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 to you a completely red heifer--one in which there is no blemish, upon which no yoke has ever come.

Enactment: We include the word "irreversible" here, because the term connotes being engraved in stone. YHWH's word is meant to be engraved in our hearts. This is not something that will suddenly come about by magic when the clock reaches a certain time, but as with memorization, something is engraved on our hearts due to frequent usage. This instruction is unusual in that it is much more specific than most, leaving less room for the fluidity that most Torah commands require if they are to be applicable in many situations. This command therefore has a greater degree of solidness and immutability than most. Rabbinic writings often say that a chuqah is a decree that one cannot understand, but must simply obey. There is some profit in this, for we have seen, especially in Christian circles, the idea that if one understands the lesson being taught by the action, one no longer needs to carry out the practice. But when we look at the components of these pronouncements that were made later than the revelation at Sinai (usually in response to particular situations), we can certainly understand some of them already, and expect to be able to understand the rest as we compare Scripture with Scripture. We may not be sure why it has to be red, or exactly what shade of red (though the Hebrew term suggests an earth-tone like that of red clay). But there is nothing here that we cannot learn from. This chuqah is about purity--not so much physical hygiene, but being undefiled. Previously we have seen the "remedies" for lesser types of impurity, but recent events have demanded a more comprehensive solution, as will be detailed below. Completely red: It can have no spot of any other color. Traditionally no more than two or three hairs may be other than red, so she had to be examined very carefully. No yoke: The Mishnah says the hairs were also examined to see if they were bent, suggesting that a burden of some kind had been placed on her. The people must bring this cow to Moshe, or, later, to whomever is in charge in Israel. With millions of people in the camp, who brings it? Everyone would pay close attention as never before to who had a red cow, and many people would come to inspect those that appeared to qualify. Everyone is looking for the same thing. This would bring a unity of mind about something positive, rather than the unity of complaint and rebellion that they have done so well at but that YHWH hates. This may explain why it is such a strange request. People tend to be better able to stick to a task if it is made into a game. It would have been better if they would be committed to the task just because it is what YHWH wants, but Israel is immature at this stage, seldom looking beyond themselves to how their actions will benefit the whole community, so He provides motivation to finish this Kingdom task. People endure much, even risking their lives, for things like sports that will mean absolutely nothing within a few months. So YHWH casts this command in the form of a puzzle, a treasure hunt that required communication between them all. Like children who are given a common quest, they would stop their bickering and work together. He sets their minds on better things than their own satisfaction: They are looking for a common means of purification. (v. 9, 12) This is a huge exercise that Israel really needs. If they were paying more attention to what YHWH wants, they would not have whined so much when they were really quite well-cared for. No one was killing their children, and their stomachs were full, even if they did not have land or the delicacies the Egyptians had had. It would also build skill in attentiveness to detail, which many of us so badly need, with our short attention spans and tendencies to run ahead when we have heard only part of the instruction.

This is the first time any individual besides Aharon is called the cohen. El'azar is the high priest in training, a position later termed the segan. This ceremony will require that he become defiled, so the high priest himself is not given this job, as he must remain pure in regard to corpse-uncleanness, which is the purpose of this slaughter. It also appears that even El'azar is only witnessing the slaughter done by someone else from the community, and only deals with the blood himself:

When the Temple stood, this ceremony was carried out on the Mount of Olives, from which the front of the Temple building could easily be seen.

After all the searching for the perfect cow, only seven drops of its blood are used! Such a special cow would certainly be worth a lot; it would seem like a waste to burn it all if not for a very special purpose. But it was a great waste when Adam chose self and did not repent when given the open door, and this ceremony's purpose is to remedy what remains in us of that sin. This will remove the temptation to put too much emphasis on the cow itself. After the incident of the golden calf, this is a reminder that it was not really about the cow, but about the work for which it is used. Ashes do not make very nice idols! This is just a cow. The purification of the whole nation (so that anyone can enter YHWH's presence) depends on this being done the right way. El'azar supervises to make sure it is done properly, and that every part of it is burned until it is nothing but ash. This will teach him to be responsible for others' sin from the start--something Aharon did not learn until much later. One cannot measure purity in human beings as easily as in soap or gold. It is a picture of how motivated by self-interest one is. A tree is known by its fruit, but even that is only easy at a certain time of year. As with any Kingdom responsibility, he must see it through to the end. YHWH's ways are higher than ours. We do not know which of the responsibilities He gives us, whether they seem large or small, may usher in the Kingdom. The way we mop the floor might be the very thing that makes the difference!

