Parashat Chukat / פרשת חקת
Pesukim פסוקים are the "verses" of Scripture divided into Parashaot (Portions) read in the synagogue each week. On Monday's & Thursdays there are 3 divisions of the week's Parasha read and on Shabbat all 6 are read including a Maftir (added), which makes up the final Pesukim (verses) of the Parasha totaling (7) Aliyot each week. Rabbi Eric will give a short d'rash on each of the daily Pesukim that make up the week's Parasha for a good daily dose of Torah. For more explanation on how the Torah is read and divided daily and weekly in the Synagogue see the following links:
The Daily Pesuk for, June 19, 2018 / 6,Tamuz 5778
Numbers 20:7-13 (7 p'sukim)
Numbers 20:7-13 Tree of Life Version (TLV)
7 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 8 “Take the staff and gather the assembly, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give out its water.[a] You will bring out water from the rock, and you will give the community something to drink, along with their livestock.”
9 So Moses took the staff from before the presence of Adonai, just as He had commanded him.
10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock. He said, “Listen now, you rebels! Must we bring you water from this rock?”
11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with the staff. Water gushed out and the community and its livestock drank.
12 But Adonai said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in Me so as to esteem Me as holy in the eyes of Bnei-Yisrael, therefore you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them.”
13 These are the waters of Meribah where Bnei-Yisrael contended with Moses, and where Adonai showed Himself holy among them.
7 וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
8 קַ֣ח אֶת־הַמַּטֶּ֗ה וְהַקְהֵ֤ל אֶת־הָעֵדָה֙ אַתָּה֙ וְאַהֲרֹ֣ן אָחִ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתֶּ֧ם אֶל־הַסֶּ֛לַע לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם וְנָתַ֣ן מֵימָ֑יו וְהוֹצֵאתָ֨ לָהֶ֥ם מַ֙יִם֙ מִן־הַסֶּ֔לַע וְהִשְׁקִיתָ֥ אֶת־הָעֵדָ֖ה וְאֶת־בְּעִירָֽם׃
9 וַיִּקַּ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־הַמַּטֶּ֖ה מִלִּפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר צִוָּֽהוּ׃
10 וַיַּקְהִ֜לוּ מֹשֶׁ֧ה וְאַהֲרֹ֛ן אֶת־הַקָּהָ֖ל אֶל־פְּנֵ֣י הַסָּ֑לַע וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לָהֶ֗ם שִׁמְעוּ־נָא֙ הַמֹּרִ֔ים הֲמִן־הַסֶּ֣לַע הַזֶּ֔ה נוֹצִ֥יא לָכֶ֖ם מָֽיִם׃
11 וַיָּ֨רֶם מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶת־יָד֗וֹ וַיַּ֧ךְ אֶת־הַסֶּ֛לַע בְּמַטֵּ֖הוּ פַּעֲמָ֑יִם וַיֵּצְאוּ֙ מַ֣יִם רַבִּ֔ים וַתֵּ֥שְׁתְּ הָעֵדָ֖ה וּבְעִירָֽם׃ ס
12 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוָה֮ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן֒ יַ֚עַן לֹא־הֶאֱמַנְתֶּ֣ם בִּ֔י לְהַ֨קְדִּישֵׁ֔נִי לְעֵינֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לָכֵ֗ן לֹ֤א תָבִ֙יאוּ֙ אֶת־הַקָּהָ֣ל הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥תִּי לָהֶֽם׃
13 הֵ֚מָּה מֵ֣י מְרִיבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־רָב֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה וַיִּקָּדֵ֖שׁ בָּֽם׃ ס
Our pesukim today are only 7 short verses, however they contain a HUGE LESSON for all of us, especially those in Leadership over a congregation/nation of God's people. Franz Delitzsch gives a fantastic commentary on these pesukim:
"The Lord then said to both of them, both Moses and Aaron, “ Because ye have not trusted firmly in Me, to sanctify Me before the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them .” The want of belief or firm confidence in the Lord, through which both of them had sinned, was not actual unbelief or distrust in the omnipotence and grace of God, as if God could not relieve the want of water or extend His help to the murmuring people; for the Lord had promised His help to Moses, and Moses did what the Lord had commanded him. It was simply the want of full believing confidence, a momentary wavering of that immovable assurance, which the two heads of the nation ought to have shown to the congregation, but did not show. Moses did even more than God had commanded him. Instead of speaking to the rock with the rod of God in his hand, as God directed him, he spoke to the congregation, and in these inconsiderate words, “Shall we fetch you water out of the rock?” words which, if they did not express any doubt in the help of the Lord, were certainly fitted to strengthen the people in their unbelief, and are therefore described in Psalms 106:33 as prating (speaking unadvisedly) with the lips (cf. Leviticus 5:4). He then struck the rock twice with the rod, “as if it depended upon human exertion, and not upon the power of God alone,” or as if the promise of God “would not have been fulfilled without all the smiting on his part” ( Knobel ). In the ill-will expressed in these words the weakness of faith was manifested, by which the faithful servant of God, worn out with the numerous temptations, allowed himself to be overcome, so that he stumbled, and did not sanctify the Lord before the eyes of the people, as he ought to have done. Aaron also wavered along with Moses, inasmuch as he did nothing to prevent Moses' fall. But their sin became a grievous one, from the fact that they acted unworthily of their office. God punished them, therefore, by withdrawing their office from them before they had finished the work entrusted to them. They were not to conduct the congregation into the promised land, and therefore were not to enter in themselves (cf. Numbers 27:12-13; Deuteronomy 32:48.). The rock, from which water issued, is distinguished by the article הסּלע , not as being already known, or mentioned before, but simply as a particular rock in that neighborhood; though the situation is not described, so as to render it possible to search for it now."
