Tag: aaron

Parashah Beha’alotcha (Numbers 8:1-12:15) When you set up…

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We begin this portion of the Torah with the lighting of the menorah. The Tabernacle has been constructed and anointed, then Aaron and his sons, now the menorah is lit and Aaron is told that he and his descendants are the ones blessed and honored to perform that duty. The Levites are separated, cleansed and appointed (officially) to their duties, and the people are reminded that God has separated the Levites unto Himself for serving Him, as a ransom for all the firstborn that were killed in Egypt. The term of service is to be between the ages of 25 and 50, after which the Levite is still to serve as a teacher and leader, but not physically to work in the Tabernacle or move it.

The beginning of the second year God tells Moses to have everyone celebrate the Pesach festival, and the ruling is given that if a person is unclean and cannot celebrate it in the first month, then that person is to do so on the 14th day of the second month. The rule is the same for both the native and the person who sojourns (a convert) with the people. This is repeated many times throughout the Torah: whether born Jewish or converted, once you have chosen to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob you are an adopted child, and you are not only privileged to be given all the rights of a native, but you are also responsible to follow all the laws.

As an aside, here’s where this has ended up today:

– Christianity wants to be accepted as a child of the same God that the Jewish people worship, have accepted that Yeshua is their Messiah, but worship Him instead of God and have rejected Torah;

– Judaism worships God, follows Torah, yet they have (for the most part) rejected Yeshua as their Messiah;

– the only ones who have it right (in my opinion) are the Messianic Jews and Hebraic Roots movement Christians, who worship God, have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah and also follow Torah, just as Yeshua did.

Back to the Parashah: now it’s the second year since leaving Egypt, the second month so everyone has had the chance to celebrate Passover, the Tabernacle has been up for a while, the Levites are serving and the Cloud has been over the Tabernacle all this time. Now is the first move. We read about how the tribes march out, the Ark of the Covenant in the lead and the wonderful invocation that Moses gives when the Ark leads, and when it comes to rest. These words are still repeated to this day when the Torah is removed from the Ark, and when it is returned.

God commands that two silver trumpets be made for calling the people to gather and to prepare for war. These are ceremonial trumpets, and different from Shofarot.

As the people start to move, they begin to grumble, as they will often, against Moses and their situation. This time it is about not having any meat. I personally think that if they had asked God respectfully He would have obliged them, but as such, with their faithless and selfish grumbling and kvetching, God sent them meat and then made them sick of (and from) it to the point where a plague broke out against the people. Maybe it was a form of Avian Flu? Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant, or maybe I should say, it wasn’t pheasant (ouch!)

The final chapter relates how Aaron and Miriam complain against Moses for marrying a Cushite woman. Most likely that means she was Ethiopian, although it could refer to Zipporah, a Midianite. It was either a second marriage or just that Zipporah was from Midian- we do not know for sure, but we do not for certain that Miriam is the instigator and Aaron is drawn into the issue by her. That is clear from the Kumash. Miriam is summarily punished by God for speaking against Moses, and Moses immediately asks God to forgive her. Here we learn about how meek and humble Moses is. God allows her to be healed of the leprosy He inflicted on her and makes her wait outside the camp, as one unclean, for 7 days.

The lesson for us today from this that I want to talk about is how simple and manifest the prayer of Moses was to heal his sister. All he said was, “Heal her now, oh Lord, I beseech thee!” Simple, heartfelt, and (if I may use the word) …pure. It is a pure prayer, asking what is needed for both the person making the prayer and the person for whom the prayer is offered for.

How many times do we hear people pray on and on, andonandonandonandon….sometimes I can sense them stumbling, trying to think of something else, anything else, to say. As if the Lord doesn’t get it, like God doesn’t know what we want so while we have His attention let’s just get everything we possibly can out. Sometimes after a service, when we are going to do the blessings over the wine and bread (the Kiddush) the leader will go on praying about the sermon, the communion act, and other things, and I wish that he would just give the blessings. Those blessings are simple and say it all- thank you, Lord, for bringing forth bread from the earth and for creating the fruit of the vine. Maybe a quickie reminder, that this is what we do not just to thank God but in memory of the Messiah’s request that we remember Him, also, when we do this. Communion is not communion with Yeshua, it is communion with God, and serves additionally as a memorial to Yeshua’s sacrifice. Together, the prayers and Yeshua’s sacrifice bring us into communion with God.

