Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, You have set us apart by Your commandments and have commanded us to actively study Your Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May You open our eyes to see marvellous truths from Your Torah. Thank You for calling us who were once gentiles excluded from the citizenship of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no expectation and without Elohim- but now through the blood of Messiah we have gained access into the covenant and have obtained citizenship into the commonwealth of Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Amein
Joh 9:39 And יהושע said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those not seeing might see, and those seeing might become blind.” Joh 9:40 And those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind, too?” Joh 9:41 יהושע said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, ‘We see,’ therefore your sin remains.
This is our dilemma - flesh and blood cannot reveal to us the ways of and into His Kingdom. Jn 3:3,5.
וביום השׁביעי – '’and in/on the seventh day…” YHVH’s entire redemptive plan revolves around the mystery of ‘’the seventh day’’.
Heb 3:7
Therefore, as the Set-apart Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice,
Heb 3:8 do
not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the
wilderness,
Heb 3:9 where
your fathers tried Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.
Heb 3:10 “Therefore
I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their
heart, and they have not known My ways.’
Heb 3:11 “As
I swore in My wrath, ‘If they shall enter into My rest...’ ” Psa_95:7-11.
Heb 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering into His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. Heb 4:2 For indeed the Good News was brought to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not having been mixed with belief in those who heard it. Heb 4:3 For we who have believed (implies obedience) do enter into that rest, as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest...” Psa_95:11 And yet His works have come into being from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:11 Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
It is the proclamation of this ‘’Good News’’ anointed by the Set Apart Spirit and received and obeyed by faith that causes us to enter into that rest
Eph 2:8 For by
favour you have been saved, through belief, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of Elohim,
Eph 2:9 it is not by works, so that no one should boast. Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
This Torah portion provides the instructions for us on how to ‘’walk in these good works prepared by YHVH before the foundation of the world that we should walk in them. YHVH has called His people to observe and obey – Pesach (Passover), Chag haMatzot (Unleavened bread), Chag Shavuot (Feat of weeks), Yom T’ruah (Trumpets or The day of the great awakening blast), Yom (ha)Kippur(rim) (Day of Atonement(s)), Sukkot (Tabernacles) and Shemini Atzaret – at their proper appointed times.
This Torah portion
“Pinchas” is sometimes referred to as the “zot chukat ha torah” (19:2)(31:21) –
this is the essence of all the Torah – therefore it is the essence and
foundation of the Good News.
As we reflect on this
Torah portion we are once again reminded that ‘’blended’’ or partial obedience
has caused believers and unbelievers alike to be almost completely assimilated
into the pattern and spirit of this world causing humanity to become more and
more disorientated and confused in a world that is becoming more and more
unpredictable and dangerous.
We should grieve for
ourselves and for others for the predicament we find ourselves in these days –
confess our sins and the sins of our fathers for our entrenched disobedience
and unfaithfulness to His covenant and His ways. For the most part this Has
been our condition from the garden to this present day.
The Torah of Moshe that
the Messiah taught, reorientates us and shows us the way back into His Ways.
Psa 23:3 He turns back[a] my being; He leads me in paths
of righteousness For His Name’s sake. Footnote: aOr He converts. (נפשׁי ישׁובב)Psa 23:4 When I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I fear no evil. For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they
comfort me. (His Name means – ‘’I’ll get the job done)
The word ‘’paths’’ in Hebrew ‘’magelah’’ comes from a
word which means that which moves around in a circle or cycles. This reminds us
of the annual feasts and appointments (moedim) that are repeated year after
year – the subject of this week’s Torah portion in the ‘’Septennial cycle’’
which we follow.
Num 28:1 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
Num 28:2 “Command the children of Yisra’ĕl, and you
shall say to them, ‘Take heed to bring My offering, My food for My offerings
made by fire as a sweet fragrance to Me, at their appointed time.’
“Command the
sons of Yisrael and say to them – My offerings (קרבני - that which causes you to draw near to Me) My
bread – My fire – a fragrance of tranquility – You are to guard these offerings
of Mine at their appointed time.”
Daily Offerings
Num 28:2
"Command the children of Yisra’ěl, and you shall say to them, ‘Take heed
to bring My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet
fragrance to Me, at their appointed time.’
Num 28:3 “And you
shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you bring to יהוה: two male lambs a year old, perfect ones, daily, a
continual ascending offering.