There are clear links here to the traditional ceremony of burning leaven at Passover, which foreshadows Yahshua's taking away our sin on a wooden stake (see also note on v. 18), as well as the painting of the lamb's blood on the doorposts. (Ex. 12:22) It also reminds us of the cleansing of the leper. (Lev. 14)

Ritually impure: prohibited from entering a holy place. This instance of uncleanneess is for the sake of the whole community--a picture of Yahshua'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. Whatever we encounter rubs off on us to some extent. He is doing a righteous thing, and is involved in a Kingdom pursuit, but still he is affected by someone's selfishness, for when we are dealing with another's selfishness, we should expect to have to deal with a measure of it in ourselves. The natural response to selfishness is defensiveness of our own selves; we notice the log in our own eye when trying to take the splinter out of another's. The words we speak to them will often speak to us as well. But do not let the fact that you, too, are selfish prevent you from dealing with the other's selfishness; just deal with your own first.

Ritual impurity represents selfishness, which is not sin in itself, for we must have some measure of self-preservation or we will die needlessly. But selfishness sets us in the arena for sin. Yaaqov/James tells us the progression. (1:13-16) Our desires are the fertile soil for temptation to work on us until we actually do the wrong thing. They 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, as was done when people misinterpreted Paul and parts of the Gospels. The serpent claimed the authority to overrule YHWH's command, and something within Chawwah was ready to respond to it. This is the only female animal used as an offering, which suggests a reparation for Chawwah (Eve)'s sin, which was essentially selfishness, and brought impurity to our whole race. Adam in turn was ready to respond when Chawwah "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. "Red" (adamah) 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) It was not his eating of the fruit 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. The symbolism of this cow is a remedy for this particular problem. After he was banished from the Garden of Eden, he was 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" (parah) stems from a root word meaning "to break up", as with plowing, or "to frustrate" (parar). So the purpose of this command was, at root, to "break up the ground" or "to frustrate the earth". The way of the earth is "It was not my fault." As Adam broke up the ground (Heb., adamah) 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. The more selfless we become, the more we can"frustrate the ways of earth", i.e., overthrow the earthly order set in place by Adam's sin.

Outside the camp: This way no family or tribe can claim possession of it at their own house, as the pope has done. It is a common possession available to all. No one can say, "If you do not pay me, you cannot be purified." What affects one affects all. Strangely enough, the perfect solution to selfishness is acting in unity to find the red heifer. The search, rather than the ashes, is the foundation that can get us started on our way to selflessness. The journey is necessary to reach the goal. Nothing in the Tabernacle can be considered ceremonially pure without this heifer's ashes. This has only needed to be done nine times throughout history. Preparations are underway for the next time; numerous kosher red heifers have already been identified in Israel, but the chosen one cannot be more than three years old when the time is right for Temple service to restart. A man who is ritually pure: As Israel settled in the Land, this would be too big a job for the priest alone. Some aspects of the job can be done by others, representing the fact that anyone who is clean can bring cleanliness to others. If we are victorious over self in a given area, we need to pass it on to others. (For there to be someone ritually pure to render the high priest pure when inaugurated, as in ancient times, a group of children is being raised from birth in a place where they can avoid ritual defilement and learn what to watch out for. Some say this is not necessary, but that as at the time spoken of here, when there was also no one ritually pure, an immersion in water is all that is necessary. But if the higher road is possible, undoubtedly it will be taken.) There would be a substantial heap of ash from such a large animal. Outside the camp: because, much like baking soda or activated charcoal, they "absorb" the impurity they are addressing and therefore are themselves defiling, and they cannot be kept among the people. Stored away: The Talmud says vessels containing some of the ash were sent to every town in Israel, because corpse-defilement would be a very common problem in a culture less sanitized than ours, so it was important that people have access to this water. We see evidence of this practice in Yochanan chapter 2 where a very small town had six large stone jars--since stone cannot be ritually defiled--to be used for this ceremony. Tradition says the spiritual condition of each generation is weaker than those that came before it, so just in case the current red heifer has a blemish about which no one who inspected it is aware, the ashes of previous red heifers all the way back to the one slaughtered by El'azar have been mixed in with that of the new one as a sort of "insurance" that this water would indeed be qualified to render the nation pure. This helps us connect with those who were much closer to--and even present at--Sinai. It would therefore be wonderful if the original ashes described here were found, and there are those who are searching for them. But if they are not found--or if they are found and it cannot be proven that they are still pure--the Temple Institute has determined that there is nothing to prevent us from repeating the procedure done here and using these fresh ashes as commanded. Figuratively, the clean place where the healing water is stored is the community, for we can have no practical training in not putting self first if we live in isolation. Water represents YHWH's word (Eph. 5:26) and Yahshua said the Torah is summarized in loving one another as we love self. (Mat. 22:37-40) Separation from sin: The term for separation is used elsewhere only of a woman who is off-limits to a man, whether his wife in her monthly cycle, or a close relative he is forbidden to marry. So this is the instruction for how to keep sin away like the garments worn by women during this time that warn men to keep their distance. If we see ourselves as off-limits to selfishness, the earth will be frustrated and the Kingdom can come. Stay separate from what causes you to miss the mark. If you deal with selfishness, the source of sin, you will be out of reach of the actual sin that crouches at the door, waiting to devour you. (Gen. 4:7)

