Balak: Balak — בלק

Thoughts on Torah for Last Week.
 
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Numbers 19-21
Our discussion of last week on the Endtime Servant is the perfect lead-in for this week’s parsha. A major topic in this parsha is the sacrifice of a red heifer.  Jewish rabbis and sages have puzzled over the meaning of this sacrifice for millennia.  But when the red heifer sacrifice is linked to the death and resurrection of Yeshua, the meaning of the red heifer sacrifice becomes clear.  

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​We previously introduced the sacrifice of the red heifer at parsha Tzav where we stated that the ordinance of the red heifer purified Israel from death.  And it is this purification from death that was required of Israel before they could enter the Tabernacle or Temple where God’s presence dwelt.  

​Death represents the greatest physical disconnection from God’s eternal nature.  Death is the ultimate expression of man’s physical corruption and it is wholly incongruent to the everlasting existence of the Divine. ​Moreover, we saw in the previous portion at Tzav that the red heifer sacrifice found its messianic fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Yeshua.  Likewise, Yeshua permanently "purified" humanity from death and opened the way for our immorality with God.  The table below summarizes these concepts.

Red Heifer Sacrifice	>	Messianic Fulfillment
Purified from death.	>	Eternally "purified" from death through Yeshua's death and resurrection.

Death and the Millennial Age
​In the Millennium, we begin seeing this realization of Yeshua’s resurrection.  We see this not only in the righteous dead who merit being resurrection at the beginning of the Millennium –the first resurrection, but we see the instantaneous conversion of souls from mortal to immortality and also a regeneration of those who pass from this fallen world into the millennial paradise.  Commenting on these conditions, Dr. Gileadi said,

Resurrection Morning
Isaiah’s end-time scenario includes the resurrection of God’s elect who have passed away: “Your dead shall live when their bodies arise. [You will say to them,]‘Awake, and sing for joy, you who abide in the dust: your dew is the dew of sunrise!’ For the earth shall cast up its dead” (Isaiah 26:19). Zion/Jerusalem’s “rising from the dust” similarly includes the idea of resurrection (Isaiah 52:2). Word links between the two passages—“rising” (qwm) from the “dust” (‘apar)—establish the context in which resurrection occurs: at the end-time reversal of circumstances between Zion and Babylon. As the earth regenerates, so do God’s elect (Isaiah 65:17–25).

Death passes from the earth when the wicked are gone and people no longer transgress: “He will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the shroud that shrouds all nations, by abolishing death forever. My Lord Jehovah will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the reproach of his people from throughout the earth” Isaiah 25:7–8). 

​Physical Regeneration in the Millennial Age
Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth brings with it a complete metamorphosis of all that lives. Existence as we know it entirely disappears as all life becomes new. Living things regenerate and sickness passes away: “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame leap like deer, and the tongue of the dumb shout for joy. Water shall break forth in the wilderness and streams [flow]in the desert. The land of mirages shall become one of lakes, the thirsty place springs of water; in the haunt of howling creatures [shall marshes break out], in the reserves shall come rushes and reeds” (Isaiah 35:5–7).

Jehovah’s coming touches people collectively and individually: “I dwell on high in the holy place and with him who is humble and lowly in spirit, refreshing the spirits of the lowly, reviving the hearts of the humble” (Isaiah 57:15); “Your heart shall rejoice to see it, your limbs flourish like sprouting grass” (Isaiah 66:14); “I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, my blessing upon your posterity. They shall shoot up like grass among streams of water, like willows by running brooks” (Isaiah 44:3–4). Life lengthens: “The lifetime of my people shall be as the lifetime of a tree; my chosen ones shall outlast the work of their hands” (Isaiah 65:22).

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Isaiah Chapter 39
Upon his recovery from illness and Jehovah’s victory over Assyria, Hezekiah gains notoriety.  We see here King Hezekiah as a Savior-King and as an example for Endtime Savior-Kings in the Endtime Servant and the 144,000 Servants.

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Hebrew Study

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Resource Links for this Week's Portion

TORAH: Numbers 22:2-25:9
GOSPELS: Matthew 21:1-11

Listen and Read the Portion
First Fruits of Zion

Torah Pearls with Nehemia Gordon

HAFTARAH: Isaiah Chapter 40

Commentary with Avraham Gileadi, PhD