Parashat Chuqat

(Numbers 19:1 - 22:1)

2. "This is the [irreversible] enactment [chuqah] of the instruction which YHWH has ordained, saying, 'Tell the descendants of Israel to bring a red heifer to you--a wholly sound one in which there is no blemish, on which no yoke has ever been forced.

Irreversible: for the term connotes being engraved in stone. It is also meant to be engraved in our hearts. Red heifer: traditionally only a few hairs may be other than red. Nothing in the Tabernacle can be considered ceremonially pure without this heifer's ashes. Preparations are underway for this practice to begin again; several kosher red heifers have been identified in Israel already, but they cannot be more than three years old when the time is right for Temple service to restart. This is the only female animal used as an offering--a reparation for Chavvah (Eve)'s sin, which was essentially selfishness, and brought impurity to our whole race. But Adam did not take responsibility for his sin, so the sentence was carried on to all of his descendants as well. In fact, the deeper level of understanding this command is all about Adam and Chavvah, for the word for “red” has the same root as Adam, and has to do with the ground from which Adam was taken and the soil he tilled, for this was one of the purposes he was created. (Gen. 2:5) After he sinned he was banished from the Garden of Eden, but was still instructed to till the ground outside the Garden (Gen. 3:23), for his “punishment” had a corrective purpose, as it does for anyone YHWH loves. By being assigned to till the soil—having this “yoke” now put on him for the first time--he was somehow being aimed back toward the Garden by the circuitous route that was now necessary. And the commandment regarding this cow actually carries that on. How? The key is that the Hebrew word for “heifer” (or simply cow) stems from a root word meaning “to break up” (as with plowing) or “to frustrate”. So the purpose of this command was, at root, to “break up the ground” or “to frustrate the earth”. The Northern Kingdom of Israel is not only in exile from its homeland; we cannot forget that we are all exiled from the Garden, and getting back there is our ultimate goal. When we remember this, we can begin to return, but when we arrive we must remember what got us into exile so we do not repeat the same error. It was not Adam’s much-celebrated “original sin” that got him ousted from the Garden, but his refusal to take responsibility for it by shifting the blame to his wife, and ultimately to YHWH. Throughout the chapter we will see more about how the symbol;ism of this cow is a remedy for this particular problem.

Why El’azar and not Aharon himself? He was still the high priest. But the picture to be seen here is in the meaning of El’azar’s name: “Elohim has helped”. Those who are to carry out the “breaking of the ground” are those whom Elohim has helped, and who are under the authority of the Torah (Moshe) and Y’shua (our High Priest, whom Aharon represents). They are described in another way in Revelation 12:17: “the remnant of [Israel]… who keep YHWH’s commandments and who have the testimony of Y’shua.” The earth turns out to protect them because it has indeed been “broken up” at that time. How? “By the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and because they did not love their own lives even to the point of death.” (12:11-12) When we are selfless to that point, we “frustrate the earth”, i.e., overthrow the earthly order set in place by Adam’s sin. Outside the camp: Y'shua too was slain outside the city walls. (Heb. 13:13)

5. "'And the heifer shall be burned in front of his eyes: her skin, her flesh, and her blood, along with her excrement, shall be burned.

6. "'Then the cohen shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson-scarlet, and throw it into the middle of [where] the heifer [is] burning.

There are clear links here to the traditional ceremony of burning leaven at Passover, which foreshadows Y’shua’s taking away our sin on a wooden stake. (See also note on v. 18.)

Ritually impure: prohibited from entering a holy place. This incidence of uncleanneess is for the sake of the whole community--a picture of Y'shua's "becoming sin" for us, though he had no sins of his own to die for. (2 Cor. 5:21) Everyone who has anything to do with the process of purifying the community in this chapter ends up being ritually unclean, possibly because he makes compromises in order to reach out to those who are stuck in the mire, or because when YHWH uses us, we tend to become proud and self-righteous, congratulating ourselves or seeking praise, and thus ending up selfish again even while doing the job of removing selfishness from others. It is a reminder that we all need to remain teachable, since even someone as advanced as Paul said he could be "put on the shelf" as well. (1 Cor. 9:27)

9. "'while a man who is ritually pure shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially pure place. Thus it shall be stored away safely to be water of separation of sin; it is for the descendants of Israel.

