This message is going out early because I will be travelling from Sunday June 22 through Sunday June 29. My wife and I will be heading to Omaha, NE to help our daughter, son-in-law, and new granddaughter pack up and move back here to Las Cruces. Pray for travelling mercies and anything else that will speed the journey…thanks, Mordecai

 

 

Message 6-28-08

Korach-Korah (Bald)

Numbers 16:1-18:32

1 Samuel 11:14-12:22

John 1:47-51

 

Introduction

Korah and his followers, Dathan and Abiram, lead a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaaron. God punishes all the rebels by burying them and their families alive. Once again, God brings a plague on the people. The chief of each tribe places his staff inside the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s staff brings forth sprouts, produces blossoms, and bears almonds. The Priests and the Levites are established and assigned the responsibility of managing the tithes and offerings to the Sanctuary.

 

Numbers 18:20-28

20 Then the LORD said to Aaron: "You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. 21 " Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 22 "Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23 "But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 "For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, 'Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.' " 25 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 26 "Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: 'When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the LORD, a tenth of the tithe. 27 'And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 'Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the LORD from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the LORD's heave offering from it to Aaron the priest.

 

This is the tithing system that God instituted in order to provide support for the Levites who had been given as a special gift to serve Aaron and his sons in the Tabernacle. All of the tithes of Israel were to be given to the Levites who in turn would give a tithe to Aaron and his sons. This was God’s portion and God was releasing it to Aaron and his sons and their descendants after them as their inheritance in Israel because the Priests and the Levites would not receive a land inheritance as the rest of the tribes of Israel would.

 

Tithing is a mostly misunderstood system that many Messianics believe has been done away with. The first actual mention of tithing is in the story of Abraham and Melchizedek.

 

Genesis 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of all.

 

04442 qd,c,yKil.m; Malki-tsedeq (575d)

Meaning: 'my king is right,' an early king of Salem

Origin: from 4428 and 6664

Usage: Melchizedek(2).

 

04643 rfe[]m; maaser or rf;[]m; maasar or hr'f.[;m; maasrah (798b)

Meaning: tenth part, tithe

 

This is the first time in the Bible we see the term tithe being used and yet it would seem from the way Abraham offered it that he was already familiar with the concept. When we look at the name Melchizedek we find that it translates as righteous king or the King is righteous. We know from this week’s Torah portion that the tithe was to be given to the priest and while Melchizedek does not mean priest the text shows us that he was a priest of the one true God. It is apparent that Abraham knew who Melchizedek was and his position before God. This is also the first time we see the blessing done over the bread and wine, something the Jewish people have continued doing done through the Diaspora. It is because of their keeping these traditions that I am firmly convinced that the traditions and customs are an important part of the Messianic walk and one that cannot be severed simply because someone does not like the formality of the tradition.

 

While I agree that customs and traditions can sometimes go overboard we need to balance out their value in helping us to understand our Hebrew-Jewish heritage and that one cannot jump over the Jewish aspect of our heritage in favor of the Hebraic aspect of the walk. You cannot separate Hebrew from Jewish no matter how hard you try. Ephraim has to come to grips with this before they pass the point of no return in their hurry to become Hebraic without the Jewish perspective.

 

Tithing is one of these concepts that God commands in the Bible. Because there is no functioning priesthood today many Messianics feel that tithing is no longer valid. I beg to differ! Why? Because one part of the responsibility of the Priests was to teach the Torah to the people as Moses taught it to them. Over time the Priests stopped teaching the Torah and the Pharisees, the forerunners of the Rabbis, took over the responsibility. In many cases the Rabbis do not wish to teach Torah to anyone except for a Jew. Since the Torah is for everyone who resides in Israel then everyone, no matter where they come from, is to follow Torah. If the Rabbis of today refuse to teach Torah to the people, no matter whom they are, then it falls to the Torah teachers of Torah to share where Torah fits into a Messianic Yeshua based walk.

 

Since there are Torah teachers among us today they are workers deserving of their wages which are derived from the tithes of the people of Israel.

 

Ecclesiastes 3:9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. 12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor -- it is the gift of God.

 

1 Timothy 5:18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."

 

Matthew 10:9 "Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 "nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. 11 "Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 "And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 "If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 "And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

 

2 Corinthians 11:7 Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. 9 And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.

 

Philippians 4:15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no congregation shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

 

Each one of these Scriptures affirms that a teacher of God’s word the Torah is entitled to be paid for the service he is performing on behalf of God. The argument might be made that wages are not the same as tithes and you might have a good point there but I would go further with that idea and say what is the difference between tithes and wages when one does the work of God in sharing the gospel of faith in Yeshua coupled with Torah observance because they go hand in hand?

