Deborah’s Torah Nuggets
Deborah’s
Messianic Ministries
http://www.deborahsmessianicministries.com
Torah Reading-Numbers 4:21-7:89[1]
Torah Overview- Numbers
4:21-7:89
Gershon’s
Responsibilities- Numbers 4:1-28
Merari’s
Responsibilities- Numbers 4:29-45
The Totals- Numbers
4:46-49
Purification of the Camp –
Numbers 5:1-4
Theft from a Jew and from
a Proselyte-Numbers 5:5-9
Sotah/The Wayward Wife –
Numbers 5:11-14
The Meal-Offering of
Jealousies- Number 5:15
Confession- Numbers 5:16-22
The Scroll- Numbers
5:23-31
The Nazarite- Numbers
6:1-8
Sudden Contamination-
Numbers 6:9-12
Completion of the Term-
Numbers 6:13-21
The Aaronic/Priestly
Blessing-Numbers 6:22-27
The
Offerings of the Tribal Leaders- Numbers 7:1-11
The Dedication Offerings –
Numbers 7:12-83
The Total- Numbers 7:84-88
Moses Enters the
Tabernacle- Numbers 7:89
Haftarah- Judges 13:2-25
Samson’s a Nazarite
Brit HaDasha-Yohanan/John 12:20-36
Yeshua Elevates the Nations
This Week’s Torah
Nuggets[2]:
The Aaronic/Priestly Blessing-Numbers 6:22-27
Invoking the Name of YHWH
22 Hashem spoke to Moses,
saying
23 “Speak to Aaron and his
sons, saying: So shall you bless the Children of Israel, saying to them;
24 May Hashem bless
you and safeguard you,
25 May Hasem illuminate
His countenance for you and be gracious to you
26 May Hashem life His
countenance to you and establish peace for you,
27 Let them place My Name
upon the Children of Israel, and I shall bless them.
The Stone Edition Chumash
p 762-763
The First Blessing:
“May Hashem Bless You”
May God give you the many
blessings that are specified in the Torah such as those mentioned in
Deuteronomy 28:1-14, that Israel be triumphant over its enemies and superior to
other nations, that its crops and business ventures succeed, its offspring and
flocks be abundant and healthy and son on (Sifre)
Deu
28:1 It shall happen, if you shall
listen diligently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all his
mitzvot which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on
high above all the nations of the earth:
Deu
28:2 and all these blessings shall come
on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of the LORD your
God.
Deu
28:3 Blessed shall you be in the
city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
Deu
28:4 Blessed shall be the fruit
of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your animals, the
increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.
Deu
28:5 Blessed shall be your
basket and your kneading trough.
Deu
28:6 Blessed shall you be when
you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Deu
28:7 The LORD will cause your enemies
who rise up against you to be struck before you: they shall come out against
you one way, and shall flee before you seven ways.
Deu
28:8 The LORD will command the blessing
on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and he will bless
you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Deu
28:9 The LORD will establish you for a
holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you; if you shall keep the mitzvot
of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways.
Deu
28:10 All the peoples of the earth
shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid
of you.
Deu
28:11 The LORD will make you plenteous
for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in
the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to
give you.
Deu
28:12 The LORD will open to you his
good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to
bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you
shall not borrow.
Deu
28:13 The LORD will make you the head,
and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if
you shall listen to the mitzvot of the LORD your God, which I command you this
day, to observe and to do [them],
Deu
28:14 and shall not turn aside from any
of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left,
to go after other gods to serve them.
May your possessions
increase (Rashi) as well as the days of your life (Ibn Ezra)
May God bless you with
wealth and protect you so that you use the money to perform Mitzvos (Bamidbar
Rabbah). For as the Sages teach in many places, the best way for someone to
preserve his wealth is to use it for Charity and good deeds. That assures God’s continued blessing
(Yalkut Yehudah).
The Second Blessing:
“May Hashem illuminate”
This refers to the light
of Torah, as we find in Proverbs 6:23 “For the commandment is a lamp and the
Torah is a light”
May God enlighten you so
that you will be capable of perceiving the wondrous wisdom of the Torah and
of God’s intricate creation.
May God grant you
children who will be Torah scholars (Tanchuma)
“His Countenance”
The Term literally means “face”
Through the teachings of
the Torah, and the prophets, God sheds light- to shed light upon His workings
of the universe. Thus, we can perceive
a purpose in creation, that in turn, helps us to better understand the
greatness and will of the creator.
When this happens, all
will understand that the material benefits of the first blessing come from Him,
rather then by chance or natural causes.
“And be gracious unto you”
May He cause you to find
favor (in the eyes of others).
Cause you to be granted
Torah knowledge.
The Third
Blessing:
“May Hashem
lift His countenance to you.”
May He suppress His anger
(Rashi) and establish peace for you”
One may have prosperity,
health, food and drink, but if there is no peace/shalom it is all
worthless. Therefore the blessings are
sealed with the gift of peace-Shalom
The priests were to be a
conduit of God’s blessings as they were pronounced upon His people.
The ultimate blessings are
“God’s alone”, the passage concludes with God’s assurance that He will
confer his own blessing on the Children of Israel.
As explained by Sifre and
most commentaries, the first blessing refers to material prosperity, The second
to spiritual blessings of Torah knowledge and inspiration, and last the
blessing to God’s compassion above and beyond what one deserves as expressed in
forgiveness of sin and giving of peace.
The Brit Chadasha/Renewed
Covenant:
Rav Shaul’s prayer for
the Congregation of Messiah
Eph 1:2 Grace to you and
shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah;
Eph 1:4 even as he chose us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without
blemish before him in love;
Eph 1:5
having predestined us for adoption as children through Yeshua the
Messiah to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
Eph 1:6 to
the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely bestowed favor on us
in the Beloved,
Eph 1:7 in whom we have
our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of his grace,
Eph 1:8 which he made to
abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
Eph 1:9 making known to us
the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in
him
Eph 1:10 to
an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in
Messiah, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;
Eph 1:11 in whom also we
were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose
of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;
Eph 1:12 to the end that we
should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Messiah:
Eph 1:13 in
whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your
yeshu`ah,--in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise,
Eph 1:14 who is a pledge
of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the
praise of his glory.
Eph 1:17 that the God of our
Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
Eph 1:18 having the eyes
of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the holy
ones,
Eph 1:19 and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according
to that working of the strength of his might
Eph 1:20 which he worked
in Messiah, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right
hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 far above all rule,
and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this age, but also in that which is to come.
Eph 1:22 He put all things
in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for
the assembly,
Eph 1:23 which is his
body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
********************************************
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] To help with your Torah studies I recommend “The Stone Edition Chumash” ArtsScroll Series Published by Mesorah Publications, ltd. You can purchase it as www.amazon.com.