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“Pinchas”
This week’s
Torah portion is called “Pinchas” and begins in
25:10 with the commendation of Pinchas the priest.
Remember that before Bilam left, knowing that
he couldn't curse Israel, but wanting to get that
money that the Moabite king Balak promised to
him if he would curse the Jewish people, Bilam
instructed Balak to set a trap for us. If we could
be corrupted by engaging in sexual immorality
and idolatry and false religion, God Himself would
attack us. So, Bilam devised a plan whereby the
daughters of Moab and Midian would seduce our
men, and then lead us to sacrifice to Baal.
Sure enough,
the plan worked, and God's judgement fell on Israel
because many of us engaged in sexual immorality
and idolatry. 24,000 were killed by a plague,
and the leaders who engaged in this were executed.
Pinchas, the son of Eliezar the High Priest, was
particularly zealous and enthusiastic for the
Lord, and took a spear and killed Zimri, who was
a Jewish man and a leader among the Jewish people,
and Cozbi, a Midianite woman, whose father was
a leader among the Midianites. That act was very
zealous and radical, and probably offended many
Jews and Midianites.
It’s not
easy being zealous and radical for God. The world
dislikes religious fanatics. It makes them feel
uncomfortable. It offends them. That’s one reason
why it’s not easy to be zealous for the Lord -
the fear of man. Zeal for God might offend the
world, but it pleases God, and the Lord commended
Pinchas for taking this radical action, which
was a kind of intercession, which made atonement
and saved the people of Israel from further destruction.
When it
comes to love for God, love for truth, zeal for
God’s Word and desire for purity, there is no
such thing as too much! Because of his hatred
of sin, and his zeal that God would be honored
by Israel, and because of the courageous and radical
action that Pinchas took against these sins of
immorality and idolatry; because he stood in the
gap for us, and mediated for us, and brought atonement
for the Jewish people, God made a brit shalom
- a covenant of peace and well-being with him,
promising the High Priesthood to him and his descendants.
What a great thing! What an honor! And, the Lord
will honor you too one day with great honor, if
you are zealous and courageous for Him, like Pinchas
was!
Chapter
26 records the numbering of the new generation.
We had been in the wilderness for almost 40 years,
a year for each day that the spies spied out the
Land, which we didn’t have the faith to enter.
The entire generation that was saved out of Egypt
and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, was faithless,
disloyal and unbelieving, in spite of all the
miracles that they had witnessed. That generation
had now died out, as God said they would - except
Joshua and Caleb - who were faithful and zealous.
About
1,200,000 adults perished during those forty years.
But, during those forty years, children were born
and became adults. This census shows that some
tribes experienced population growth, and some
tribes went down in population, but the overall
population remained roughly the same - around
600,000 men and we would assume another 600,000
women.
We don’t
want to be like that generation that knew much
about God, and saw miracles, and were saved out
of Egypt, and cross through the Red Sea of baptism,
and were miraculously provided for in the wilderness,
but didn’t enter into the rest God had for us
in the Promised Land. We don’t want to get close
to the Kingdom of God, close to salvation, close
to eternal life and miss out on it! What a tragedy,
what a horror, that would be! Yet, there are millions
of religious people today who may go to a Church
or to a Messianic Synagogue, who, because they
know about God and Messiah and the Bible, who
may have even experienced the miraculous, may
be deceiving themselves into thinking that they
will enter into eternal rest, when they won’t.
Many will say on that awesome day, “Lord Lord,
didn’t we know You, and do great things for You?”
only to hear the Judge say, “I never knew you
- depart from Me.” We need to take inventory,
and ask ourselves some honest questions like:
do I really know the Lord? Am I really following
the Lord? Do my values, does my life, reflect
a right relationship with the Living God? Do I
really love the Lord, and is He first in my affections,
as He should be? Am I really serving the Lord,
am I really with Him? Am I striving to make His
will my will? Am I really putting His Kingdom,
and His agenda, first? Or, is this some kind of
religious game that I am playing, and I am not
really sincere and genuine down deep, in my innermost
being? It’s good to ask those questions every
once in a while, and be brutally honest, and listen
for an answer - which will come.
Part of
the purpose of this new numbering was to help
allot the land within Israel. Those tribes that
had a larger population were to have a larger
inheritance in Israel. Chapter 27 records that
the issue came up regarding women inheriting land.
The five daughters of Tz’lof-chad came to the
leaders of Israel with a problem. Their father
had died, and left no sons - only the five daughters.
