Light In Torah

Good morning! Balaam's behavior makes it hard to remember that he is a seer and a prophet. He is supposed to see what is going on in the spiritual realm and then speak with the voice of God to what he sees.  But, and at this stage of his journey, he is too busy being angry, beating his poor, faithful donkey. Consequently, he is unable to see that all the donkey is doing in response to the presence of the Angel of the Lord. The Angel, however, is just about to make his presence known.  And the Voice of the Most High, like many waters, is about to be heard (Eze. 43:2; Psa. 29:3). If Balaam will not see Him or speak His Words, the Lord will find another to speak His mind.  In this case the ‘other witness’ is going to turn out to be Balaam's burden bearer; upon whom he was taking out his rage.  In the midst of the thrashing, Yahweh gave the donkey the power of speech. The donkey opened its mouth and the voice which came out asked Balaam: 'What have I done to you that you...

Good morning! Here at the Faith Works health clinic, one of the favorite passages to encourage people into complete health is: "enter the strait gate that leads to life...wide is the gate that leads to destruction" (Matt. 7:13; Lk. 13:24). In this week's Torah portion, Balak/the devastator or to make waste, Balaam, our villainous heroine, is about to enter the crucible or test of the strait gate on the narrow road (Num. 22:23-28). As with us, the Lord God is about to reveal what is in Balaam's heart. And it is all going to start by the simple Divine Strategy of sending a menacing, relentless angel to cause the prophet’s donkey to turn aside out of the narrow path to Moab that stretched out before him and step off into a field. How will the renowned man of prophecy respond to this little unplanned detour along the road?  Let’s see what Torah says. When the donkey saw the Holy One's angel standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, the donkey went aside fro...

Good morning! Last night, the zoom call we did an overview on the seven crucibles that Balaam walked through at the hands of Balak (Num. 22-25). At first blush, that may seem like a topic that is irrelevant to us today, yet with the appearances of prophets popping up on the scene everywhere predicting, healing, reading people's 'mail', etc.. It’s pretty important to know what the scripture says about these individuals. Are they true? Are they false? Is there criteria that needs to be followed 100% in scripture? Deuteronomy chapter 13 gives us the details on The qualities of a godly prophet. And, scripture gives us the details on who is not a true prophet. Let me first say that I'm not talking about someone prophesying. I'm talking about someone who claims to be a prophet. A word of prophecy doesn't require a special calling. It doesn't require that they are in a Torah keeping, covenant relationship with Yahweh Elohim/the Lord our God. They don't have to ...

Good morning! This Thursday I'll be traveling to Fairhaven, Massachusetts to see my Aunt Carole, Lauren and her family (prayer appreciated). I have sooooo many thoughts to share this morning, but I feel impressed to go back to last week's Torah portion to highlight some thoughts on fighting the battle against Og and Sihon, two easily overlooked giants to contend with before entering the Promised Land. As many of you know, the final book of the Torah is Deuteronomy/Devarim, or "Words."  Speaking of words, did you know that there is not a single Torah portion that fails to mention the Land of Israel either explicitly or implicitly (prophetically)? "Approximately two-thirds of the Torah, depend upon Eretz Yisrael/land of Israel; the Land of our inheritance." The focus of the Torah, and ultimately all of God's Word, is restoring mankind back to the Garden of Eden.  In order to do that, the path leads to Israel and Jerusalem.   A person who doesn't put a ...

Good morning! Welcome to the 36th day of counting towards the first fruit of the wine, wherein God has faith in you by giving you breath in your lungs. Huh? In other words, He has faith that you will accomplish today what He needs you to do. He trusts you with His mercies that are new every morning (Lam. 3:23 :-). This morning we will conclude with our 'Miriam' thoughts for the week and I want to challenge you to go back and read the passage in Numbers 2121-35 where Sihon and Og (the giants are confronted and defeated)... Shabbat morning zoom call: Moses' disobedience to God's command is the key to your victory over Sihon and Og Miriam has died. The rock/tzur is no longer giving water. Moses strikes the rock/ha sela and it brings forth water for the people and cattle (Num. 20:11,12). Have you ever asked yourself the question, "How does He, speaking of God, relate to nature in the wilderness? How does He relate to nature when everyday Manna comes down? How does He r...

 Good morning! Nobody mourns, there's no time to mourn, you're in crisis, you're in the desert, there's no water. What are you going to do now? They come to the wilderness of Tzin and Kadesh,  Miriam dies and she's buried there. And no one mourns. All of a sudden there’s no more water for the people (Num. 20:1,2). So now what has to happen? If they don't have water there's only one answer? They've got to have faith. They've got to be able to place themselves in the hands of Yahweh and say, ‘Yah here we are, we're placing ourselves in Your hand, we don't have water.  What happens? They gather against Moses and Aaron and they start arguing with Moses; We should have just died already. After 40 years they say, ‘why do you bring us into this desert, us and our cattle’? Why did you take us out of Egypt anyway and bring us to this lousy place’? You can't plant anything here. There’s no fruit here and there's not even any water.   Now you...

