Deborah’s Torah Nuggets

Deborah’s Messianic Ministries

http://www.deborahsmessianicministries.com

 

Torah Reading-Numbers 22:2-25:9[1]

Haftarah Reading-Micah 5:6-6:8

Brit HaDasha Reading-11 Peter 2:1-22

 

Balak-Destroyer

 

Torah Overview

Balaam Prophet of the Nations-Numbers 22:1-19

Gods Ambiguous Permission-Numbers 22:20-21

God Impedes Balaam’s Path-Numbers 22:22-27

Balaam’s She Donkey speaks-Numbers 22:28-29, 23:1-5

Balaams First Blessing-Numbers 22:6-10

Balak’s Anger- Numbers 22:11-17

Balaams Second Blessing-Numbers 22:18-24

Balak’s Anger & Further Request-Numbers 23:25-29

Balaam’s Third Blessing – Numbers 24:13-25

Balaams Plot-Numbers 25:1-6

Phinehas Jeoulosy-Numbers 25:7

 

 

Bmidbar/Numbers 22:2-3

Va-yar Balak ben-Tsipor et kol-asher-asah Yisrael la’Emori va-yagar Mo’av mip’nei ha-am m’od ki rav-hoo va-yakata Mo’av mip’nei b’nei Yisra’el

 

And saw Balak, son of Zippor, all that did Israel to the Amorites. And feared Moab before the people greatly, because many he (was), and (was) distressed Moab before the sons of Israel.

 

 

Related Words:

 

Balak                                      Balak, king of Moab (“destroyer”, devastator”)

balak                                       to destroy, lay waste

billek                                       to destroy

boollak                                    to be destroyed

l’lamed et ploni “Balak”       to teach someone a ‘lesson’ (teach so and so a Balak)

 

 

Torah Nuggets:

 

 Balaam prophet of the Nations: Chumash p. 856

 

God in His wisdom, ordained that the gentile nations should have a prophet who would be comparable to Moses-though much inferior to him-so that they would not be able to contend that if only they had had someone who could communicate to them the will of God, they would have been as righteous as Israel.  Balaam was that prophet.

 

This Sidrah, reveolves around his ability to curse and his attempts commissioned by King Balak of Moab, to curse the advancing Israel.  

 

The Sages teach that there is an instant everyday when God is “angry” (Avodah Zarah 4a Berochos ya) meaning that He judges sinners at that time.

 

Clearly someone who is guilty of transgressions is most vulnerable at that instant, and it was Balaam’s “talent” to know when that momemt was at hand.  A curse at that time could subject its victim to such Divine judgement.  Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, but God thwarted his plan by not sitting in judgment on that day.

 

The Sidrah tells of balaam’s repeated futile attempts, and God’s insistence that he bless Israel.  So significant were these blessings, that the Sages even considered making them part of the daily Shema prayers.

 

God wanted these sublime blessings to come to Israel through the agency of the wicked and the immoral Balaam so that everyone’s helpless to harm Israel against God’s will.

 

Balaam’s Three Blessings To Israel:

 

Num 22:6  Please come now therefore curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

Num 22:7  The elders of Mo'av and the elders of Midyan departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Bil`am, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

Num 22:8  He said to them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak to me: and the princes of Mo'av abode with Bil`am.

Num 22:9  God came to Bil`am, and said, What men are these with you?

Num 22:10  Bil`am said to God, Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, has sent to me, [saying],

Num 22:11  Behold, the people that is come out of Egypt, it covers the surface of the earth: now, come curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.

Num 22:12  God said to Bil`am, You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people; for they are blessed.

 

Blessing #1:

 

Num 23:7  He took up his parable, and said, From Aram has Balak brought me, The king of Mo'av from the mountains of the East: Come, curse me Ya`akov, Come, defy Yisra'el.

Num 23:8  How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy, whom the LORD has not defied?

Num 23:9  For from the top of the rocks I see him, From the hills I see him: behold, it is a people that dwells alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations.