Ritual impurity represents selfishness, which is not sin in itself, but leads to sin. (Yaaqov/James 1:13-16) Our desires are the fertile soil for the conception that comes by temptation, and gives birth to sin. Our desires are like a pen full of pit bulls—harmless to us if we stay away from them, but bringing inevitable death if we enter their arena. Part of the enticement is being given permission by someone to do what the Torah says is not valid. The serpent claimed the authority to overrule YHWH’s command, and something within Chavvah was ready to respond to it. Adam in turn was ready to respond when Chavvah “validated” his desire for the fruit by her own compromise. This began a cycle of selfishness, sin, and death that the ashes of this red cow are designed to stop. Physically they cannot stop it, but the ceremony must be carried out physically for the picture of the real remedy to be taught properly. As Adam broke up the ground year after year, he was meant to remember its etymological connection to his name, and see that ground as himself. He was to turn up the surface and see what it was that had led to his downfall and banishment from Eden, and what it would take to get back. By beginning to live selflessly again, this earthly pattern is broken up or frustrated. Otherwise, we will only be exiled again. The ceremonially pure place in which this healing water is stored is community, for we cannot have practical training in how to not put ourselves first if we live in isolation. Water represents YHWH’s word (Eph. 5:26), especially the Torah. Y’shua said that the entire Torah (what it is intended to engrave within us, v. 2) is to love YHWH with all we are and have, and to love our neighbors as ourselves—again, only possible in a community, for “neighbor” in Hebrew does not mean one who lives in close proximity, but one who is part of the same flock. (Mat. 22:37-40) We cannot truly love YHWH or one another without carrying out the rest of the Torah. Paul reiterated in every letter that we need to be of the same mind and put one another ahead of ourselves. This is the focus of our exile, and when we are truly doing so, the Kingdom can come back. We have been provided with the power to overcome (Rom. 8:1-2), but this will not happen automatically; we must resist the enticement.

11. "'Whoever touches any human body when it is dead will be ritually impure for seven days.

Body: literally, "soul".

Purify himself from uncleanness: literally, "lose himself". Y'shua said whoever loses his own soul (life) for his sake will find it again. With it: i.e., with the water containing the ashes of the red heifer. This is a synopsis of the history of the earth after Adam. The third day foreshadows Y'shua's resurrection and by extension, ours (Hos. 6:2); the seventh day, the Messianic Kingdom. Both (faith and works) are necessary for the world to be an acceptable place for YHWH to make His dwelling place on the “eighth day”. (Rev. 21:3) But one who does not partake of the third day—using what Y’shua has made available to us to purify himself insofar as is possible at this stage—he will not have laid the foundation needed for the purity that can only come in its completeness on the seventh.

Those who are in sin or lawless (without Torah) are called "dead" in Scripture as well, so this is a picture of the person who does not receive the provision YHWH has made to return to the covenant--Y'shua's blood; his unsuitability to be part of YHWH's Kingdom is retained. But a body without a soul is also a picture of faith without works. (Yaaqov/James 2:26) Rendered the Dwelling Place of YHWH unclean: by being in the camp, even if he does not approach the sanctuary, because YHWH's true dwelling place is His people when they are all gathered together "as one man".

15. "'Also, any vessel that has no cover-piece secured onto it will be ritually defiled.

Cover-piece: literally, "a matching counterpart"; secured: threaded--i.e., either bound on with a cord, or screwed into place. An earthen vessel is a picture of our mortal bodies. (2 Cor. 4:7) If our defenses are not up by having our gates guarded by the Torah (Eph. 6)—depicted by tzitziyoth (Num. 15:38), beards, and leaving hair on the sides of our heads (Lev. 19:27)-- the defilement of others’ selfishness can affect us as well.

