Category Archives: Torah study

Bemidbar (Numbers) 8

Lesson date: 07/10/5860AA

Num 8:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,

Num 8:2 “Speak to Aharon, and say to him, ‘When you ascend to trim the lamps, let the seven lamps give light in front of the lampstand.’ ”

Num 8:3 And Aharon did so. He set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as יהוה commanded Mosheh.

Num 8:4 And this is the work of the lampstand: beaten work of gold, from its base to its blossoms it is beaten work. According to the pattern which יהוה had shown Mosheh, so he made the lampstand.

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 9

Lesson date: 11/30/5856AA

Verse 1 – Num 9:1a And יהוה spoke to Mosheh in the Wilderness of Sinai. This struck me as unusual. Where else would they be? Then it dawned on me that the word for Wilderness is Midbar and in the Wilderness is Bemidbar. Remember, you can say “in the wilderness” to find the Word. Look at what we see later in the chapter: At the mouth of יהוה is used 4 times in this one chapter alone. It is only found 8 times in all of Torah and half of those occurrences are in this one chapter.

We are also given a timeline in verse 1. It is in the first month, Aviv, of the second year after they left Mitsrayim. They left Mitsrayim after eating the Passover meal on the beginning of Unleavened Bread.

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 10

Lesson date: 07/24/5860AA

Verses 1-2 – We see that Mosheh is commanded to have two silver trumpets constructed that will be used for the signal to gather or break the camp of the Children of Yisra’el. Before we look at the trumpet itself let’s look at the material from which it is constructed, silver.

Silver is the price of redemption. If you had previously set apart a field or house, if you wished to redeem it it had to be with silver: Lev_27:15 ‘And if he who sets it apart does redeem his house, then he shall add one-fifth of the silver of your evaluation to it, and it shall be his.

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 11

Lesson date: 08/01/5860AA

Verse 1 – The first thing that I want to make apparent to everyone is that we could spend all day in Verse One because there is so much going on in this verse. The imagery is very powerful and possesses a beauty and finality to it, all in one verse. I want to show you just a fraction of what is here to be seen: H5971 – עם – ‛am – BDB Definition: 1) nation, people a) people, nation 1b) persons, members of one’s people, compatriots, country-men 2) kinsman, kindred ((Editor’s note: it also means a congregation of people.) Please remember what ‘ayin and mem mean in Hebrew.))

The next word you must look at is also very special: H596 – אנן – ‘ânan – BDB Definition:(Hithpael) complain, murmur ((Notice: There is not a whole lot of leeway here.))

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 12 — The Kushite Woman

Lesson date: 12/21/5856AA 

Verse 1 – Believe me, we all have our Kushite woman. We may not have any siblings but we all have our Kushite woman.

When Mosheh was a young man the Ethiopians invaded Egypt and carried off a lot of treasure from Egypt. Mosheh was gaining in popularity in the Egyptian Royal Court and many members were jealous of him because everyone knew he was of Hebrew heritage. YHVH placed it upon certain ones in the royal court, the old wizard Bilaam of Pe’or may have been one of them, to conspire against Mosheh so another Hebrew would not inherit the throne of Egypt, to implore upon Pharaoh to make Mosheh general. It was common knowldege that the Ethiopians, at this time were stronger than the Egyptians so the courtiers were certain that Mosheh would be killed in Ethiopia, if he went off to battle or at least disgraced if he lost.

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 13

Lesson date: 08/19/5860AA

Verse 2 – This is a very interesting verse. We need to look at the a couple of the Hebrew words used.

שְׁלַח־לׁךָ – ‘shelaḥ leḥa’ – “you send” – H7971 – שׁלח – shâlach – BDB Definition: 1) to send, send away, let go, stretch out. ((I have to show you something really really neat. The Greek word used in the LXX for “shalach” is  G649 – ἀποστέλλω – apostellō – the word from which we get apostle or “the one who is sent”. Literally, Mosheh is being told to send out 12 apostles to spy out the land. Isn’t that beautiful?

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 14

Lesson date: 01/06/5856AA

Verse 1 – “Then all the congregation lifted up” (H853אֵת) ((I know that this is just a coincidence but I thought you might be interested in the location and occurrence.))

This may have been the largest and earliest recorded “Pity Party” on record. Verse 1 makes it sound as though they were repentant but immediately verse 2 shows the opposite.

Deu 1:45 “And you returned and wept before יהוה, but יהוה would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

Deu 1:46 “So you dwelt in Qaḏěsh many days, according to the days that you dwelt.

YHVH knew that the Children of Yisra’el were not crying and repenting of their sin but instead they realized that their faithlessness was discovered deep within their hearts and caused them to listen to the evil report. It slandered the Word of YHVH: Exo_23:28 “And I shall send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Ḥiwwite, the Kena‛anite, and the Ḥittite from before you. Continue reading Bemidbar (Numbers) 14

Bemidbar (Numbers) 15

Lesson date: 08/29/5860AA

Can anyone say “Safety Briefing”? Remember what happened in Leviticus Chapter 10 when Nadab and Abihu lit the golden incense altar with strange fire? They instantly died by fire. Now we see that the generation that came out of Egypt will die in the wilderness and the children younger than 20 years of age will be allowed into the promise land. Immediately, YHVH once again taught the people what they must do to compensate for their lack of faith in His Word.

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 16 — The Rebellion of Qorah

Lesson date: 09/06/5860AA

I know we have always heard about, read about and talked about the rebellion of Qorah but as I study it I have to be careful how I address it. The reason I say this is that the meaning of the name Qorah: H7141 – קרח – qôrach – BDB Definition: Korah = “bald”. It comes from H7139 – qarach – to make oneself bald. This is talking about unnatural baldness. See why I might be in trouble?

Lev 21:4 ‘A leader does not defile himself among his people, to profane himself;

Lev 21:5 they do not make any bald place on their heads, and they do not shave the corner of their beard, and they do not make a cutting in their flesh.

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Bemidbar (Numbers) 17 — Time to Take Action

Lesson date: 09/13/5860AA

It is very ironic that we have this chapter shown to us not even two weeks since the November 5th presidential election. Over the past four years we have a leader that has grown so unpopular that it is estimated, by some who know a lot more than I do, that as many as 20 million members of the same party as the sitting president voted for the opposing presidential candidate. Some say a lot fewer than 20 million but whatever the case, a sizable number did.

Right now, today, the new Republican Senate Leader is trying to figure out how to block the President elect’s cabinet appointments before the new president is even sworn in. What was that? Oh, I thought I heard a grumble somewhere in the distance. In light of this, let’s look at Chapters 16(again) and 17.

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