Parasha Chukat-Balak 5783
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Me
Me
This Shabbat we read another double Parasha—Chukat-Balak—Numbers 19:1-22:1
Chukat begins with the discussion of the Parah Adumah (the Red Heifer), which is the supra-rational decree. An unblemished, never yoked, and completely red heifer is to be slaughter outside the camp. The blood is to be sprinkled toward the Mishkan then every bit of the Para Adumah is to be burned up. The Kohen is to take some cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and toss them in the fire with the heifer. Then the ashes are to be kept in a clean place and as needed will be mixed with fresh water in order to create the Mayim Chayim that would cleanse one who had come into contact with a dead body. One of the most intriguing aspects of the Parah Adumah and Mayim Chayim made from it is that every single person who participates in the process of producing the Mayim Chayim becomes unclean until sundown in order for the one who is unclean to become clean.
In chapter 20 we see Miriam’s death, the second time Moses is instructed to bring water from the rock which Moses is commanded to speak to and instead he strikes it again. Then Israel is denied passage through the land of Edom, Aaron dies on Mount Hor, and the priesthood is passed down to his son Eleazar.
In chapter 21 Israel is attacked by the Canaanite king Arad and his army. They journey on toward the Sea of Reeds again and we see the account of the poisonous snakes and the bronze snake on a stake (which, by the way, at some point Israel ends up making the snake on a stake an idol, as we see with King Hezekiah destroying it in 2 Kings 18). Then Sihon and Og attack Israel and Israel, by the Hand of God, is victorious conquers all of their territory.
In Parasha Balak, we read of Balak who sends guys to recruit Bilaam to curse Israel, however, the L-rd would only allow Bilaam to bless Israel. From this account we get the foundation for a powerful piece of traditional Jewish liturgy that we recite every Shabbat here at CMC, the Ma Tovu which we find rooted in Numbers 24:5.
Oh yeah, we also see a random talking donkey…
Lastly, in Numbers 25 we read of the infiltration of the Moabite pagan prostitution and idolatry in the camps of Israel, Pinchas brings an end to by driving a spear through the Simeonite Zimri and the midianite woman, Cozbi.
(Share a story about someone trash talking…)
We
We
We all have experience with people talking trash about us… We all have experience with people trying to convince us that what we believe is fake, or that what we feel God calling us to do is wrong, or that we aren’t good enough, or smart enough, or attractive enough, or thousands of other accusations and lies the enemy tries to use to rob us of what God wants to do in and through us.
Heck, half the time we are often our own worse enemies as we speak the same kind of lies over ourselves… Or we doubt ourselves and/or what God is doing in our lives… Or we doubt our worth or why or how God could love us…
But, the truth is, the outside world cannot rob us of what God wants to do in our lives… They cannot rob us of the fullness of the blessings and promises God has in store for us… We have the option to believe and trust in what God says or to buy in to the garbage being spewed at us by the world around us… But it is ultimately our choices that make or break our efficacy for the Kingdom of Messiah.
God
God
Today, as we discuss Parasha Chukat-Balak we’re going to focus on the reality of the account of Bilaam and Israel. And as we do, I want us to keep this spiritual principle in mind as we move forward…
Principle: The enemy will always attack where and when we least expect it, because his goal is to rob us of G-d’s blessing.
(Repeat)
Let’s dig into the text together…
As we do, I want to set up what we’re dealing with today by going back to Genesis 50 and Joseph’s interaction with his brothers after the death of Jacob.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. For am I in the place of God?
Yes, you yourselves planned evil against me. God planned it for good, in order to bring about what it is this day—to preserve the lives of many people.
You planned evil against me, but God had planned it for good… This is the exact reality we see throughout Parasha Chukat-Balak. Balak, the king of Moab, intended evil against Israel, but no matter how hard he tried, God had it all planned out for good… Curse turned into blessing… Blessing turned into liturgy of praise recited in Jewish tradition for millennia now…
When Balak son of Zippor, realized all that Bnei-Yisrael had done to the Amorites,
Moab became terrified because there were so many people. Moab was filled with dread because of Bnei-Yisrael.
