1. Now Yahweh said to Moshe and Aharon,

2. "This is what the instruction that Yahweh has given requires: Tell the children of Israel to bring a red cow to you—a perfect one that there is nothing wrong with and that has never had a yoke placed on it.

This cow is the only female animal used as an offering--a repair for Chavvah (Eve)'s sin, which was essentially selfishness, and brought impurity to our whole race. Nothing in the Tabernacle could be considered clean enough for Yahweh’s use without this heifer's ashes. Preparations are underway for this practice to begin again; several kosher red cows have been found in Israel already, but they cannot be more than three years old when the time is right for Temple service to restart.

Y'shua was killed outside the city walls too. (Heb. 13:13)

5. "'And the cow must be burned in front of his eyes: her skin, her flesh, and her blood, along with her droppings, must be burned.

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

Can you see the symbols of Passover and Y'shua's death here?

7. "'Then the priest must wash his clothes, and wash his skin in water, then after that he may come [back] into the camp. But the priest will be ceremonially unclean until the evening.

He could not enter a holy place. In most cases this uncleanness is a picture of selfishness, which is not sin in itself, but usually leads to sin. This particular uncleanneess is for the sake of the whole community, not for himself, just as Y’shua died for us even though He had no sins of His own to pay for.

9. "'while a man who is ceremonially clean gathers up the ashes of the heifer and puts them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. This way it will be stored away safely to be water that is set aside for the descendants of Israel; it is a sin offering.

10. "'Then the one who gathers up the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes, and be ceremonially unclean until the evening; this will be a required practice forever for the children of Israel and the guest who is staying among them.

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

12. "'He must purify himself from uncleanness with [the water containing the red cow’s ashes] on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be ceremonially clean.

13. "'Whoever touches the dead--that is, the body of any human being who has died--and does not purify himself from uncleanness will have made the place where Yahweh settles unclean. That person must be cut off from Israel; if the water of separation is not tossed onto him, he will be ceremonially unclean; his uncleanness stays on him.

People who are in sin (disobeying the Torah) are called "dead" in Scripture too, so this is a picture of the person who does not receive the provision Yahweh has made to come back to His covenant--Y'shua's blood; he remains unsuitable to be part of Yahweh's Kingdom.

15. "'Also, any container that has no cover-piece attached to it will be ceremonially unclean.

16. "'Anyone in the open field who touches someone who was pierced by a sword, or [any]one who is dead, or a human bone, or a grave, will be ceremonially unclean for seven days.

For this reason, before each pilgrimage festival, caves that contained dead men's bones would be marked so that no one would take shelter in them on their way to the Temple, because none of the feasts last more than seven days, and this way they would be disqualified from participating.

“Living water” is water collected from a source where it was running, not a pool where it just stands still. Y'shua offered this water at Sukkoth to anyone who was thirsty; he is the fountain of living waters (Yirmiyahu 17:13, Yochanan 7 and 8), letting the Spirit flow from its first source, while other teachers of his day were only able to offer water that had been stored up beforehand. (Mat. 7:29) The water pictures cleansing from sin through Yahweh’s Word (Eph. 5:26).

Hyssop is an absorbent plant that still easily gives up the liquid it absorbs. It was 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). David showed that he understood what this pictured when he asked, "Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean... create in me a clean heart." (Psalm 51)

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).

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. We have been provided with the power to overcome sin (Rom. 8:1-2), but this will not happen automatically; we have to resist its temptation.

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, Yahweh connects this to the holy nation spreading its unclean condition to others, saying that the reverse is not true: something holy that touches something common cannot make the other thing holy as well.

About thirty-nine years have passed since the end of the last chapter.

3. and the people made a complaint against Moshe, and said, "If only we had died when our brothers died in front of Yahweh!

They showed their true colors when they called the people who had been destroyed for their rebellion their "brothers"—people they agreed with.

5. "Also, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to bring us to this bad place? [It's] not a place of fields, fig trees, vines, or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!"

