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Devarim/Words

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

Isaiah 1:1-27

The first 3 chapters of Deuteronomy begin with such hope and promise; if only the Children of Israel could have ‘stayed the course’ (if only we could ‘stay the course’).  Unfortunately, we have to leave the joy of these chapters and move on to the haftorah portion (Isaiah 1:1-27), for a ‘reality check’!  If I were to give this section a title it would be: “the inconvenient cost of righteous adjustment”. Can you even imagine that God has to call the people that He created for His pleasure, with the promises outlined in those first chapters of Deuteronomy, Sodom and Gomorrah? Can you even imagine if you had to address one of your children by a name that you reserved for describing a person that is despicable and reprobate?  Take a moment to feel the Father’s heart! 

Isaiah 1:4: “I have nourished and brought up children, they have rebelled against Me…” Is 1:2.  “They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.”  Not exactly that warm fuzzy love talk of a Parent, excited about how great their kids are turning out…. Let me quote some of Isaiah 5, so you can hear God’s heart of promise for His vineyard (Israel):  “Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it”; So, He expected it to bring forth good grapes… and now back to Isaiah 1:4: “So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, As a hut in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city…” 

A “booth” instead of a glorious dwelling place for the Lord of Glory!  In our modern times you could go as far as calling this a “porta potty”!  What a contrast!  “A garden of cucumbers”; instead of a vineyard that produces grapes for worshipping God and making His people glad!  “A besieged city”; instead of a city on a hill, the light to the world!  Then in verse 9 He mentions leaving a “remnant”, less they become like Sodom and Gomorrah.  Oh, the mercy of God, look how He addresses them in verse 10: “Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of

Gomorrah”. I can’t even begin to imagine how broken His heart must have been. I will have to move on but be sure to spend some time reading the verses and feeling God’s heart.  And now for some hope:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land.”

But whenever righteousness comes, it has to drive out what was there.  Since the Lord is dealing with flesh and blood, whether it’s His First Born Israel, or us, His bride (Jew and Gentile), there are some practical realities to the changes He brings into our lives.  Unfortunately, many times we have developed, let’s say certain comforts, that are a result of bad behavior.  It’s so easy to sit in church service and love the time of deliverance or a touch of God, and struggle with the ‘cost’ of what those changes might be to our personal lives. Isaiah 1:25,26:  “I will turn My hand against you, And thoroughly] purge away your dross, And take away all your alloy. 26 I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”  Those goosebumps you felt at that meeting, could temporarily be replaced by a “yikes”, when the ‘demolition team’ shows up, to help build “the city of righteousness” that He promised that day in your church meeting.  So today, with the grace of God, let’s be reminded of how His love has ‘planted’ us also as a “choice vine”, with great promises, as we live with the gift of the fear of the Lord.  by john eisner

Mattot/Massei/tibes/journeys

Numbers 30:32-36:13

Isaiah 66:1-24

New King James Version ³ Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” 1 Samuel 15:3

Kind of funny place to start talking about the love of God…

When I saw that the haftorah portion this week was Isaiah 66, I was excited about all the possibilities of insight in those verses, but I felt the Lord’s emphasis for me was to remain in Numbers and explore a bit of His heart there. At first, I didn’t even want to read the verses in Numbers (30:2-36:13); it was a lot to read, and I wasn’t sure what I might ‘find’ there; and besides, Isaiah 66 was like fishing in a ‘stocked pond’; full of impressive truths!

To begin with, Numbers is full of ‘numbers’ and the tendency, at least for me, is to skip over all those names and enumerations.  One day I realized that those ‘numbers’ represent lives of people that were captured by God’s love into His story; and I wanted to note their names and be willing to have my heart be moved by Holy Spirit, in case He had something to say.  The Holy One of Israel begins preparing the people to get the land of their inheritance with an eye on vows, borders, and boundaries.  So, it seems to me He doesn’t just want bodies occupying space in the land, but the posture of their hearts and a recognition of His plans to give them a land that may presently be occupied by others; but ordained by heaven for them.  Unfortunately, they don’t just get to pray their way into their boundaries, but it may take physical force to take over. (How inconvenient!)  “Wait a minute here, God!  We have been slaves for over 400 years, we aren’t soldiers!”  “I have given you the land!”, God.  First off, vows like they may have said, need to go into the ‘heap of unbelief’ that will defeat them and cut them off from God’s purposes and promises and then they need to take a deep breath and begin to realize that He really means it!  He not only means it; it’s a lot of land with a lot of people in the way and these folks are unwilling to have a ‘going away parade’ as they leave.

