3/16/11
Numbers 5-6
Unclean Persons (Cp Lev 15.1—33))
Numbers 5:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Command the Israelites to put out of the camp everyone who is leprous, or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse; 3 you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them. 4 The Israelites did so, putting them outside the camp; as the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.
Confession and Restitution (Lev 6.1—7)
5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6 Speak to the Israelites: When a man or a woman wrongs another, breaking faith with the Lord, that person incurs guilt 7 and shall confess the sin that has been committed. The person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one-fifth to it, and giving it to the one who was wronged. 8 If the injured party has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for the guilty party. 9 Among all the sacred donations of the Israelites, every gift that they bring to the priest shall be his. 10 The sacred donations of all are their own; whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.
Concerning an Unfaithful Wife
11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act; 14 if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 Then the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord; 17 the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, “If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,” 21 —let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—“the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge; 22 now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”
23 Then the priest shall put these curses in writing, and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain. 25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall elevate the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and the woman shall become an execration among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.
29 This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.
The Nazirites
Numbers 6:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite, to separate themselves to the Lord, 3 they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All their days as nazirites they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the Lord, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.
6 All the days that they separate themselves to the Lord they shall not go near a corpse. 7 Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head. 8 All their days as nazirites they are holy to the Lord.
9 If someone dies very suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated head, then they shall shave the head on the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day they shall shave it. 10 On the eighth day they shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 11 and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for them, because they incurred guilt by reason of the corpse. They shall sanctify the head that same day, 12 and separate themselves to the Lord for their days as nazirites, and bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt offering. The former time shall be void, because the consecrated head was defiled.
13 This is the law for the nazirites when the time of their consecration has been completed: they shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and they shall offer their gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as an offering of well-being, 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of choice flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, with their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16 The priest shall present them before the Lord and offer their sin offering and burnt offering, 17 and shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest also shall make the accompanying grain offering and drink offering. 18 Then the nazirites shall shave the consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair from the consecrated head and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of well-being. 19 The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them in the palms of the nazirites, after they have shaved the consecrated head. 20 Then the priest shall elevate them as an elevation offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is elevated and the thigh that is offered. After that the nazirites may drink wine.
21 This is the law for the nazirites who take a vow. Their offering to the Lord must be in accordance with the nazirite vow, apart from what else they can afford. In accordance with whatever vow they take, so they shall do, following the law for their consecration.
The Priestly Benediction
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
27 So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
He was called the “Chief Architect of the Constitution,” and wrote many of the Federalist Papers which where instrumental in the States ratifying the Constitution. He introduced the Bill of Rights in the first session of Congress. As President, he and his wife Dolly had to flee the White House when the British set it on fire during the War of 1812. Who was he? James Madison, born this day, March 16, 1751. James Madison wrote: “Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
To do what is right and just
is more pleasing to ADONAI than sacrifice.
Haughty looks, a proud heart—
what the wicked plow is sin.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
The master assizes
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. --- 2 Cor. 5:10. Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
Paul says that we must all, preacher and people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” If you learn to live in the white light of Christ here and now, judgment finally will cause you to delight in the work of God in you. Keep yourself steadily faced by the judgment seat of Christ; walk now in the light of the holiest you know. A wrong temper of mind about another soul will end in the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment, and the end of it is hell in you. Drag it to the light at once and say—‘My God, I have been guilty there.’ If you don’t, hardness will come all through. The penalty of sin is confirmation in sin. It is not only God who punishes for sin; sin confirms itself in the sinner and gives back full pay. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing some things, and the penalty of sin is that gradually you get used to it and do not know that it is sin. No power save the incoming of the Holy Ghost can alter the inherent consequences of sin.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light.” Walking in the light means for many of us walking according to our standard for another person. The deadliest Pharisaism to-day is not hypocrisy, but unconscious unreality.
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Luminary
My luminary.
my morning and evening
star. My light at noon
when there is no sun
and the sky lowers. My balance
of joy in a world
that has gone off joy's
standard. Yours the face
that young I recognised
as though I had known you
of old. Come, my eyes
said, out into the morning
of a world whose dew
waits for your footprint.
Before a green altar
with the thrush for priest
I took those gossamer
vows that neither the Church
could stale nor the Machine
tarnish, that with the years
have grown hard as flint,
lighter than platinum
on our ringless fingers.
