Out of Zion

Dr. Susan Michael: God uses an unusual character to confirm the calling on the children of Israel to be a people set apart from the world until the day they birth the reign of the Davidic Messiah on Earth. In the meantime, you and I are called to bless them.

Now these foundational elements of the Abrahamic Covenant are repeated in this week's Torah portion when God not only makes a donkey speak, but he makes a Moabite diviner proclaim words of truth.

So welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional, when I seek to share a little inspiration and bring just a little peace to the close of your very busy week. This week's Torah portion is in the book of Numbers, chapters 19 through 25, verse 9.

So many things we're reading about this week. I'm just going to list a few. First, the red heifer to have been burned outside the camp and the ashes were used for purification. So, a few fun facts: well, this purification was particularly for people who had come into contact with the dead.

So without this rite of purification for 2,000 years now, this means that everyone is ritually impure in the world because we've all had to deal with the death of a family member or loved ones.

Now, another fun fact: today, they are once again raising red heifers without blemish, just preparing for the time when they can reinstate this sacrifice. And third fact is during the second temple period, this sacrifice was carried out on the Mount of Olives. Interesting that the place that was to purify the people from having been in contact with the dead is now today the largest burial place for the dead in all of Israel. Interesting, huh?

Well, another story we read this week is about Moses's sin in Kadesh, which cost him entry into the Promised Land. Now, what was his sin? It was for taking credit for supplying the water of which God was the true supplier. So he did not honor the Lord before the children of Israel. Big mistake.

One we all need to be careful of, taking credit for something we really should give credit to God for. We also read this week about the death of Aaron and the generational shift to his son, Eleazar. And then we have this very strange story about the bronze serpent. I have to say it's a hard one to understand, but that's not what I want to talk about this week. I'm going to keep moving.

The next story we read about this week is the Israelites, who have not yet entered the Promised Land, but they've traveled north and are camped in a big valley in Moab. And the king of the Moabites, Balak, is very afraid of them. He knows that they are large in number and he cannot defeat them.

So he sends money to pay a diviner, a seer, a false prophet named Balaam, to curse the people. Balaam is on his way to do this when two things happen: one is his donkey speaks, and the second is that the seer cannot see the Angel of God before him and the donkey. Not until God opens his eyes and lets him see the true reality.

Well, that must have been necessary for him to then look over the camp of the Israelites and to see the truth, to see the reality. So when Balaam looks out over the camp of the Israelites down in the valley, he doesn't pronounce curses, he pronounces three blessings. And in those blessings, there's three verses I want to read to you, starting in chapter 23, verses 8 and 9.

"How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? There, a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations." Then chapter 24, the last half of the ninth verse: "Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you." And then in verse 17: "A star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel."

So what does this mean? That the children of Israel were called to be separate, alone, apart from the ungodly and pagan nations into a lonely place, but one in which they would have fellowship with their God. This was in order to give birth to the coming king who would arise like a star out of Israel.

At that point, all the world will see Israel's King and be drawn into His light. Until then, they must live alone and fulfill this calling of God to be the vehicle of His redemptive plan. What a profound description of the calling on the Jewish people and why we need to pray for them and bless them.

God wants us to bless them, and in return, He has promised to bless us as well. So with that, I want to wish you Shabbat Shalom.