 

1 Samuel 12:13-15

13 "Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. 14 "If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. 15 "However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

 

God knew that Israel would want a king other than Himself. He spoke about it with Moses giving Moses the instructions that a king of Israel would have to follow. Unfortunately not many of the kings of Israel, whether of the Northern or the Southern kingdom, followed the Torah. In fact it was a requirement of the Torah that a king of Israel was to make a copy of the Torah with the priests being the witnesses and to keep the Torah him and to study it.

 

Deuteronomy 17:18 "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.

 

It had always been God’s intention that He was to be the King of Israel. In this passage from 1 Samuel we see Samuel giving Israel instructions concerning the king they had wanted. Samuel was angry with the Children of Israel because they could not see that it was God who wanted to be their King. He brought Israel into existence, not to say the rest of mankind or creation for that matter. He was entitled to sit on the throne of Israel but Israel did not want Him. Because of this Israel was destined to be ruled by kings of men until the time comes when Yeshua will return and take up the throne of His Father to set things right until the day the Father comes and the Son returns the throne of His Father back to Him.

 

We are a product of this process that brought Israel a king chosen by men rather than by God. Even with King David, who God did choose, David did not always follow the ways of God but at times he was weak and turned to his wives or to his children and allowed them to have their way even when it was wrong.

 

Recently a discussion has arisen on the Internet on the legitimacy of the practice of polygamy or polygyny.

 

Polygyny (which comes from neo-Greek: πολύ poly "many" + γυνή gyny "woman") is a form of polygamy, where a man has more than one female sexual partner or wife at the same time. It can be distinguished from a man having multiple sexual partners outside of marriage, such as concubinage, casual sexual partners, paramours, and recognized secondary partners. Polygyny is the most common form of polygamy. The practice of a woman having more than one male sexual partner is called polyandry.

 

Some are claiming that polygamy is not forbidden in the Torah. They would be correct in that assumption. It is not forbidden in the Torah but neither is it encouraged and it would appear that God set up the original system of one man, one woman in Genesis when He created woman from man.

 

Genesis 2:22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

 

If you pay close attention to a passage that we might take for granted God created only one woman to be a companion for the man and He brought them together to become one flesh. He did not create more than one woman and bring them to the man. Almost every Biblical instance of polygamy taking place in the Bible has caused immeasurable problems for mankind.

 

The Children of Israel are based on the foundation of twelve brothers from four different mothers and one father. When you read the story of this you will find problems there. Abraham listened to his wife Sarah and had relations with her servant Hagar who bore him Ishmael and we all are well aware of the problems this caused. King David had several wives and the offspring of these wives caused their father grief beyond measure. One son raped his step-sister and was killed by another son. Another son tried to take the throne of his father and wound up dying for it. Solomon had more wives and concubines than any man in Bible history or anywhere else for that matter and because of his foreign wives and his tolerance of their pagan gods Israel was divided in two.

 

Yes, it might not be forbidden outright in the Torah but you have seen the perils fraught with this practice. The Apostle Paul also made being the husband of one wife a requirement for the position of being an Elder.

 

1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.

 

There is a reason for this and when anyone teaches otherwise and claims that polygamy or polygyny is ok to do I would urge you to flee from this teaching and teacher as quickly as you can. In America today we are seeing the poisoned fruit of this tree of polygamy rearing its ugly head. It’s been in news in recent weeks and has its roots in teachings and teachers who display a lack of comprehension of God’s word and what He requires. When someone claims that this practice is permissible its consequences will be felt throughout the family unit because it will not be a unit based on the Godhead where we have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three-part Godhead. God set the example we need to learn to follow it.

 

John 1:47-51

47 Yeshua saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Yeshua answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Yeshua answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

When you read through this passage from the Apostolic Scriptures what should hit you right off the bat is its similarity to Jacob’s dream of the ladder. Nathaniel recognizes Yeshua for who He really is and Yeshua in turn gives Nathaniel a blessing unlike any other found in the Bible save for Jacob’s encounter with God through his ladder dream. In John 1:51 Yeshua tells Nathaniel he would see greater things and one of these would be he would see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man – Yeshua the Messiah.

 

Genesis 28:11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

 

Jacob’s dream brought him a confirmation of the continuation of the covenant that God had made with Abraham, then Isaac and now Jacob. It was the covenant of Land – the Promised Land. It was the place where the Children of Israel would one day come and live in peace. That has not yet taken place but we are seeing prophecy unfolding like never before as God’s plan unfolds before our very eyes. We are seeing the word of God coming to life right in front of us. If I were you I would not take my eyes off of the word of God for very long because if you do you might miss something.

 

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and the angels know of us…Thomas Paine

 

for other Torah Studies check out: 

Tony Robinson at www.devoted.to/Torah (sign up) 

Mark R. Ensign at mrensign@arn.net (request to be added to list) 

Ardelle Brody [abrody@mchsi.com](posted on Mordecai’s website along with his Torah commentary-an excellent woman’s perspective)