Num 28:4 The one
lamb you prepare in the morning, and the other lamb you prepare between the
evenings,
Num 28:5 with
one-tenth of an ěphah of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with one-fourth
of a hin of pressed oil, (Lev 2:13 - all offerings were salted)
Num 28:6 a
continual ascending offering which was offered at Mount Sinai for a sweet
fragrance, an offering made by fire to יהוה,
Num 28:7 and its
drink offering, one-fourth of a hin for each lamb. Pour out the drink to יהוה as an offering in the set-apart place.
Num 28:8 And the
other lamb you prepare between the evenings. As the morning grain offering and
its drink offering, you prepare it as an offering made by fire, a sweet
fragrance to יהוה.
The Torah does not say
at what exact time these offering was made. The Mishnah and other sources
indicate that one lamb was offered in the morning around 9am and the other one
around 3pm in the afternoon.
We see that these
offerings were given at about the same time that Yahshua was impaled and
eventually died on the execution stake – see Mark 15.
In this Torah portion I would like to suggest 8 halachic practices that may assist us in our pilgrimage.
1. Deu 6:6 “And these Words[a] which I am commanding you today shall be in your heart, Footnote: aSee footnote at Deu_5:22. Deu 6:7 and you shall impress (imprint) 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 …. (‘’Modeh ani’’ first prayer we teach our children, which is in essence the theme of the ‘’tamid’’ offering – death and resurrection) The Torah is not a fairy tale.
Luk 9:23 And He said to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake daily, and follow Me. Luk 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall save it. (ie every day we should be prepared to lay our lives down for the saved and unsaved)
Is it possible that at
9am every morning and 3pm every afternoon a heavenly portal in the spiritual
realm opens up to us mortals to receive some kind of heavenly impartation of
the Messiah?
Sabbaths – First of the Musaf offerings. 1Cor 3:11
Num 28:9 ‘And on the Sabbath day two lambs a year old,
perfect ones, and two-tenths of an ĕphah of fine flour as a grain
offering, mixed with oil, with its drink offering,
Num 28:10 the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering with its drink offering.
2. In Hebrew homes sabbath is
celebrated at the end of the Hebrew week, the Seventh day which starts
according to the Hebrew calendar at unset of the Sixth Day (Friday in Gregorian
calendar). This is a special time for families to get together and pray and
bond with one another – this is also a great opportunity to invite friendly
truth-seekers for a meal.
Rosh Chodesh.
Num 28:11 ‘And on the beginnings of your months you
bring near a burnt offering to יהוה: two young bulls and one ram, and seven
lambs a year old, perfect ones;
Num 28:12 three-tenths of an ĕphah of fine flour
as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an ĕphah
of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram;
Num 28:13 and one-tenth of an ĕphah of fine
flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering
of sweet fragrance, an offering made by fire to יהוה.
Num 28:14 ‘And their drink offering is half a hin of
wine for a bull, and one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for
a lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the
year,
Num 28:15 and one male goat as a sin offering to יהוה is prepared, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.
3. ‘’Rosh Chodesh’’ is the Hebrew Israelites’ ‘’true north’’. True north is our orienting point, our fixed point in a spinning world that helps us stay on track. Rosh Chodesh is our True north- it is our internal compass unique to a Hebrew people, representing what we believe at our deepest level. True north is a sense of knowing who we are and where we are going.
Pesach.
Num 28:16 ‘And in the first month, on the fourteenth
day, is the Passover of יהוה,
Num 28:17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a
festival. For seven days unleavened
bread is eaten.
Num 28:18 ‘On
the first day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.
Num 28:19 ‘And you shall bring near an offering made by
fire as a burnt offering to יהוה: two young bulls and one ram, and seven
lambs a year old, perfect ones they are for you,
Num 28:20 and their grain offering, fine flour mixed
with oil. Prepare three-tenths of an ĕphah for a bull, and two-tenths
for a ram.
Num 28:21 ‘Prepare one-tenth of an ĕphah for
each of the seven lambs,
Num 28:22 and one goat as a sin offering, to make
atonement for you.
Num 28:23 ‘Prepare these
besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt
offering.
Num 28:24 ‘According to these you are to prepare the
food of the offering made by fire daily for seven days, as a sweet fragrance to
יהוה. It is prepared besides the continual burnt offering and its
drink offering.
Num 28:25 ‘And on the seventh day you have a set-apart
gathering, you do no servile work.
