B’re’shiyt teaching #18 and Torah - B’midbar
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Sh’ma
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24 May 2014 ~ 24 Iyyar 5774
-It is day 39 of the Counting of the Omer.
Keep in mind that Shavuot is coming up June 3rd at sundown - through June 5.
What would you like to do for that - individually as families and as this mispochat ??
How do you want to celebrate??
Remember the Torah readings are listed in cjb p 1623.
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The Torah for today is...
Torah Parashah: “B’midbar” / “In the desert”
B’midbar 1:1-4:20 cjb p 145
-Mechilta D’Rashbi wrote...about “B’midbar / In the Desert”...
“The torah was given to the people of Isra’el in the ownerless desert. For if it were given in the Land of Isra’el, the residents of that place would say, ‘It is ours.’ Therefore it was given in the wilderness, so that anyone who wishes to acquire it may acquire it.”
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Midrash: The Jewish people were counted on ten occasions:
- Once when they went down to Egypt;3
- Once when they departed from Egypt;4
- Once in [the beginning of the] Book of Numbers;
- Once in connection with the Spies;
- Once in the days of Yehoshua, when the Land was divided;
- Twice in the days of Sha'ul;5
- Once in the days of David;6
- Once in the days of Ezra;7 and
- Once in the future to come.8*
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In reading a commentary i found this quote...
In its opening chapters, we learn that one year after the Exodus, there were:
603,550 adult Isra’elite males between the ages of 20 and 60,
of whom 22,273 were first born;
a separate census counted 22,300 Levites aged one month and older
(which is 7,500 Gershonites, 8,600 Kohathites, and 6,200 in the Merari clan.)
We are also given the figure for each or the 12 tribes,
Judah’s 74,600 - to
- Manasseh’s 32,200.
Then the Torah tallies the number in each of the 4 “camps” into which the 12 tribes were divided:
Judah’s camp, which also included the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun totaled 186,400
The 3 tribes in Reuben’s camp totaled 151,450
Ephraim’s camp included 108,100.
157,600 pitched their tents in the camp of Dan.
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But i wondered why YHWH takes censuses... i mean, if He knows all - then He already knows how many peopler there are...
But then i found a Hebrew thought...
“So when G‑d instructs that we be counted, it is an expression of our highest common denominator.
On the divine census sheet, our differences are transcended to reveal the simple fact of our being—a fact which expresses what is best in us, and from which stems all that is good in us.
G‑d counts us not to know our number (which He obviously knows), or even to get in touch with the quintessence of our souls (which He obviously is).
He counts us to accentuate our soul of souls, to give expression to its essence and to make it more accessible to our material-bound lives.
Therein lies the deeper significance of the idiom “raise the heads” in G‑d’s instruction to Moses to count the people of Israel.
---When G‑d counts us, He is stimulating the highest and loftiest part of our being.”
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So they are saying - It is an honor - to be counted by YHWH!!
And what is more - it isn’t just about counting but NAMES were recorded!!
Each person mattered!!
- We’d do well to remember that EACH and every one of us matters!
Amein!!
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B’re’shiyt Teaching #18...
When we left off, we were working in B’re’shiyt 1:4
But let’s review the Hebrew so far...
B’re’shiyt 1:1-4
1 B’re’shiyt bara Elohiym ET hashamayim v’et ha’aretz.
In the beginning created God the heaven and the earth.
2 V’ha’aretz hay’tah tohu vavohu v’choshek’ ‘al-p’ney t’hom. V’rucha Elohiym m’rachephet ‘al-p’ney ham-mayim.
And the earth was (became) without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 Vay-yo’mer Elohiym y’hey ‘or vay’hiy ‘or.
And said God, let there be light: and there was light.
4 Vay-yar’ Elohiym ‘et-ha’or kiy-tov vay-yav’del Elohiym beyn ha’or uveyn hachoshek
And saw God, the light, that it was good: and divided God between the light from and between the darkness.
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Let’s review
B’re’shiyt 1:4
Vay’yar
root is ra’ah = to behold, see, to understand, to perceive... the focus of this means to understand something.
We know that Elohiym is THEE God.
ET ha’or
= “when God perceives and understands the light”
Another way to “see” this is = “the light is the Aleph-Tov”
kiy-tov
= and it was good
Tov = that which is good, functional
*
Now we are on page 22 in Brad Scott’s study guide:
vay-yav’del
= to put a difference between; to divide.
Vayikra /Leviticus 20:25 cjb p 134
“Therefore you are to distinguish (vay-yav’del) between clean and unclean animals and between clean and unclean birds; do not make yourselves detestable with an animal, bird or reptile that i have set apart for you to regard as unclean.”
{YHWH is illustrating that man needs to put a difference in his life...and he does this with the concepts of liliah /night and yom / day. (we will get to this)}
Vayikra 10:10 cjb p 119
“so that you will distinguish between /vay-yav’del the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean;”
We have talked about this before... The main problem in our culture is that we don’t know what is Holy and what is common /profane...
