Torah Portions: Mattot (Tribes) Masa’ei (Stages) (B’Midbar) Numbers30:2-36:13
Haftorah Readings Jeremiah 1:1-2:28
1.In Numbers 32:2-5 the tribes of Gad and Reuben went to Moses asking permission to not cross the Jordan with the rest of the Israelites into the Promised Land. Read Moses’ reply in Numbers 32:6-15. As you continue reading this chapter what is Torah teaching us about conflict management? How did both parties deal with this situation? How does this help us learn how to deal with misunderstandings or differences with other believers, family and friends?
Moses probably thought
These two tribes were putting their own interests above those of the nation as a whole.
They were abandoning their people at the very time they were needed most.
There were wars to be fought if the Israelites were to inherit the Promised Land.
Numbers 32:6-7 Moses put it to the tribes: “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the L-rd has given them?”
His words sounded harsh and personal.
He reminded them of what had happened in the past
He said they were discouraging the people
They were doing the same as the spies
He said they were being just like their fathers – sinful men.
The men of Reuben and Gad did not take it as a personal attack.
They did not attack Moses.
Instead in verse 16 it says, “they came near to him”.
Numbers 32:16-19
They came with a plan
Something they could all agree to.
Beginning in verse 20 Moses stated their proposition again so everything was clear
The conflict was averted.
When someone comes to you angry
or misunderstanding something you did
or something you said
and seems to attack you right from the beginning,
what do you do? How do you handle it?
Do you continue speaking to them with respect?
Do you raise the anger level to prove you are right and they are wrong?
Can you set your emotions aside and look for truth and resolution?
This can be a challenge for each of us.
Here G-d gives us direction on how to solve issues that come up in our lives that can be a challenge.
2.If we look back in history what happened to the 2 ½ tribes that requested to stay on the east side of the Jordan? What were the consequences of their decision? What does this teach us?
Separated from the rest of the Israelites
they were daily exposed to other people and strange gods.
1 Chronicles 5:25-26, “But they were unfaithful to the G-d of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom G-d had destroyed before them. So the G-d of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria), who took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara and the river of Gozan, where they are to this day.”
They were unfaithful to G-d
They worshiped false gods.
So G-d destroyed them.
King of Assyria invaded the land and deported these tribes to various locations
where their descendants remain to this day.
It is difficult to live our lives surrounded by people who have no faith in G-d.
If we put ourselves in that place we can slowly detour from the path G-d has for us.
How do we keep this from happening to us?
Acts 2:42, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Hebrews 10:25, “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
We nourish our spiritual self by
studying G-d’s word
worshiping Him
having relationships with other believers.
3.One last thought on the story of the 2 ½ tribes that did not cross the Jordan. Like these tribes, have we as a country or as a people of faith been influenced by culture more than we think? Are those things commanded in scripture still valid or are some of them out of date now? Have we picked up habits or beliefs that should not be a part of our life of faith as believers?
Give me examples of things you see expressed in Christianity today or in lives of people professing to be believers that may conflict with what scripture tells us. How can we know if we are being influenced by culture more than the word of G-d?
One last question to contemplate: Are there things in your own life that are more a result of the prevailing culture you live in rather than your faith?
One example:
Our culture says sex before marriage is okay.
Some believers have no problem living with someone instead of getting married .
Hebrews 13:4, states, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for G-d will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous,”
Our culture has a different view on proper dress
How we dress as believers has changed for some because of what our culture says.
Modesty is not always found among believers.
I Timothy 2:9-10, “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 1but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship G-d.”
How can we know if we are being influenced by culture more than the word of G-d?
Generally speaking – our culture says living by your desires is good, it’s healthy.
G-d’s plans are different.
Galatians 5:16-26, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of G-d.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Yeshua have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
First of all, what does it mean in verse 18?
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
If you are led by the Spirit You will not disobey Torah.
Being under the Law is to disobey Torah
Some of these verses describe people who live by their desires not by G-d’s plan. Other verses describe people who have died to their flesh and strive to live by the Spirit. Where do you see yourself in these verses?
4.The month of Av begins on Shabbat, July 26. What verses and facts can you find about the month of Av?
AV is the fifth month of the Jewish calendar.
Numbers 33:38: Aaron the priest died on the first day of the fifth month.
“At the L-rd’s command Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor, where he died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt.”
2 Kings 25:8-9: The beginning of the destruction of the first temple.
“On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the L-rd, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.”
Jeremiah 52:12-13 These verses state that the house of the L-rd was burned on the tenth day of the fifth month.
“On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He set fire to the temple of the L-rd, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.”
Zechariah 7:1-3 The people were asking Zechariah should they continue fasting.
“In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the L-rd came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the L-rd 3 by asking the priests of the house of the L-rd Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
Zechariah 7:5: Zechariah questioned the people on why they fasted.
“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?
Zechariah 8:19: Here Zachariah’s prophecy looks toward a future when these days of fasting will become times of joy and gladness instead of mourning and sadness.
“This is what the L-rd Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”
Ezra 7:8-10 Ezra the priest came to Jerusalem in the month of AV
“Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his G-d was on him.For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the L-rd, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.”
What happened on Tisha B/Av or the 9th of Av through the ages:
- It all started in 1313 BC when the spies returned from the promised land and scared the Israelites, who decided not to enter the land G-d promised them. This is why they wandered the desert for 40 years.
- On the ninth day of Av in 586 BC, the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.
- The Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD, also on the ninth of Av.
- On the ninth day of Av in 133 AD, Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar.
- One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, our nation’s holiest site.
- The Jews were expelled from England in 1290
- On the 9th of Av 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain.
- On the 9th of Av 1914 -The First World War began. The insubstantial peace that concluded this war was a direct cause of the Second World War in which the six million perished.
- The 9th of Av 1942 – The first killings started at Treblinka: “The first transport of ‘deportees’ left Malkinia on July 23, 1942, in the morning hours. It was loaded with Jews from the Warsaw ghetto. The train was made up of sixty closed cars, crowded with people. The car doors were locked from the outside, and the air apertures barred with barbed wire.”
As we finish the book of B’Midbar (Numbers) we say
Hazak, Hazak, v’nit’chazek! Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!