Posts By Minister Dr. Donald H. Garrett

Balak

On June 26, 2021 0 Comments - First Fruits of Zion
TORAH PORTION for Shabbat: June 26, 2021
    • Balak (בלק | Balak)
    • Torah: Numbers 22:2-25:9
    • Haftarah: Micah 5:6-6:8 *
    • Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11
* Christian Bible reference varies.
Life's Little Interruptions
(Image: © Bigstock)

Life’s Little Interruptions

The angel of the LORD appeared on the road with a drawn sword to stop him. To Balaam the angel was invisible, but the donkey on which Balaam was riding could see the angel.

To avoid the angel with the drawn sword, the donkey veered from the road into a field. Irritated with his steed, Balaam struck the donkey to force her back onto the road.

A second time the angel appeared in front of the donkey. Balaam still did not see it, but the donkey did. This time the donkey was carrying Balaam through a narrow street between two vineyard walls. There was not much room between the walls. To avoid the angel, the donkey pressed against one wall, crushing Balaam’s foot in the process.

Irritated and in significant pain, Balaam struck the donkey again.

A third time the angel appeared in front of the donkey. This time the way was so narrow that there was no room for the donkey to turn to the left or the right. So the donkey lay down. Still unable to see the angel, Balaam was so angry that he thrashed the poor beast with a stick.

In his blindness, Balaam did not realize that the irritating behavior of his donkey was actually saving his life. The LORD said, “If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live” (Numbers 22:33).

Life is full of irritating obstacles that get in the way of our plans. Throughout any given day, a person experiences countless distractions and complications. It is easy to become impatient and upset with the things and people that get in the way of what we are trying to accomplish. We should learn a lesson from Balaam. Those irritating obstacles might be from the LORD. God may have other plans for us. Rather than get upset when our plans are derailed, we should seek the LORD’s direction. In Balaam’s life, God was in the midst of the interruptions. The next time the car breaks down or the flight is canceled or some other unforeseen interruption rears up, rather than get irritated, remember the story of Balaam.

People of faith sometimes speak of God opening and closing doors. This is an idiom that refers to God’s divine direction in life. For example, suppose a person set out to take a job in a certain field. He submitted an application for a position for which he was fully qualified. He was confident that the job would be his. Inexplicably, he did not get the position. A person like Balaam would become bitter over the disappointment. A person of faith would say, “God closed that door. He knows what is best. I will look elsewhere.”

When seeking direction in life, a person needs to keep an eye on the donkey to see what God might be saying.
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Chukat

On June 19, 2021 0 Comments - First Fruits of Zion
TORAH PORTION for Shabbat: June 19, 2021
  • Chukat (חוקת | Statute)
  • Torah: Numbers 19:1-22:1
  • Haftarah: Judges 11:1-33
  • Gospel: John 19:38-42
Aaron the Peacemaker
Concept of a peacemaker (Image © Bigstock)

Aaron the Peacemaker

Why did Israel weep for Aaron thirty days? Aaron was 123 years old when he died, a ripe old age, full of years, yet all Israel wept for Aaron thirty days. Thirty days is the customary term of mourning for a close relative, and Aaron, as high priest over the congregation, was like a close relative to all Israel.

According to Jewish tradition, Aaron was especially beloved by all Israel because he was known as a peacemaker. He was like a family member to each person because he had made peace within their families. Rabbi Hillel used to say, “Be one of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace.” (m.Avot 1:12.) To be a disciple of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, is to be a disciple of Yeshua, the Prince of Peace. Rabbi Yeshua said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

One traditional teaching about Aaron says that when husbands and wives quarreled, they would seek out Aaron. He would counsel them with words of peace and bring reconciliation to their relationship. He was so adept at making peace between husbands and wives that he had many children named after him:
There were thousands in Israel who were called by the name of Aaron, for if not for Aaron, they would not have come into the world. Aaron made peace between husband and wife so that they came together, and they named the child that was born after him. (Avot d’Rabbi Nattan)
Another popular folktale about Aaron says that when two men were fighting, Aaron would go to the first one and say to him, “Reuben, I was talking with Simon, and he was saying he’s feeling really bad about this fight you are having, and he wants to make peace.” Then Aaron would go to Simon and say, “I ran into Reuben, and he was telling me that he’s feeling really bad about this fight you are having, and he wants to make peace with you.” When the two men encountered each other, they would each assume the other wanted to make peace. They would embrace and set their argument aside.