Even a foreigner can do this job, but in order to bring purity to others, he himself must become ritually impure. This Kingdom paradox was definitely lived out by Yahshua. (2 Cor. 5:21)

The practice of "sitting shiva' (seven)" may have originated from the fact that those who prepared the body for burial (an honorable thing) would not wish to leave their homes during these seven days. People began to come to their homes to console them, though in choosing to do so, they would also take on the same restrictions--a positive example of the subject of the note on v. 10. In the Torah, everything revolves around life. (Psalm 119) Death is a reality, but it is nearly ignored, because it is not what we serve, like the Egyptians--and Christians--who put all of their energies into what comes after they die. YHWH did not bring this command forth until now, when death has become overly prevalent in the camp lately, with the plague, the ground swallowing others up, and those who went to battle at the wrong time. Many people had very unnecessary deaths because they were cowards and rebels, and their families are probably trying to find some value in their deaths. So He brings forward a ritual so that they can move on from the death that they are thinking too much about and also be freed from some of the useless mystique the Egyptians invested in death. The word for "body" here means more than a corpse; it literally means "soul"--or "life"! A "dead life" is an oxymoron, but it highlights the fact that a living person who does not walk in Torah is someone to keep our distance from, so that we will not receive any of the "living death" he exudes. Of course we will contact many non-Kingdom people or ideas where we are now, for Israel is meant to be a light, but we have to be careful not to let the priorities of Egypt or the world attach to us. Look for information from them, but keep your guard up in order to avoid investing our energy in what is profane. Sometimes "dead lives" look very beautiful or exciting, but so much energy is being put into what is ultimately useless. It is wise to minimize interaction with them so we do not invite those attitudes into ourselves. Selfishness breeds death, and death leads to further impurity, which sets the stage for more death; it is a downward spiral. Get off the treadmill. Get sprinkled with the "water" of working together in unity. The ashes alone cannot effect spiritual purity; only when mixed with the water can they give remedy. Community must be combined with Torah or it will not relieve us of our selfish ways. All the serving in the world is a waste of time if it is not in a Torah context. There are plenty of examples of unity for the wrong purposes. But as we "break up the ground" through selflessness as YHWH defines it, we can plant something worth eating. We can return to the garden that existed before there was any plowing or tilling. (Gen. 2:5; 3:23) This red cow and the lessons it teaches us are what can elevate us from the ground back into YHWH's presence. When we walk in Torah long enough, we find a pleasant surprise. We start to realize that what YHWH asks of us is what we really want, after all. We just didn't recognize it when we allowed selfishness to rule our choices. So our selfishness stood in the way of true self-fulfillment.

Purify himself from uncleanness: literally, "lose himself". Yahshua said whoever loses his own soul (life) for his sake will find it again. (Mat. 10:39) With it: i.e., with the water containing the ashes of the red heifer. (v. 9) This is a synopsis of the history of the earth after Adam. The third day foreshadows Yahshua'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 Yahshua 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. If one is no longer even looking for the target, he certainly will not hit it! But the first time a "third day" appears in Scripture, it is during creation--the day the dry land was brought forth. On the seventh day, by contrast, the "heavens" were brought forth when YHWH rested. We can deal with what seems selfish from an earthly perspective, yet still be very selfless deep in side. When we deal with self to the degree that heaven also recognizes us as selfless, we have accomplished something truly eternal. We may have to "fake it" at first, but as we practice disciplining ourselves to do what is right regardless of how we feel, it will become real.

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--Yahshua'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".

It was the doors of their tents that the rebels had been standing at when the ground swallowed them. (16:27) Tents symbolizes places of learning (Gen. 9:27; 25:27), but a little death defiles the whole tent. When what is taught upholds self (such as prosperity doctrines that teach that the Kingdom is about personal wealth), there is death in the tent. It defiles anyone who enters it thereafter. Whenever any selfishness is brought in, or wherever anyone embraces the things of death, everyone pays a price. Right now there is no means of ritual purification. No ashes of the red heifer have been found or made again yet. But these commands are ultimately here to teach us how to live our lives. We have to always be fighting selfishness in ourselves and deliberately doing things to hold it at bay.

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. This tells us that if we must go into a "strange tent" (whether a stripper bar, a church, or a web site) and do not know what is there, we must "cover our vessels" since we could be defiled by what is there.

None of these is intentional, but whether we are in battle or just out walking in the field, any contact with deathhas consequences. It does not seem fair that merely touching a bone should render us unfit to come into YHWH's presence, but He is teaching us just how easily selfishness spreads. Even if we were in battle for the sake of Israel, and we put our hand on the chest of the person we just killed, in order to get the sword out, we would be defiled. Having no checkpoints between our hearts and our mouths makes us like animals, so we must even overcome part of our survival instinct--the part that rose up when the serpent whispered and said, "This is your frault, not mine." We must always have our guard up--not in a nervous way, but if we recognize where the selfishness gets a foothold most easily, we can take control of it by serving others more diligently and spending more time in YHWH's word (for both are necessary for the right kind of selflessness to result). 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). What a "cut" it was for Yahshua to call some of the P'rushim "whitewashed tombs"!