Num 28:26 ‘And on
the day of the first-fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to יהוה at your
Festival of Weeks, you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.
(Shavuot)
Num 28:27 ‘And you shall bring near a burnt offering as
a sweet fragrance to יהוה: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs
a year old,
Num 28:28 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed
with oil: three-tenths of an ĕphah for each bull, two-tenths for the one
ram,
Num 28:29 one-tenth for each of the seven lambs,
Num 28:30 one male goat to make atonement for you,
Num 28:31 perfect ones they are for you. Prepare them
with their drink offerings, besides the continual burnt offering with its grain
offering.
4. Once again, our homes become a gathering place where YHVH’s love and acceptance for His people are revealed and shared. We can use 1 Cor 11:17-34 and Exodus 6:6-7 (4 promises) as a guide.
1Co 11:2 And I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in every way and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you. 1Co 11:3 And I wish you to know that the head of every man is the Messiah,[a] and the head of woman is the man,[b] and the head of Messiah is Elohim.[c] Footnotes: a Eph_1:22, Eph_4:15, Eph_5:23. b Gen_3:16. c 1Co_3:23, Joh_14:28.
Exo 6:6 “Say,
therefore, to the children of Yisra’ěl, ‘I am יהוה, and I shall bring (והוצאתי) you out from under the burdens of the Mitsrites, and shall
deliver (והצלתי) you from their enslaving, and shall redeem (וגאלתי) you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments,
Exo 6:7 and shall take(ולקחתי) you as My people, and I shall be your Elohim. And you shall know that I am יהוה your Elohim who is bringing you out from under the burdens of the Mitsrites.
Be careful who you invite to the meal – because to partake in an unworthy manner may bring judgment.
The Master’s
(Lord's) Supper
1Co 11:17 And in
declaring this I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better
but for the worse.
1Co 11:18 For in
the first place, I hear that when you come together as an assembly, there are
divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
1Co 11:19 For
there have to be factions even among you, so that the approved ones might be
revealed among you.
1Co 11:20 So when
you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Master’s supper.
1Co 11:21 For,
when you eat, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and
another is drunk.
1Co 11:22 Have
you not houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the assembly of Elohim
and shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in
this? I do not praise!
1Co 11:23 For I
received from the Master that which I also delivered to you: that the Master יהושע in the night in which He was delivered up took bread,
1Co 11:24 and
having given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is
broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1Co 11:25 In the
same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant
in My blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
1Co 11:26 For as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the
Master until He comes.
1Co 11:27 So that
whoever should eat this bread or drink this cup of the Master unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Master.
1Co 11:28 But let
a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup.
1Co 11:29 For the
one who is eating and drinking unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself,
not discerning the body of the Master.
1Co 11:30 Because
of this many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31 For if
we were to examine ourselves, we would not be judged.
Yom Teruah.
Num 29:1 ‘And in the seventh month, on
the first day of the month, you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile
work, it is a day of blowing the trumpets for you.
Num 29:2 ‘And you shall prepare a
burnt offering as a sweet fragrance to יהוה: one young
bull, one ram, seven lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:3 and their grain offering: fine flour mixed
with oil, three-tenths of an ĕphah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,
Num 29:4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs,
Num 29:5 and one male goat as a sin offering, to make
atonement for you,
Num 29:6 besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the continual burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their right-ruling, as a sweet fragrance, an offering made by fire to יהוה.
5. Yom Teruah points us to the “rapture” (post Trib) and first resurrection of the righteous dead will occur on this day
1Th 4:16 Because the Master Himself shall come down
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of a chief messenger, and with the
trumpet of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first.
1Th 4:17 Then we, the living who are left over,
shall be caught away together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the
air – and so we shall always be with the Master.
We must be careful not to overload our guests with too
much information – be wise and allow the Spirit to guide you.
Yom Kippur.
Num 29:7 ‘And on the tenth day of this seventh month
you have a set-apart gathering, and you shall afflict your beings, you do no
work. (see Lev 23:32 – Shabbat Shabbaton – a Sabbath of rest).
Num 29:8 ‘And you shall bring near a burnt offering to
יהוה, a sweet fragrance: one young bull, one ram, seven lambs a year
old, perfect ones they are for you,
Num 29:9 and their grain offering: fine flour mixed
with oil, three-tenths of an ĕphah for the bull, two-tenths for the one
ram,
Num 29:10 one-tenth for each of the seven lambs,
Num 29:11 one male goat as a sin offering, besides the
sin offering for atonement, the continual burnt offering with its grain
offering, and their drink offerings.