At Mt. Sinai there had been a brook flowing from the mountain. (Deut. 9:21)

7. and Yahweh told Moshe,

8. "Take the rod, and you and Aharon your brother call the congregation to gather, then talk to the rock where they can see you, and it will give up its water. You will bring water out of the rock; this way you will provide the congregation and their animals with water."

This is the same rock at Meribah that Moshe had struck before, so perhaps they have come back to one of their earlier camp sites. Paul says that this rock was the Messiah, and it "followed them" through the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:1-6).

10. and Moshe and Aharon called the congregation to gather together in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Listen, you rebellious people! Must we bring forth water for you from this rock?"

11. And Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his rod, and plenty of water came out, and the congregation and their animals had something to drink.

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

This seems very strict, but there are two keys to understanding what Yahweh was teaching. First, Moshe "raised his hand" (v. 11): Someone who sins with a "high hand" will not be given a way to make up for his mistake. (15:30) Moshe asked for a second chance in this regard, but was told to never mention it again. (Deut. 3:23-26) The reason was that he broke a picture of the Messiah. The rock had already been hit once (Ex. 17:6); now it was only to be asked to provide water. In the same way, Y'shua was beaten for us once and for all, and now we only need to "remind" Yahweh that our forgiveness has been bought with a price. It is always available. Hitting the rock twice would be like crucifying Y’shua twice.

14. Then Moshe sent messengers from Qadesh to the King of Edom, [saying], "This is what your brother Israel says: 'You have become familiar with all the hardship which has come upon us--

Israel (Yaaqov) was the twin brother of Edom (Esau).

He said they went down because they were leaving the Land of Promise.

17. "'Now please let us cut across your land. We will not go through any field or vineyard, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King's Highway, and not turn off it to the right hand or the left until we have passed by your territory.'"

The King's Highway is still there today in the nation of Jordan. It runs along the ridge that borders the eastern edge of the deep Rift Valley that resulted from the disaster that destroyed S'dom and 'Amorah. Further north in this rift are the Dead Sea and the Yarden plain.

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

All they wanted to do was take a shortcut from Qadesh to the Promised Land.

21. Since Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, Israel turned aside from him.

They had to go the long way around through desert and deep canyons.

Mount Khor is just outside the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan, on the edge of the Rift Valley, 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 words at the Waters of Contention.

Why is Aharon punished for Moshe's disobedience? It seems to be because he did not stop Moshe from hitting the rock when Yahweh had told him to speak to it.

26. "then have Aharon take off his clothes and put them on El'azar, his son; then Aharon will be gathered away and will die there."

These were his special high priestly garments so everyone could see that he was giving El'azar the position of the next high priest.

28. Then Moshe had Aharon take off his clothes and put them on El'azar, his son. 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 died, the whole household of Israel mourned for Aharon for thirty days.

Snakes Bite the People

1. When the Kanaanite king of Arad, who lived in the southern desert, heard that Israel had come by the Atharim road, he made war against Israel, and took some of them as captives.

2. Then Israel made a vow to Yahweh and said, "If You will truly give this nation into my hand, then I will totally destroy their cities."

To get our brothers (all of Yehudah and Efrayim) back today, we also have to destroy many enemies.

Hormah means "Place of Complete Destruction". This is the same area where the twelve spies had begun their exploration of the Land, so this fixed the bad decision that was made there nearly forty years before.

5. And the people spoke against YHWH and against Moshe: "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Because there is no bread and no water, and our soul is sick of this worthless bread!"

They were bored of the manna, which was Yahweh’s provision, and a picture of Y'shua (Yochanan 6:51).

7. So the people came to Moshe and said, "We have done wrong because we spoke against Yahweh and yourself. Pray to Yahweh for us, so He will take the snake away from us!" So Moshe prayed for the people.

8. And YHWH told Moshe, "Make a burning [snake] for yourself, and set it up on a pole, and whoever is bitten can stay alive if he looks at it.

Y'shua compared himself to this snake on a pole in Yochanan chapter 3.

The Hebrew word for bronze is almost the same as the word for a snake, and it is often a picture of things having to do with sin.

11. Then the set out from Ovoth, and camped at Iyey-haAvarim in the desert that faces Moav from the side the sun rises on.