Now, before we go very far, we have to setup the story a bit real quick. We see three people groups mentioned right out the gate: the Moabites, the Amorites, and the Midianites. Who exactly are these people groups?
If we look back at Genesis 15:18-21 you’ll read...
On that day Adonai cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:
the Kenite, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphaites,
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
So you’ll notice that the Amorites are one of the original people groups that Abraham is told his descendants would dispossess. The Amorites are also one of the people groups we see earlier in Parasha Chukat-Balak, specifically in Numbers 21:21-35, when Sihon (the king of the Amorites) and Og attack Israel and Israel is victorious.
Now the Moabites and the Midianites who team up together to hire Bilaam to curse Israel, they are two very interesting people groups, particularly because they are linked directly back to Abraham himself.
See, the Moabites are the descendants of one of Lot’s incestuous relationships with his daughters after the fled when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. And Lot is the nephew of Abraham that Abraham brought along with him when God called Abraham to leave his father’s household behind and to journey to a land that Adonai would show to him. So, had Abraham not brought Lot with him on this journey, had he left his father’s household behind as instructed, the Moabites would not have been a continue problem for Israel.
And the Midianites are pretty interesting too… If we look at Genesis 25:1-5 we read this…
Now Abraham took another wife—her name was Keturah.
She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.
Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were Asshurim, Letushim and Leummim.
Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s sons.
Notice Midian, the ancestor of the Midianite people, is a direct descendant of Abraham through his wife Keturah who he married after Sarah died. All of his children with Keturah he sent off to the east so that they would not attempt to ruin Isaac’s inheritance. Through the Midianites and others seen in Joshua, these other descendants of Abraham who he cast off to the east later become tremendous thorns in Israel’s side.
So Balak, the Moabite, sees that Israel has defeated the Amorites, which the sages tell us historically Moav depended on the Amorites for protection. So he becomes worried about this potential threat before him. He sees the shear size and magnitude of this caravanning people, I’m sure by now word has traveled to Moav of how Israel was brought out of Egypt in miraculous form. Balak is terrified… In fact, they say, Numbers 22:4
Moab said to the elders of Midian, “The multitude will lick up everything around us like the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.
So Moab and Midian team up together in this fight… But I want to point out something very important here, Israel was a touch over 600,000 warriors strong, the nation as a whole moving through the wilderness would have been anywhere from probably 3-5 million strong, and they were a brand new, infantile nation. But the lands that they were traveling through were well established, they were nations who likely had much larger and well organized fighting forces. But there was something different about Israel, there was something the Moabites and Midianites saw in Israel’s victory over the Amorites… There was a force fighting for or with Israel that the Moabites and Midianites didn’t think they could overcome. They fully recognized the blessing of the Hand of God upon Israel, they may have not understood what exactly it was, but they could absolutely see it and they knew it could mean doom for them.
So they send elders to Bilaam to hire him to come and curse Israel. They recognized fully could not defeat them physically because there was something spiritual, something supernatural to their strength and presence. So they thought if they could curse these people then they might be able to defeat them militarily afterward. However, Israel is blessed by God, and no curse of man is going to overcome the blessing of God.
The men come to Bilaam and try to hire him to curse Israel, but Bilaam says he has to consult Adonai first. At first the Lord tells him not to go with them, but then after some back and forth (honestly because I believe Bilaam really wanted that payday…) the Lord finally lets him go and tells him he is only to speak exactly what Adonai says, nothing more and nothing less.
Now, I don’t want to go into too much on the narrative of the politician… I mean talking ass… Sorry, talking donkey… But one thing I want to point out is that the whole reason the angel of God was going to kill Bilaam is because Adonai knows the heart. I believe Bilaam was likely trying to conjure up some plan in his heart and mind of how he could sneak a curse in even though he knew God wouldn’t let him. He wasn’t by any means trying to be faithful to HaShem, he was trying to get that payday…
Bilaam arrives with Balak and Balak is elated that he will finally have this supposed prophet speak a curse over this dangerous enemy of his and he rushes out to greet Bilaam, and again Bilaam reiterates that he can only speak the words Adonai puts in his mouth. He has given ample warning, and will continue to do so through the Parasha.
