Deborah’s Torah Nuggets

Deborah’s Messianic Ministries

http://www.deborahsmessianicministries.com

 

Torah Reading-Numbers 19:1-22:1[1]

Haftarah Reading-Judges 11:1-33

Brit HaDasha Reading-John 3:1-21

 

Chukat- Statute of

 

 

Torah Overview

 

The Red Heifer – 19:1-21

Miriams Death & The Lack of Water- 20:1-2

The People Protest-20:3-5

God Commands Moses to Bring Water-20:6-8

Moses and Aaron Err and are Punished-20:9-29

Amalek Attacks-21:1-3

A New Challenge- 21:4-13

The Song In The Book of Wars of Hashem-21:14-20

The Battle with Sihon-21_21-25, 22:1

 

Bmidbar/Numbers 19:1-2

Va-y’daber ADONAI el-Moshe v’el—Aharon lemor

zot chukat ha-trah asher-tsivah ADONAI lemor

daber-el-b’nei Yisra’el v-yik’chu eleicha farah adumah l’mimah asher ein-bahh moom asher

lo-ala aleiha’ol

 

And spoke the Lord to Moses and Aaron saying,

“This (is the) statute of the Torah/instruction that commanded the Lord saying,

Speak to the sons of Israel, that they will take to you (a) cow, red, flawless, that isn’t on her (a) blemish, that (has) not gone up on her (a) yoke”

 

Related Words:

 

Chok                            Law, decree, statute, ordinance, rule, regulation, custom , boundary

Chukah                       Constitution, law, custom

Chukat olam               immutable law (ordinance forever)

Chooki/lo-chooki       legal, lawful, licit/illiegal, unlawful, illicit

Shomer chok              law-abiding (keeper of the law)

Chok ben-leumi          International law (law among the peoples)

Chok ts’vace                Military law (law of army/host)

 

Torah Nuggets:

 

Speak to the Rock – Bmidbar/Numbers 20:7-12

 

Num 20:7  The LORD spoke to Moshe, saying,

Num 20:8  Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aharon your brother, and speak you to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.

Num 20:9  Moshe took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

Num 20:10  Moshe and Aharon gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?

Num 20:11  Moshe lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

Num 20:12  The LORD said to Moshe and Aharon, Because you didn't believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Yisra'el, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

 

Chumash[2] page 843:

 

Speak to the Rock- God commanded Moses to take the staff that he had used to perform the miracles in Egypt and which he had used to provide water for the people after they crossed the sea of Reeds.  At that time, he performed the miracle by sriking the Rock

 

Exo 17:6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Chorev. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moshe did so in the sight of the elders of Yisra'el.

 

But now he was told to speak to it.

 

The Rock- The definite article “the” indicates that this was a known rock.  The Sages teach that God had created a rock that He used often as a source of miraculous waters.  This was the rock that the angel revealed to Hagar when her son Ishmael was dying of thirst

 

Gen 21:15  The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

Gen 21:16  She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.

Gen 21:17  God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

Gen 21:18  Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."

Gen 21:19  God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.

 

And from which Moses was commanded to draw water nearly 40 years earlier

 

Exo 17:5  The LORD said to Moshe, "Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Yisra'el with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile 1, and go.

Exo 17:6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Chorev. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moshe did so in the sight of the elders of Yisra'el.

 

And that same Rock accompanied their wanderings as long as Miriam was alive.  After her death it ceased to yield water and was hidden.

 

Dakes Notes:

 

To speak to the Rock is all that was required of Moses, and it would have been very effective in proving to Israel the intended truth of benefits received through Messiah who was typified by the Rock.

 

1Co 10:1  Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

1Co 10:2  and were all immersed into Moshe in the cloud and in the sea;

1Co 10:3  and all ate the same spiritual food;

1Co 10:4  and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Messiah.

 

The Rock had already been smitten once, for all men

 

Exo 17:6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Chorev. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moshe did so in the sight of the elders of Yisra'el

 

Romans 10

 

Rom 10:1  Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Yisra'el, that they may be saved.

Rom 10:2  For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Rom 10:3  For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn't subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Rom 10:4  For Messiah is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Rom 10:5  For Moshe writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them."

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Messiah down);

Rom 10:7  or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead.)"

Rom 10:8  But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;" that is, the word of faith, which we preach:

Rom 10:9  that if you will confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Rom 10:10  For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Rom 10:11  For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."

Rom 10:12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.

Rom 10:13  For, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Rom 10:14  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?

Rom 10:15  And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of shalom, who bring glad tidings of good things!"

Rom 10:16  But they didn't all listen to the glad news. For Yeshaiyahu says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

Rom 10:17  So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Rom 10:18  But I say, didn't they hear? Yes, most certainly, "Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Rom 10:19  But I ask, didn't Yisra'el know? First Moshe says, "I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry."

Rom 10:20  Yeshaiyahu is very bold, and says, "I was found by those who didn't seek me. I was revealed to those who didn't ask for me."

Rom 10:21  But as to Yisra'el he says, "All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

 

Hebrews 9:25-28

 

Heb 9:25  nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the Kohen Gadol enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,

Heb 9:26  or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Heb 9:27  Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

Heb 9:28  so Messiah also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.

 

Merely speaking to the Rock at this time would have brought the same benefits, the same benefits as smiting it before.  The same is true now regarding Messiah Yeshua- all one is required to do is ask and receive

 

Matthew 7:7-11, 21-22

Mat 7:7  "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.

Mat 7:8  For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

Mat 7:9  Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Mat 7:10  Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?

Mat 7:11  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

 

Mat 7:21  Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Mat 7:22  Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?'

 

Mark 11:22-26

Mar 11:22  Yeshua answered them, "Have faith in God.