Num 23:10  Who can count the dust of Ya`akov, Or number the fourth part of Yisra'el? Let me die the death of the righteous, Let my last end be like his!

 

Blessing #2

 

Num 23:18  He took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Tzippor.

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

Num 23:20  Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.

Num 23:21  He has not seen iniquity in Ya`akov. Neither has he seen perverseness in Yisra'el. The LORD his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.

Num 23:22  God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

Num 23:23  Surely there is no enchantment with Ya`akov; Neither is there any divination with Yisra'el. Now it shall be said of Ya`akov and of Yisra'el, What has God done!

Num 23:24  Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.

 

Blessing #3

 

Num 24:1  When Bil`am saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Yisra'el, he didn't go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

Num 24:2  Bil`am lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yisra'el dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him.

Num 24:3  He took up his parable, and said, Bil`am the son of Be'or says, the man whose eye was closed says;

Num 24:4  he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:

Num 24:5  How goodly are your tents, Ya`akov, and your tents, Yisra'el!

Num 24:6  As valleys they are spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which the LORD has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.

Num 24:7  Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted.

Num 24:8  God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.

Num 24:9  He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.

 

He could not CURSE what God has BLESSED!

 

11 Peter 2:1-22 (Hebrew Names Version)

2Pe 2:1  But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.

2Pe 2:2  Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.

2Pe 2:3  In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn't linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

2Pe 2:4  For if God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

2Pe 2:5  and didn't spare the ancient world, but preserved Noach with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;

2Pe 2:6  and turning the cities of Sedom and `Amorah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly;

2Pe 2:7  and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked

2Pe 2:8  (for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds):

2Pe 2:9  the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment;

2Pe 2:10  but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries;

2Pe 2:11  whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don't bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,

2Pe 2:13  receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;

2Pe 2:14  having eyes full of adultery, and who can't cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;

2Pe 2:15  forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Bil`am the son of Be'or, who loved the wages of wrong-doing;

2Pe 2:16  but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with a man's voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

2Pe 2:18  For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;

2Pe 2:19  promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.

2Pe 2:20  For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

2Pe 2:21  For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy mitzvah delivered to them.

2Pe 2:22  But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns to his own vomit again," and "the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire."

 

Beware of False Prophets and False Teachers who in the last days will deny Messiah and His Holy Torah!

 

2Ti 3:1  But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come.

2Ti 3:2  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

2Ti 3:3  without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,

2Ti 3:4  traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;

2Ti 3:5  holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof. Turn away from these, also.

2Ti 3:6  For of these are those who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

2Ti 3:7  always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

1Ti 4:1  But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,

1Ti 4:2  through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;

 

Marks of a False Prophet and Teacher, he will be just the opposite of  the Godly man described below:

 

1Ti 3:1  This is a faithful saying: if a man seeks the office of an overseer, he desires a good work.

1Ti 3:2  The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;

1Ti 3:3  not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;

1Ti 3:4  one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;

1Ti 3:5  (but if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?)

1Ti 3:6  not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

1Ti 3:7  Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

1Ti 3:8  Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money;

 

Marks of a False Prophet and Teacher

 

 

Phi 3:18  For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Messiah,

Phi 3:19  whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.

 

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

Jud 1:5  Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn't believe.

Jud 1:6  Messengers who didn't keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

Jud 1:7  Even as Sedom and `Amorah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Jud 1:8  Yet in like manner these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

Jud 1:9  But Mikha'el, the chief angel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moshe, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"

Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of whatever things they don't know. What they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, they are destroyed in these things.

Jud 1:11  Woe to them! For they went in the way of Kayin, and ran riotously in the error of Bil`am for hire, and perished in Korach's rebellion.

Jud 1:12  These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Jud 1:13  wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

Jud 1:14  About these also Chanokh, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,

Jud 1:15  to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaks proud things), showing respect of persons to gain advantage.

Jud 1:17  But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the emissaries of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Jud 1:18  They said to you that "In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts."

Jud 1:19  These are they who cause divisions, and are sensual, not having the Spirit.

