose up from
among the congregation and took a spear in his hand,
Num 25:8 and he
went after the man of Yisra’ĕl into the tent and thrust both of them through,
the man of Yisra’ĕl, and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague among the
children of Yisra’ĕl came to a stop.
Num 25:9 And those
who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
Bilaam seems to have
succeeded in his mission to bring a curse over Yisrael. He knows YHVH will not
curse them, but he also knows that the people themselves can bring destruction
upon themselves. This would happen when they chose to follow their own lusts
and follow the pagan ways of the Midyanites. It is possible that the act was
committed in the tabernacle itself – mixture of worship can be our downfall.
This was an ancient problem in Yisrael and according to Patai: “Thus
the worship of Asherah was opposed by a faction of kings and prophets who were
devoted exclusively to Yahweh, and during those periods when they held power,
they attempted to abolish the worship of other deities, including Asherah. Over
the course of several hundred years, the statue of Asherah was repeatedly removed
and reinstalled in the Solomonic temple. Despite the sometimes violent
opposition, her statue stood in the temple for 236 years, nearly two-thirds of
the time that the temple stood in Jersusalem. According to Patai...
...her worship was a part of the legitimate religion approved and led by
the king, the court, and the priesthood and opposed by only a few prophetic
voices crying out against it at relatively long intervals.
...this elusive yet tenacious goddess to whom considerable segments of the Hebrew nation remained devoted from the days of the conquest of Canaan down to the Babylonian exile, a period of roughly six centuries. In the eyes of the Yahwists, to whom belonged a few of the kings and all of the prophets, the worship of Asherah was an abomination. It had to be, because it was a cult accepted by the Hebrews from their Canaanite neighbors, and any and all manifestations of Canaanite religion were for them anathema”.
How are we to explain the extraordinary hold Asherah exercised over the people of Israel …….?
...this elusive yet tenacious goddess to whom considerable segments of the Hebrew nation remained devoted from the days of the conquest of Canaan down to the Babylonian exile, a period of roughly six centuries. In the eyes of the Yahwists, to whom belonged a few of the kings and all of the prophets, the worship of Asherah was an abomination. It had to be, because it was a cult accepted by the Hebrews from their Canaanite neighbors, and any and all manifestations of Canaanite religion were for them anathema”.
How are we to explain the extraordinary hold Asherah exercised over the people of Israel …….?
Rev 2:14 “But I hold a few matters against you,
because you have there those who adhere to the teaching of Bilʽam, who taught Balaq
to put a stumbling-block before the children of Yisra’ĕl, to eat food
offered to idols, and to commit whoring.
Rev 2:15 “So
you also have those who adhere to the teaching of the Nikolaites, which teaching
I hate.
Rev 2:16
“Repent, or else I shall come to you speedily and fight against them
with the sword of My mouth.
Rev 2:17 “He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who
overcomes I shall give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I shall give him a
white stone, and on the stone a renewed Name written which no one knows except
him who receives it.” ’
It appears that the
biggest spiritual danger can and will come from spiritual leaders.
2Pe 2:15 having left the right way they went astray,
having followed the way of Bilʽam the son of Beʽor, who loved the
wages of unrighteousness, 2Pe 2:16 but he was rebuked for his transgression: a
dumb donkey speaking with the voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet. 2Pe
2:17 These are fountains without water,
clouds driven by a storm, to whom the blackest darkness is kept forever. 2Pe
2:18 For speaking arrogant nonsense,
they entice – through the lusts of the flesh, through indecencies (wantoness)– the ones who have
indeed escaped from those living in delusion, (leaders who have become completely spiritually corrupt and given
themselves over to delusion) 2Pe 2:19 promising
them freedom, though themselves being slaves of corruption – for one is
a slave to whatever overcomes him. 2Pe 2:20
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the
knowledge of the Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah, they
are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse
for them than the first. 2Pe 2:21 For it
would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
having known it, to turn from the set-apart command1 delivered unto them. Footnote: 1The singular “command” often
means “commands” – see 1 Tim. 6:14, Dt. 17:20, Ps. 19:8. 2Pe 2:22 For them the proverb has proved true, “A dog returns to
his own vomit,” and, “A washed sow returns to her rolling in the mud.”
Jer 12:10 “Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard,
they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion
become a deserted wilderness.1 Footnote: 1See 10:21.
Jer 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds destroying and
scattering the sheep of My pasture!”1 declares יהוה. Footnote: 1See
10:21, 50:5-6, Ezek. 34:1-23, Zech. 10:2, Mt. 9:36. Eze
34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds
of Yisra’ĕl, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus
said the Master יהוה to the
shepherds, “Woe to the shepherds1 of Yisra’ĕl who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?
Footnote: 1See Jer. 10:21.
Jer 10:21 For the shepherds have become brutish, and
they have not sought יהוה. Therefore
they did not understand, and all their flock scattered.1” Footnote: 1See
2:8, 12:10-11, 50:6-7, Ezek.34:1-23, 2 Tim. 4:3-4, 2 Peter 2:1-22. Jer
10:22 See, it has come, the voice of a
report, and a great shaking out of the land of the north, to make the cities of
Yehuḏah a waste, a habitation of jackals. Jer 10:23 O יהוה, I know the
way of man is not in himself, it is not for man who walks to direct his own
steps.
2Ti 4:3 For there shall be a time when they shall not
bear sound teaching, but according to their own desires, they shall
heap up for themselves
teachers tickling the ear,1 Footnote: 1Isa. 30:10, Jer.
5:31, Rom. 16:18. 2Ti 4:4 and they shall indeed turn their ears away
from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.
Definition of a myth:
“a widely held but false belief or idea.”