Living water: water collected from a source where it was running, not a stagnant pool. Yahshua 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).

Clean man: If at least one person is not clean to start with, no one else can become clean. There are many ways this can apply to Yahshua. One reason the Temple was destroyed was that there were so few unselfish people left that there was no one to purify others. On the other hand, if others become selfless because of our example, heaven will reckon us worthy to enter YHWH's presence on the seventh day. Hyssop: an absorbent plant that still readily gives up what it absorbs, used in applying the blood of the Passover lamb (Yahshua) 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 Yahshua 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 Yahshua gave up his life for us, the "washing of water with the Word" renders us cleansed for YHWH's purposes (Eph. 5:25, 26). Spatter: not just a light dash, but a strong spurt; the word is related to being startled. Since lye for soap is also made by mixing water with the ashes of animal fat and bone marrow, there were undoubtedly some antiseptic properties to this solution as well--very important when one is dealing with the bacteria surrounding decaying bodies. Though this is not its main purpose (as it seems to have been very strongly diluted), many of YHWH's commands have secondary physical results that have health benefits. (Ex. 15:26) Both the physical disease potential and the potential for less ritual defilement are why Jews to this day try to get the body buried the death of day rather than embalming it. Yeshayahu 52:10-15 foretold that Yahshua would "sprinkle many nations" (or, more likely, "Gentiles", for the word is goyim), and the same passage reminds us not to touch what is unclean.

Because of the third day (Yahshua'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 Yahshua here to officiate in the complete purification of this world so that the Father can indeed bring His dwelling place here with us.

Purify himself: See to it that you get your own act together, or you will be cut off from the assembly. 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 anything that the ritually-impure person touches will become ritually impure, and the soul who touches it will be ritually impure until the evening.'"

It is a gift to be able to remain selfless in the midst of a selfish environment. 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. Only when one contacts death does EVERYthing he touches become a means of transmitting uncleanness rather than just what he sits or lies on. But selfishness is always contagious. It is a losing strategy, because it comes right back at you from the one against whom you show yourself preference. It is self-perpetuating. Our response must be to both point it out and work together to get rid of it. It is almost impossible to love YHWH with all we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves--but not quite. It takes a bigger commitment than most are willing to give. But when we come together with common goals, we can begin to engrave on our hearts and one another's hearts what lines up with YHWH's heart. It requires a community that has Kingdom goals to fully deal with the selfishness that stands in the way. The water is there; if you do not get clean, it is your own fault. No one is keeping it from you, but you must choose to come and be sprinkled.

CHAPTER 20

[c. Year 2477 from creation/1523 B.C.]

1. Now the descendants of Israel--the whole congregation--arrived in the wilderness of Tzin in the first month, and the people settled at Qadesh, and Miryam died there, and was buried there.