When you pray, don’t go on. Your Father in heaven knows what you need (didn’t Yeshua tell us that in Matthew 6:8?) so just ask with a simple, heartfelt request for what you need now. Don’t go on about tomorrow- today has enough problems of it’s own (oh, my- didn’t Yeshua say that, too?) and we are only to ask for what we need now. And don’t ramble on (Yikes! Yeshua said that, too!) We can’t possible need so much that a prayer to God will take more than a few minutes. It should take no time at all. The only thing that should take up a lot of time is recounting all the wonderful blessings God has given us. If I was to thank God, one-by-one, for all the blessings He has bestowed on me (most every one of them undeserved) I would be praying non-stop, 24/7/365 (366 on leap years) from now until I died, and I would still be short.

Make your prayer meaningful by filling it full of meaning. When we say to somone, “I love you”, is there really anything else to say? We all know what that means, the words evoke the myriad emotions and feelings and memories of what loving and being loved has meant to each individual who says those three words. If humans can understand so fully what it means to tell someone you love them, then how much more can the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, our very Creator, know about what we want, need and feel when we talk to Him?

Let your prayer life conform to the KISS rule: Keep It Simple, Schmo!

God knows what you want and he knows what you need, so ask for what you want and He will give you what you need. Don’t try to speak in perfect Shakespearian language, don’t try to emulate Solomon, don’t make King James roll over in his grave listening to you. Just pray as Moses prayed, and as Yeshua told us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-14.

Start by giving honor to God, ask for forgiveness (to cleanse yourself before Him), then ask Him for only that which you need right now, and only what you need to survive, tell God what you desire, and then finish with praising the Lord and recognizing His worthiness and power. Finally, invoke the name of Yeshua ha Mashiach, for we were told that when we pray in Yeshua’s name, God will grant us whatever we ask for. That’s it- if you are praying much more than 1-2 minutes, you’re probably getting off the mark.

I have prayed to God for more than 2 minutes, but it was more like talking with Him. I converse with Him (well, I talk and He listens) and sometimes it does go on for a while, but it is a conversation. And it is totally private. But my prayers, my orisons, my requests and my deepest feelings that I pour out to Him are simple and short.

Do what you feel good about; if you really feel good when you pray for a long time, than don’t let anything I do or say get between you, your prayer life and your communion with God. I just ask that you review what you are doing, and if Moses was comfortable with a 5 or 6 word prayer to heal his sister from a death-like existence, then maybe we should be comfortable with asking God simply and honestly for what we need.

Prayer only has to be from the heart, from a broken and contrite spirit, honest, heartfelt and to God. That’s all it takes.

Parashah Ki Thissa (when you take) Exodus 30:11 – 34

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As usual, there is just so much here. I took an entire course just about the symbolic nature of the spices used for the incense and anointing oils.

There’s also how God can use humans to achieve His goals, in the way that he gave all this knowledge and understanding to Oholiab and Bezalel to make the things required for the service in the Tabernacle.

Then there is the sin of the Golden Calf; and what’s up with Aaron? How could he have done that?

And then there’s Hur- Moses left both Aaron and Hur in charge, but there is no mention of Hur when Moses comes back and asks Aaron why he made the calf. In fact, Hur isn’t mentioned anymore. The Chumash says it is thought that Hur stood up against the people and was killed, so Aaron decided to do as the people said and live. It also says that Aaron was a peaceful man and that he was stalling, knowing that to refuse would cause bloodshed and hoping that Moses would return before they actually had a chance to worship the calf (which is why he said the next day would be a feast.)

The Levites are the ones that come rushing to Moses when he asks who is for God, which God later reminds us about when He separates the Levites from all the other tribes to serve Him, alone. Their dedication and their immediate choice to serve Him was remembered and they were given the honor of having God as their inheritance. There’s gotta be at least one or two good sermons in there!

And then we have Moses asking God, after this terrible sin, to do him a favor? To show Moses His glory? I mean, what’s that about? Moses just managed to convince God that He shouldn’t destroy the people for this terrible sin, and when God relents Moses decides, what? Now’s a good time to ask Him something no one has ever asked of Him? To show me your presence so I will know that you really, really like me?

And God says, “OK- you got it. But you can’t see my face or you have to die; that’s how it is.” Talk about a compassionate and forgiving God! He is so teed off at this stiff-necked, rebellious group of people that He is going to wipe them out of existence, and when He relents to Moses’ pleas and says He won’t destroy them…POOF! It’s gone. No more anger, and here’s this guy asking to see my presence. Ah, he’s OK, I guess. After all, I did tell him that he finds favor in my sight, so why not?

