[00:00:00] Speaker A: I want an official Red Rider Carbine action 200 shot range model air rifle. If you've ever seen the movie a Christmas story, then you're familiar with this famous line blurted out by little Ralphie, the movie's main character. He wanted a Red Rider BB gun so bad he couldn't think about anything else. But everyone around him knew a BB gun wasn't the best option for him, including his parents and even Santa.
What did they tell him? Youll shoot your eye out, kid. But Ralphie was so obsessed that he pestered everyone until he could finally get what he wanted. How does this relate to the king of Moab and his profit for hire? Lets take a look together in this weeks five minute tour.
Welcome back Shalomys. Its great to be back with you here for another episode of five minute Torah. It took longer than expected to get my computer repaired and back to the land of the living, but Baruch hashem, bless God. We are back making videos again. Thanks to everyone who was praying for my computer situation. Before we get into the actual five minutes or so of the five minute Torah, here's a brief overview of this week's Torah reading. This week we're studying the portion of Balak numbers 22 two through 25 nine, and here are the three things that you need to know about it. Number one, man's plan versus God's plan. In this weeks Torah portion, divine intervention plays a crucial role in preventing the prophet Balaam from cursing the Israelites. Initially, God forbids Balaam from accompanying Balaks messengers. However, Balak continues trying to persuade Balaam and God eventually allows him to go, but instructs him only to speak what he commands. Along the journey, Balaam's donkey sees an angel blocking their path, leading to a miraculous encounter where his donkey actually speaks to him. Ultimately, these divine interventions ensure that Balaam can only bless the children of Israel, emphasizing that gods will cannot be thwarted by human schemes or interactions. Two curses to blessings and messianic prophecies in this weeks Torah portion, we also learned about the prophecies delivered by Balaam that focus on future strength and prosperity of Israel. Despite King Balaks intentions for Balaam to curse the Israelites, Balaam, under divine compulsion, speaks blessings and prophecies. Instead, he foretells the greatness of Israel, describing them as a powerful and numerous people who will triumph over their enemies. Balaam's prophecies also include a vision of a future messianic figure who will rise from Israel to achieve ultimate victory and dominion over Israel's enemies. Many today would do well to realize what God spoke through, that Israel enjoys divine favor from God, and it's futile to attempt to curse those whom God has blessed. And number three, the zeal of Pinchas and the covenant of peace. The Torah portion Balak concludes with the dramatic episode of Pinchas zeal as the Israelites fall into sin by engaging in immoral behavior and idolatry with moabite women, a divine plague strikes the camp. Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon the high priest, sees an israelite man and a midianite woman flagrantly disobeying gods commandments. In a decisive act of zeal, he kills them both, stopping the plague and turning away gods wrath from the Israelites. This act of zealotry earns pinchas God's covenant of peace and an everlasting priesthood for him and his descendants. If you're looking for a place to learn, connect and grow, then Shalom Macon is the place. It doesn't matter where you are in the world. You can find a connection with Shalom Macon through our live services every Saturday and through our private social network we call Shalom at home. Check us out on YouTube and on our
[email protected], for more information. We look forward to connecting with you and seeing you this Shabbat. This week's Torah commentary is called looking for loopholes and comes from my book five minute Torah, volume one. The portion of balak is filled with supernatural interactions between God and a gentile prophet by the name of Bilaam. From our portion, Bilaam appears to have been renowned for his spiritual acumen and seems to have a close relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet in the end, we find that he is dead set on destroying the children of Israel. How did this come about? Let's take a brief look at Balaam's mistake. When Balak's men came to Bilaam and asked him to curse Israel, he realized that his services would fetch a large sum of money. He had only one problem, he couldn't speak anything more than what God would allow him. Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. Numbers 20 218 how would he be able to bring a curse upon Israel? Our sages tell us, however, that this was a mixture of truth and a lie, truth in that Bilaam was indeed limited by what God allowed him to speak, but also a lie in that his answer masked the greed hidden in Balaam's heart Bilaam's Achilles heel was his evil eye, his greed, as it is said, the evil eye, the evil desire and hatred of his fellow creatures put a man out of this world. A vote. 216 how do we know this? Not only do Rashi and other ancient commentators mention this, but we also have the apostolic testimony. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. This is two peter 215 woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korach's rebellion. This is from Jude eleven. But if Balaam could only speak what God told him to, how did he ever hope to accomplish his wicked task of cursing Israel? When he asked permission initially, he received an explicit no. If that was the case, why did he ask again? Because when God appeared to Balaam during the night and asked, who are these men with you? Balaam began to think that God was not omniscient like he had previously believed. Therefore, if he could just get God's permission to go with the Mendez, he might be able to accomplish his mission before he was found out. So he asked permission again. This time God allowed him to go with Balak's men. Did God change his mind? Why did he say no the first time and yes the second time? Well, when Balaam initially asked permission to go with Balak's men, God told him not to go with them, using the word imakim in Hebrew. But when God ended up giving Balaam permission, he used a different hebrew word than he did before he said that Bilaam may go with them.
Our sages explained that the difference between these two words is that the first implies being one in purpose, while the second implies merely physically accompanying someone. Bilaam was to go with them, but he was not supposed to join in their wicked schemes. Evidently, Bilaam didnt pay attention to the wording and assumed he had permission from the Almighty to be in collusion with moab. Have we ever asked God for permission about something and were given a definite no, then proceeded to ask again, have we ever been guilty of looking for loopholes in the scriptures? You see, Balaams mistake was to think that gods no wasnt his final answer. When God says something, its his final word, as Bilaam himself ended up proclaiming, God is not a man that he should lie, or a son a man, that he should change his mind. Numbers 20 319 if God doesnt change his mind, why would we pretend that he does therefore, rather than acting like a child throwing a tantrum when God says no, we should realize that his wisdom is above ours. His answer is always best and his ways are always good. Have you ever nagged God for permission about something until he finally said okay, go ahead, get it out of your system, but dont blame me for the results? Did it end up more like Bilaam or like little Ralphie who nearly shot his eye out? What results did you see and what advice would you give to people who might be struggling with this same situation? Let me know in the comments below. If you havent already, I want to encourage you to check out our new teaching series called repaving the Romans road. Its a study on the book of Romans from a messianic jewish perspective. Misunderstandings over this one book has caused so much theory, theological confusion, and anti semitic ideology over the last 2000 years, it cant be overstated. If you want to understand the Book of Romans from a perspective thats much closer to what Paul had in mind when he wrote it, then you can check it out using the link above or at the end of this video. Ill see you next week with another messianic insight into the eternal tour of God. Blessings from Shalom Macon, the place where disciples of Yeshua learn, connect, and grow.
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