.... and that since we don’t know this...
....we don’t distinguish / vay-yav’del between what is holy and what is common /profane!!!
In fact, most of us don’t give it a thought!
We tend to think that if we “mean well”... and am a “good person”... that is all we need to be concerned with.
Or many teach we have to know Jesus....
but if the name “JESUS” actually refers to Yahshua, the Beinah - YHWH’s plan for restoration... the Messiah...
Then if we “KNOW” Him, why don’t we follow Him?...
Why don’t we live as HE DID??
Besides this... when man decides /defines the difference of what is holy and what is common or profane ... because nearly everyone that even has a “FAITH” does not keep Torah.....
... they aren’t using Torah to JUDGE....
.... LITTLE BY LITTLE... we stop putting a difference... Little by little... not “over night” but little by little.
Why am i saying this like this?
... that when men get to decide what is holy and what is profane and when men get to put the difference between what is holy and what is profane... LITTLE BY LITTLE... things change from what YHWH said to something that doesn’t line up with Torah at all....
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Remember Yahshua said
Yochanan 7:24 cjb p 1339
“Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!”
Vayikra / Leviticus 19:15 cjb p 132
“Do not be unjust in judging - who neither partiality to the poor nor deference to the mighty, but with justice judge your neighbor.”
Mattityahu 7:2 cjb p 1231
“For the way you judge others is how you will be judged - the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure you.”
-We’re gonna be judged by Torah!... the Living Torah...
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Remember what i said earlier - “YHWH is illustrating that man needs to put a difference in his life...
We are called to be different - to be set apart....
....and YHWH does this with the concepts of liliah /night, and yom / day.....
...and remember this idea of “LITTLE BY LITTLE”...
... we will come back to it...
This Torah parashah is about taking a census and writing the names down of each man of military service age... and then it goes on to divide the camps and has each clan camp separately...
B’midbar / Numbers 8:14 cjb p 157
“In this way you will separate / vay-yav’del the L’vi’im from the people of Isra’el, and the L’vi’im will belong to me.”
Nechemyah /Nehemiah 9:2 cjb p 1141
“Those descended from Isra’el separated /vay-yav’del themselves from all foreigners; then they stood up and confessed their own sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.”
Yechezk’el /Ezekiel 22:26 cjb p 667
“Her cohanim have done violence to my Torah, profaned my holy things, made no difference between /vay-yav’del the holy and the common, not distinguished between unclean and clean, hidden their eyes from my shabbats, and profaned me among themselves.”
“The only measuring tool we have to distinguish between righteous and unrighteous is Torah”
I Yochanan 3:4 cjb p 1526
“Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah - indeed, sin is violation of Torah.”
Yechezk’el 42:20b cjb p 698
“... thus a division was made between what was holy and what was common.”
Yesha’Yahu /Isaiah 59:2 cjb p 529
“Rather, it is your own crimes that separate /vay-yav’del you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he doesn’t hear.”
Brad Scott says...
“Each day we see this division - the putting a difference between the two - in the light of day and the dark of night, and in the “agol” - (the Hebrew word for cycles).
YHWH gives us this....
In the process....
.....He shows us how something goes from what is righteous and holy to being unrighteous .....
.... and that is ... “LITTLE BY LITTLE”...
This is why every day we just don’t see the day and then immediately it is night.... but rather the day fades into night... and the night fades into day...
... it is a slow process...
After all - if there was a giant leap of a jump from holy to profane... most of us might recognize it and stay away from it... But if it is just a little bit.... well, that’s a different story...
Just as it is a slow process to go from holy to profane, from righteous to unrighteous....
It is a slow process - as we have learned
... to go from profane to holy...
....to go from unrighteous to righteous and
.... to go from pagan to Godly.
But we are learning - praise YHWH!!
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In the Brit Chadashah :
The Greek word for vay-yav’del is aphorizo
Mattityahu 25:32 cjb p 1257
“All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate / aphorizo / vay-yav’del people one from another as a shepherd separates / aphorizo / vay-yav’del the sheep from goats.”
Predominately, this word is used to separate good and bad, holy and profane, righteous and unrighteous.
In...
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 cjb p 1445
We are told that we are to be separate /aphorizo/ vay-yav’del - not connected with those who are different....
This doesn’t mean we can’t associate with them.... but we aren’t to be connected with them... because... LITTLE BY LITTLE... our ideas of what is holy will move to what is profane.
Yesha’Yahu 5:20 cjb p 443
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who change darkness/ v’choshek into light /owr, and light /owr into darkness, who change bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter!”
-this is exactly what happens LITTLE BY LITTLE... just like the day goes into the night....
Sh’mot /Exodus 19:6 and I Peter 2:9-10
= we are to be different... in how we behave and sometimes in how we dress.
This is not saying - have nothing to do with them... b/c we are to be the light in this dark world!...
BUT clearly YHWH is saying there is to be a distinction - a difference between...
