Prison Weekly Sabbath Tamuz 6,5770 Torah Parsha Chukkat
Shalom
The Hebrew month is Tamuz ,These Parsha's are for Sabbath Tamuz 6,5770 Torah Parsha Chukkat "Ordinance of" Numbers 19:1-22:1 the Haftarah Judges 11:1-33 & the Brit Hadasha John 3:10-21 Next Weeks: Torah Portions are "Balak" Numbers 22:2-25:9 the Haftarah is Micah 5:6-6:8 & the Brit Hadasha 1 Corinthians 1:20-31
Chukat
This week's Torah portion is from Numbers 19:1 - 22:1 and is called Chukat, which means decree. it is an obligation upon those who follow the ways of HaShem. The leading part of the reading deals with a very hot topic these days, the Red Heifer. In Israel there is a Christian man from Mississippi who successfully bred a Red Heifer. He first did so at his farm, but the Rabbis in Israel insisted that to "qualify" it must be born in Israel. So, he moved to the Galilee and has done it there! When we lived in the Land, we met him and his wife. Unfortunately, before the calf reached the required age of two years, a white hair grew in tis tail and the Rabbi's were quick to disqualify her. They were more than a little leery of a "Gentile Cow" being used in this most holy service!!!In all truth, I believe that there is little significance in this matter at all; at least not yet. The ashes of the Red Heifer are to be added to water and with it; anyone who touches a dead body and is made unclean is to be "purified" with this water and ash mixture before entering into the Tent of Meeting. This practice was followed in the days of the Temple as well. But, since we have neither the Tent of Meeting nor the Temple, there is no use for the water of cleansing. Not to mention that we are made clean, not by the sprinkling of water with ash, but by the blood of the Perfect Lamb of G-d.
But, an even more interesting point follows shortly in the passage. In Numbers 20, we read of the people fussing at Moses again! This time, it is because they have run out of water. Moses went to the L-rd and asked what he could do. Beginning in verse 7 we find His instruction. The L-rd said to Moshe, "Take the staff, assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother; and before their eyes, tell the rock to produce its water. You will bring them water out of the rock and thus enable the community and their livestock to drink." Moshe took the staff from the presence of the L-rd, as he had ordered him. But after Moshe and Aaron had assembled the community in front of the rock, he said to them, "Listen here, you rebels! Are we supposed to bring you water from this rock?" Then Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his staff. Water flowed out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank." From this, we learn why Moses was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.
You have probably heard, as I have, many sermons about how Moses struck the rock and released his claim to the promise. Some even teach that since Y'shua is "the Rock" that Moses struck Him! I think the passage does contain some truth that is certainly more clear than such a stretch! The sin for which Moses lost his inheritance was quite serious, but had nothing to do with striking a rock. Read verse 10 again. Moses said to the children of Israel, "Listen here, you rebels! Are we supposed to bring you water from this rock?" Moses sinned by placing himself in the place of the provider of Israel. G-d is our provider as well as theirs. I remember a great preacher once saying that the downfall of men of G-d was for them to touch "the gold, the glory or the girls." Moses usurped the glory of G-d when he asked if the people wanted him to bring forth water from the rock. Only G-d can do that and the children of Israel had been taught this over and over again. Sometimes, we are taught the same things over and over too. Sometimes, we think that we can do something to get what we want and what we need. Too often we put ourselves in the place of being the provider for our family, and we get in the way of what G-d wants to do for us and to teach us.My prayer for each of you is that you learn to stay out of the way of G-d's plan and to always remember that He is G-d and we are not! Keep praying. Marty
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: This is the ritual law that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest. It shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. The cow shall be burned in his sight--its hide, flesh, and blood shall be burned, its dung included--and the priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson stuff, and throw them into the fire consuming the cow. The priest shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water; after that the priest may reenter the camp, but he shall be unclean until evening. He who performed the burning shall also wash his garments in water, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening. A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, to be kept for water of lustration for the Israelite community. It is for cleansing. He who gathers up the ashes of the cow shall also wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This shall be a permanent law for the Israelites and for the strangers who reside among you. He who touches the corpse of any human being shall be unclean for seven days. He shall cleanse himself with it on the third day and on the seventh day, and then be clean; if he fails to cleanse himself on the third and seventh days, he shall not be clean.