Before I wrap up, I want to comment on the I Samuel passage I began with: a number of years ago I came upon this verse and was personally challenged by the idea that God is love and all He does is love.  So how could He expect these people, His first born, to do something so horrific in His name, and learn to rule and live in His kind of love?  So rather than search the internet for some commentaries to help me navigate this conundrum, I stopped for a moment and asked Him.  The ‘answer’ came as a kind of picture or video in my mind (?), suddenly I saw what I could only describe as a great waterfall; even mightier than Niagara Falls!  The ‘water’ was actually made up of millions of people’s faces that came rushing by in such a blur that it seemed like water.  Then I saw the One True God, Who lives outside of time; take each person’s face into His ‘hands’ and with love unimaginable, stare into their eyes, with tears in His; as they were individually sentenced to death…I know these words can’t adequately communicate the emotion of that moment; but it helped me realize that even what may seem harsh and unloving from our perspective, can be carried out with unending love, on the part of our Father.  All that He does is love and He doesn’t have to set that love aside to move in other emotions or actions!

So back to taking the land: what could that mean for us today?  Let’s look at the “borders and boundaries” that our Lord may have uniquely in mind for each of our lives and trust Him to accomplish some of that with our personal actions on earth; in these bodies; with the people and circumstances surrounding our lives.  Maybe we could begin with some of our “vows” that seem so reasonable in helping us avoid the discomfort of that ‘Godly disruption’ to our plans… Or, “God, forbid!” we might have to “kill every man, woman and child” in our circumstances!  He has “given us the land”, and maybe we need to be reminded of the extent of the ‘boundaries’ that He has in mind and prepare to take that land and glorify God with our lives. by john eisner

Pinchas/Phineas

Numbers 25:10-30:1

Jeremiah 2:13-22

Let’s start at the ‘end’ of the haftorah portion for this week: Jeremiah 2:21

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.

How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?

How differently we may have appraised our life situations had we seen ourselves from God’s perch of seeing us: “a noble vine, a seed of highest quality”, rather than our carnal scales that we measured with…how differently this alien vine may have come out.

So now let’s go to the ‘beginning’:

For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

It’s funny how sometimes we perceive those “fountains of living waters” (God’s word) difficult to drink while we lean over to get water from the broken cisterns (that hold no water) instead; that our free wills go for…A rational observer might think it looks rather self-destructive. (Did you know that when God’s people turned to foreign gods; those people couldn’t understand why they chose their gods over the Holy One of Israel?). As we move through the consequences of drinking from these ‘cisterns’ and their false gods and altars: Israel becomes a servant; a slave; is plundered; their land becomes a waste land; their cities burned; they are humiliated, and God says: “have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God? Your own wickedness will correct you”.  I have wondered if what we call “God’s judgement” isn’t that at all, but rather the result of the type of atmosphere and leadership of the realms of darkness that get chosen when we quit drinking from the “fountain of living waters”. This is how those false gods treat their ‘subjects’! He doesn’t need to punish us; “Your own wickedness will correct you”. v20: “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ 

So, His sovereignty frees them to their own desires and the false sense of security in their own strength or goodness.  (they unfortunately didn’t realize that it was His presence that made them ‘good’).  To continue that false sense of personal goodness: v22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God. Our hope is exclusively in the Lord and the blood of Jesus!