 

2Co 11:13  For such men are false emissaries, deceitful workers, masquerading as Messiah's emissaries.

2Co 11:14  And no wonder, for even Hasatan masquerades as an angel of light.

2Co 11:15  It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

 

They will be full of:

 Lust and anarchy

Boastful and Deceptive

Corrupt and Unmerciful

Consecrated to Personal Gain and Eternal Perdition

Glory in human wisdom

Take Advantage and bring unstable souls into bondage

They will try to Curse what God has blessed – Israel

The will be lawless – Rejectors of Torah- God’s Teaching and Instructions

 

2Ti 3:1  But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come.

2Ti 3:2  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

2Ti 3:3  without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,

2Ti 3:4  traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;

2Ti 3:5  holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof. Turn away from these, also.

2Ti 3:6  For of these are those who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

2Ti 3:7  always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2Ti 3:8  Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moshe, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith.

2Ti 3:9  But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.

2Ti 3:10  But you did follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,

2Ti 3:11  persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. Out of them all the Lord delivered me.

2Ti 3:12  Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Messiah Yeshua will suffer persecution.

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

2Ti 3:14  But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

2Ti 3:15  From infancy, you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Messiah Yeshua.

2Ti 3:16  Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness,

2Ti 3:17  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

2Pe 3:1  This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;

2Pe 3:2  that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the mitzvot of us, the emissaries of the Lord and Savior:

2Pe 3:3  knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,

2Pe 3:4  and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

2Pe 3:5  For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;

2Pe 3:6  by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:8  But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

2Pe 3:11  Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,

2Pe 3:12  looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

2Pe 3:13  But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

2Pe 3:14  Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in shalom, without blemish and blameless in his sight.

2Pe 3:15  Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Sha'ul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you;

2Pe 3:16  as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

2Pe 3:17  You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amein.

 

Walk in Righteousness according to His Holy Torah (God’s Teaching and Instructions) and follow after Messiah Yeshua and walk as Children of the Light/Torah in Messiah.

 

Pro 26:2  As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

 

John Gills Exposition of the Entire Bible

Pro 26:2 - As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying,.... As a bird, particularly the sparrow, as the word (h) is sometimes rendered, leaves its nest and wanders from it; and flies here and there, and settles nowhere; and as the swallow flies to the place from whence it came; or the wild pigeon, as some (i) think is meant, which flies away very swiftly: the swallow has its name in Hebrew from liberty, because it flies about boldly and freely, and makes its nest in houses, to which it goes and comes without fear;

 

so the curse causeless shall not come; the mouths of fools or wicked men are full of cursing and bitterness, and especially such who are advanced above others, and are set in high places; who think they have a right to swear at and curse those below them, and by this means to support their authority and power; but what signify their curses which are without a cause? they are vain and fruitless, like Shimei's cursing David; they fly away, as the above birds are said to do, and fly over the heads of those on whom they are designed to light; yea, return and fall upon the heads of those that curse, as the swallow goes to the place from whence it came; it being a bird of passage, Jer_8:7; in the winter it flies away and betakes itself to some islands on rocks called from thence "chelidonian" (k). According to the "Keri", or marginal reading, for here is a double reading, it may be rendered, "so the curse causeless shall come to him" (l); that gives it without any reason. The Septuagint takes in both,

 

"so a vain curse shall not come upon any;''

 

what are all the anathemas of the church of Rome? who can curse whom God has not cursed? yea, such shall be cursed themselves; see Psa_109:17.

 

(h) rwpuk "sicat passeris", Mercerus, Gejerus; "ut passer", Piscator; Schultens. (i) Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 8. (k) Vid. Strabo. Geograph. l. 14. p. 458. Dionys. Perieg. v. 506, 507. (l) wl "in quempiam", V. L.

 

 

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Blessed are You, YHWH, our God, King of the Universe, Who gave us the Torah of truth and implanted eternal life within us.  Blessed are You, YHWH, Giver of the Torah.

 

Shabbat Shalom B’Shem Yeshua

 



[1] All Scripture taken from the Hebrew Names Version of the Bible, E-Sword