Perhaps this is why the psalmist says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes” (Psalm 133:1-2).

These stories about Aaron remind us that we are called not only to be peaceful people but also to be peacemakers, a people proactively making peace. Being a peacemaker is one of the things that characterize us as disciples of Yeshua.
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Korach

On June 12, 2021 0 Comments - First Fruits of Zion
TORAH PORTION for Shabbat: June 12, 2021
  • Korach (קורח | Korah)
  • Torah: Numbers 16:1-18:32
  • Haftarah: 1 Samuel 11:14-12:22
  • Gospel: John 19:1-17
Who is the Boss?
A concept image of an angry and arrogant man. (Image © Bigstock)

Who is the Boss?

Though Dathan and Abiram accused Moses of arrogance, he was actually the most humble man on earth. At the burning bush, he had argued with God against his appointment, and he only reluctantly stepped into the role of prophet and redeemer. He regarded himself as nobody special. It was not that Moses had poor self-esteem; he simply had an accurate assessment of his own worth before God.
And they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown. (Numbers 16:2)
“You’re not the boss of me.” That’s what we used to say when we were kids. And it was probably true. Your older brother or the bully on the playground wasn’t the boss of you, even if he thought he was. Korah and his followers rose up against Moses and said, “You’re not the boss of us.”

In Numbers 16:3, we read that Korah and his followers “assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?'” They accused Moses and Aaron of taking the first-boss positions. They questioned whether Moses had really heard from the LORD, and they refused his authority over their lives.

In reality, Moses never said, “I’m first boss. I should be the leader of all Israel. I am fit to be a leader.” Moses never said, “I am really something. I am a big somebody.”Neither He nor Aaron volunteered for their positions, submitted an application for their jobs or campaigned for their offices. They were simply serving God in the positions to which He had appointed them.

When Moses summoned the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram, they replied with a stunning display of impertinence. They reversed the promises of Canaan by speaking of Egypt, the land of their servitude, as a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 16:13). In other words, they were saying they had been happier being unredeemed in Egypt. They rejected Moses’ authority and asked, “You would also lord it over us?” (Numbers 16:13). They denied his prophetic inspiration when they asked, “Would you put out the eyes of these men?” (Numbers 16:14); that is to say, “Are you trying to pull the wool over our eyes?”

Ironically, Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their followers were the ones exalting themselves and claiming to be big somebodies. Theirs was a posture of self-exaltation. “And they rose up before Moses” (Numbers 16:2).

Regarding Moses, the Torah says, “He fell on his face” (Numbers 16:4). The Master says, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). Moses was not putting on a fake or obsequious humility. He had a genuine sense of insignificance in the face of the Almighty. That is why he was exalted by God.

When a man regards himself as a big somebody, he becomes angry with others who do not acknowledge his big somebodiness. He wants to be the boss. God says to the big somebody, “There is not room in the universe for both you and Me.” God is the only true Somebody and the only real Boss. Only when a man utterly subjects his own will to God and says, “Not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39), is God able to inhabit him, work through him and ultimately exalt him. Such a person was Moses, the most humble man of his generation.

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Shelach

On June 5, 2021 0 Comments - First Fruits of Zion
TORAH PORTION for Shabbat: June 5, 2021

 

  • Shelach (שלח | Send)
  • Torah: Numbers 13:1-15:41
  • Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24
  • Gospel: Matthew 10:1-14
A Different Spirit
Concept image of someone who assesses life in terms of their own reality. (Image © Bigstock)

A Different Spirit

The LORD spared the children of Israel, but He punished them by consigning them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. He declared that they would never see the Promised Land that they had rejected. Instead their bodies would be buried in the wilderness. Their children, however, would be privileged to enter the land.

 

Even Moses, Miriam and Aaron were included in the doom. Only Joshua and Caleb were given permission to enter the land. The LORD said that Caleb would be allowed to enter the land because he had “a different spirit” (Numbers 14:24).

The different spirit of Caleb is evident from his report about the land. He and Joshua had seen the same Canaanites, the same fortifications and the same difficulties as the other spies but had come to a completely different conclusion. The other spies saw those things as obstacles. Caleb and Joshua saw them as opportunities for God to demonstrate His glory.

