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 of this one true faith.
The
spirit of “Balak” is still alive and well on planet earth.
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 came through 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?”
Mat 16:14 And they
said, “Some say Yoḥanan the Immerser, and others Ěliyahu, and others
Yirmeyahu or one of the prophets.”
Mat 16:15 He said
to them, “And you, who do you say I am?”
Mat 16:16 And Shimʽon
Kĕpha answering, said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living Elohim.”
Mat 16:17 And יהושע answering, said to him, “Blessed are you,
Shimʽon Bar-Yonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this
to you, but My Father in the heavens.
Mat 16:18 “And I
also say to you that you are Kĕpha, and on this rock I shall build My assembly,
and the gates of the grave shall not overcome it.
Mat 16:19 “And I
shall give you the keys of the reign of the heavens, and whatever you bind1
on earth shall be having been bound1 in the heavens, and whatever
you loosen1 on earth shall be having been loosened1 in
the heavens.” Footnote: 1Binding and loosening is Heḇrew
idiom for exercising authority (to prohibit and permit).
We need to understand that flesh and blood cannot reveal the true
essence of who Yahshua is.
Sadly many claim to know him but they don’t. If we get Yahshua wrong
we get everything wrong.
Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master,
Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the
desire of My Father in the heavens.
Mat 7:22 “Many (Gk implies the major portion) shall
say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name,
and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’
Mat 7:23 “And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never
knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!’1 Footnote: 1
See v. 15. Or Torahlessness.
Mat 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of
Mine, and does them, shall be like a wise man who built his house on the rock,
Mat 7:25 and the rain came down, and the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was
founded on the rock.
Mat 7:26 “And everyone who hears these words of Mine,
and does not do them,1 shall be like a foolish man who built his
house on the sand, Footnote: 1John 3:36.
Mat 7:27 and the rain came down, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and they beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its
fall.”
Even
many of those who desire to be part of the “bride” of Messiah will not be part
of “the bride” – see Matt 25
Mat 25:1 “Then the reign of the heavens shall be
compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 “And five of them were wise, and five
foolish.
Mat 25:3 “Those who were foolish, having taken their
lamps, took no oil with them,
Mat 25:4 but the wise took oil in their containers with
their lamps.
Mat 25:5 “Now while the bridegroom took time, they all
slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 “And at midnight a cry was heard, ‘See, the
bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him!’
Mat 25:7 “Then all those maidens rose up and trimmed
their lamps.
Mat 25:8 “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us
of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’
Mat 25:9 “But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, indeed,
there would not be enough for us and you. Instead, go to those who sell, and
buy for yourselves.’
Mat 25:10 “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom
came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the
door was shut.
Mat 25:11 “And later the other maidens also came,
saying, ‘Master, Master, open up for us!’
Mat 25:12 “But he answering, said, ‘Truly, I say to
you, I do not know you.’ OR I have not
experienced you.
I believe that one of the most dangerous and arrogant claims any human
being can make is to state with certainty that they really know and experience
Yahshua as Yahshua desires to be known and experienced. We know in part only, but if the part we know
is error then we are in trouble.
All manmade religion has produced the most unbelievable ignorance and
arrogance towards the truth of YHVH and His only brought forth son.
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 Moshiach 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 lovers 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. The way we function sexually will be one of the ultimate evidences of
whether or not we have grasped the truth of YHVH. If we look around us and even
at our own lives, we clearly have not understood and functioned sexually the
way it was meant to be. Sexual
dysfunction has brought about great destruction of lives on this planet.
It is significant to
note that when Adam and Eve sinned they were first aware of their nakedness.
Baruch Ha Shem YHVH
Yahshua came to reverse this curse, yet so few walk in that blessing.
“Today we still have
this same insane propensity to fornicate with strange doctrines and ideas that
are detestable to YHVH. The evidence of this spirit is still the same – an
intense dislike and disregard towards that which appears to be “Jewish”- The
Torah and the Land.”
“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”
Is it not possible that this enigma still exists in our time? (Def “enigma” a mystery, somebody or
something that is not easily explained or understood)
It is
also clear that we do not fully understand as we should the way ha satan
deceives mankind.
Today we see that there are many gifted individuals who
have a great spiritual influence over people’s lives, however this influence is
fundamentally flawed and sadly only realized after much damage has been done.
The sad conclusion of many sincere seekers of truth in
our time is that they haven’t realized how deceived they have been.
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.
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.
Mic 7:2 The kind one has perished from the earth, and
there is no one straight among men. All of them lie in wait for blood, everyone
hunts his brother with a net.
Mic 7:3 Both hands are on the evil, to do it well.
The prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man speaks
the desire of his being. And they weave it together.
Mic 7:4 The best of them is like a prickly plant, the
most straight is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman and your
punishment has come, now is their confusion.
Mic 7:5 Trust no friend, rely on no companion, guard
the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.
Mic 7:6 For son is despising father, daughter rises
up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the enemies
of a man are the men of his own house.
The common goal of all these deceivers is
for you to avoid the cost of seeking to bear the yoke of the Torah (Matt 11:27)
and to follow and understand YHVH in ways contrary to His Torah. These
deceivers will say that you only need “grace and to be led by the Holy Spirit”-
you must strive to relieve yourself from all bondage of the law (Torah) and
listen, obey and support a set of gifted leaders who have great powers of
persuasion to motivate you and convince you that you are ok and have nothing to
fear and no harm or judgment will come upon you even if you live contrary to
YHVH’s Torah”.
Perhaps the greatest
deception imaginable is for Israel to accept a false Messiah in the last days.
Imagine the Jews accepting
a “Trinitarian Deity Jesus” who came to do away with the Torah. The greatest tragedy
of the church is that they have embraced a “Jesus” who they claim is a deity
equal to YHVH and who has come to do away with or “adjust” the Torah.
Mat 6:23 …
If, then, the light that is within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
The world has exploded into
spiritual chaos and almost everyone thinks everything is going to be ok.
Number 40(the number of this parashah) has to do with
testing – We are all about to be tested.
- Rained 40 days flood
– judgment on the world
- Yeshua 40 days of fasting wilderness after baptism, tempted by
hasatan
- Israel 40 years in
the wilderness
- Yonah preaches 40
days
- Israel under the
Philistines 40 years
- Mosheh in Mitsrayim/Egypt
40 years
- Mosheh in Midian 40
years
- Mosheh at Mt. Sinai
40 days
- Goliath defied
Israel 40 days
- 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.
1Jn 4:4 You are of
Elohim, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is
greater than he who is in the world.1 Footnote: 1See Messiah
in you in Explanatory Notes.
1Jn 4:5 They are
of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.
1Jn 4:6 We are of
Elohim – the one knowing Elohim hears us. He who is not of Elohim does not hear
us. By this we know the Spirit of the Truth and the spirit of the delusion.
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.”
From the historic writings of the sages we know that both Balak and
Bilaam were exceptionally evil people. Both of these men were steeped in the
art of the occult and witchcraft. Bilaam was Balak’s secret weapon because in
Bilaam was both good and evil, Bilaam mixed the righteousness of YHVH with the
unrighteousness of ha satan. Balak saw something that caused Moav to become
exceedingly afraid. The Hebrew word for Balak means “destroyer or annihilator”
The Hebrew word for “exceedingly afraid” is to cause an exceeding sickening
dread to come upon” What was it that caused the annihilator and the people of
Moav to become paralyzed with fear and dread? From our narrative we know that
it was not the mighty deeds that were done in their deliverance from Egypt and
their wanderings through the wilderness. They saw something else!
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. To add insult to injury 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.’ ”