I have highlighted the phrase, "Sanctified me in the eyes..." because this is precisely the Jewish understanding of the crux of Moshe Rabbeinu's error, along with his brother Aaron. We learned in yesterday's pesukim that the water dried up due to the righteous Miriam's passing. Now God wanted to once again demonstrate the miraculous provision of water which came from the well, which we learned yesterday is the manifestation of the Messiah. God wanted to be sanctified in the eyes of the nation with Moshe "SPEAKING" not using physical force to bring forth water. Instead, in Moshe's failure to obey these specific instructions, he likewise failed to Sanctify the Name in the eyes of the people.
Delitzsch now quotes Abarbanel who expressly affirms ( Buxtorf, l. c. pp. 422ff.). “Their true meaning,” he says, “was, that those waters which flowed out in Horeb were the gift of God granted to the Israelites, and continued all through the desert, just like the manna. For wherever they went, fountains of living waters were opened to them as the occasion required. And for this reason, the rock in Kadesh was the same rock as that in Horeb. Still less ground is there for supposing that the Apostle Paul alluded to any such rabbinical fable when he said, “They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them” (1 Corinthians 10:4), and gave it a spiritual interpretation in the words, “and that rock was the Messiah.”)
Out of that entire generation, it was only Caleb and Joshua who inherited the Promised Land of Eretz Yisrael. Even Miriam, Aaron and Moshe did not make it. What does this tell us?
Yeshua, the Messiah, the very one who provided the Living Waters to our Ancestors in the Wilderness taught us the purpose of our lives and how to pray...
Luke 11:2 Tree of Life Version (TLV)
2 Then Yeshua said to them, “When you pray, say,
‘Father, sanctified be Your Name,
Your kingdom come
Luke 11:2 - וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם כִּי תִתְפַּלֲלוּ אִמְרוּ אָבִינוּ (שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם) יִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֶךָ תָּבוֹא מַלְכוּתֶךָ (יֵעָשֶׂה רְצוֹנְךָ כְּמוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם כֵּן בָּאָרֶץ)׃
The Hebrew word here in the Tefilah HaTalmidim (Disciples Prayer), is Yitkadash. For Jews, and all Messianic believers, we should all be very familiar with these words, for we recite it daily in the Mourner's Kaddish Prayer:
יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא. בְּעָלְמָא דִּי בְרָא כִרְעוּתֵיהּ, וְיַמְלִיךְ מַלְכוּתֵיהּ בְּחַיֵּיכוֹן וּבְיוֹמֵיכוֹן וּבְחַיֵּי דְכָל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן
"Magnified and sanctified is His great name in the world created according to His will. May His majesty reign during your lifetime and during your days, and during the life of all the house of Israel, speedily and soon, and let us say, Amen."
This is VERY IMPORTANT. We must remember that the very purpose of our lives is to Sanctify God's Name. That is it. That is what we were ultimately created to do.
In death we do this by clinging to our faith and service to our God even at the final moments of our lives under pressure to renounce His Name. We call this Kiddush Hashem. Sanctification of the Name.
Yeshua Ben Elohim, demonstrated this when he quoted Psalm 31:6 with his last words before his death and resurrection:
Luke 23:46 And Yeshua, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I entrust My spirit.’” When He had said this, He breathed His last.
May we all be worthy to Sanctify His Name always, in life and in death. Let us not make the mistake that Moses our teacher made.
Shalom,
R' Eric
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