Whoever touches a corpse, the body of a person who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the Lord's Tabernacle; that person shall be cut off from Israel. Since the water of lustration was not dashed on him, he remains unclean; his uncleanness is still upon him. This is the ritual: When a person dies in a tent, whoever enters the tent and whoever is in the tent shall be unclean seven days; and every open vessel, with no lid fastened down, shall be unclean. And in the open, anyone who touches a person who was killed or who died naturally, or human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. Some of the ashes from the fire of cleansing shall be taken for the unclean person, and fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel. A person who is clean shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle on the tent and on all the vessels and people who were there, or on him who touched the bones or the person who was killed or died naturally or the grave. The clean person shall sprinkle it upon the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day, thus cleansing him by the seventh day. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe in water, and at nightfall he shall be clean. If anyone who has become unclean fails to cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the congregation, for he has defiled the Lord's sanctuary. The water of lustration was not dashed on him: he is unclean. That shall be for them a law for all time. Further, he who sprinkled the water of lustration shall wash his clothes; and whoever touches the water of lustration shall be unclean until evening.
Whatever that unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches him shall be unclean until evening. The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there. The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished at the instance of the Lord! Why have you brought the Lord's congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there? Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!" Moses and Aaron came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The Presence of the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "You and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts." Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He had commanded him. Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?" And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod.
Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them." Those are the Waters of Meribah--meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with the Lord--through which He affirmed His sanctity. From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom: "Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardships that have befallen us; that our ancestors went down to Egypt, that we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and that the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our ancestors. We cried to the Lord and He heard our plea, and He sent a messenger who freed us from Egypt. Now we are in Kadesh, the town on the border of your territory. Allow us, then, to cross your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from wells. We will follow the king's highway, turning off neither to the right nor to the left until we have crossed your territory." But Edom answered him, "You shall not pass through us, else we will go out against you with the sword." "We will keep to the beaten track," the Israelites said to them, "and if we or our cattle drink your water, we will pay for it. We ask only for passage on foot--it is but a small matter." But they replied,
"You shall not pass through!" And Edom went out against them in heavy force, strongly armed. So Edom would not let Israel cross their territory, and Israel turned away from them. Setting out from Kadesh, the Israelites arrived in a body at Mount Hor. At Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Let Aaron be gathered to his kin: he is not to enter the land that I have assigned to the Israelite people, because you disobeyed my command about the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up on Mount Hor. Strip Aaron of his vestments and put them on his son Eleazar. There Aaron shall be gathered unto the dead." Moses did as the Lord had commanded. They ascended Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments and put them on his son Eleazar, and Aaron died there on the summit of the mountain. When Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last. All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days. When the Canaanite, king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, learned that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he engaged Israel in battle and took some of them captive.
Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, "If You deliver this people into our hand, we will proscribe their towns." The Lord heeded Israel's plea and delivered up the Canaanites; and they and their cities were proscribed. So that place was named Hormah. They set out from Mount Hor by way of the Sea of Reeds to skirt the land of Edom. But the people grew restive on the journey, and the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why did you make us leave Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we have come to loathe this miserable food." The Lord sent seraph serpents against the people. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord to take away the serpents from us!" And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a seraph figure and mount it on a standard. And if anyone who is bitten looks at it, he shall recover." Moses made a copper serpent and mounted it on a standard; and when anyone was bitten by a serpent, he would look at the copper serpent and recover. The Israelites marched on and encamped at Oboth. They set out from Oboth and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering on Moab to the east. From there they set out and encamped at the wadi Zered. From there they set out and encamped beyond the Arnon, that is, in the wilderness that extends from the territory of the Amorites. For the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Therefore the Book of the Wars of the Lord speaks of "... Waheb in Suphah, and the wadis: the Arnon with its tributary wadis, stretched along the settled country of Ar, hugging the territory of Moab ..." And from there to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, "Assemble the people that I may give them water." Then Israel sang this song:
Spring up, O well--sing to it--The well which the chieftains dug,Which the nobles of the people started With maces, with their own staffs.
