Joy in the Messiah

Chukat / Ordinances Of
Numbers 19:1-22:1
HafTorah Judges 11:1-33
Brit Chadasha John 3:10-21
     This Torah portion is about life and death. In it, we read of the death of two of Israel’s leaders; Miriam and Aaron and the death sentence placed against Moses. These were devastating losses to the children of Israel.
     Interestingly, God gives us an answer before the ending.  Before any of the deaths are mentioned, we read about the strange ritual of the red heifer, which purified people who had been in contact with death, the main source of impurity. The strange ritual of the red heifer, which is a mystery, is in fact very symbolic for us today.
     A pure red heifer, פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה  Parah Adumah, which has never known a yoke, is reduced to ashes.  We are returned to the earth just as God said to Adam in Genesis 3:19 ‘In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”  And Abraham said in Genesis 18:27. ^‘Then Abraham answered and said, ‘Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord…’
     The ashes of the red heifer are dissolved into the living water and from the living water comes new life. Numbers 19:9 ‘Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.’  Numbers 19:11-13 ‘He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ¹² He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.’
      Living water, מַֽיִם־חַיִּ֖ים mayim-ḥayyîm in the Hebrew language is found throughout Scripture. 
     The prophets reference water as Living and flowing. Jeremiah 17:13 ‘O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.’ Zechariah 14:8-9 ‘And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.’ Psalm 104:10-11 speaks of wild donkeys quenching their thirst: ‘He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.’ He gives water to His chosen people in Isaiah 43:20: ‘The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.’ Nehemiah 9:20 ‘You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst.’
     Yeshua speaks of Himself as the source of The Living Water.  In John 4:4-26 He dialogs with the Samaritan woman by Jacobs Well – how prophetic – where He declares – “…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:14.  In John 7:37-39 at the end of Sukkot, He references Himself as the Living Water. In Revelation 7:13-17 ‘have washed their robes and made them white…’   In Revelation 22:1-2 there is a river flowing with the water of life.
     We as physical beings will one day be reduced to dust.  God made the first man from the dust of the earth but He breathed into him His breath of life. Yes, we are mortal beings, but the life that is within us is immortal.  King Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 12:7 ‘Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.’ 
     In Numbers 20:1-13 Moshe’s outburst of anger at the people cost him the entrance into the Promise Land. It was all about the rock and water.  In verse 11, the Scriptures state that Moshe struck the rock twice.  In Numbers 20:12 we see the answer for Moshe’s denial into the Promised Land, ‘Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’
      God said to Moses ‘Because you did not believe Me to hallow (make holy/kadosh) Me,’ referencing that Moses made (tried to make) God common.  We can never make God common, but by our unbelief and rebellion we make ourselves common and impure. We defile ourselves.
     In Chukat we see the connection between life and cleansing in the blood, the dust of the ground, the cleansing through the Living Waters, the power of The Rock and life.  Everything connects. 
       Isaiah 48:21 ‘And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.’
    1 Corinthians 10:2-4 ‘…all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Messiah.
     Psalm 114:7-8 ‘Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.’
     In Hebrew, the concepts of clean and unclean or pure (tahor) and impure (tamei ) are given to us regarding those who could enter the dwelling place of God, tahor,  and those that could not.   Along with the ashes of the red heifer being added to the waters of purification, three other elements were put in:  hyssop, cedar wood, and scarlet thread. These elements were all used in the building of the Tabernacle.  The hyssop was used by the priests for sprinkling the blood, the cedar wood was used for the posts, and the scarlet thread was used in the curtains. This Divine mixing — the sacred elements combined with the ashes of the heifer — death and life would come together in order to bring forth cleansing and purification, which would allow a person to cross from tamei to tahor. Thus, creating the clean through the Living Waters. 
     Though man has tried to control and conquer God and humans, he can not succeed in the fleshly realm. We can pretend to be something we are not, but we are only made spiritually clean by the blood, the water, the life of Yeshua. His anointing traces directly to the Torah, for without the Torah, where is the connection?  It has to connect to something, to the foundation, which is the breath of God. 

Chukat /Ordinaces
Numbers 19:1-22:1
Judges 11:1-33
John 3:10-31

    The Waters of Cleansing

     Throughout the Scriptures we read and learn of the importance of water.  From the Torah through the prophets and continuing in the Brit Chadasha, there are so many verses about Living Water.
     Working backwards from the Brit Chadasha to the Torah, we begin with Yeshua speaking of Himself as The Living Water.  In John 4:4-26 Yeshua dialogs with the Samaritan woman by Jacobs Well – how prophetic – where He declares – “…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14).  In John 7:37-39 at the end of Sukkot, He references Himself as the Living Water. In Revelation 7:13-17 ‘have washed their robes and made them white…’   In Revelation 22:1-2 there is a river of the water of life.
     The prophets reference water as Living and flowing. Jeremiah 17:13 ‘O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.’ Zechariah 14:8-9 ‘And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.’ Psalm 104:10-11 speaks of wild donkeys quenching their thirst: ‘He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.’ He gives water to His chosen people in Isaiah 43:20: ‘The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.’ Nehemiah 9:20 ‘You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst.’
     Unless we read and understand Torah, how would we know why Yeshua even references Himself as water? Let alone living water?  Where is He getting that concept?
    In this parsha, Chukat there are instructions concerning the cleansing waters. Numbers 19:7-9 ‘Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. ⁸ And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.’ Numbers 19:11-13 ‘He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ¹² He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.’
      Are we dead until we live again through the Living Water?  James 2:26 ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.’ Are we lacking Living Water out of disobedience? Jeremiah 2:13 ‘For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.’
      Life is associated with water in Scripture and in the world. Cities are built by rivers and ports. Wells are dug and re-dug.  Life cannot be sustained without water.  Isaiah 12:3 ‘Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.’
    In Chukat, it was a ritual for the purification of those who had been in contact with or near a dead body. A dead body was the primary source of impurity, and the defilement it caused to the living meant that the person that was affected could not enter the Tabernacle or Temple until cleansed, in a process that lasted seven days. A key element of the purification process involved a Priest sprinkling the affected person on the third and seventh day with a specially prepared liquid known as “the water of cleansing.” First a Red Heifer had to be found: without blemish, and which had never been used to perform work, (meaning a yoke had never been placed on it).  It was then ritually killed and burned outside the camp. Cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool were added to the fire, and the ashes were placed in a vessel containing “living” as in fresh water. It was this mixture that was sprinkled on those who had become impure by contact with death. One of the more paradoxical features of the rite is that though it cleansed the impure, yet it rendered impure those who were involved with the preparation of the water of cleansing. How could that be?
     We are cleansed by Yeshua: 1 John 1:7 ‘But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua His Son cleanses us from all sin.’ 1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’  Hebrews 9:22 ‘Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.’ Matthew 26:28 ‘For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ Ephesians 1:7 ‘In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…’
     There is another instance of Living Water in this parsha. In Numbers 20:1-13, Moshe is told to speak to the Rock to bring forth water for the people.  Two visual errors we see. The first is Numbers 20:10 ‘And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Who is the ‘we’ in this instance? Did God need his help, or simply require his obedience? The second is Numbers 20:11 ‘Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.’ The instructions in Numbers 20:8 was to ‘speak’.
     Do we take credit as we live and drink of the Living Water? Are we striking the Rock as we perish in disobedience? To live in the Living Water is to live in loving obedience, neither agreeing or disagreeing with His Word – but simply doing.
    In Luke 11:27 a woman cried from the crowd, trying to give accolades and blessings to Miriam. ‘And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
     Yet, Yeshua answering back so profoundly said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”  Luke 11:28