Mortally wounded: literally, "pierced", a picture of one already condemned to die because of a sin whose punishment is death. A burial-site: For this reason the practice began of, before each pilgrimage festival, whitewashing caves that contained dead men's bones so that no one would take shelter in them on their way to the Temple, for none of the feasts last more than seven days, and thus they would be disqualified from participating (except that an extra day was tacked onto Sukkoth--possibly for this very reason).

Living water: water collected from a source where it was running, not a stagnant pool. Y'shua offered this at Sukkoth to anyone who was thirsty; he is the fountain of living waters (Yirmiyahu 17:13, to which he alluded in Yochanan 7 and 8), letting the Spirit flow through us from its original source to bring others back from defilement, while other teachers of his day were only able to offer water that had been stored up on a previous occasion. (Mat. 7:29) The water pictures cleansing from sin through YHWH's Word (Eph. 5:26).

Hyssop: an absorbent plant that still readily gives up what it absorbs, used in applying the blood of the Passover lamb (Y'shua) to one's doorposts (where we write YHWH's word, thus our hearts and the "gates" of our bodies), as well as what the poisoned sedative was offered to Y'shua on as he was dying. David showed that he understood what this pictured when he pleaded, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean... create in me a clean heart." (Psalm 51) The water: because Y'shua gave up his life for us, the "washing of water with the Word" renders us cleansed for YHWH's purposes (Eph. 5:25, 26). Sprinkle: not just a light dash, but a strong spurt; the word is related to being startled. Yeshayahu 52:10-15 foretold that Y'shua would "sprinkle many nations", and reminds us not to touch what is unclean.

Because of the third day (Y'shua's resurrection), we have the hope of salvation, but salvation will not fully come until the Kingdom (pictured by the seventh day, which is the Sabbath). Then we will have a thousand years and Y’shua here to officiate in the complete purification of this world so that the Father can indeed bring His dwelling place here with us.

Like the one invited to the wedding feast but who did not wear the garments with which he was provided (Matt. 22:11-12), this person has had faith without works. White robes are a symbol of the righteous deeds of the ones who are already declared holy (Rev. 19:8)--i.e., YHWH's Dwelling Place made of living stones.

22. "'and everything that the ritually-impure person touches shall be[come] ritually impure, and the soul who touches it shall be ritually impure until the evening.'"

In Haggai 2:12-14, YHWH applies this to the holy nation spreading its unclean condition to others, and asks rhetorically whether the converse is true, that anything holy that touches something common can make the latter holy as well, and he says this is not the case.

CHAPTER 20

Approximately thirty-eight years have passed since the end of the last chapter, spent wandering around what is now Saudi Arabia. Settled: or, stayed, sat still. Qadesh means "set apart" or “holy”—something YHWH has been telling His people to be all the while they were in the wilderness. In one sense of the wording, Miryam thus died only after having been set apart from the selfishness that had caused her leprosy. Though otherwise she was a holy woman, her name means “bitterness” or “rebel”, though this was not the case toward YHWH. Her death is a sad event on the literal level, but it gives us a wonderful equation on a deeper level: The Hebrew word for congregation is based on the word for “witness”. Here, everyone is a witness--a picture of us all being in unity and all taking responsibility to make sure our fellow Israelites do the right thing. People should be able to look at any of us and tell we are Y’shua’s disciples by our love for one another. (Yochanan 13:35) The first month is the anniversary of the Exodus, when we remember it through Passover and eating only unleavened bread for a week. It is when we begin to count the omer, which is all about unity and setting the Body of Messiah in its proper order. Building our lives around this calendar—beginning where YHWH began--is what keeps us in season and sets us apart. When we are committed to something as unpopular in today’s world as the Torah (for the wilderness in Hebrew is “the place of the word”), we will be set apart even by outsiders who separate themselves from us. Then the bitterness and rebellion can both die and be buried. Anciently, an Israelite’s dead body was left in a cave on a stone bed until the flesh rotted off, then the family came back and “gathered him to his fathers” (see v. 24)—that is, put his bones in a repository (called an ossuary) where his ancestors’ bones were already kept. If we do not maintain our commitment to one another, our rebellion can come back to life, as we see in the next few verses. Burial of our selfishness separates us from our “flesh”—that part of us that raises its head against YHWH. But at this point, the people chose not to live out the possibility promised here to those who will take Him up on it, but went back to their favorite pastime of finding the dark cloud in every silver lining and a problem for every solution:

Came to be no water: YHWH spares others for the sake of the faithful. (Gen. 18:24ff) By tradition, the rock that provided water had followed them (1 Cor. 10:4) because of the merit of Miryam. The covering YHWH had placed over her extended to those around her. Her greatest accomplishment—saving the life of her brother—took place in and around water. When she died, the water ceased to flow.

YHWH probably felt the same way about them! Brothers: they showed their true colors when they called those who had been destroyed for their rebellion their "brothers"--i.e., those with whom they were in agreement. Instead of thanking Him for the water they had been given freely for 38 years, like Yonah, they complained when their source of extra comfort ran out. (Yonah 4:6ff)

Grazing animals: calling them this parallels the people's emphasis on having something to consume.

The people would not have died without these luxuries, for the manna was still falling. But their livestock was their wealth, and they wanted to keep it secure, showing more concern for their animals than their children. Why did they expect the “pastor” to do everything for them? Why didn’t they dig a well? They did not have because they did not ask; they demanded. They used all the negative means they could to accomplish their goal, and really wanted to spend it on their pleasures, investing His gift into the present order rather than the Kingdom it came from, being friends of the world—wanting the natural order to be their provider—and thus enemies with YHWH. (Yaaqov 4:2ff) They were not in the Promised Land yet, so they should not have expected the journey to be as perfect as its goal. And if YHWH had chosen to bring them there, how could it be bad? The mere fact that Miryam was buried there precluded that from being an appropriate description of it.

They were making war on YHWH Himself, and He does not lose.

8. "Take the rod, and you and Aharon your brother summon the congregation to assemble, then speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will deliver its water. You will bring water out of the rock; thus you shall provide the congregation and their animals with water."

The rod: a specific one—Aharon’s, which had blossomed and borne fruit (17:8), proving that he was YHWH’s choice of leader. Rock: or crag, cliff, or large sharp rock. This is not just any rock that happened to be nearby. It is the same rock at Meribah that Moshe had struck before. (v. 13) Paul says that, at least in a mystical sense, this rock was the Messiah, and it "followed them" through the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:1-6).

10. and Moshe and Aharon summoned the congregation to assemble in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels! Must we bring forth water for you from this rock?"

Rebels: those who were contentious, refractory, or provocational; literally, "bitter ones". The Hebrew term is spelled exactly like Miryam’s name when the vowel points are not overt.

12. But YHWH told Moshe and Aharon, "Since you did not trust Me [enough] to treat Me as set apart for the eyes of the descendants of Israel, you will not bring this assembly into the Land which I have given them either!"

On one level, Moshe and Aharon represent the Torah and the Priesthood; neither could complete the job of our redemption apart from Y'shua. But here they were acting from their own anger. (Compare Yaaqov 1:20) This punishment seems rather severe, but there are several keys to understanding what YHWH was teaching. First, Moshe "raised his hand" (v. 11): Linguistically this links us to the warning that one who sins with a "high hand" (the same terminology used here in a different grammatical form) will not be given a way to atone for his error. (15:30) YHWH does not do things the same way every time, or we would subtly start to trust the method rather than the real Provider. That is what Moshe did, for he used a “proven “ method and indeed it worked. But it was not his right to choose which tool YHWH wanted to use from His “toolbox” on this occasion, so much trouble came with it. Moshe pleaded for a second chance in this regard, but was told to never mention it again. (Deut. 3:23-26) The reason was that he violated a picture of the Messiah. The rock had already been struck once (Ex. 17:6); now it was only to be asked to provide water. Likewise, Y'shua was bruised for us once and for all, and now we only need to "remind" YHWH that our provision has been bought with a price. It is always available; He has all authority in heaven and earth. But striking Y'shua twice does not work--that would be like crucifying him twice, but Y’shua did not die so we could remain as we always were; He came so we could escape sin. Heb. 6:4-6 says that if we have returned to the covenant once and turned away again, there is no sacrifice left for us. Moshe and Aharon had tasted the powers of the age to come (for though the manna was tangible, it is called “spiritual food” in 1 Cor. 10, for it, like this water, came directly from the Kingdom. But Moshe had turned back to the natural understanding of what he was comfortable with instead. Treat Me as set apart: i.e., He is not one to trifle with, taking His words half-seriously, but to obey precisely to the letter.