And from Midbar to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, at the peak of Pisgah, overlooking the wasteland. Israel now sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, "Let me pass through your country. We will not turn off into fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from wells. We will follow the king's highway until we have crossed your territory." But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness. He came to Jahaz and engaged Israel in battle. But Israel put them to the sword, and took possession of their land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as [Az] of the Ammonites, for Az marked the boundary of the Ammonites. Israel took all those towns. And Israel settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependencies. Now Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against a former king of Moab and taken all his land from him as far as the Arnon.
Therefore the bards would recite: "Come to Heshbon; firmly built and well founded is Sihon's city. For fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from Sihon's city, consuming Ar of Moab, the lords of Bamoth by the Arnon. Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! His sons are rendered fugitive and his daughters captive by an Amorite king, Sihon." Yet we have cast them down utterly, Heshbon along with Dibon; we have wrought desolation at Nophah, which is hard by Medeba. So Israel occupied the land of the Amorites. Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its dependencies and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. They marched on and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan, with all his people, came out to Edrei to engage them in battle. But the Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I give him and all his people and his land into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon." They defeated him and his sons and all his people, until no remnant was left him; and they took possession of his country. The Israelites then marched on and encamped in the steppes of Moab, across the Jordan from Jericho.
From Parshat Hukkat-Balak. From THE TANAKH: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. Used by permission
MISSION UPDATES:Romans 1:17
17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Greetings, Today when I came in one man looked up and saw me and said Pastor Dan What would we do without you" I get things like this all the time but today it hit me very hard, you see it has gotten worse and worse all year to where donations are a trickle the Bills will double the 1st or close to it and no money in to pay. One very large problem is there was NO mail out newsletter this month, if I do not do one the first of next week then we are really going to hurt much worse, we are only staying open by a very thin thread in fact mom wrote a check for food that will drain the account, we have nothing but prayers to fall back on, but of course that is how we have stayed open all along. I have two people needing shoes and one needing a prescription $20 the shoes are $12 a pair plus tax..... I just talked to a man who just lost his $55,000 home, yes it is tough out there and the Father keeps sending me more and more people....So no today I am not asking you for money, yes great is the need but I feel you will donate if you can or feel led to, but I will ask you for prayer and not for me but for those we care for, those that have been sent to us. I just had a man come in I have known for a long time and we were are talking why I am writing this and he springs on me about how some people do not like me because I support the Jews or rather that I am a Jew? Well I am grafted in, the point in this city the large block for me getting help is because of my Biblical support of Israel, in fact I had a fellow who works for the bank tell me the very same thing.....Oh well I cannot change to please them no matter what the cost is to me...Please lift us in prayer and help if you can, I will ask that if any large ministries read this then consider helping your brethren if you can? In His Perfect Peace, Pastor Dan Catlin
Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Shalom In Yeshua our Messiah,
We made it through another week but the funding is so low we may not be able to keep going unless we get your HELP.PRAY ABOUT IT!!!!!!!
We fed 59 plates today for dinner chicken-n-rice,greenbeans,bread-n-butter and fresh homemade bannana nut bread. We also fed out about 25 bowls of beans-n-cornbread left over from Tuesday. I have to go it's time for Sabbath Service and I really am at a loss for words anyway just PLEASE ADD US TO YOUR PRAYERS AND HELP !!! IF YOUR LEAD TOO!!!! with love sisterlinda -n- family
Shalom B'Shem Yeshua HaMashiach / Peace in the Name of Yeshua, the Messiah
Mark 9:23,10:27 " THE Truth will set you FREE"
"Don't plan without Yahweh, He seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account." - Oswald Chambers
Shabbat Candle
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
As we light these two Shabbat candles we set this night apart unto God in remembrance to Him that we are given both physical rest and spiritual rest thru the gift of God by His Son Yeshua Michia (scriptures John 1, John 1:3-4, John 1:12, John 8:12, John 1:9, Phillippians 2:15)
Baaruch ata adonai eloheynu melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav vitzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Shabbat.
Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who sanctified us by Your laws and commanded us to kindle the Shabbat light.
Shabbat Shalom
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