Finally, Moses goes back to the mountain and gets the 10 Commandments again. After he destroys them in his anger (after telling God not to be so angry), God doesn’t say, “Why did you do that? I gave them to you and you broke them, on purpose, and now you want me to give you more?” Instead, He gives another set of tablets to Moses.

This parashah shows just so much about God, Moses, and the sinfulness of mankind. Where do I start? Worse than that, how do I stop?

I am always affected by Moses’ actions in this parashah, regarding the first set of tablets and how he soothes God’s anger, then loses his own. God is holy and righteous, yet with the intercession of Moses God relents from destroying the people and making a new nation out of Moses. This, alone, is remarkable when you consider that God was willing to chuck some 470 years of work right out the window, and start over. This reminds us that God’s time is not like our time. It would have been easy for God to do what we could never even think of trying. Yet, was God really going to destroy the people, or was He testing Moses’s desire to lead and his humility before the Lord? Abraham asked God to relent from a destruction, and here is Moses doing the same. Was that really the reason behind God saying He would destroy the people?

And after Moses, with a cool-headed and compassionate plea (not so much for the people but for God’s reputation) saves the people, when he sees the actual crime before him, he totally loses it. He smashes what God gave him, he calls for support and then he, on his own, orders the destruction of the sinners. Some 3,000 of them. Much less than the number God was going to destroy, but still, that’s a lot of people.

So Moses was cool and thoughtful when he was keeping God from vengeful destruction, but when faced with the same emotional response, Moses doesn’t hold back.

I think there is a lesson here for us- it is easier to tell others what to do than it is to do it ourselves. “Do as I say, not as I do” is easy. God, however, is different; He does what He says, and He expects us not to do what He says. Yes, He commands us to do things, but He knows we can’t. If He didn’t know that we are incapable of doing what the Torah says, then why did He plan, from moment One, to send Yeshua our Messiah to make it possible for us to be with God?  If, when God gave us the Torah, He really expected that we could obey it to the letter (as Yeshua did), then why did we need Yeshua? Even if we are able to observe Torah perfectly, there still will be very few people who will make it into Heaven. No doubt. Even with the Grace of God we have now through Yeshua’s sacrificial death, Yeshua told us that only a few will make it. The path less followed is the one to salvation, so even with the automatic and guaranteed “Get Out of Hell” card Yeshua deals us, still, only a remnant will make it.

But we can’t observe Torah perfectly. And we do need Yeshua. That’s why I say God does as He says and doesn’t expect us to do as He says.

That’s no reason for us not to try. We need to do the “WWJD” thing. God requires us to do, not to think about doing, not to observe others doing, but to do. Like Yoda said, “Do…or do not. There is no try.” We must start out wanting to do, not saying we will do our best. I believe that saying we will try our best is making an excuse for failure before we even start. Henry Ford was quoted as saying, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” And Will Rogers said, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

What God is saying to the people and to Moses is simply, “Do!”

Maybe we can’t “Do” as God tells us to do, but we can do more than we have been doing. We never can be sinless, but we always can sin less. That’s the “Do!” for us. This is something we can hear and obey: sin less.

Look for the thing that God wants you to find in this parashah, as you should with the entire Manual. Always read it with the prayer that God will show you what He wants you to get from it.

I feel like I did a lousy job this morning, since there is too much for me to talk about and too little time for me to do it with. So help me, please- take whatever you can from my babbling and use it in a way which will allow you to please the Lord. That’s the best I can do- give you something you haven’t had: a new understanding, insight to a new revelation, or just a push to get you off your tuchas and into the game.

Thank you, Father, for your Word, your teachings, and your salvation through Yeshua Ha Mashiach, help us all to be doers of the Word.

Shabbat Shalom!

Why Die Young?

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We read about it every day in the paper, or hear it on the news: someone who is young and helpful, a real angel (so to speak) and he or she has died.

Don’t we ask ourselves, “Why? Why, Lord, did you take this wonderful person away from their family and loved ones? And away from all the good they were doing? Why?”

I wish I had an answer. I am thinking about this because I saw one of these stories in the paper the other day. A beautiful, young woman with young children who left them a video of herself while she was still lucid and healthy looking. A few weeks later she was dead.