12. From there they pulled up and camped in the dry river bed of Zared.

The Zared flows into the southern end of the Dead Sea from the country of Jordan today.

The Arnon River flows through a deep canyon that looks very much like the Grand Canyon in the United States, probably formed when S'dom and Amorah were destroyed. It makes a wonderful natural border, since it is hard for enemies to climb up the cliffs.

15. "and at the slope of the river-valley that turns toward the place where Ar used to be, and leans against the border of Moav."

16. Then from there they went to Be'er, that is, the well of which Yahweh told Moshe, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water."

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

18. "The well that the princes searched out [and found]; the ones from the nation who were willing dug it when the decree was made." Then from the wilderness, they went to Mattanah,

19. then from Mattanah to NachaliEl, then from NachaliEl to Bamoth,

20. then from Bamoth to the gorge that is in the Plain of Moav, the beginning of the split valley that overlooks the face of the desert.

21. Then Israel sent messengers to Sichon, king of the Emorites, saying,

22. "Let me cut across your land. We will not turn aside into a field or a vineyard; we will not drink water from any well. We will walk on the King's Highway until we have passed by your territory."

It was customary to get permission from a king to cross his land so he would not think the travelers cameto make war.

24. but Israel conquered him with the mouth of the sword, and took his land, from Arnon to Yabboq, as far as [where the land of] the descendants of Ammon [begins], because the border of the descendants of Ammon was hard to conquer.

Moshe had not argued with the Edomites when they would not let them cross (20:17-21), since they were Israel’s cousins. But the Emorites were not, so Moshe had no patience for them when they did the same thing. The Ammonites were descendants of Avraham’s nephew Lot. The Yabboq was the river where Yaaqov had wrestled with the messenger of Yahweh.

Heshbon is about 15 miles directly 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 Kingdom of Jordan).

27. That is why the poets say, "Come into Heshbon, and let the city of Sichon be rebuilt and restored,

28. “for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon--a flame from the city of Sichon. It has consumed Ar of Moav, and the masters of the high places of Arnon [where idols were worshipped!”

29. "Woe to you, Moav! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He has given over his sons to be fugitives, and his daughters to be captives to Sichon, king of the Emorites!

Chemosh was the spirit the Moavites worshipped. Some Israelites later wrongly sacrificed to him.

Dibon is a small Arabic village called "Dhiban" today. (The "dh" is pronounced like the "th" in "then".) Tradition says Meydeba (called Madaba today) was the hometown of Ruth.

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

33. Then they turned and went on the road [to] Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out to meet them--he and all his people, to do battle at Edrey.

Bashan is called the Golan Heights today. Edrey was a major city on a southern branch of the Yarmuq, River, on the present-day border between Jordan and Syria.

35. So they did attack him, his sons, and all of his people, until he had nobody left, and they took his land.

Bilaam is Asked to Curse Israel

1. Then the descendants of Israel pulled up [stakes] and encamped on the mixed grassland and desert of Moav across the Yarden from Yericho.

2. Now Balaq the son of Tzippor saw all that Israel had done to the Emorites,

3. and Moav was amazed by the people, because there were so many of them, and Moav was so afraid that they felt sick because the children of Israel were there,

4. and Moav told the elders of Midyan, "This company is already licking up everyone around us just as an ox licks up the grass in a field!" (Now Balaq, son of Tzippor, was the king of Moav at that time.)

An ox surrounds the grass with its long, rough tongue, pulls it into its mouth, and bites it off.

Bilaam was a true prophet of Yahweh, although he was not an Israelite.

7. And the elders of Moav and the elders of Midyan came to Bilaam payment in their hand, and told him Balaq's business.

8. But he said, "Spend the night here tonight, and I will come back and tell you whatever Yahweh says to me." So the leaders of Moav stayed with Bilaam.

9. And Elohim came to Bilaam and said, "Who are these men that are with you?"

10. And Bilaam answered Elohim, "Balaq the son of Tzippor, king of Moav, has sent [word] to me,

11. "‘Look! A group of people coming out of Egypt is covering the whole surface of the land; come now [and] put a curse on them for me. Maybe I will be able to fight them and run them off.'"