God’s sovereignty expressed is in Numbers 25: 10-13  

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

His glorious sovereignty and purposes create ‘riverbanks’ or barriers (fences around the pasture of His sovereignty), that keep us from being completely lost. We do at times arrive at the outer perimeters of the embrace of His perfect will and love.  Finding ourselves beaten and battered, from the consequences of our ‘free will’ decisions…Unfortunately many times our inclination is to blame Him for our difficulties and heartaches, rather than to fall into His tender arms of love that have kept us from utter destruction. I know we may not see ourselves as serving other gods and wandering that far from the “fountain of living waters”, but let’s take a moment and see ourselves as that “noble vine, a seed of highest quality”.  Though our circumstances may not be all that we desire or think we deserve, we are a noble vine that the Lord has planted in this life of ours, and a “seed of highest quality” will produce exactly what He has in mind!  Our greatest weapon may be to be thankful, which will destroy all the lies of the realms of darkness, that come against us to question who we are and Whose we are. Today, let’s fight for a heavenly perspective of our lives and choose thanksgiving and the Love of the Holy One of Israel. by john eisner

Balak/Balak

Numbers 22:2-25:9

Micah 5:6-6:8

When reading the story of Balak, it’s hard to get past the part of his donkey speaking to him and all the roads we could go down with that.  It kind of makes you want to keep an eye on your dog or other pets in case you are missing something God might be saying…just in case.  With our dog’s present silence on the matter, I will venture into other areas in this week’s torah portion:

Numbers 23: 21-23 He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel.  The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of the King is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox.  For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel.  It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, “Oh, what God has done!”

Before I go to the highlighted part of this verse I would like to make a general observation: from God’s perspective He sees His people through a ‘lens’ that we would think is a bit distorted.  He goes on about how there is no wickedness or sorcery etc, and yet He says how wicked they are and unfaithful, by serving other gods…  Maybe we can take some comfort in the possibility that He sees us similarly because of the blood of Jesus.  I don’t mean here to inject ‘false grace’ and make a case for unbridled bad behavior on our part, but the Father’s heart is coming through.  Now, about the part of the verse that caught my attention: and the shout of the King is among them: I love what Christie (my wife) alludes to in reference to the word “shout”, because in the Hebrew it’s the word “teruah”.  This can be a shout, or trumpet blast, a joyous sound, a call to war, and a few other options.  What’s cool in Hebrew, words are pictures and emotions, so it can be all of these things and more. Anyway, there is a biblical Feast called Yom Teruah (also called Rosh haShanah), that is the first of the Fall Feasts and points to the return of the Lord for His bride.  So, in a prophetic way, back in numbers, the Lord God Almighty is ‘pointing’ to a Day in the future for His people. The thought I had (I believe if you ‘park’ here for a while, many options for this “shout” could strike your heart): the incredible sovereignty of God and the comfort to His people, along with a warning to their enemies. This of course seems to be regardless of their waywardness and unbelief. He has an investment in them, which involves more than legalism, but rather His heart, and His “shout”; His voice that overcomes all, is constantly shepherding them and protecting them, today and for all time.  As the section ends: “Oh, what God has done!”  Even though this “shout” was meant for Israel, let’s have it resonate in our spirits, as His people; Jew and Gentile, that have been brought together into the household of God, by the blood of Jesus, the Jewish Man, our Bridegroom God! by john eisner

Ps: another thought about that word “the shout of the King is among them”: in western thinking this is a truth; a point in a theology or thought; a data point…one dimensional!  In Hebrew thought it has a multi-level meaning; even one that spans time.  If you ‘allow’ it to live so to speak through time, it becomes the promise of a future event as well as an immediate comfort or presence. It can also mean an influence upon a people; one that can create an atmosphere of life. Allow yourself to unpack the potential of this term; cast off that western mindset; let yourself soar with the Holy One of Israel, that breathed this word. je