6.
This
is the most solemn of all the appointments – See Lev 16 – where YHVH not only
forgives our sins but He also removes and separates us from all our sin.
Sukkot.
Num 29:12 ‘And on the fifteenth day of the seventh
month you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work. And you shall
observe a festival to יהוה seven days,
Num 29:13 and you shall bring near a burnt offering, an
offering made by fire, a sweet fragrance to יהוה: thirteen
young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones they are,
Num 29:14 and their grain offering: fine flour mixed
with oil, three-tenths of an ĕphah for each of the thirteen bulls,
two-tenths for each of the two rams,
Num 29:15 and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs,
Num 29:16 and one male goat as a sin offering, besides
the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
Num 29:17 ‘Then on the second day: twelve young bulls,
two rams, fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:18 and their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:19 and one male goat as a sin offering, besides
the continual burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink
offerings.
Num 29:20 ‘And on the third day eleven bulls, two rams,
fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:21 and their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:22 and one goat as a sin offering, besides the
continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
Num 29:23 ‘Then on the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams,
fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:24 and their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:25 and one male goat as a sin offering, besides
the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
Num 29:26 ‘Then on the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams,
fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:27 and their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:28 and one goat as a sin offering, besides the
continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
Num 29:29 ‘Then on the sixth day: eight bulls, two
rams, fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:30 and their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:31 and one goat as a sin offering, besides the
continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
Num 29:32 ‘Then on the seventh day: seven bulls, two
rams, fourteen lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:33 and their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:34 and one goat as a sin offering, besides the
continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
7.
A time
to take a vacation and live in tents/temporal buildings, for seven days.
Shemeni Atzaret.
Num 29:35 ‘On the eighth day you have an assembly, you
do no servile work,
Num 29:36 and you shall bring near a burnt offering, an
offering made by fire, a sweet fragrance to יהוה: one bull, one
ram, seven lambs a year old, perfect ones,
Num 29:37 their grain offering and their drink
offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, by their number,
according to the right-ruling,
Num 29:38 and one goat as a sin offering, besides
the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
8.
A time
to celebrate and contemplate the New Jerusalem after the 1000 year millennium.
Rev 21
Num 29:39 ‘These
you prepare to יהוה at your appointed times, besides your
vowed offerings and your voluntary offerings, as your burnt offerings and your
grain offerings, as your drink offerings and your peace offerings.’ ”
Num 29:40 And Mosheh spoke to the children of Yisra’ĕl
according to all יהוה had commanded Mosheh.
This is the Good News –
it is free, but it is very precious.
‘’113 bulls, 1,086 lambs, 1,000 bottles of oil and
wine, and to top it all off, over a ton of flour. That is what is required for
one year of offerings as outlined in Numbers 28 & 29’’ YHVH’s favour is
free but it does not come cheaply – The Messiah emptied out himself to bring
His favour to you and to me. We must empty ourselves from everything and anything
that will hinder His favour and love from reaching us and transforming us into
Messiah’s image – Rom 8:29
We have yet to witness such a proclamation of the
Good News – much of what we have heard is mixed with human religion and is
often powerless to convince the world of its efficacy. Most of humanity is lost
because the kind of Good News that has been proclaimed has not made much of a
difference.
Rom 1:16 For I am
not ashamed of the Good News of Messiah, for it is the power of Elohim for
deliverance to everyone who believes, to the Yehuḏi first and also to the
Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in
it the righteousness of Elohim is revealed from belief to belief, as it has
been written, “But the righteous shall live by belief.” Hab_2:4.
Mat 24:13 “But he
who shall have endured to the end shall be saved.[a] Footnote: aSee Mat_10:22.
Mat 24:14 “And
this Good News of the reign shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness
to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
Mat
10:22 “And you shall be hated
by all for My Name’s sake. But he who shall have endured to the end shall be
saved.[b] Footnote: bSee Mat_24:13.
Mat 10:23 “And
when they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For truly, I say to you,
you shall by no means have gone through the cities of Yisra’ěl before the Son
of Aḏam comes.
Perhaps this the real
test of the Good News – everyone who proclaims it will be hated by almost
everyone.
I hope I am wrong – but
I don’t think so.
Blessed are you YHVH, 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 – Amein.