12. But Elohim told Bilaam, "You must not go with them or curse the people, because they are [people who are] blessed."

13. So Bilaam got up in the morning and told Balaq's leaders, "Go [back] to your land, because Yahweh won’t let me go with you."

14. So the leaders of Moav rose and went to Balaq, saying, "Bilaam won’t come with us!"

15. So again Balaq added more [money] and sent leaders more important than they,

16. and they came to Bilaam and told him, "This is what Balaq, the son of Tzippor, says: ‘Please don’t let anything keep you from coming to me,

17. "‘because I will promote you to great importance, and I will do whatever you tell me; but please come put a curse on this people for me!'"

This is a lot like the way haSatan tempted Y'shua in Mat. 4:8 and the verses after that.

19. "But stay here now tonight, so I may find out if Yahweh will tell me anything more."

He is trying to find an excuse, because he wants the money, even though he does not really want to curse Israel. This is a great example of why Y'shua told us to pray that we will not be led into temptation.

Even though Yahweh may give us freedom to do what we want, not everything is worth doing (1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23), since we have to pay the price for the choices we make.

22. But Yahweh was angry because he went, and the Messenger of Yahweh stood in his way to block him as he was riding his donkey, when two of his young men were with him.

This "angel" was Y'shua, and he is always the enemy of our wrong desires.

24. But the Messenger of Yahweh stood on a path [between] the vineyards, with a fence on this [side] and a fence on that [side].

25. And the donkey saw the Messenger of Yahweh, and she squeezed herself against the wall, and pressed Bilaam's foot against the wall, so he beat her again.

26. But the Messenger of Yahweh went on ahead [of him] again and stood in a tight spot where there was no way to turn to the right or the left.

27. And the donkey saw the Messenger of Yahweh, and she crouched down beneath Bilaam. And Bilaam's anger was set on fire, and he beat the donkey with a staff.

28. Then Yahweh opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Bilaam, "What have I done to you, that you have hit me this three times?"

29. So Bilaam told the donkey, "Because you have made a fool of me! If only there were a sword in my hand, because I would kill you now!"

Bilaam seems to have been so set on his journey and how he looked to his servants that he hardly noticed that his donkey was speaking! By opening the donkey’s mouth, Yahweh showed Bilaam that He would also be able to control what Bilaam could and could not say about Israel.

31. Then Yahweh uncovered Bilaam's eyes, and he noticed Yahweh’s Messenger, who had taken his stand on the path, with his sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell on his face.

David asks Yahweh to do the same: "Uncover my eyes, that I may pay attention to things from Your instruction that are out of my reach." (Psalm 119:118)

Bilaam was beginning to be guided by offers of rewards rather than the truth. (vv. 18, 19) We need to learn from Bilaam's mistakes. (Mikha 6:5; 2 Kefa/Peter 2:15; Yehudah/Jude 11; Rev. 2:14)

34. Then Bilaam told Yahweh’s Messenger, "I have done wrong, because I did not realize that you had put yourself in the way so you would meet up with me. Now if it is bad in your eyes [for me to go], I will turn back."

35. But Yahweh’s Messenger told Bilaam, "Go with the men, but you must not say one word more than what I tell you." So Bilaam went with Balaq's leaders.

36. When Balaq heard that Bilaam had gotten there, he went out to meet him in a Moavite city near the Arnon, which is on the edge of [his] territory.

37. And Balaq said to Bilaam, "Didn't you know that when I sent for you, it was urgent? Why didn't you come to me? Don’t you realize that I can make you a very important man?"

38. But Bilaam told Balaq, "Look, I have come to you. But am I indeed able to promise anything at all? The word that Yahweh puts in my mouth [is what] I will pronounce."

39. Then Bilaam went with Balaq, and they came to the “Town of Open Spaces”,

40. and Balaq slaughtered oxen and sheep, and sent [some] to Bilaam and the leaders who were with him.

41. Then in the morning, Balaq fetched Bilaam and brought him up to the platforms where they worshipped Ba'al, and from there he saw just how far the people [of Israel] stretched.