The next morning Bilaam has seven altars erected and offers a bull and ram on each one, then he goes to seek the voice of God.
Adonai put a message into Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak this.”
Balaam went back to him. Behold, he was standing beside his offering with all the princes of Moab.
Then he uttered his oracle and said, “From Aram, Balak brought me, Moab’s king from the mountains of the east: ‘Come! Curse Jacob for me! ‘Come! Denounce Israel!’
How can I curse one whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce one whom Adonai has not denounced?
From the rocky peaks I see him. From the heights I behold him. Look, he lives as a nation apart, and does not consider himself as being like the other nations.
Who can count Jacob’s dust? Who can number a fourth of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”
To which Balak loses his mind and says, what are you doing? I am paying you to curse them and you bless them instead? What the heck…?
But instead of Balak getting the picture, he decides the problem is that Bilaam doesn’t have a good enough vantage point to see how terrible this Israel is… So he takes him to another place where he can see the people better, maybe then he will be able to curse them.
Again seven altars are built and a bull and ram are offered on each one. Again Balak goes to encounter of HaShem and this is what happens.
Adonai met Balaam there and put a message into his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.”
So he went to him, and behold, he and the princes of Moab were standing beside his offering. Balak asked him, “What did Adonai say?”
So he uttered his oracle and said: “Rise, Balak! Hear me, son of Zippor!
God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes his mind! Does He speak and then not do it, or promise and not fulfill it?
Look, I received a command to bless. He has blessed—I cannot change it!
No misfortune is to be seen in Jacob, and no misery in Israel! Adonai their God is with them —the King’s shout is among them!
God is bringing them from Egypt with the strong horns of the wild ox!
There is no sorcery effective against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel! Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘See what God has done!’
The people rise like a lioness, like a lion who does not rest until he eats his prey and drinks his victim’s blood!”
Balak flips out again, this time he responds, “Look, just don’t say anything… I hired you to curse them and you can’t even get that right… Don’t curse them or bless them, just shut up!!!”
Then Balak again realizes maybe the problem is just that Bilaam can’t see the whole nation… He can’t get the full picture of how bad things really are… So he takes him to the top of Peor to overlook B’nei Yisrael. Again seven altars are built, and a bull and ram are offered on each one.
Rashi says that Bilaam is having seven altars built because in he is trying to invoke the memory of the Patriarchs… Balaam said to God: The ancestors of this people built You seven altars, and I have prepared the equivalent of them all. Abraham built four ; Isaac built one; and Jacob built two—one at Shechem and one at Beth-El.
And again, Bilaam lifts up his eyes, he sees the tribes of Israel and the Ruach Elohim comes over him…
He uttered his oracle and said: “This is the oracle of Balaam son of Beor, and the oracle of a strong man whose eye has been opened,
the oracle of one hearing God’s speech, one seeing Shaddai’s vision, one fallen down, yet with open eyes:
How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, and your dwellings, O Israel!
Like valleys they are spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by Adonai, like cedars beside the waters.
Water will flow from his buckets, his seed by abundant water. His king will be greater than Agag, his kingdom will be exalted.
God is bringing him out of Egypt. like the strong horns of a wild ox. He devours nations hostile to him. He will crush their bones. His arrows will pierce them.
He crouches like a lion or a lioness— who would rouse him? He who blesses you will be blessed, and he who curses you will be cursed.”
Then Balak became furious at Balaam, and struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but look, you have blessed them these three times!
