PARASHAH MATTOT
(Numbers 30:2 – 32:42) Week 42
MATTOT: Tribes
NEDARIM: Vow, pledge
DIBBUR EMET: Honest, Truthful
SHEKER: Deception, Lying
BLI NEDER: Without Promise…Used on the heels of a declarative statement to observe the law of NOT making unnecessary VOWS, which might lead to breaking of the vow.
HALAKH: Our ‘walk’ with the Lord…the journey of life
HATARAT NEDARIM: The man is set FREE from a VOW
LAWS OF HAGALAH: To make Kosher or Clean; cleansing by passing through Fire or Water!
The Vengeance on Midian:
Consider the Midianites who worshipped Bael-Peor, and their coercion of the Israelites INTO SACRIFICIAL idol worship / sexual perversion, in the Bael Peor abomination.
It may seem that to kill every male and female, other than young virgins an EXTREME command from Adonai. YET, how could Israel RECOVER from their fall, if those who manipulated TO BRING ISRAEL DOWN, lived to propagate and prosper?
PHINEAS: A TYPE of Messiah! Phineas was a grandson of Aaron of the PRIESTLY line. His ZEAL was PASSION…like the PASSION of CHRIST to SAVE; made manifest when an Israeli Prince entered the TENT OF SIN with the Princess of Midian to perform sexual perversion as a Ba’al Worship Practice. She knowingly coerced the Prince into Idol Worship and Sin.
12,000 Warriors! 1,000 Israeli Warriors from EACH of the 12 Tribes of Israel went to battle, attacked and killed EVERY male Midianite (including Balaam) and the FIVE KINGS of MIDIAN! This was a HOLY WARFARE ordered by Adonai HIMSELF. Adonai went before the Israeli Warriors, in order that COMPLETE DEFEAT was the outcome. We WAR against the SAME gods of the SAME opposition to Adonai and Holiness!
The Midianite Women and Sons: It may seem extreme in this day of political correctness, that Adonai commanded ALL whom HE deemed deserving of death in the Midian culture to be killed by the Israeli Army, who had NOT followed Adonai’s instruction from the inception of the War!
The Spoils of the War: Were divided equally between warriors and the general assembly. The Warriors gave 1/50th of their spoils to the Levites (Priestly Line) with an additional FREE WILL offering to the MISHKAN!
The Battle! This historical battle was the war between the PROFANE and the HOLY. (Midianites Worshipped of Bael Peor) / (Moses and the Tribes of Israel worshipped Adonai Tza’vaot, The Holy One of Isra’el. This was a battle between GOOD and EVIL.
Balaam, who orchestrated the demise of Israel, was killed by Israel!
Gilead: The tribe of Rueben and Gad, who were shepherds of sheep, asked to settle in the pasture-land EAST of the JORDAN River. Please consider that the LAND WEST of the BANKS of the JORDAN began the land of the Covenant by Adonai to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
Fear: Moses feared that if the Tribe of Rueben and Gad did not ENTER INTO CANAAN, west of the Jordan River, the Tribes of Israel would lose HOPE, as they did in the SIN of the SPIES!
The Tribes of Rueben and Gad: Professed their commitment to join in the WAR for CANAAN, after they prepared their families and flocks to flourish in the pastureland EAST of the BANKS of the JORDAN.
HAFTARAH (Old Covenant) READING: Jer: 1: 1-2:3
These are the words of Yirmeyahu the son of Hilkihahu, one of the Cohanim living in Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin…
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
Before you were born, I separated you for myself.
I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” Jer. 1:5
READ ALL OF JEREMIAH 1:1-2:3
The Three Weeks of Sorrow or The Haftarahs of Reproof: The Prophet Jeremiah exhorts the punishments for the Nation of Israel IF they did not return to the LORD…but also exhorted the promise of REDEMPTION IF the Nation returned to the LORD!
During the Three Weeks of Sorrow: We look at our own lives and SEEK Teshuva…Repentance!
THE HEART OF MAN PLANS HIS WAY, BUT THE LORD ESTABLISHES HIS STEPS!
“I remember your devotion when you were young; how as a bride, you loved me; how you followed me through the desert through a long not sown.” Jer. 2:1b
BRIT CHADASHAH (New Covenant) READING: Matt. 5:33-37
Jesus said, “For the one who obeys the truth, oaths are unnecessary!
OUR WORDS MATTER TO ADONAI! OUR WORDS HOLD THE POWER OF LIFE, OR DEATH!
“I tell you on the day of judgement, people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned!” (Another REVELATION PARALLEL!)
May we walk out our FAITH in FEAR and TREMBLING; lest we offend ADONAI TZA’VAOT!
May we hear supernaturally, our WORDS before they are spoken! May the Ruach Hakodesh GOVERN our LIPS.
May our LIPS bear FRUIT for the KINGDOM OF LIGHT!
THE REVELATION PARALLELS!
Chapter 6, Verse 3
“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads! I heard how many were sealed – 144,000 from every tribe of the people of Isra’el:
Chapter 10, Verse 5
“Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted his right hand toward heaven and swore by the One who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it.”