Think about how this compares with the "very high mountain" from which Y'shua was offered the same kind of temptation that Bilaam was now struggling with—the lure of having power over many people.

1. Then Bilaam told Balaq, "Build seven altars at this [place] for me, and prepare at this [place] seven bulls and seven rams."

2 . So Balaq did as Bilaam had said, and Balaq and Bilaam [offered] up a ram and a bull on the altar.

3. And Bilaam told Balaq, "Stay [here and] stand by your ascending [offering], and I will go; maybe Yahweh will happen to meet me, and whatever He shows me, I will tell you about." So he went to a bare hilltop.

This was a quiet place away from the people and their offer of money, where he could hear from Yahweh more clearly.

5. So Yahweh put a word in Bilaam's mouth and told him, "Go back to Balaq, and you must speak just like this."

6. So he went back to him, and sure enough, he was still standing by his ascending [offering]--[both] he and all the leaders of Moav.

7. So he took up his poem, and said, "From Aram, Balaq [the] king of Moav has had me brought out--from the mountains of the east: ‘Come, put a curse on Yaaqov for me!' and ‘Come, defy Israel!'

Bilaam reveals that he is from Aram, the land of the ancestor of Yaaqov's uncle Lavan. This is why he knew Yahweh. No one mentioned Yaaqov before this; Yahweh is now showing who they really want to fight. These are not Egyptians after all, as they might have thought.

9. "Because from the top of the rocks, I will see him, and from the hills I will watch for him. Look! [They are] a people that is to live separately and not be considered [one] of the nations.

This is the same way which Levi was not to be counted among the tribes of Israel, though he was one of them; he had a holy job for which he had to stay clearly different from the others. The Sabbath liturgy thanks Yahweh for not setting us in place in the same way as the other nations.

Most people today only recognize the Jews as Israel. The rest of the tribes have become so lost among the nations that no one but Yahweh even knows who they are, so how can they be counted? But they are still there and will be recalled to the covenant. “The upright ones” is a special Hebrew nickname for Israel.

12. And he answered, "Don’t I have to be careful to tell what Yahweh has put in my mouth?"

13. So Balaq said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you will see it. You'll [only] see the tail end of it; you won't see them all! Curse [Yaaqov] for me from there!"

He has the idea that Bilaam's curse would only land on the people he could see.

15. And he told Balaq, "Stay here and stand by your ascending [offering], while I myself go to meet [with Him]."

16. And Yahweh came to meet Bilaam, and He put a word in Bilaam's mouth and told him, "Go back to Balaq, but you must speak just like this."

17. So he went back to him, and sure enough, he was still there, standing by his ascending [offering]--[both] he and all the leaders of Moav. And Balaq said to him, "What did Yahweh say?"

18. So he took up his proverbial saying, and said, "Get up, O Balaq; listen [and obey]! Give ear to me, O son of Tzippor!

19. "El is not a man, that He should let [His word] fail, nor the son of human beings, that He should give in to someone else’s wishes because they make Him comfortable. Has He spoken, and won’t He follow through, or has He promised, and won’t He do it?

20. "Look! To bless [is what] I have received, and bless He has; I cannot reverse it!

21. "He has not found [any] mischief in Yaaqov, nor has He seen trouble in Israel. YHWH his Elohim is with him; the [joyful] battle-cry of a king is in him.

Yahweh has just brought judgment after judgment on Israel! But what one does in his house may be different from the relationship He has with Israel in front of the rest of the world, just as your father will punish you, but when anybody else attacks you, he will protect you. "Who can bring any charge against Yahweh’s chosen?" (Rom. 8:33) The "battle-cry of a king" is the same word used for the trumpet blast on Yom T'ruah (Rosh haShanah), and the king is Y'shua, who lives in His people Israel. This is what makes the difference.

23. "Because there exists no enchanting against Yaaqov or fortune-telling against Israel! As always, Yaaqov and Israel will be told what El has accomplished.