Now, I read all of the blessings of Bilaam spoken over B’nei Yisrael to point out something… God has immensely blessed Israel. Not just through the words Bilaam speaks over them rather than cursing them. But all along, the blessing of the Hand of HaShem has been upon Israel. It began with the faithfulness of the Patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it continued through the development of the 12 tribes of Israel, it was made obvious in the freedom brought from slavery in Egypt, and throughout the wilderness journey of Israel, no matter how many mistakes they made, the blessing Hand of HaShem was always upon them. It didn’t matter if it came to a showdown with the remnant of the forces of Egypt, or the battle against Sihon and Og, or the current crisis with Balak and Bilaam of which, odds are, the tribes of Israel were not even aware. And there was nothing anyone external to the People of Israel could do about that…
But…
Principle: The enemy will always attack where and when we least expect it, because his goal is to rob us of G-d’s blessing.
After all of this, which again at the time Israel probably knew nothing at all about what Balak and Bilaam were up to, Balak figured out that if he couldn’t curse Israel because of Adonai’s blessing upon them, then he’d have to get them to destroy themselves. In Numbers 25, Moabite and Midianite women are sent into the camps of Israel and the people of Israel begin to have immoral sexual relations with them. Now the Moabites and Midianites were pagans, sex was a part of their worship practices.
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the people began to have immoral sexual relations with women from Moab.
Then they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, so the people were eating, and bowing down before their gods.
When Israel became bound to Baal of Peor, the anger of Adonai grew hot against Israel.
See Balak was trying so hard to destroy Israel by bringing a curse upon them, but he couldn’t do that because the blessing of the Hand of HaShem was upon them. But the biggest threat to Israel wasn’t anything anyone else could do to them, it was Israel’s on proclivity for falling to temptation. This isn’t to say that our Jewish people have some enhance capability to sin, not at all… The reality is sin is unfortunately a prevalent reality for fallen humanity.
We see this reality portrayed in the lives of many key people throughout the Bible. Over and over again we see individuals whom God desires to bless, those who walk in divine anointing choose to walk contrary to Adonai and His ways, choose to chase after the ways of the world and in turn reject the blessings and promises of God. This is honestly at the very core of Israel’s experience at the end of Judges. Israel was securely planted in the Promised Land, they were experiencing the many blessings promised by God in the Land flowing with milk and honey. Yet, it still wasn’t enough and they continued to chase after everything but the heart of God.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
We see our principle played out in the lives of so many anointed people in the Bible:
Abraham anointed and blessed yet sinning by calling Sarah his sister twice…
David anointed and blessed yet sinning through adultery and murder...
Solomon anointed and blessed yet sinning through breaking every command for the kings of Israel in Deuteronomy 17…
Peter anointed and blessed yet sinning by rejected fellowship with Gentiles as Paul calls him out on as seen in Galatians 2…
And you and I are not above these anointed men called by God. We are all descendants of the Adam and Eve through Noah. We are all created by God and are breathing His Breath of Life and we have all been created and called by God to experience His blessings, His love, His freedom, but the choice is laid before. God did not create us to be robots preprogrammed to choose Him, His love, and His ways… He created us to experience Him, His love, and His ways, but He wants us to choose Him. This choice is made by choose to walk in righteousness, and the choice is ours as Moses reminds B’nei Israel in Deuteronomy.
“I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
by loving Adonai your God, listening to His voice, and clinging to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell on the land that Adonai swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob—to give them.
Principle: The enemy will always attack where and when we least expect it, because his goal is to rob us of G-d’s blessing.
And this reality is at the core of the life of a disciple of Yeshua. His death, burial, and resurrection was freely given for all who breathe the Breath of Life, for all who would call on His Name for Salvation. It doesn’t matter if we’re Jewish or Gentile, it doesn’t matter if we’re male or female, it doesn’t matter if we have vast wealth or are barely scraping by paycheck to paycheck or having to live off government assistance, it doesn’t matter the caliber of sins of which we are guilty. It doesn’t matter how our parents raised us, or how bad our pasts were, or what kind of baggage and drama we carry, or anything else… All of humanity is equal in God’s eyes and the Blood of Messiah was poured out for all mankind, and all have the same access to His Salvation, we just have to choose Him, we just have to call out on the Name of Yeshua. He desires all to be saved, He desires all to experience the fullness of His blessings, but He also desires us to want relationship with Him.