Mar 11:23  For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says.

Mar 11:24  Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.

Mar 11:25  Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.

Mar 11:26  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions."

 

 John 15:7

 

Joh 15:7  If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

 

John 16:23-26

 

Joh 16:23  "In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

Joh 16:24  Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

Joh 16:25  I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

Joh 16:26  In that day you will ask in my name; and I don't say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you,

 

Following the flesh, instead of obeying the commands of God can keep us from entering our promised land.

 

Fiery Serpents – Numbers 21:5-10

 

Num 21:5  The people spoke against God, and against Moshe, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.

Num 21:6  The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Yisra'el died.

Num 21:7  The people came to Moshe, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against you; pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. Moshe prayed for the people.

Num 21:8  The LORD said to Moshe, Make you a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.

Num 21:9  Moshe made a serpent of brass, and set it on the standard: and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived.

Num 21:10  The children of Yisra'el traveled, and encamped in Ovot.

 

Chumash

 

Fiery Serpents: The poisen in their fangs made their victims feel as if they were burning.  Snakes were the fitting agents of punishment.  The primevil serpant had slandered God to Eve and was cursed forever.

 

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"

Gen 3:2  The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

Gen 3:3  but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

Gen 3:4  The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,

Gen 3:5  for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Gen 3:6  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

Gen 3:7  The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Gen 3:8  They heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Gen 3:9  The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

Gen 3:10  The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Gen 3:11  God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

Gen 3:12  The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

Gen 3:13  The LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Gen 3:14  The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Gen 3:15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."

 

It was punished by not enjoying the taste of its food.  Now, it punished the ungrateful slanderers who defamed the food that had a multitude of flavours. (Rashi)

 

They begged Moses to pray that God accept their repentance and remove the serpants. Once a natural force has been unleashed, special merit is needed to remove it or protect against it, even if the sin that caused it had been forgiven.

 

VS 8 - Num 21:8  The LORD said to Moshe, Make you a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.

 

Even people who had been bitten were cured when they looked at Moses copper serpant.  The Sages said (Rosh Hashansh 29a) “Does a serpant cause death or life?  Rather, when they looked upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven they were healed, but if not they died (Rashi)

 

God could have healed them without the serpant but then they would have thought they were cured by natural means.  It was a miracle within a miracle.  The source of destruction was a source of healing.

 

God had not specified the material by which Moses was to fashion his serpant, but chose copper because it contains the letters found in serpant, the serpant that was attacking the sinners (Chumash)

 

 

 

The brazen serpent here was clearly a type of Messiah, bearing the sins and sicknesses of all men[3].

 

Matthew 8:16-17

 

Mat 8:16  When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;

Mat 8:17  that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Yeshaiyahu the prophet, saying: "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."

 

1 Peter 2: 21-:24

 

Pe 2:21  For to this you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,

1Pe 2:22  who did not sin, "neither was deceit found in his mouth."

1Pe 2:23  Who, when he was cursed, didn't curse back. When he suffered, didn't threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;

1Pe 2:24  who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

 

Isaiah 53

 

Isa 53:3  He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we didn't respect him.

Isa 53:4  Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.

Isa 53:5  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought our shalom was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.

 

Nine Fold Type of Messiah:

 

1.       The serpent was a symbol of sin and Messiah was made sin for us that we might be made free from sin

 

 

2Co 5:21  For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

2.      The serpent was lifted up on a pole and Messiah was lifted up on a cross – 

 

Joh 3:14  As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

 

3.      The sick of Israel received healing by looking at the brazen serpent. We receive healing by looking to Messiah Yeshua

 

Mat 8:17  that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Yeshaiyahu the prophet, saying: "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."

 

Joh 3:14  As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

 

1Pe 2:24  who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

 

Isa 53:3  He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we didn't respect him.

Isa 53:4  Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.

Isa 53:5  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought our shalom was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.

 

4.      As the Israelites who looked on the serpent continued to live so those who truly look to Messiah Yeshua will live eternally.

Joh 3:14  As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

 

5.      God provided no other remedy for Israel at that time so Messiah is the only remedy for those who wish salvation

 

Joh 3:14  As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

 

Act 3:16  By faith in his name has his name made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Act 3:17  "Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

Act 3:18  But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Messiah should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

Act 3:19  "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

 

Act 4:12  There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!"

 

Rom 10:9  that if you will confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Rom 10:10  For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

6.      As the Israelites had to have faith in the brazen serpent as the remedy for their sin and sickness so we today must look in faith to Messiah Yeshua

 

Joh 3:14  As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Eph 2:8  for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Eph 2:9  not of works, that no one would boast.

 

7.      As God’s power was the invisible force in the brazen serpent remedy, so it is with salvation through Messiah Yeshua

 

Mat 1:21  She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Yeshua, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins."

 

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Messiah, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

 

Col 2:12  having been buried with him in immersion, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Col 2:13  You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

 

8.      As the serpent on the pole brought peace and reconciliation to God , so Messiah Yeshua on the cross brought peace and reconciliation with Him –

 

Col 1:20  and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

Col 1:21  You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,

 

9.      As confession of sin and prayer were necessary for Israel to receive benefits of the brazen serpent, so they are necessary to obtain the benefits of Messiah on the cross.

 

1Jo 1:5  This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1Jo 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth.

1Jo 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua the Messiah, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

1Jo 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1Jo 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1Jo 1:10  If we say that we haven't sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 

 

 

 

********************************************

 

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

[2] The Stone Edition – The Chumash –Artsroll Series

[3] Dake’s Annotaed Reference Bible-Finis Jennings Dake – Dake Bible Sales, Inc. P.O Box 1050 Lawrenceville, Georgia 30246 copyright 1963-1991