Contention: or strife. The water (instruction) that flows from Y'shua is related to strife; only warriors were numbered in Israel's census, so in one sense, if you are are not a warrior for Israel, you do not count.

Your brother: Israel (Yaaqov) was the twin brother of Edom (Esau). Come upon: literally, "found".

Went down: by leaving the Land of Promise.

17. "'Now please allow us to cut across your land. We will not go through a field or vineyard, nor will we drink water from a well. We will go by the King's Highway, and not deviate to the right hand or the left until we have passed beyond your border.'"

The King's Highway remains to our own day (in the nation of Jordan). It runs along the ridge that borders the eastern edge of the Aravah, the deep Rift Valley that resulted from the cataclysm that destroyed S'dom and 'Amorah. Further north in this rift are the Dead Sea and the Yarden plain. They probably wished to cross from Saudi Arabia over into this valley, which would given them much smoother passage to Yericho.

19. But the descendants of Israel told him, "We will go up by the raised highway, and if I or my livestock drink of your water, then I will pay [for] its cost. There will not be an incident; I will only go through by foot."

Water: a precious commodity in a desert land like Edom. Moshe knew there was not enough for both his congregation and Edom's residents. All they wanted to do was take a shortcut from Qadesh to the Promised Land.

Rabbinically, Edom is often taken to be at least a symbol of Rome, and by extension, the church, possibly because Herod the Idumean built the bridge for the mantle to be passed from one to the other through his kinship with the Hebrews while having a penchant for idolatry. The Church, whose seat is Rome, has some relationship with Israel yet continues to persecute her. It is the wrong place to look for support in rebuilding Israel, for, like Moshe, we would have to promise not to touch anything, but leave everything the way it is—i.e., compromise. Yehudah, too, is courting Christianity to swing world opinion in its favor, but it is still a part of the deceptive world system and will come back to bite them. That is why Yaaqov did not kiss Esau back when Esau fell on his nack and kissed him; tradition says two “tooth-marks” written above the word “kissed” in the Hebrew versions of Gen. 33:4 mean that he actually meant to suck his blood! So Yaaqov kept as much distance from Esau as he could, even lying to prevent Esau from spying on him.

Turned aside: had to go the long way around, which is through desert and deep canyons.

Mount Chor: just outside the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan, on the edge of the Aravah south of the Dead Sea (Salt Sea).

24. "Aharon will be gathered to his ancestors, because he is not going to enter the Land that I have given to the descendants of Israel, because you were disobedient to My mouth at the Waters of Contention.

The "you" here is plural. But why is Aharon punished for Moshe's disobedience? Apparently it is because he did not love Moshe enough to stop him from striking the rock when YHWH had told him to speak to it. He had time to do so when he raised his hand before striking. This made him an accomplice, for he was “his brother’s keeper”. (Compare Y’hezq’el/Ezekiel 3:18ff.) If he had, they both could have entered the Promised Land.

26. "then have Aharon take off his garments and clothe El'azar, his son, with them; then Aharon shall be gathered [away] and shall die there."

His garments: i.e., the special high priestly ones he wore over the standard white robe which all priests wore, to visibly confer on El'azar the position of high priest.

28. Then Moshe had Aharon take off his garments and clothe El'azar, his son, with them. Then Aharon was put to death there on the to of the mountain, and Moshe and El'azar came down from the mountain.

