SEPTEMBER 17, 2022 Numbers 19:18 A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. Thus far, we have looked at the waters of purification in relation to […]
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 Numbers 19:14-15 This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. It would be one thing to encounter a corpse out in the open; there is a […]
SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 Numbers 19:13 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. Continuing in the vein we were discussing in the […]
SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 Numbers 19:11-12 He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. In this passage we see the primary purpose for the ashes of the Red Heifer and waters of purification — […]
SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 Numbers 19:9-10 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. And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall […]
SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 Numbers 19:4 Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. It is obvious in the passage that Eleazar wasn’t the one who slaughtered the heifer or else he would have been rendered “unclean,” […]
SEPTEMBER 11, 2022 Numbers 19:3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him. As we continue discussing the message embedded within the rites of the Red Heifer, it is clear that the primary intent is to point us to Messiah and […]
Moses lamented that even though the nation of Israel had experienced God’s great salvation and seen His miracles and wondrous provision in the wilderness, they still did not have “a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.”
Moses reminded them of the things they had seen: the plagues in Egypt, the deliverance at the Red Sea, the pillar of fire and cloud, the theophany at Mount Sinai, the bountiful provision in the wilderness. He reminded them that, miraculously, their clothes and sandals had lasted forty years.
Without bread, wine, or beer, they had somehow survived well-fed and nourished through the whole journey. When they faced the powerful Amorite armies of Sihon and Og, they defeated them and took their land. After seeing the miracles in Egypt, the revelation at Sinai, the wonders of the wilderness, and the constant provision on the journey—after experiencing God in such a tangible and intimate way, why would Israel be in need of reproof or warning at all?
Moses knew that despite the great revelations they had received, the people were still human beings with wayward hearts. He urged them not to drift away or fall into apostasy. He said, “Keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do” (Deuteronomy 29:9). He knew that they would not. Moses knew the weakness of the human heart. He knew that the thing they needed was a new heart.
Years later, as the terrible curses began to fall upon the people, the prophet Ezekiel looked ahead to a brighter future when God would heal the sickness of the human soul: “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20).
These words correspond to the promise of the new covenant when God will put His Torah within us and write it upon our hearts. In that day, the LORD says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).
Ki Tavo – ×›×™ ×ª×‘×•× : “When you come” Torah : Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8 Haftarah : Isaiah 60:1-22 Gospel : Luke 23:26-56
SEPTEMBER 10, 2022 Numbers 19:1-2 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.’” Some commentators believe that, in the Red Heifer rites, more than one message […]
SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 Numbers 19:1-2 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.’” In the previous devotion, we quoted the book of Job and elaborated on […]