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"Chukat"
The name
of this portion is “chukat”: This is the (chukat)
statute of the law... Chukat comes from the Hebrew
root Chakak, which means to engrave or inscribe.
The idea is that which is firmly written or inscribed,
therefore statute or law or decree. The King of
the universe is the Supreme Lawgiver. The Lord
has the right to issue fixed statutes; laws which
are to be obeyed, and not to be ignored. He has
the right because of creation, and redemption,
and superiority of His wisdom, power, and goodness.
Because He created us, He has the right to tell
us what to do, just as the potter has the right
to mold the clay into what wants. Because He also
redeemed us with such a high price, and with great
personal cost, the Redeemer owns us in a special
way, and therefore has the right to command us.
Because He is so good, and so much wiser than
us, the Supreme Being has the right to order us
to do what He wants us to do, according to His
superior insight.
The Supreme
Lawgiver has the right to give us statutes that
tell us how we must relate to Him, and the basis
we can get closer to Him. This section of the
Torah begins with the laws about the sacrifice
of a special red cow that was used to restore
the people and things when they became unclean.
The unblemished red cow was brought outside the
camp, slaughtered and completely burned. Cedar
wood, hyssop and scarlet material - symbols of
cleansing, were burned along with it. The ashes
were gathered, and then mixed with water. Hyssop
was dipped into the water, and sprinkled on people
and things which became unclean. This teaches
us that we have to be clean to draw near to the
holy God, whose presence on Earth was manifested
in the Holy House (Temple). One can’t come close
to Him if he is dirty. But, we are all dirty!
The sacrifice
of the red heifer was good, but it was not good
enough. It was a limited and temporary cleansing.
It could clean the outside, but not the inside
of a human heart, which is the source of our defilement.
It could not ultimately cleanse someone. Thank
God for the superior sacrifice of the Messiah!
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes
of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled
sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much
more will the blood of Messiah, who through the
eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish
to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God? Messiah’s blood and the
cleansing He made available is much more powerful
and effective than that provided by the red cow!
The Supreme
Being has a right to reward those who obey His
statutes, and punish those who don’t. There are
consequences for violating the Lord’s statutes.
There was no water for the people. Instead of
trusting the Lord, and praying, and asking Moses
to pray, they started an uprising against Moses
and Aaron. The Lord told Moses to take his rod,
assemble the congregation, and speak to a rock,
which would then produce enough water for all
the people and their animals. But instead of speaking
to the rock, Moses struck it with the rod. It
still produced water - the procedure worked (something
can work, and still be wrong), but the Lord considered
this action to be a sin, and this sin was enough
to prevent Moses and Aaron from being allowed
to enter the Land of Israel. Shortly after this
Aaron died on Mount Hor, near the border of Edom
(modern-day Jordan). Miriam too died in the wilderness,
and never made it to the Promised Land.
Leaders
who violate the Supreme Lawgiver’s statutes will
incur a stricter judgment. The Lord will hold
leaders to a higher standard. Sins by someone
in a position of less responsibility might not
be punished with the same strictness as someone
in a position of greater responsibility - which
is why many of us should not become teachers.
Thank God for the Messiah, who never sinned, whose
leadership is superior to that of Moses, and whose
priesthood is better than that of Aaron!
The Edomites
violated the Lord’s statutes by not allowing God’s
holy nation to pass through their land. This sin
against Israel will be one of the reasons why
the Lord eventually judged the Edomites.
The people
of Arad, who were Canaanites, violated the Lord’s
statutes, by attacking the Jewish people. There
were consequences for their sin - they were completely
destroyed by our army.
The people
of Israel again violated the Lord’s statutes by
complaining about the journey, and we didn’t like
the conditions, and how we were tired of the miraculous
mannah. The Lord sent poisonous snakes among us,
which bit many people, and many died. The Lord
told Moses to make a snake out of bronze, put
it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten by a snake,
if he simply came to the bronze snake, and looked
on it, would live. The cure must be related to
the disease. The solution must be related to the
problem!
1,500
years later, the Son of God, speaking to Rabbi
Nicodemus, used this event to illustrate how any
human being can undergo the new birth, a spiritual
transformation that enables a human being to enter
God’s glorious and real and everlasting government
over humanity and the universe, and be reconciled
to God, and be saved, and live forever. He told
Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the snake in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up; so that whoever believes will in Him have
eternal life. Every human being has sinned, and
been bitten by the great serpent - Satan, and
deadly spiritual poison is flowing in each one
of us. If human beings do nothing, they will surely
die. They will miss out on eternal life with God!
But if anyone comes to Yeshua, and sees Him, and
believes that He is the Messiah and Savior sent
by God, they will not die - they will surely live!
The portion
concludes with the defeat of the Amorites under
king Sihon, whose land was on the east side of
the Dead Sea, part of modern-day Jordan. They
would not allow us to pass through their land,
and instead they fought against us. They violated
the Lord’s chukkot, and were defeated, and we
took possession of that land.
We continued
traveling north, and approached the land of Bashan,
east and north of the Galilee (and part of present-day
Syria). The people of Bashan, under the leadership
of king Og, violated the Lord’s chukkot. They
sinned by fighting against us, and they suffered
the consequences of their sin. They were defeated,
killed, and their land taken over.
Obedience
to the Lord’s statutes will be rewarded with blessing
and life. Disobedience to God’s chukkot will punished.
Are you obedient or disobedient?
Shalom,
Rabbi Glenn
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