It started me thinking about God’s plans and purposes. I think of all the prophets and could-have-been heroes that are not in the Bible because they didn’t heed God’s call to them. I always say you can’t make an argument from nothing, and you may say, “Steve- if these people aren’t in the Bible how can you say they didn’t heed the call? If there’s nothing about them, you can’t talk about them.” But there are some mentions in the Bible about people that didn’t heed God’s call, or tried not to. Jonah almost made the list of not-knowns, but he changed his mind and did as God asked. Moshe almost made the list, but God sent him Aaron and was very convincing (although Moshe almost caused God to kill him for disobedience on the way to Egypt.) There are some people we hear mention of in the Gospels; the man who wanted to follow Yeshua but wouldn’t give up his wealth, and the other guy who Yeshua asked to follow him but he said he needed to bury his father first. The event about the person is talked about, but the person is on the list of not-knowns.

There is another list, and one that is closer to finding an answer to why people die young. That’s the list of those God took for (apparently) no reason. Miryam (Miriam, Moshe’s sister) died and was buried in the desert. No reason, she just up and died. Aaron was gathered to his people, too, but there was no reason. No mention of sickness, no reminder of the sin he committed at Mt. Horeb, just, “Time to go, Big Bro: Bye-bye.” Moshe also was gathered to his people, even though he was still as sharp as a tack and in good health (the Bible tells us this.) Although here we pretty much know why Moshe was called home- the people were ready to enter the land and Moshe was not allowed to go, so God decided to call Moshe home instead of leaving Him alone in the desert. Moshe was called home because his service to the Lord was at an end.

Hey- maybe that’s the answer? When what the Lord has called us to do is at an end, he will take us home. That’s why Miryam and Aaron were gathered without any obvious or stated reason. That might be true also of Enoch, who walked with God and then just wasn’t there anymore. And Elisha, who was taken into heaven by the chariot of God.

Oh, wait- Elisha didn’t see death. Hmmm….oh, I get it! Elisha was done on Earth but not done, totaly. He had to return to foretell the coming of Messiah, so he was taken from life but not gathered to his people. Not yet, sort of an in-between.

We also have the stories of children that died and were brought back to life- Elijah, Yeshua, Shaul all brought children back to life. Perhaps the kids died so that God’s purpose could be fulfilled, not because their job on Earth was done but because their job was to die to show God’s power by bringing them back.

I think we’re on to something here. Maybe the reason people die, what seems to us uselessly, is planned by God because either they had served their purpose for him , or their death will serve a purpose for Him. The Bible does show us that the death of some people was related to their service to God. Moshe died when his service was done, the boy that Elijah revived and returned to his mother served God in that the mother said, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.” And Yeshua even tells us that the death of Lazarus was determined and had a purpose (“This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”)

Going forward, I think I will stop asking “Why?” when I read about “untimely” deaths and accept that they are, in fact, good things because it is in someway serving God’s purpose. Perhaps the young woman that died had served a purpose that glorified God, or that the results of her death will glorify God in the future.

I remember hearing, when I was very young (just after the Earth cooled) someone explaining that when a wonderful person died that it was because God needed another angel in heaven. I like that- it’s a little sappy, I agree, but it may be closer to the truth than we realize. Maybe He is not calling someone to be an angel, but recalling an angel He sent here to help someone? How many times have we read of God using human beings to accomplish His plans?

I started out without an answer to the question I posed in the title, but now I think I have come up with a good possibility. Why die young? Maybe because the death we don’t understand is related to a purpose that God has had all along. The person has completed what God has called them to do, or their death will result in some action that will glorify God.

I like this answer much better than what could be another valid answer: we live in a cursed world and sometimes bad things just happen. There’s a lot of truth to that, too.

Nah…I like the serving God’s purpose reason better. Don’t you?

There is a downside, though: if you feel you are performing a purpose that glorifies God, you may think that completing that task will result in your death. I mean, if there is any validity to my postulation, serving God’s purpose on Earth will get us killed! On the other hand, we could refuse God’s call to us and end up on that list of not-knowns.  Life is not like salvation: God grants us both, but whereas God will not take back the gift of salvation, He certainly can, and will, take back the gift of life if it serves His purpose.

Let’s also remember that it is much, much better to be in God’s presence than on Earth (at least, I think so) so, overall, serving God is the highest calling anyone on Earth can have, and since we don’t know how much God wants us to do, or how long it will take, might just a s well do as He calls us to do and not worry about what happens when it’s over.

Live your life to glorify God, do as He calls you to do, and you will live a blessed life. Then, when God is ready for you to come home, it will be peaceful and glorious.