Shabbat 10b
Imagine that you are a hospital patient. A friend pays you a visit, and you thank him for visiting. Which response would you rather hear—“It’s no big deal; I was driving by anyway,” or “I really wanted to see you, and I’m glad that you and I had this time together”? Most of us would prefer the latter, showing that our friends pay special attention to us, notice us, even go out of their way for us. These are the sentiments that Ben Zoma expresses. None of us wants to think that what has been done for us required no effort. On the contrary: We enjoy being pampered and having someone pay special attention to us.
This is especially true because we live in a huge, impersonal world. Much of the time, no one goes out of their way just for us. When we spend hours trying to get a question answered in a huge bureaucracy, we may feel as if we are simply numbers in a computer. If we do our banking at an automated teller machine, months may go by without our seeing a human teller. To the employee at the drive-through fast food place, we are one of hundreds of anonymous patrons who will pick up dinner in a bag that night.
In this nameless, cold world of impersonal machines and detached people, any sign of personal attention is most welcome. It deserves not only our notice but also our gratitude. Thus, Ben Zoma reminds us of two things: First, we must appreciate the good things that people do for us and express our thanks to them. When we do not notice, we only contribute to the increased impersonality of society. Second, we should, whenever possible, give that extra special personal attention to others. We become better hosts—as well as employers, employees, friends, and relatives—by catering to the needs of others. By appreciating the kindness that is shown to us both by God and by people, and by showing kindness to others, we make a cold world a much warmer place.
Rest Stop
Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. (Exodus 14:2)
Words of Torah are compared to water … as it says: “Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water” [Isaiah 55:1].… Just as water restores the soul, as it says: “So God split open the hollow which is at Lehi, and the water gushed out of it; he drank, regained his strength, and revived” [Judges 15:19], so too with Torah, as it says: “The teaching of the Lord is perfect, renewing life” [Psalms 19:8]. (Song of Songs Rabbah 1, 3)
They asked Rabbi Levi Yitzḥak: “Why is the first page number missing in all the tractates of the Babylonian Talmud? Why does each begin with the second?” He replied: “However much a man may learn, he should always remember that he has not even gotten to the first page.” (Martin Buber. Tales of the Hasidim Early Masters
Seder Moed / Introduction to Seder Moed
The second Order of the Mishnah is called Moed, or “Holiday.” It is comprised of twelve tractates that discuss the laws of the various festivals of the Jewish year. The Order begins with two tractates concerning Shabbat. They are followed by sections that cover Pesaḥ, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah, Purim, and fast days, as well as the laws of what is permitted and prohibited during a holiday and the intermediate days of the festivals.
One who gives a gift to a friend must inform him.
Text / Rava bar Meḥasya said in the name of Rav Ḥama bar Gurya in the name of Rav: “One who gives a gift to a friend must inform him, as it says: ‘That you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you’ [Exodus 31:13].” It is also taught: “That you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you” [Ibid.]. The Holy One said to Moses: “I have a great gift in my treasury, and its name is Shabbat. I want to give it to Israel; go inform them!”
Based on this, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: “One who gives bread to a child must inform his mother.” What should be done to him? Abaye said: “Rub him with oil and paint his eyes.” But now that we are concerned with witchcraft, what should be done? Rav Papa said: “Rub him with what he gave him.” … Rav Ḥisda held two gift oxen in his hands. He said: “Whoever can tell me a new teaching of Rav, I will give these to him.” Rava bar Meḥasya said to him: “This is what Rav said: ‘One who gives a gift to his friend must inform him, as it says: “That you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you.” ’ ” He gave them to him. He said to him: “Are Rav’s teachings so precious to you?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “A thing is precious to its wearer.”