29. When the congregation saw that Aharon had expired, the whole house of Israel mourned Aharon for thirty days.

He received the same honor Moshe would. (Deut. 34:8)

CHAPTER 21

Arad: a city about ten miles southwest of the (later) Matzada fortress, west of the great Rift Valley, in the southernmost portion of the Promised Land according to the borders in that day. Its tel has been excavated over the past few decades. Today it is in the desert, but a thriving community has been rebuilt there today. But how could Israelites be taken captive? This was worse than merely being in exile. The key is in what Kanaan representsa. As a son of Cham, Kanaan was closely related to Mitzraim, the ancestor of the Egyptians. Egypt was a salvation to Israel, but the Book of Yasher says it was through a series of choices and compromises Israelites indebted themselves to the Egyptians and most thus became captive to it. We repeat this pattern all too often. Now, 38 years after leaving Egypt, they are being captured again by one of its kindred peoples. One key is that “Kanaanite” was also an idiom for a merchant or trader. (Z’kharyah 14:21) How often are our lives dictated by our ability to buy or sell? The entire system we live under today is one of security through wealth. But by this time, Israel had learned enough to know that this situation was intolerable:

Israel: speaking singularly. The nation was unified by the need to rescue their brothers. Totally destroy: specifically, “place under the ban”, a custom by which Israel conquered a city but did not take any plunder, dedicating it all to YHWH—concentrating our focus on its total destruction because it was too offensive to keep any remnant of it intact lest the reproach continue to influence others. Commerce makes the rich richer, and Y’shua says the rich can’t remain that way and still enter His kingdom. (Mat. 19:24) We cannot serve both YHWH and Mammon (wealth), an especially strong enemy to both houses of Israel in our day. To get a thick rope through the eye of a needle, one must unravel it and pass it through strand by strand—i.e., dismantle the structure of one’s material security and love our fellows as ourselves—in this case, giving one’s possessions to the poor. To get our brothers (all of Yehudah and Efrayim) back today, we have to not only remove our brothers from this system that holds them captive but also remove its ability to capture them again. How? We start by keeping the Sabbath and YHWH’s festivals, which keeps the revenue from flowing to it for a substantial number of days. By building our schedule around the new moons rather than a calendar contrived ahead of time, we cannot give much notice of when we will be unavailable, and this weakens the commercial infrastructure because it is now unpredictable and thus insecure. But convenience has to take a back seat to being set apart to YHWH. Rome is not the eternal city; Yerushalayim is; the world’s system will inevitably fall, so we must not endow it with honor that they do not deserve. When enough of us stop sacrificing to its deities by buying Christmas gifts, its foundations will crack. Our tithe is never ours to give them, and the times YHWH has set as His own are also not at the world’s disposal. If it gets angry, so what? Y’shua said that if the powers that be do not hate us, we are not following Him as we should, as surely as our love for one another is a sign that we are following Him. When Avram’s relative was taken captive, he armed his “dedicated men” and went to free him. (Gen. 14:14ff) This term for “dedicated” also means “trained”. Studying the Torah is what trains us in how to rescue our brothers.

Listened to: literally, "listened into"--He heard that their true motive was to reunite their nation by rescuing their fellow Israelites. YHWH already had a case against the Kanaanites, since Noakh had cursed Kanaan, who was his grandson but had committed a heinous sin against him. (Gen. 9:18ff) Hormah: "Place of Complete Destruction" or “Place Put Under the Ban”. A city about ten miles south of Arad was also known by this name. (Mentioned also in 14:45) It is the same area where the twelve spies had begun their exploration of the Land, so this act was a reparation for the wicked decision that was made there nearly forty years earlier. Having their countrymen to rescue gave added motivation to conquer the first area that was considered unconquerable to their fathers' generation. YHWH used this same motive to get Israel, who had been slow to be a light to all nations, to end up doing so; when Y'shua's followers were sent out among all nations to locate and restore the lost sheep of the northern Kingdom, in the process many others heard about Y'shua's Kingdom and also became part of it.