Qadesh was somewhere in the eastern Negev, according to verse 16. Approximately thirty-eight years have passed since the end of the last chapter, spent wandering around probably what is now Saudi Arabia. Settled: They stayed in the place of being "set apart" or "holy", which is what Qadesh means. This is what YHWH has been telling His people to be all the while they were in the wilderness. Only here can we know Him in any depth--in the context of His kind of set-apartness, not the monastic type. They even put aside their own mournings for the deaths that the last chapter addressed. In one sense of the wording, Miryam thus died only after having been set apart from the selfishness that had caused her leprosy. She made it back to Qadesh before she died, and was still there when she died. Her death is a sad event on the literal level. The matriarch of the Exodus, the prophetess, is gone. It is a very great loss for Israel. But this sad story gives us a wonderful equation when read from a different perspective; on a deeper level it tells us what must take place in the latter days: 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 Yahshua's disciples by our love for one another. (Yochanan 13:35) The term here is the feminine form of "witness", so it pictures YHWH's beloved, Israel in unity. 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. "Month" is best translated as the "renewal", so this is a time for new beginnings. In order to get Home, Israel must enter this primary renewal as a unified witness. When we are committed to something as unpopular in today's world as the Torah (for "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 (the meaning of Miryam's name; the same form is used in v. 10) can both die and be buried. (It is interesting that the Roman form of her name, Mary, which the Catholics worship, means "my rebellion" in Hebrew!) Many of us have walked paths that would tend to make us bitter, but this is destructive to the community that YHWH is again forming, and it cannot take root where we are selfless. Yahshua told us to take up our execution stake, and until we do our homework and learn that lesson, there is no point in his returning. Once we escape rebellion and bitterness, we are ready to go Home. We can only do this in the "place of the word". We cannot trust our instincts; we must read the instructions. And reading alone does not bring understanding; we must internalize it and walk it out. This is the fortieth year--the time for transition. All of the numbers are in place. But 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: The same Qadesh (near Edom, as in verse 16) is also called "Eyn Mishpat" (spring of judgment) in Gen. 14:7. It is a spring; there's supposed to always be water there. But mishpat means a just legal ruling. So did the spring only flow when the right rulings were made? When all was as it was meant to be? Now it was not. The woman who had ensured Moshe's survival so there could be a Torah at all was now missing from the earth. So one part of the perfect order is gone. The earth itself was mourning the loss. She is the first of the "big three" siblings (now the oldest people in Israel) to die, and thus the threefold cord is unraveling. Soon her brothers will follow her, and a great era will have come to an end, despite the great hope that the impending entry into the Land held. It may be that the water ceased flowing because they did not mourn for her, for if they had, Moshe would have mentioned it. (Compare v. 29 re: Aharon and Gen. 23:2 where mourning for another great woman is recorded.) She deserved much more respect and honor than this, for she was a vessel YHWH had used greatly--and most often in the context of water, for whe spared Moshe's life through water and led the worship response after YHWH brought Israel through the sea. If they had kept her memory alive, the water might have kept flowing. But they wasted the wonderful open door to the Kingdom described in the note on verse 1, and complained about what they did not have.If YHWH's word endures forever (1 Kefa 1:25) and "what has been is what will be" (Qoheleth/Eccles. 1:9) So does this mean this has to take place in the same way again? No; it wouldn't have to mean exactly the same thing, for the word for "against" is 'al. It can mean above, on, or even about (as in "a book on the Land of Israel"). It could read, "They gathered as a congregation upon Moshe and Aharon." That is, on the basis of Moshe and Aharon. Or, "about/in regard to Moshe and Aharon". More often than anything, 'al means "on top of", because its root meaning is "to ascend". Thus, "the congregation took a step upward, by standing on Moshe's and Aharon's shoulders." Thus this could be either positive or negative. The wording itself allows for a different outcome. Which way it is taken depends on what they do or say next. In this case, they took it in the wrong direction, because they looked at the lack of water as a crisis rather than an adventure. YHWH had taken away the usual way of obtaining water, but He clearly did not bring them out to the wilderness for the purpose of dying, or they would certainly have done so long ago. Therefore they should have assumed that He intended to meet their needs in another way--a more unusual and maybe more exciting, memorable one. Natural supplies may run out in a very big way for us soon. Will we use it as an excuse to turn against the Torah and the officiators of Israel--or will we have our eyes wide open, eager to see how YHWH will use this occasion to make those who climb up by way of Moshe and Aharon ascend even higher?

They make it sound honorable to have died in YHWH's presence, when YHWH was in fact the One who had killed these people! Now they cast themselves in a righteous light, while blaming the leader He chose. They still see themselves as special, but without Moshe and Aharon they would be little more than rebellious brats. Relatives: literally, 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) In the vein of the note on verse 2, however, we can read the Hebrew word for "lodge a complaint" differently, because the phrase in the same grammatical form can also mean "they began to increase/multiply/grow along with Moshe".

Grazing animals: calling them this parallels the people's emphasis on having something to consume. They do not even mention their children, and they do not want to have to work to provide for their animals. They have lived in a "welfare state" for too long. This generation has had manna all their lives; they have never had to work for what they eat or drink. They are united, but for the wrong reason; what they have in common is that they all look out for themselves!

They conveniently forgot that they had been slaves in Egypt, since they did not have as much experience of it as their parents had. The people would not have starved 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 look for another source when the usual one failed? They did not have because they did not ask; they demanded. They were so used to having everything done for them; they should have instead been digging a well to make sure Moshe, the aged leader that they had begged to be their mediator, had enough to drink. 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) The fruits they mention are what the spies had brought back from the Land, but 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 "the badlands" from being an appropriate description of this place.

They were making war on YHWH Himself, and He does not lose. The people had not seen YHWH's presence for a long time, since He had withdrawn it from the Tabernacle and removed to Moshe's tent long ago. The people are assembled at the former, but Moshe and Aharon retreat to the latter, for they have learned not to bring such matters before YHWH in public any longer, since the people would profane them.

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. That was the only reason He wanted them to take the rod; He did not intend for them to strike the rock again, so this was a test of how closely he would follow directions. Rock: or crag, cliff, or any large detached rock. This is not just any rock that happened to be nearby. It is the same rock that Moshe had struck before at Meribah. (v. 13) Paul says that this rock "was the Messiah", and when we see that Yahshua also said he was the manna, it is clear that this is in a mystical sense. Paul said the rock "followed them" through the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:1-6). The Mishnah says the same thing: by tradition, it had followed them because of the merit of Miryam. YHWH spares others for the sake of the faithful. (Gen. 18:24ff) The covering YHWH had placed over her extended to those around her. (Compare Gen. 18:24ff) Her greatest accomplishment--saving the life of her brother--took place in and around water. When she died, the water ceased to flow.

10. and Moshe and Aharon summoned the congregation to assemble in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Listen! Are 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. He poses the first question so they will ask it of themselves--and repent.

