Barmidbar 16:1-18:32
(Please take the time to read the portion completely as this "reflection" is designed to be a life application of only a small part of the Torah portion and is not an in depth commentary, nor does it normally touch the scheduled corresponding Haftorah and Brit Chadashah readings)
Shalom Friends,
Num 16:27-35 So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and their sons and their little ones. (28) Moses said, "By this you shall know that YHVH has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing. (29) "If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men, then YHVH has not sent me. (30) "But if YHVH brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned YHVH." (31) As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; (32) and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. (34) All Israel who were around them fled at their outcry, for they said, "The earth may swallow us up!" (35) Fire also came forth from YHVH and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.
This is a very harsh passage. Not for the punishment meted out to Korah, Dathan and Abiram, but for their wives and little ones that also perished in the earth. I have always wondered why YHVH used such a dramatic way to punish the three rebels and immediately there after used a form that was familiar, the fire of Yah going forth and consuming the rest. There is a word here that can help us with this problem of the punishment of the "innocents." The word is Baqa, meaning "split" as in the earth split open. The pictographic meaning in the paleo-hebrew is to "witness the beginning or ending of the house." We see in the splitting of a fellowship, for example, both the ending of what was (or at least the original form of what was) and the beginning of some new community apart from the old. Even though Korah was from the tribe of Levi and was indeed set apart as YHVH's own possession, the others are not identified as Levites and so we must surmise that at least part of them if not most of them are from the other 12 tribes of Israel. They have NO right or calling to demand either the leadership in the Tabernacle or the God appointed leadership of the assembly. We saw with Aaron and Miriam, both Levites and Aaron the High Priest, that YHVH clearly chose Moses to lead. Now we see the congregation rising up in the same way to challenge not Moses, but YHVH Himself. That's right! When we rise up against YHVH's appointed leader (this includes the heads of our homes) we are challenging HIM not the leader.
OK I hear all of you saying "But what if our Pastor , Leader, Rabbi (or father or husband) or whatever they are called in your fellowship is NOT YHVH's choice? Well then YOU HAD BETTER BE SURE THAT YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THAT!!!
When Aaron and Miriam challenged Moses they thought they were right. When these 250 men challenged Moses they thought they were right. When the spies brought back the bad report about the people of Canaan (instead of the report focused on the land that Moses had ordered) they thought they were right. When B'nai Israel made the golden calf they thought they were right. NO person who is seeking to please YHVH intentionally does what he knows YHVH doesn't want him or her to do. We always think that we are right and that we are pleasing our Creator. But often we are wrong, and our families suffer the consequences along with us.
There is a verse that is often mis-applied from the Brit Chadashah:
Act 16:31 They said, "Believe in Lord Yeshuah, and you will be saved, you and your household."
It is normally understood, completely divorced from the rest of Scripture, that if the head is saved then AUTOMATICALLY the rest of the house will be too. This is just wishful thinking and a deception by the enemy. It is clear that ONLY through the individual acceptance of The Messiah by each person will that person be saved. The obvious teaching here is that if the head of the house, who Rav Shaul was talking to, accepts Yeshuah then he immediately will instruct his household in the way of Truth. Through that instruction the salvation will come, not to everyone that is there but to all who hear and receive the message. Those that don't or won't hear the truth will be forced by righteousness to leave the household. It was prophesied by Messiah when he said;
Luk 12:51-53 "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; (52) for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. (53) "They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
Yeshuah was proclaiming the ending, or beginning, of something, Baqa. Split. If a person in the household will not live for YHVH and in turn, for Torah, then he or she mist be "split" from that household. The actions of the head of the house will either bring blessing or death. Proper Torah based actions will bring salvation to the household, even if it means that some may need to be separated from the same household, but disobedience, or better said, wrong understanding and application of YHVH's Torah, will bring a separation of the entire household from the Kingdom of YHVH!
Ok now why did I just say all this? Because I believe that in the coming days we will see a baqa, a split, in this way. Many will not accept the strong and direct teaching that men of Elohim will bring forth and will rebel. On the other hand, many supposed men of God, will rebel and not bring that corrective and straight forward teaching to their flocks (or families). So you say, "that's not new, it's been happening for years." You are right. But do you feel the earth shaking under our feet? I do!
2Ti 3:1-17 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. (2) For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, (4) treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. (6) For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, (7) always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (8) Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. (9) But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also. (10) Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, (11) persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all YHVH rescued me! (12) Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Messiah Yeshuah will be persecuted. (13) But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (14) You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, (15) and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yeshuah. (16) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; (17) so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
So how do we make sure we do not get swallowed up? Verse 16, study the Scriptures! In the day that this was written there was only one thing known as The Scriptures, the TaNaK. Torah, Neviim (prophets) and Ketuviim (other writings) commonly called The Old Testement. How blessed are we who have the original covenant that YHVH made with His people Israel AND the Renewed Covenant that He is making as He re-gathers Israel back to Himself.
Don't be a Korah or Abiram. Know the Scriptures, ALL of them, and stick to a leader who lives them, not just teaches them. If sadly you find yourself in the congregation of one who chooses to reject the authority of YHVH's word, then do as Moses commanded:
Num 16:25-26 Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, (26) and he spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be swept away in all their sin."
May YHVH truly bless you with discernment and wisdom as we approach the coming difficult days.
Shalom in Yeshuah
Bill |
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