Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, June 28, 2021
Shalom,
As has become my custom, I am writing the RR for Monday on Sunday. It will be published on Sunday night at 6PM. Sunday, June 27th is my birthday. I was born in 1952, so you do the math. I can tell you this, I feel between 30 and 39, not the sum of the two.
Enough of that, it’s time for another episode of “As The Red Heifer Turns,” on the altar of burnt offering. Today we find the Red Heifer being burned entirely. Numbers 19:5 “While watching, he is to burn the heifer, her hide, flesh, blood and refuse.” Why is that?
We have learned that the Red Heifer at times represents Yeshua, Himself, and at other times (and perhaps more often) she represents the Body of Messiah. Since Messiah is in His Body, this does not stretch our understanding. Colossians 1:27 God chose to make known to them this glorious mystery regarding the Gentiles—which is Messiah in you, the hope of glory!
The point of burning her entirely while watching is found in the meaning of consecration. The Red Heifer (a picture or symbol of the Body of Messiah) is being consecrated for the purpose of cleansing from sin. No other purpose is permitted.
This “cleansing from sin” requires power, and that power may not be mingled with the concerns of this world. It’s the same reason we may look upon the Shabbat candles, but may not use the light from them for reading. They are holy and beautiful in themselves. Purposes other than their consecrated use are not permitted. Same for the Red Heifer.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Mon 28 Jun 2021 18th of Tamuz, 5781
Nu 26:5-51 Ez 10-11 Neh 7 (Lk 13) Gal 6
This week’s Parasha (Torah portion) is called Pinchas. We read this testimony to the distinctiveness of Pinchas… Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the kohen has turned away My anger from Bnei-Yisrael because he was very zealous for Me among them, so that I did not put an end to Bnei-Yisrael in My zeal.12 So now say: See, I am making with him a covenant of shalom! 13 It will be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood—because he was zealous for his God and atoned for Bnei-Yisrael.”
What did Pinchas do that so distinguished him? We have to look at the end of the reading for last week… Numbers 25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the kohen saw it, he arose from the midst of the assembly, took a spear in his hand, 8 and went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced them through—both the Israelite man and the woman’s belly. Then the plague among Bnei-Yisrael was stopped.
A plague killed 24,000 Israelites before it was stopped. What made Pinchas (Phinehas), Aaron’s grandson, so zealous? The violation of God’s command not to take an idol worshipping woman from a culture outside of Israel. I’m not advocating any violence at all. I am asking that we learn the value of being zealous for God’s purposes to call sin sin.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What harmony does Messiah have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement does God’s Temple have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God—just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Week 27
Memory Verse: 1 Peter 3:15 Instead sanctify Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you,
* 131 7/1 Monday: Zechariah 1:1-6; 2; 12
132 7/2 Tuesday: Ezra 7-8
133 7/3 Wednesday: Ezra 9-10
134 7/4 Thursday: Esther 1-2
135 7/5. Friday: Esther 3-4
Question of the Day: What is the prophesy of Zechariah 12?
Answer: Jerusalem is the cup of reeling? Zechariah 12:2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples when they besiege Jerusalem as well as Judah. 3 Moreover, in that day I will make Jerusalem a massive stone for all the people. All who try to lift it will be cut to pieces. Nevertheless, all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against her.
I love the brilliance in the way the Bible uses words. Jerusalem will be a “cup of drunkeness” for all the nations. The cup of drunkeness is that which the nations know is going to make them sick (with a hangover), but it is addictive to the point that they can’t help themselves. Hating Jerusalem in the world today is self-destructive and addictive behavior on the part of all the nations around Jerusalem. We are watching this happen in our day.
The prophesy of Zechariah 12 is the story of how God is going to use the hatred of the nations toward Jerusalem, and God’s defense of it, to save all of Israel. Zechariah 12:8 In that day Adonai will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the weakest among them that day will be like David and the house of David will be like God—like the angel of Adonai before them. 9 It will happen in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “Then I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, when they will look toward Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for a firstborn.
May it be speedily and in our day, Lord. Yeshua, the soon and coming King. Amen.
Rabbi’s note: None of the above devotionals is exhaustive. I expect to write more on these subjects soon. Maybe tomorrow. End RN.