Prov. 26:2 tells us that "a curse without a real reason will not land"--if we have the doors closed to it, as Y'shua did. (Yochanan 14:30) Actually, if anyone in Israel IS found to be casting spells, it is punishable by death. (Micha 5:12) There is no need for omens or magic, since Yahweh will inform us of whatever we need to know. “What El has accomplished” is the quote that was chosen by Samuel Morse to be the first message sent by telegraph.

Israel does not need all these ways of foretelling the future, for as long as it obeys Yahweh, it cannot be beaten.

26. But Bilaam answered and told Balaq, "Didn't I tell you, ‘Anything that Yahweh says, I have to do it?'"

27. So Balaq told Bilaam, "Come, please, let me take you to a place [that's] further back! Maybe it will be all right in the eyes of the gods to pronounce a curse against them for me from there.”

28. And Balaq took Bilaam to the top of the gap that looks down over the face of the desert.

29. And Bilaam told Balaq, "Build seven altars for me at this [site], and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me at this [place]."

30. So Balaq did just as Bilaam said, and [offered] up a bull and a ram on [each] altar.

What if a Man has No Son?

CHAPTER 27

1. Then the daughters of Tz'lafchad, the son of Chefer, the son of Gil'ad, the son of Makhir, the son of Menashe, of the clan of Menashe, the son of Yoseyf, came near. (Now these are his daughters' names: Machlah, Noah, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah).

2. And they stood in front of Moshe and El'azar the priest, and in front of the rulers and the whole congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Appointment, and said,

3. "Our father died in the desert, but he was not one of the group who gathered together against Yahweh in Qorach’s gang; instead, he died because of his own sins, but he had no sons.

4. "Why should the name of our father disappear from his family just because he had no son? Give us an inheritance along with our father's brothers!"

They could understand why Qorach's name was to be erased from memory, but they knew how important it was for their father's name to be carried on. Otherwise, if these women married someone from a different clan or tribe, their father’s property would belong to that tribe instead of his own, and things would get all mixed up.

6. and Yahweh told Moshe,

7. "[What] the daughters of Tz'lafchad are saying [is] right: you really should let them have property to inherit among their father's relatives, so you can transfer their father's inheritance to them.

8. "Then tell the descendants of Israel, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you must transfer his inheritance to his daughter.

9. "‘And if he has no daughter, then give his inheritance to his brothers.

10. "‘But if he has no brothers, then give his inheritance to his father's brothers.

11. "‘And if his father has no brothers, you must pass his inheritance along to his closest relative from his own clan, and he shall take possession of it; and this will be a pattern for deciding a case [in court], as Yahweh ordered Moshe.'"

This pattern would be followed in other similar situations.

12. Then Yahweh told Moshe, "Climb up to the Mountain[s] of the region across [from the Land] and look at the Land which I have given to the descendants of Israel.

The Hebrew word for “look at" can also mean "pay close attention to". Today, too, the Land itself has much to teach us if we will study it closely enough to learn what treasures of wisdom it holds.

14. "because in the Desert of Tzin when the congregation made you angry about the water, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as one-of-a-kind in front of their eyes." (They were at the Waters of Contention in Qadesh ["holiness"] in the Desert of Tzin ["flatness"] .)

15. So Moshe told Yahweh,

16. "May Yahweh, the judge of the spirits for every mortal , set a man over the congregation

Judge: Yahweh was searching the hearts of all men to find the shepherd who was right to follow Moshe. (v. 17)

18. So Yahweh told Moshe, "Pick Y'hoshua the son of Nun, a man in whom there is spirit, and press your hand on him,

19. "and bring him in front of El'azar the priest and the whole congregation, and put him in charge right in front of their eyes.

20. "This way you will give him [some] of your authority, so the whole congregation will listen to [and obey] him.

21. "Then he must show up in front of El'azar the priest, who will ask [Yahweh] about him by using the decision of the Urim. When he says so, they must go out, and when he says so they must come in, and all the descendants of Israel with him--that is, the congregation."

The Urim (or lights, and Thummim, or perfections) a way Yahweh could very clearly reveal what He wanted. Tradition says the high priest’s breastplate would spell out this message He wanted to give to someone particular, by lighting up letter by letter from the names of the twelve tribes and an extra phrase that was added so that all 22 Hebrew letters would be there.