You may have heard someone say, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist.” The inference is that an optimistic person is not realistic. Accordingly, the only honest and correct way to view the world is to point out the deficiencies, difficulties and inevitable failures. For the “realist,” that is the real world.

There is nothing special about having a realist-attitude. Anyone can point out problems. Everyone can criticize. It takes no talent to be a naysayer. Maybe you know someone who is a rigid realist. Such a person is usually not very realistic at all. Instead a person like that demonstrates a marked tendency to emphasize the negative, ignore the positive and disregard miracles. To that person, answers to prayer are mere coincidences. Words of encouragement are irritating. Behind the veneer of cynicism is a life of dark self-absorption and self-pity.

The ten spies were just such realists. They assessed the situation in terms of their own reality—a faithless reality. From that perspective, things looked pretty dismal. A quick march back to Egypt was probably the best solution.

Caleb and Joshua were a different kind of realist though. To them, reality was not as big as God. They assessed the situation in terms of a reality that encompassed faith. The difference between Caleb’s spirit and the spirit of the ten spies is the difference between seeing life through the eyes of faith or faithlessness.

The optimist says the cup if half full. The pessimist says the cup is half empty. The man of faith gives thanks that the cup is half full, and he marvels that God will either make the half cup sufficient to meet the need or miraculously refill the whole cup.

People say, “Every cloud has its silver lining.” The pessimist sees the cloud. The optimist sees the silver lining. The man of faith sees the cloud and the silver lining both. He gives thanks to God who made the cloud, provides the rain, and clears the sky.

Caleb’s different spirit is something we should all strive to attain. To be a person of faith is something extraordinary.

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Beha’alotcha

On May 29, 2021 0 Comments - First Fruits of Zion
    • Torah reading for May 29, 2021
    • Beha’alotcha (בהעלותך | When you set up)
    • Torah: Numbers 8:1-12:15
    • Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14-4:7 *
    • Gospel: Matthew 14:14-21
* Christian Bible reference varies.
The Puzzling Story of Miriam's Leprosy

 

Miriam and Aaron assumed that no one could hear their private conversation. The Torah says, “And the LORD heard it” (Numbers 12:2). (Image: © Bigstock/gianni triggiani/Concept FFOZ)
 

The Puzzling Story of Miriam’s Leprosy

So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. (Numbers 12:15)

Even Aaron and Miriam were not above the sin of grumbling. Numbers 12:1-2 relates a few details about their complaint against Moses. Apparently they had something against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married. (The Torah does not tell us the details of their gripe, but people are often irritated by their sibling’s spouses.)

The complaint against Moses had to do with his role as leader over the assembly. Both Miriam and Aaron were prophets in their own right. They had both personally received prophecies from God. They began to resent Moses’ sole leadership over the assembly. “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” (Numbers 12:2), they asked.

Miriam and Aaron assumed that no one could hear their private conversation. It was their own private gripe against their brother. They forgot that God could hear. The Torah says, “And the LORD heard it” (Numbers 12:2).

How many times do we indulge in similar “private” conversations, forgetting that God is listening? A person should always remember that his words are heard and recorded in heaven: “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)

The LORD struck Miriam with leprosy as a punishment for speaking evil speech against her brother. Moses immediately interceded on her behalf with a short, urgent prayer. The LORD relented and removed the leprosy, but Miriam still had to be put outside of the camp for seven days until she was ritually fit again.

The most puzzling thing about the story is why Miriam was smitten with leprosy while Aaron was not. Is that fair? Perhaps Aaron was spared because of his responsibility in the priesthood or perhaps it was that Miriam was punished more harshly because she was the instigator of the gossip. Those are possible explanations, but there seems to have been one ancient tradition that taught Aaron was also struck with leprosy. According to that tradition, the Torah does not explicitly mention Aaron’s punishment out of respect for the office of the high priest. Instead, Aaron’s punishment was edited out of the record but remembered nonetheless.

We know this was an opinion in early Judaism because one ancient rabbi warns that “Anyone who says that Aaron was also smitten with leprosy will have to give an account [in heaven]. When God has concealed the matter concerning Aaron [how dare we reveal it?]” (Sifre 105). Clement, the disciple of the Peter, preserved the same tradition. He taught that Aaron was also put out of the camp for seven days. Clement says, “On account of envy, Aaron and Miriam had to make their abode outside the camp” (1 Clement 4:11).

 

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