Shouldn’t they receive his inheritance in Israel?
Art women allowed to inherit property? The matter
was taken by Moses to the Lord, who ruled that
the daughters of Tz’lof-chad were correct. In
the case of a man who died without sons, his daughters
have the same right to inherit land as if they
were sons. They were never to be treated as property,
but could be property owners. This elevated the
status of women in Jewish society.
Since
Moses will not be allowed to enter the Land of
Israel because of his sin, and is about to die,
a new leader is needed. Who will it be? Will he
be qualified? Will he lead us well, or into disaster?
So Moses, our great leader, prays that the God
of the spirits of all flesh, who knows every human
being way down deep, in our innermost being, who
understands what is in their spirit, and who knows
who will be faithful and who will be unfaithful,
who will have genuine integrity, and who will
merely look good on the outside - that the God
of the spirits of all flesh will appoint the right
man to take over the leadership of Israel, so
that the Jewish people will be led properly, and
be protected from going the wrong way, and won’t
be like sheep without a shepherd - wandering aimlessly,
without direction, and unprotected. The Lord listens
to the prayer of Moses, and tells him to take
Joshua, and lay his hands on him publicly, in
front of the whole congregation, and transfer
his authority to Joshua. And, this is how ordination
to the ministry is still to be done. A man is
gifted by God, and he is tested by the people,
and he is approved, and those who are leaders
lay their hands on him, recognizing his qualifications
and his authority. And, Joshua turns out to be
one of the very greatest leaders the Jewish people
ever had. He does lead us wisely, and brings us
into the Land of Israel, and helps us defeat the
nations living there, and gets us established
in the holy land.
Chapters
28-29 give us the various korbanot - the sacrifices
that enabled the offering to draw nearer to God.
Every day we offered up two male lambs, one year
old, along with grain, oil and wine, for burnt
offerings of dedication, declaring that the life
of our nation was given exclusively to God to
accomplish His purposes. One lamb was offered
up in the morning, and one was offered in the
evening - like morning and evening prayers.
Then,
on the Sabbath, not only were the regular two
lambs offered up, along with grain, oil and wine,
but an additional two lambs were offered.
Then,
on Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of every month,
two bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs along
with grain, oil and wine, were offered. Also,
a male goat was offered as a sin offering. Israel
was atoned for and devoted to the Lord each month!
Then,
on the holidays, on the days of Passover (each
family offered a lamb. Josephus records that one
Passover in the First Century, more than 250,000
lambs were killed), on Shavuot, Yom Truah (the
Day to blow the Shofar, a.k.a. as Rosh HaShana),
Yom Kippur and Sukkot, extra sacrifices were offered.
The total
comes to approximately 114 bulls, 32 goats, 37
rams, and 201,093 lambs per year! Now, multiply
that by 1500, roughly the number of years from
the time this was written, until the coming of
the Son of God. The total is astounding: 171,000
bulls, 48,000 goats, 55,500 rams, and 301,639,500
lambs! This does not include the other sacrifices
that we offered during the year: offerings given
as vows, and freewill offerings, burnt offerings
and peace offerings.
From the
time of Moses until 70 AD. when the sacrifices
stopped, there was a continual shedding of the
blood of bulls, goats, lambs and rams and pigeons,
day after day, Sabbath after Sabbath, month after
month, holiday after holiday, year after year
- millions upon millions of animals, rivers and
rivers of blood that did not permanently take
away our sins. We could never say, “It is finished!”
Under the Mosaic covenant, with its constantly
repeated sacrifices by the Levitical priests,
there was no ultimate and final forgiveness for
sin - only a temporary covering.
Thank
God for the one sacrifice of the Messiah, the
perfect, blameless Son of God, whose perfect and
holy life and death pleased God the Father.
His one
sacrifice was infinitely better sacrifice than
all the millions of sacrifices of bulls, goats,
rams, lambs and pigeons that came before! His
one sacrifice possesses absolute perfection, and
never ceasing effectiveness! His one sacrifice
accomplished infinite redemption, perfect and
full and eternal atonement! His one sacrifice
is eternally powerful and everlastingly effective
and never needs to be repeated! It only needs
to be accepted, believed in, welcomed, and applied
to our lives.
If it
is, then: We draw near to God. We enter into the
New Covenant, and have a new and better relationship
with God. We have peace with God. We have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our all
sins. We have continual cleansing and atonement.
We have victory and everlasting life!
Shalom,
Rabbi Glenn
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