23. pressed his hands on him, and put him in charge, as Yahweh had ordered through Moshe.

What to Bring to Yahweh

CHAPTER 28

1. Then Yahweh said to Moshe,

2. "Give an order to the sons of Israel. Tell them, ‘My drawing-near [gift] and My bread for My [offerings made by] fire, My soothing smell, you must be careful to bring to Me at the right time.'

3. "And tell them, ‘This is the fire offering with which you must always come close to Yahweh: two perfectly healthy lambs a year old, as an [offering] to go up, each day.

4. "‘You have to offer one of the lambs in the morning, and the second you have to offer between the [two] evening [sacrifice]s,

5. "‘with a tenth of an ephah of finer flour as a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin of pure oil [from the first] crushing [of the olives],

6. "‘as [an offering that will] always go up, to carry on what was done on Mount Sinai as a soothing smell--an offering [made by] fire to Yahweh--

The offering that goes up is also supposed top make us go up to a higher level of being set apart to Yahweh. The Temple later built in Yerushalayim included this going up in the way it was built. Every court was higher than the one that someone walked through before it.

8. "‘Then you must offer the other lamb between the evening [offering]s in the same way [you did] for the grain offering in the morning, and its poured-out offerings in the same way. You need to make it ready it as a fire offering, a smell that satisfies Yahweh.

9. "‘Now on the Sabbath day, [bring] two perfect lambs a year old, and two-tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour, a grain offering mixed with oil, along with its drink offering--

10. "‘the offering that goes up on a Sabbath on its [proper] Sabbath, in addition to the offering that goes up [that is offered] every day with its drink offering.

So four lambs were actually offered on the Sabbath.

Beginnings of your months: that is, the new moon.

13. "‘and a tenth [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with oil as a food offering to go with each lamb--an [offering] that goes up, a satisfying smell, an offering [made by] fire to Yahweh.

The Hebrew word for "fire offering" is spelled exactly like the word for "woman" or "wife", only with different vowel points (which were not in the original Torah text). "To Yahweh " could also read "for Yahweh”. When we put them together, we have a "bride for Yahweh”, completeness or satisfaction in the universe, a repair of the damage begun by Adam's disobedience, and a rebuilding of the lost Garden of Eden.

15. "‘And one kid from the goats [will serve] as a sin offering to Yahweh. It must be gotten ready in addition to the everyday offering that goes up along with its drink offering.

16. "‘Now on the fourteenth day of the first month is Yahweh’s Passover,

17. "‘and on the fifteenth day of this month is a festival gathering; bread without yeast must be eaten [for] seven days.

The fifteenth of the month begins while the Passover feast is still in progress, so no leavened bread is eaten at the Passover seder either.

20. "‘along with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil. You shall prepare three tenths [of an ephah] for each bull, and two tenths for each ram.

21. "‘Prepare one tenth per lamb, for [each of] the seven lambs,

22. "‘as well as one goat, a sin offering to make a covering over you;

23. "‘you must make these ready in addition to the offering that goes up in the morning--the [offering] that keeps going up all the time.

24. "‘This is the way you need to get bread ready to be a fire offering every day for seven days--a satisfying smell that satisfies Yahweh. It must be made in addition to the [usual] everyday offering that goes up and its drink offering.

25. "‘And on the seventh day, you will have a holy calling-together; you must not do any work that serves [anything but Yahweh].

26. "‘Now on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring near a grain offering to Yahweh in your Feast of Shavuoth [weeks], you will have a holy calling-together; you shall do no work that serves [anything but Yahweh].

Renewed: or "new", but it renews the cycle of grain offerings, because it is fresh grain.

28. "‘and their [specific] grain offering: three tenths [of an ephah] per bull, two tenths for each ram,

29. "‘one tenth per lamb, for [each of] the seven lambs,

30. "‘one he-goat from among the kids to make a covering over yourselves.

31. "‘You shall bring them near in addition to the [usual] everyday offering that goes up, its grain offering, and its drink offerings; for you they must have nothing wrong with them.

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