Context / The Lord spoke to Moses: See, I have singled out by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft; to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper, to cut stones for setting and to carve wood—to work in every kind of craft.… And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelite people and say: Nevertheless, you must keep My sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you. (Exodus 31:1–5, 12–13)
These stories all teach the same lesson, based on the saying of Rava bar Meḥasya, that one must announce a gift before giving it. Rava bar Meḥasya uses as proof a verse from Exodus: “That you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you.” The verse appears in a section where God appoints Bezalel to build the mishkan, or portable tabernacle that the Israelites used in the wilderness. (The verse is repeated—“It is also taught”—because first Rava uses it for his explanation, and then the verse is brought in to prove the point about God.) Rava comments on the strange language of the verse, that God wants the Israelites to know that God has consecrated them. In other words, God doesn’t just give the great gift of Shabbat but announces it first. The connection with the mishkan is, apparently, that God expects the Shabbat to be observed even by the builders of the Sanctuary. The Shabbat may be one of the great treasures in God’s storehouse, but the recipients, Israel, must be willing to accept it. If it is not seen as a treasure, it will be a wasted gift.
Since a child will probably not remember to tell his mother, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel teaches that we must inform the child’s mother when we give the youngster bread. Yet, there must be a child-proof means of informing her. Abaye recommends putting on oil and paint (probably a blue eye makeup that was commonly used). The mother will surely notice these, ask the child, and find out that he has recently eaten bread. However, these cosmetics were used in forms of witchcraft, and therefore fell into disuse by the Jews. In this case, Rav Papa recommends that we take some of the food itself and rub it onto the child. A youngster who returns home with bread crumbs all over will undoubtedly be asked about it.
In the first section of the Gemara, Rava records the teaching of Rav, with a biblical verse as the proof. In the second and parallel account, the proof is in a clever story about the giving of a gift. (It is possible that these two stories originated in the same incident.) Rav Ḥisda announces that he will give a gift (two oxen fit for presentation to the kohanim in the Temple) to anyone who can teach him a saying by his mentor, Rav, that he had never heard before. The answer is ironic, for Rava responds by quoting a teaching of Rav on giving gifts: One must announce a gift in public before giving it. This humor was not lost on the editors of the Talmud. Rava uses Rav Ḥisda’s challenge, and Rav’s teaching about gifts, not only to instruct others but also to receive a gift for himself! Rava, however, is a bit puzzled that Rav Ḥisda would give away two oxen for an original saying by Rav. Rav Ḥisda’s answer, “A thing is precious to its wearer,” seems to mean that only one who “wears” the words of his teacher truly cherishes them. Rav Ḥisda is one such person. In directing his words to Rava, Rav Ḥisda is also complimenting his colleague Rava who finds Rav’s words equally precious.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. --- Psalm 96:9 KJV
What is worship? The essential meaning of the word is prostration, bowing down. Worship suggests the attitude that recognizes the throne, that recognizes superiority, that takes the low place of reverence in the presence of that which takes hold on the life and compels it. It is a word full of force, which constrains us and compels us to the attitude of reverence.
The word worship runs through the Bible, and the thought of worship is to be found from beginning to end. The thought of worship is the recognition of divine sufficiency, the recognition of our absolute dependence on the divine sufficiency, the confession that all we need in our lives we find in God. And the spoken answer to that conviction is worship. I worship in the presence of God as I recognize that in him I find everything that my life demands, that in myself I am incomplete. A sense of my need and his resource, a sense that my life finds its heights and its best and fulfills itself in relation to him produces the act and the attitude of worship. The attitude of worship is the attitude of a subject bent before a monarch; the attitude of a child yielding all its love to a parent; the attitude of the sheep that follows the shepherd and is content in all the pasturage that the shepherd appoints. It is the attitude of saying yes to everything that God says.
The height of worship is expressed in the use of two words that have never been translated, which remain on the page of the Holy Scriptures and in the common language of the church as they were in the language where they originated: “Hallelujah” and “Amen.” When I have learned to say those two words with all my mind and heart and soul and being, I have found the highest place of worship and the fullest realization of my own life. Amen to his will, and Hallelujah, the offering of praise. I know it is but a simple symbol. I know it is only saying an old thing, but I address my own heart as much as any of you, and I say, Oh, soul of mine, have you learned to say “Amen” to him, and that on the basis of a deep and profound conviction of all his absolute perfection in government and method and providence? Can you say, as the quiet expression of a heart resting in the perfection of God, “Hallelujah” and “Amen”? Then that is worship, that is life. --- G. Campbell Morgan
Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers
Letters From Death Row
By Focus Media
Video on Worship House Media
Welcome To Our Church 2011
by Floodgate Productions
Video on WorshipHouse Media
Never Forget The Price
by Calmarc
Video on WorshipHouse Media