Good morning! Happy preparation day on this 34th day of counting towards the first fruit of the wine, Happy 4th of July, Happy BDay Mehar in Pakistan,  and Shabbat shalom! This week we have devoted ourselves to insights towards the 'forgotten Miriam'. Tonight on our zoom call at 8:00 p.m. EST, before the fireworks shows, 699 858 9149 we will compare Aaron's death and take a practical look at why Moses struck the Rock, rather than speaking to it; and the practical lessons for America after the passing of the "Big Bill" on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, we examined Miriam's ability to watch and wait on the Lord.  Because Israel learned of Miriam's faith as a girl, they were able to 'employ' it at the Reed Sea/Yam Suf when they were, by God's design, placed in the same position that Moses was as a baby, threatened by an entire army. Yahweh says, in a matter of words,  'do you know what you're going to have to do to get out of this predicament...

Good morning! Several months ago, we covered the Torah portion that revealed details of the Exodus through the Sea and three murmuring sessions from the Israelites (Ex. 14).  In this week's Torah portion, we have another water narrative, which concludes the life of the 'water bearer' herself: Miriam (Moses in the basket, the sea & Miriam’s song, bitter waters of Marah, striking of the rock, Miriam’s pool; providing water for 40 years). With hindsight, we see this water theme continued through Numbers 20 where Moses strikes the rock the second time, after Miriam’s death (Num. 207-13). On this 33rd day of counting towards the first fruit of the wine, I want to talk to you about faith and our journey through life by visiting the scene at the Reed Sea. When Pharaoh’s chariots are coming the people begin to panic. Though we are not given all the scenarios that could be running through people’s minds there are really only four possibilities or could there be five? Within thes...

Good morning! In this week's Torah portion, chukat, we have non-stop action as well as hidden gems worth mining. In our short dedication to Miriam we were able to glean significant truths that remind us we didn't get where we are on our own, nor should we wait for a funeral to say thank you to those 'Miriams/miryam' in our lives who bring living water/mayim chayim into our lives. Within these chapters of Numbers 20-22, besides Miriam's death, Aaron also dies and , in a sense, Moses does too as he is prohibited from entering into the Promised Land. The three most instrumental team players in the history of the nation of Israel, find their visible legacy coming to an end in this 40th year of the wilderness journey. There's an old question asked throughout the ages and is hotly, but quietly contested today: "what's life going to be like after this life?  What will it be like for our 3 Israelite musketeers? Let me preface part of the answer with the term ...

Good morning! In this week's Torah portion, Chukat (Num 19-22), we lose one of the most essential women in the history of mankind; Miriam/miryam. The end of a prophetess (Ex. 15:20), a leader, a woman of valor, one whose life is recounted in one sentence...and Miriam died there. Why is so little attention given to Miriam's passing? Really? One verse to the woman who, as a little girl, watched over the Israelites’ future savior and ensured his early nurturing (Ex. 2), the woman who led the women in joyous song after the Israelites crossed the sea (Ex. 15), the woman,  whose life is always connected with the life giving water/mayim and ultimately, at least within the text and the eyes of the people, goes unnoticed and suffered a cruel death of indifference/ta mot sham...and Miriam died there (Num. 20:1) "Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam/miryam died there/ta mot...

Good morning! Happy preparation day, the 30th day of counting towards the fruit of the vine! This week we continue our narrative that follows after the 1st generation gave up on their inheritance in the Torah portion, Chukat (Num. 19-24). There will be a lot of thoughts revealed to us in our journey regarding modern day happenings, i.e. the red heifer in Israel and the 2nd coming of our Messiah.  As we continue our thoughts on abiding in the vine (John 15:1-7) there are many applicable lessons from Balaam and his prophecy concerning the Messiah (Num. 24:17) and how we should live in an abiding relationship to the True Vine.  Strangely enough, the Torah is very cryptic concerning the Messiah. Every passage that we've examined up to this point, outside of Jacob's prophecy of Judah (Gen. 49:10), has been inferrences, not direct statements concerning  the Messiah. For the first time in the Torah, we have the Messiah directly mentioned for the world to know. Up to this point w...

Good morning! This week's Torah portion, Korach (Num. 16-18), reveals just how ugly men can get; no wonder I don't find any difficulty in seeing myself in this section...modern mankind hasn't changed. Praise God for those who are setting the standard for us to learn from! Truly, this section is a baffling story. The portion of Korach tells of the "Test of the Staffs/matte" conducted when people contested Aaron's appointment to the High Priesthood. God spoke/dabar to Moses to take a staff from each tribe, each inscribed with the name of the tribe's leader; Aaron's name was written on the Levite Tribe's staff. The sticks were placed overnight in the Holy of Holies in the Sanctuary. When they were removed the following morning, the entire nation beheld that Aaron's staff had blossomed overnight and bore fruit, demonstrating that Aaron was God's choice for High Priest. “Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father’s...