They had to turn far to the south in order to get to the area east of the Yarden from which they would approach the Land. Why didn't they just keep going north from Arad? Part of the reason is that the Yarden River is a clear demarcation of the edge of the Promised Land. But Y'hoshua's route also foreshadows the route the other Y'hoshua (the Messiah Y'shua) will take when he returns to his Land by way of Edom as conquering King. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 63) Impatient: literally, "shortened". They were tired of waiting, but they had been told that the timetable was forty years, and they had not reached that point quite yet. The Sea of Reeds was right where they had started, so it seemed that had made no progress at all, but that was precisely where YHWH wanted them; they had to go back and make reparation for what their parents had failed to do. It was as if they themselves had just come out of Egypt. We can be discouraged in the same way, thinking that if we go around the Christian religious system (or any that is lawless and against Torah), we might never get back to our Land. But so often we are told to wait on YHWH. (Psalm 27:14; 37:9, 34; Yeshayahu 40:31) This does not mean standing still or being nervous or moping about in depression, but walking in Torah instead of doing the opposite--resorting to the Kanaanite. (Hoshea 12:6-14) In doing so, YHWH says He will strengthen our heart.

Worthless bread: literally, "lightweight" food; after 38 years of the same thing day in and day out, they were bored of the manna, which was a picture of Y'shua (Yochanan 6:51) and His community (1 Cor. 10:17). Calling it worthless means rejecting Him. They may have seen the pastries that the Kanaanites had baked when destroying their cities and begun to lust for something more, though they lacked nothing essential and had a simpler life than anyone could reasonably ask for since Adam’s fall. They did not need to sow or reap. But since they thought YHWH’s provision was not enough, that was enough for Him, and this time He did not even give a warning that punishment was coming:

Burning serpents: literally, whisperers; indeed, Yaaqov says that a gossiping tongue is like a fire that burns down a forest, which is a picture of a community, for trees represent men. But the word for “bit” is also a Hebrew idiom for usury (lending at interest): it “takes a bite” out of the borrower. So, figuratively, YHWH sent them a finance company that provided them with a “credit card” so they could get what they wanted—but with a heavy toll. Like the snakes, this common ploy today numbs us by making us think we can have what we really cannot afford, so that we do not even realize we have been stung. They had destroyed these Kanaanites, but the merchants were back again anyway because of Israel’s proclivity to put herself in bondage after YHWH frees us.

They recognized they had acted stupidly and deserved to be bitten.

Standard: i.e., a banner pole. To follow the above analogy, YHWH told us to escape the bite of the usurers by “establishing our own lending institution”—one in which His community takes care of each other when in need without charging interest, thereby subverting the commercial system’s hold on us through its “carrot-on-a-stick” promise of eventual security if we keep letting it take everything we have. Why should we not put our substance into the community we will travel home with, rather than the one we will leave behind, and which will therefore never pay out what it promises to us?

Bronze: Often a symbol related to sin, but the word itself is from the same root as "serpent". In this sense, the same thing that punished them was what turned out to heal them—as our exile was again intended to do. Y'shua compared himself to this serpent on a pole in Yochanan chapter 3. He who was without sin (Heb. 4:15) was born “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3) and was “made sin” to free us from sin. (2 Cor. 5:21) Through His undeserved death He made haSatan, previously only an executioner, into a murderer and therefore having no more rights, thus conquering the sting of death.

Ovoth means "water bottles made of animal skins". It is thought to have been in the Aravah between Petra and the Dead Sea.

Iyey-haAvarim: "Ruin-heap of the crossings-over". One wonders whether this might be the burial site of those who had tried to cross into the Land at the wrong time. (chapter 14)

Wadi: a stream bed that is dry most of the year, or a valley cut by an extinct river. Zared: this one is east of the Aravah, and flows into the southern end of the Dead Sea. The word means "exuberant or luxurious growth".

The Arnon River flows through a deep canyon that resembles the Grand Canyon in the United States, probably formed during the S'dom and Amorah cataclysm. It makes a wonderful natural border.

15. "and at the slope of the wadi that turns toward the site of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moav."

Leans upon the border of Moav: or "supports itself on the territory of Moav.

17. Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! Answer it!

Answer it: or, "Sing to it!", probably in an antiphonal sense.

Mattanah means "a gift".