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 Yahshua. But here they were acting from their own anger, and he let his emotion blind him. (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 assumed a "proven" method would work again, possibly because he thought speaking to a rock was just too far-fetched. And indeed it worked; Moshe still had much favor, and YHWH provided for the people despite Moshe's inattention to detail. 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. He did not have authority over the rock that "was the Messiah". Moshe pleaded for reconsideration 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, Yahshua 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 Yahshua twice does not work--that would be like crucifying him twice, but Yahshua 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; it is as if we had crucified Yahshua the second time. The Messiah ben Yoseyf came for the sake of being struck, but the Messiah ben David is to come because of the request of the righteous. Though the two are the same person, his first coming was connected with death, his second with life. "Jesus died for me" has become one of the most-often-used excuses in the world, when the focus instead should be on living for the Messiah. Moshe and Aharon had tasted the powers of the age to come (for though the manna was quite edible, it is called "spiritual food" in 1 Cor. 10, for it, like this water, came directly from the Kingdom. (Something spiritual is thus not something non-physical, as many think, but simply something provided by YHWH in the heavens. ) But Moshe had turned back to the natural understanding of what he was comfortable with instead. Trust Me: literally, "amen Me"--that is, uphold what I said, showing that you heard clearly what I said, not what you thought I said. Trusting your own experience or understanding is just another form of selfishness. Treat Me as set apart: i.e., not doing things the way you have seen them work before, but the way I say to do them, so I can show that I am in a different category than anyone else, even you who have learned how some things work spiritually.

This showing Himself set apart was not a positive thing; it was more like the separation of a man and wife who do not see eye to eye. At this point, to Him, Israel was like the contentious woman who is as irritating as a constant dripping. (Prov. 27:15)

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

Went down: by leaving the Land of Promise.

This messenger that they described was Moshe, just as the messengers in v. 14 were men; in the same context, why change the reference and turn it into an angel?

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. If they had a rock traveling wit them, who needed the Edomites' wells? But he thought the profit might motivate the nations whose ancestor was a man of his belly.

In rabbinic writings, Edom is often taken to be at least a symbol of Rome, and by extension, the Catholic church and all its daughters, possibly because Herod the Idumean who was appointed by Rome 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. As Moshe found out, this was a total waste of time anyway. This also shows us that when we do live in unity, we can expect opposition and resistance from the Church. 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 at one point to prevent Esau from spying on him.

22. Then the descendants of Israel--the whole congregation--pulled up [stakes] from Qadesh and arrived at Mount Hor.

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

Mt. Hor is right outside of Petra (also called Sela in Scripture), and therefore Petra, though once an Edomite stronghold, must have been right on Edom's edge--a border fortress. But they had had to go the long way around, through the desert--and this is pure desert here--to get there.

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. If he had, they both could have entered the Promised Land. He had time to do so when Moshe raised his hand before striking. This made him an accomplice, for he was "his brother's keeper". (Compare Y'hezq'el/Ezekiel 3:18ff.) Merely standing by was tantamount to approving of his act. Aharon must therefore die first, since he is twice as guilty for letting Moshe make the mistake. His name was written on that rod as well. (17:18)

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. El'azar was well-trained by now (19:3-4), and he takes up his post. He is mostly mentioned in conjunction with Moshe or Y'hoshua from here on out, and he seems to never be in disagreement with either of them. His son also turned out very well (chapter 25), so it seems there is nothing at all negative said about this man. He learned form his father's mistakes, so it is fitting that he should be the high priest in office when Israel enters the Land.

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

The last time the people saw Aharon, he was wearing the glorious garments. This mountain became a holy place because the garments were worn on them; they are not to be worn in a common place. (Y'hezq'el/ Ezk. 42:14) Aharon was permitted to see his son take up his role before he died--a true blessing.

He received the same honor Moshe would. (Deut. 34:8) The people, who were complaining a moment ago, now realize what they have lost, and show belated appreciation.

CHAPTER 21

Arad: a city on the plateau about ten miles west of the (later) Matzada fortress in 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, mainly as a "bedroom community" for the Dead Sea mineral works. It is on the very edge of the Land as promised to Israel. But how could Israelites who had once been slaves be taken captive? This was worse than merely being in exile. The key is in what Kanaan represents. A son of Kham, Kanaan was the one who molested his grandfather, Noakh. (Gen. 9:18ff) Kanaan was also the brother of Mitzraim, the ancestor of the Egyptians, whose best-known landmarks are just one more expression of their obsession with death--and the Church has the same overemphasis on preparing to die. Egypt was initially a salvation to Israel, but the Book of Yasher says it was through a series of choices and compromises that 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 its kinsmen. Though we have left behind the Church or the "Egypt" of obsession with our own security, we can still be taken captive by its relatives. The key to understanding how is that "Kanaanite" was also an idiom for a merchant or trader. (Z'kharyah 14:21) They are always after profit--another form of death, and some of Israel has again been taken captive by the commerce that dictates the lives of most people in the world, and which is now on the verge of collapse as the truth comes out that it was all based on lies and cheating, so that people borrowed against what existed only on paper rather than true possessions that one could hold in one's hand like the ancients had--animals or gold or silver. Such a fantasy can only endure so long. No one can fix it until we go back to the equal weights and measures required by the Torah. On one level, that is why Israel was given the land of the Kanaanites. We need to work for a living, but YHWH is much bigger than our ability to buy or sell. We are the people of promise. That is no reason to be lulled to sleep, thinking we cannot be taken captive again. We must be watchful and gather information about our enemy, "security tyhrougth wealth", making sure we are in a position to make war on it, but we must never let it make us panic. To the Kanaanite, everything is for sale--even one's loyalty and commitment. But by this time, Israel had learned enough to know that this situation was intolerable:

Israel: speaking singularly. This may have been Y'hoshua, the military leader, speaking on behalf of the whole nation, but it also shows that the nation was unified by the need to rescue their brothers. That is the best preparation for battle. The nation is speaking for the man who had held himself captive until his name was changed. Under Moshe, such times of unity were rare, but here they said they were not going to serve commerce at all. They rise to the occasion and want nothing to do with the Kanaanites' merchandising, as long as they can get their brothers back. 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. Archaeology has proven that they did exactly this is many Kanaanite cities; it is easy to identify the Israelite era by the layer that was burnt and still had the gold and silver untouched. Whatever takes our brothers captive cannot be allowed to remain. Dishonest scales make the rich richer, and the rich cannot remain that way and still enter Yahshua's 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 needier. When Avram's relative was taken captive, he armed his "dedicated men" and went to free him. (Gen. 14:14ff) That term for "dedicated" also means "trained". Studying the Torah is what trains us in how to rescue our brothers. 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. It seems like only a pin-prick, but we have to start somewhere. 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. It is not convenient to be set apart to YHWH, so we must choose one of the other. When others see that we are not destroyed by this diminishing of commerce, strongholds in their minds will also be broken down. 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 not at the world's disposal. If it gets angry, so what? Yahshua 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.

This YHWH heard, because their motive was right--to reunite their nation by rescuing their fellow Israelites. Moshe is not even mentioned, because he is now just part of the people, which is standing up as one. They did not ask Him to return their captives without proving their sincerity by offering to do their part. He accepted their "deal". 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 means "Place of Complete Destruction" or "Place Put Under the Ban". A city about ten miles south of Arad was later 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. They named the place according to their attitude toward it. They called it complete, then did it. Likewise, if we call "security" captivity, we can help show its true colors. When you look at any bank account or security system, see them as fragile and temporary. Then they will be "under the ban". The economic advisors say the system will stay strong as long as people have confidence (faith) in it, but it is quickly proving not to be trustworthy. This place signifies the fact that the world's systems of commerce must fall, because only YHWH (through His representative, the Messiah) is supposed to be the ruler over the merchandise of the world so that equitable weights and balances will be enforced. 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 Yahshua'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 Yahshua'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 Yahshua) will take when he returns to his Land by way of Edom as conquering King. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 63) Impatient: literally, "cut short" because of something they could not tolerate. 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 and awaiting the result, instead of doing the opposite--resorting to the Kanaanite, who is deceitful and loves to oppress. (Hoshea 12:6-14) In doing so, YHWH says He will strengthen our heart.

Against Elohim: Because they had "cut a deal" with them, they thought He owed them more than this. 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 Yahshua (Yochanan 6:51) and his community (1 Cor. 10:17). Calling it worthless means rejecting him. But to what were they comparing the manna? They did not need to sow or reap, and when traveling they could not. They did not realize how well they had it, because this generation had been eating of the manna all their lives. Their only alternative would be to raid other peoples for food; did they really want to do that? 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 were not making the most of what they had, and tried to make their case look worse than it was. Their clothes and shoes did not wear out, they had the biggest functioning community anywhere, and a deliverer in their midst; this was far more than they deserved; when we think we deserve more, we are calling YHWH, who has said He will provide for us, a liar. Or they may have simply been longing for the fruit of the Land that had been promised (see 20:5), and now realized that they were not going to get there as quickly as they had expected, and were discouraged, because they seemed to have almost had it in hand. 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:

We cannot imagine how, after what became of Qorach, anyone would say such things to Moshe's face. They must have been muttering under their breath to one another. So YHWH sent the same thing back upon them, for the word for "serpents" actually means "whisperers". But the word for "bit" is also a Hebrew idiom for usury (lending at interest): it "takes a bite" out of the borrower. Until recently, moneylenders were abhorred; Jews were forced to take this role in Medieval Europe. Figuratively, YHWH sent them a finance company that provided them with a "credit card" so they could get what they wanted--since they thought that what He had provided them was not enough. But it came 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. This is what we get if we take YHWH's bread lightly. The serpent was the first particular animal mentioned in Scripture, and would remind the people of Adam and Chawwah, who likewise were not satisfied with what YHWH had given them.

In another rare occurrence, they recognize they have acted stupidly, sinning against both YHWH and Moshe, and deserve to be bitten.