And here’s the thing, like Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20
Yes, you yourselves planned evil against me. God planned it for good, in order to bring about what it is this day—to preserve the lives of many people.
It doesn’t matter how bad your life has been or how bad it currently is… It doesn’t matter how bad people have messed you over or messed you up… The Creator of Heaven and Earth loves you, He has chosen you, He has placed His Breath of Life within you, He has given His only begotten Son to redeem you from your sins, and He desires to place His Ruach HaKodesh within you. He desires to turn all the crap in our lives into good. To take all the things we have gone through, good and bad, and turn them into a testimony of His majesty and His Hand in our lives. He desires to turn our lives into a beacon, a lighthouse for those lost in this dark and depressing world to find hope, Salvation, and blessing in Messiah Yeshua.
In Romans 8 Paul says,
For in hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
In the same way, the Ruach helps in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Ruach Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
And He who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Ruach, because He intercedes for the kedoshim according to the will of God.
Now we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say in view of these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
All of the bad things that have happened to us… all of the curses and evil words spoken over us by others or even by ourselves… All of the mistakes that we have made… All the times we have rejected God and His Word… All the times we have hurt other people or been hurt by others… God wants to turn all of these into blessing. He wants us to experience nothing but His blessings.
God will work all things together for the good of those that love Him! This includes all of the terrible things that we have gone through, all the failed and broken relationships, all of the physical and spiritual wounds, mental and emotional turmoil, all of the good or bad choices we’ve made. And our restoration begins the moment we call upon the Name of Yeshua and accept His Blood Atonement. Experiencing the fullness of God’s blessings in our lives begins with a choice… A simple choice…
B’nei Yisrael was already blessed by God, they were called and anointed to be the people of God, to be a light to the Nations. Bilaam speaking blessing over Israel was not necessary to the narrative of what God had already done and was intending to do for and through Israel. But, Balak’s desire to curse Israel being turned God speaking blessing thrice over Israel by the mouth of an idolatrous diviner like Bilaam shows that nothing anyone else could desire to do to us could ever rob us of the fullness of God’s blessing in our lives. The only thing that can is our own decisions, our own failures, our own giving into the temptations of the enemy as we see with Israel and the Moabite and Midianite prostitutes at the end of Parasha Balak.
But as long as we choose to walk in faithfulness to God through the Blood of Messiah Yeshua and the Power and Presence of the Ruach Elohim in our hearts and lives then Paul’s words at the end of Romans 8 will be a reality in our lives no matter what this world throws at us.
But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
Principle: The enemy will always attack where and when we least expect it, because his goal is to rob us of G-d’s blessing.
You
You
(Call worship team up and unmute)
Just as the blessings and promises of Adonai over Israel could not be altered or overturned by the evil intent of Balak and Bilaam and the only way Israel failed was because they themselves gave into the temptation of the world… God has created you to walk in His the blessings of His Salvation, He has called you to be a blessing to both Jew and non-Jew, He has established blessing and promises over your life and your walk with Him, and you are the only one who can hinder them… You are the only one who can choose to walk in His blessings or to choose to walk contrary to them.
No matter what you or anyone else has ever said about you or spoken over you, only God’s truth is what matters!!! And when He created you He spoke and said you are good! He provided the Blood Atonement of Yeshua to redeem you and restore you as He created you, and He has proclaimed through Salvation that you are good, you are worthy, you are loved, you are more than enough, you are His and He loves you.
We
We
We have all been through stuff in our lives… Heck, we have all been through more than we could have ever imagined just in the last few years… But we must remain strong in our identity in Messiah Yeshua. We must remain vigilant to guard our hearts from the lies of Kingdom detractors. We must remain vigilant to stay on guard and to keep our hearts and minds focused on the Truth of Gods Word, on the Truth of His blessings, on the Truth of His promises for those who love Him and rejecting the lies and temptations of the enemy. We must make sure our identity is rooted squarely in who we are in God, in who God has declared us to be by the Blood of Messiah, and not give into the lies, slander, and curses the Balaks and Bilaams of the world around us want to use to get us to derail God’s plan and purpose for our lives.