.....If there is no difference, we better be RUNNING to TORAH!!
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Let’s go to a new word… in...
B’re’shiyt 1:4
“Vay-yar’ Elohiym ‘et-ha’or kiy-tov vay-yav’del Elohiym beyn ha’or uveyn hachoshek.”
“And saw the light, that it was good: and divided God between the light from and between the darkness.”
BEYN
This sounds much like BEIN... like “son of” and “plan for restoration”....but it is not
It is a - beit - yod - nun
It comes from the root biyn which means = “between, understanding, discernment, to consider etymologically = to get to the very heart or the core of something...
BEYN = between... and YHWH divided between -
something lies between these 2 things... they are not just separated... but they are separated and something is between them.
Sh’mot 26:33 cjb p 90
“Hang the curtain below the fasteners. Then bring the ark for the testimony inside the curtain; the curtain will be the divider for you between /beyn the Holy Place and the Especially Holy Place.”
What is the something between... it is the curtain in this case.
It means = “ divide between”/ discern.
Messianic Jews /Hebrews 4:12 cjb p 1497
“See, the Word of YHWH is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword -- it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.”
== “discerner” = tells the difference
Yesha’Yahu /Is 59:2 cjb p 529 “between”
Yesha’Yahu /Is 43:10 cjb p 502 “understand” = beyn
Daniel 12:10 cjb p 1116 “discernment”
Daniel 9:23 cjb p 1112 “understand”
Mishlei /Proverbs 2:5,9 cjb p 943 “understand”
Mizmor/ Psalm 119, 27, 34, 73
=mostly it is “discerning”
YHWH has caused the light to shine out of the darkness and it is going to put a difference between the light from/between the darkness/ v’choshek = dimness, obscurity, darkness and confusion.
So YHWH is now taking, - in B’re’shiyt 1:4, this light .....
.....and dividing between these two entities - darkness /v’choshek and light....
Can you see that we are talking about a light that is Torah
and a darkness that exists between and without TORAH?
Scott says that at this point in B’re’shiyt - we don’t have a ball of fire in the sky yet.
-There is no sun or moon etc...
BUT - we do have a light - the same light we have at the end of the Torah...
Hitgalut /Revelation 21:23 cjb p 1554
“The city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, because YHWH’s sh’khinah gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
So here we are ... YHWH is creating light...
and here we have YHWH putting together creation...
and HE is making a distinction between light and dark -and it is the light that makes the distinction...
We said earlier that the ET, the Aleph Tov, the Living Torah is the light.... and that is what is giving light here in B’re’shiyt 1:4....
and then...
He is going to call the light - the owr - “day”/ “yom”, ... and the darkness - the v’choshek - “night”/ “liliah”
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At this point, it is critical to understand... that
starting now... here in B’re’shiyt .... it started the first day.
- We have 24 hour periods marked out through YHWH - BEFORE the fire ball - sun in the sky ....
..... and then it is expressed as the ball of fire in the sky/sun.
So first we have the spiritual - the unseen ....
...and then we have the physical - the seen.
Brad’s opinion is that the light we have here in B’re’shiyt 1:4 is the same light that is the light at the end... in Hitgalut / Rev. 21:23.
.....the Word of YHWH expressed = the LIVING TORAH....
...and it is lighting up the earth just as well as the fire ball, if not better.....
This is - not just “symbolism”... the natural light of the sun is going to be patterned after this LIGHT...
.. .... and it will continue to divide.
**~~**~~...
So i invite you this Shabbat... to consider a few things...
I invite you to consider how much LIGHT is in your life.
I invite you to consider what you use to define what is Holy and what is common or profane.
How do you tell the difference?
What is the divider.
B’re’shiyt 1:4 makes it clear that it is the light - the Aleph Tov - the Living Torah that divides....
I don’t know about you, but i want to be found on the side of the Word of YHWH!
I invite you to look back over your life and consider if there is a difference between the holy and he common/profane....
..if there is a difference between what is pure and what is impure...
.... because it matters - b/c YHWH says it matters....
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What determines if something is holy or profane?
ONLY the Word of YHWH - the Torah - the whole book.
This is where the world will be happy to tell you that it is up to each person...
But i believe the Torah is TRUTH... all the TRUTH and THE ONLY TRUTH.... and if it is TRUTH... then no matter what anyone thinks or no matter what anyone says.... the answer is always the same....
and that is ... It is holy if YHWH says it is... and it is profane if He says that.
...No exceptions... no changes... no do overs...
no if onlys.... no i don’t think so’s... or “in my opinion”s...
So when you see the word vay-yav’del.... you know it is about putting a difference between - dividing...
and you know it is the light that divides....
and beyn is = “between, understanding, discernment, to consider etymologically = to get to the very heart or the core of something...
... exactly what YHWH does with the LIGHT.
... exactly what YHWH does with the TORAH.
... exactly what YHWH does with the Aleph-Tov - Mashiach.
AMEIN.
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