Standard: i.e., a banner pole. The snake on the pole has become the symbol of medicine, because it uses a little bit of poison to bring about a cure. If this were not so pathetic, it would be humorous, for YHWH did not take away the snakes or even stop them from biting, because they asked for this. It will still hurt, but they will not die from the bites. Until we take a hard look at what is afflicting us, and look to the Heavens in confession of our wrong, He can hardly help us, because we would only repeat the error after He bailed us out. If we looked closely, we would probably see that what was biting us had our own face on it, for we have opened the door to what is now punishing us. 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. Yahshua compared himself to this serpent on a pole in Yochanan chapter 3, saying he had to be lifted up high in the same way, so that anyone who trust in or commits to him would not perish, but not just keep on living, but have eternal life. He also said that if he was lifted up from the earth, he would draw all kinds of people to himself. (Yoch. 12:32). The bronze serpent was an image of the very thing that afflicted them. He who was without sin (Heb. 4:15) was born "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3) and "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, in order to render judgment against sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). The Greek term for "render judgment" here means to show something to be even more evil by one's example of doing right. Through his undeserved death he made haSatan, previously only an executioner, into a murderer, who therefore had no more rights, thus conquering the sting of death. Maybe Paul was thinking in Hebrew in which the sin offering is also called khatta'at, and so is the "water of purifying", which is literally simply "the water of sin" (Num. 8:7) But in the vein of the first few verses of this chapter, a crucifixion was the symbol of the fact that the Romans had been present, and through the death they inflicted on him, Yahshua did conquer Rome, but his followers allowed it to take them captive again by allowing some of its pagan religion to be mixed in with the truth they received from the Torah.

Of course they would want to leave such a place! But they had to wait until YHWH's cloud moved. Ovoth means "water bottles made of animal skins". It is in the Aravah northwest of Petra and south of the Dead Sea, at the present site of the ruins of a place later called Hatzeva.

Iyey-haAvarim: "Ruin-heap of the crossings-over". Might this have been 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.

This book appears to have held the lyrics to songs that retold the stories of YHWH's exploits in battle. Moshe might even have written it himself.

Ar: or "a city". 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.

At the enacting of the decree: or, through the lawgiver, that is Moshe. In verse 16, YHWH promised to give the people water. But they went and dug a well--those who were willing--and did not just wait or expect anything from Moshe this time. They did pray that it would spring up! But they took responsibility and even celebrated their work with a song. Aharon had died because of their complaining, so maybe they had learned their lesson, and YHWH noticed that they were maturing; He took them next to a place called "a gift". 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, 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.

Same request, same answer, different response! Moshe had conceded to the Edomites' unwillingness to let them cross (20:17-21), since they were cousins. However, the Emorites were not, but were Kanaanites, so Moshe had no patience for them when they did the same thing. On another level, since Edom represents Rome, we are not meant to walk on their roads--though the Romans made it easier than anyone to traverse the terrain--but rather go around them; do not engage the Church in battle; just use YHWH's provision and succeed without it. 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. This already answers the accusation made in Judges chapter 11. Yabboq: the river where Yaaqov had encountered the messenger of YHWH who "changed his walk" forever. So we are retracing our ancestor's steps.

Because the Emorites attacked, Israel had a right to take their land, just as they did when the Jordanians, Syrians, and Egyptians attacked in the Six-Day War. It could be seen as a bonus for Israel, since they were now in land contiguous to what YHWH had promised them. A part of our return is to learn to overcome and possess the things of those who oppose us before we get there. We have "cities" to conquer in our lives, and being steeped in Torah is the only way to gain confidence that we can win. But while it was wonderful that they defeated their enemies, it was no reason to stop journeying. They were already beginning to settle down, though they were not yet in the Land. If we start settling in before all of us have gotten all the way home, it will slow us down even further. This is not our resting place! (Mikha 2:10) Heshbon: near Mount Nevo, 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 of Heshbon is related 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. These poets seem to be saying the idols of Moav are what has been defeated by Sichon, because their gods were unable to protect them from another army. They therefore sound a lot like the Hebrew prophets, though they seem bent on rebuilding the city of the conqueror of Moav, which has now itself been conquered by Israel.

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. The reason Moshe might have feared Og was because he was a giant; he slept in an iron bed some 9 cubits (13.5 feet or meters) long! (Deut. 3:11)

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. They took possession of those lands, but did not let the lands take possession of them, because they were not the Promised Land. Now there were at the staging-point to enter that Land. Moshe had brought them as far as he could. Do the things we think we possess actually possess us? Are we willing to pull our tent stakes out of them? A Hebrew ("one who crosses over") must always be prepared--especially mentally-to move on to the next step toward our ultimate goal. We beautify each place we stop as much as we can, but must always be ready to walk away from it until we are Home. YHWH uses many things for a season, then abandons them. His festivals teach us to both look to our past heritage and also continue to travel to the higher place He wants to take us. 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.