Now after 38 years of aimless and slow wanderings, we see the speed picking up quickly. They had to keep moving, because their exile was almost up. They had no time to settle down and build houses, because each of these stops was meant to be very temporary.

Cleft: Heb., Pisgah--sometimes translatable as "summit", and sometimes apparently synonymous with Mount Nevo, due east of Yerushalayim across the Yarden--in the land of Moav indeed. Desert: different from "wilderness" in Hebrew--a truly desolate place, by denotation, whereas a wilderness is simply uncivilized or uncultivated.

Sichon means "warrior", but it is rooted in the word for "sweeping".

The protocol for crossing someone else’s tribal lands was to inform the king of one’s wish like this, so that he would not assume the travelers came with the intent of war.

24. but Israel conquered him with the mouth of the sword, and took possession of his land, from Arnon to Yabboq, as far as the descendants of Ammon, because the border of the descendants of Ammon was formidable.

Moshe had conceded to the Edomites' unwillingness to let them cross (20:17-21), since they were cousins. However, the Emorites were not, so Moshe had no patience for them when they did the same thing. Ammon: the half-brother of Moav, the other son of the incest of Lot and his daughters. Formidable: too strong, firm, or fierce to dare to attack. Yabboq: the river where Yaaqov had encountered the messenger of YHWH who "changed his walk" forever. So we are retracing our ancestor’s steps.

Inhabited: or dwelt in, settled into. Heshbon: about 15 miles due east of the northern end of the Dead Sea, and about the same distance southwest of Rabbat-Ammon (the Ammonite capital, now Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). The name may mean "stronghold", but is related in particular to the word for calculation, weaving, devising combinations (used also for the "ingeniously-imaginative" waistband of the efod that the high priest wore, Lev. 8:7.) Hence it appears that it was an especially difficult city to conquer due to its well-thought-out design. Suburbs: literally, daughters.

I.e., the Moavites had once inhabited Heshbon and this whole region.

Poets: literally, those who make parables or proverbs.

Lords of the high places: Baaley-Bamoth, possibly the religious leaders who oversaw the pagan worship at these cultic platforms, or even the idols used there themselves.

Chemosh: the god of the Moavites, to which some Israelites later sacrificed adulterously. It means "subduer", which tells us something about the character of the Moavites' religion and warfare. But their history proves he could not subdue everyone.

As far as Dibon: this is poetic as well, because the phrase means "to the point of wasting away". Dibon is a small Arabic village called "Dhiban" today. (The "dh" is pronounced like the "th" in "then".) Nofach means "blast", and Meydeba (called Madaba today), "gently gliding waters". It is traditionally Ruth’s hometown.

32. Then Moshe sent [men] to go by foot to Yaazeyr, and they captured its suburbs and dispossessed the Emorites who were there.

Yaazeyr means "helped". Moshe finally stopped sending messengers and just attacked those who stood in their way, having seen the pattern of unwillingness to let them pass through.

Bashan: the Golan Heights. Edrey: a major city on a southern branch of the Yarmuq River, on the present-day border between Jordan and Syria. Its name is from a word for "arm", possibly an allusion to the branch of the river.

Do not be afraid: If we study and know the truth, their coats of mail will prove to be made only of feathers and easily pierced, for they have no substance, though they present a façade of invulnerability.

They were not in the Promised land yet, so why are they taking possession of these lands? Because these peoples tried to prevent them from attaining what YHWH had said was theirs, so they too had to be taken out of the way. Amos 9 says returning Israel at the end of our age will “possess the remnant of Edom”—that is, the people who inhabit that “land” need to be shown the way out of the Roman (a continuum from the Babylonian and Kanaanite) religious system, for it is to their own benefit to be thus “plundered”.

CHAPTER 22

Transitional land: mixture of grassland and desert. The entire nation moved together, leaving behind lands they had taken in recent victories that had brought them closer to their goal, not getting stuck there, for they were not all the way there yet. Now there were at the staging-point to enter the Land. We must leave behind ideas that may have brought us closer to YHWH in the past if they now prove not to hold water Scripturally.