Chukat/Statute

Numbers 19:1-22:1

Judges 11:1-33

The Torah portion this week (Numbers 19:1-22:1) is so full of themes that could speak to us, that it would be like ‘fishing in a stocked pond’, so I welcome you all to spend some time there and see what the Lord would speak to you. I chose this week the harder road and ventured into the haftorah portion (Judges 11:1-33), fortunately it ended short of causing even more intellectual confusion and consternation for our protagonist, Jephthah, with possibly having to sacrifice his only daughter…The reading begins with the birth of Jephthah, one of the “mighty men of Israel”,  a leader in the land.  This birth is complicated by the fact that his mother was a prostitute, thus the other brothers from his dad’s wife, drove him out of the house, where he grew to be a leader of thieves in another town.  After a time, the people of Ammon made war against the children of Israel, based on an earlier conflict (Numbers 21).  This conflict must have been used by the Holy One of Israel, to expose some weaknesses in their leadership and possibly also make a point about honoring their family ties.  The inept leadership of the people reach out ironically to this rejected thief, Jephthah.  Oh, how God writes a story…Jephthah agrees to come and save their sorry behinds if they agree to restore him to his people and make him their leader!  Can you even imagine the pleasure he must have felt to have them admit the deplorable way they treated him and their need for his wisdom and leadership?  Man, how a right heart could be challenged by this!  Of course, the Lord gives him the victory and the rest is history.  What can we learn here about our own hearts and ways?  Was it Jephthah’s fault that his mom was a prostitute?  Did that circumvent God’s plans for him and the grace of leadership and wisdom upon his life?  What does it say about our religious systems that can miss God’s ways?  Let’s consider some of our judgements against those in our midst that we may have unfairly discredited.  Is there anyone we need to ‘go to’ and possibly repent for our behavior?  Are we promoting some of the wrong people to leadership and missing the truly gifted and anointed?  May God and HIs word find good soil in our hearts and lives today. by john eisner

Korach/Korah

Numbers 16:1-18:32

1 Samuel 11:14-12:22

One of the lessons from this week’s portion may be: Be careful, you might get what you asked for!

I will try to keep this pretty simple and direct, though there are so many ‘cul de sacs’ we could wander down. Here are a couple of irresistible ones: 1) You know we sometimes cry out for the “new thing” God might do, well in Numbers 16:30, He does what He calls a “new thing” and the earth opens up and swallows a whole group of families (women and children included); literally opens up and ‘swallows’ them alive! Are we ready for God’s “new thing” in our days…be careful what you ask for!  2) In 1 Samuel haftorah portion, the people decide that maybe God’s ways of using Godly prophets to watch over them, isn’t as impressive as the nations around them being governed by kings.  What is their ‘wise’ counsel to Samuel?  “We demand a king, like the other nations!”. Samuel tries to warn them about how kings will plunder their wealth and families; not to mention that God sees a king over them as outside of His blessings upon the nation and an affront to His leadership. “Give us a king; like the other nations (“Give us a new thing!”)! We want to look smart and sophisticated like them; God is so ‘old school’!”.  (Of course, we would never find ourselves saying anything like that)  You might want to see how ‘glorious’ things got under Saul’s kingly leadership if you read further in 1 Samuel and beyond…  I think they got what they asked for, sort of; just like the other nations.  The thing we need to get our minds around here is the contrast between the way the ‘world system’ rules and God’s leadership.  The world system: no matter how good it looks, wants to basically own you and control you; whereas God is such a kind and great leader, that when He is glorified, we are changed and become free (a very short version of deep truths).

For some reason this struck me:  the “fire of God” came down at the request of Korah and his buddies as they swung their sensors, just like the real priests did.  Only one problem here: the “fire of God” which is a holy thing, was meant to consume the sacrifice; not the ‘sacrificer’…  Uh, oh! Be careful what you ask for!  Oh, how we need the “fire of God” and for Him to do a “new thing”; but the key here is that we ask according to His terms; His ways; His righteousness; and His reputation.  So today may be a great day to take a step back and check a combination of the kinds of things we may be demanding of God and His leadership over our lives.  I don’t mean some kind of paranoia or fear of noticing things that aren’t okay but looking to Him for solutions; His word; and the help of Holy Spirit to set things under His care and leadership.  Be careful what you ask for; but don’t be afraid to ask!  by john eisner

Ps. Ananias and Sophira were chapter 5 of acts ‘recipients’ of one of God’s new things…..

Shelach/Send out!

Numbers 13:1-15:41

Joshua 1: 1-24

Let me start at the ‘end’ so we can appreciate the ‘beginning’:

Salmon and Rahab were the father and mother of Boaz. Boaz and Ruth were the father and mother of Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse… Matthew 1:5

It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Hebrews 11:31

(I just thought I would add a little note here, which you may have already processed in the torah portion: The “bad report” isn’t that there are “giants in the land”, the “bad report” is what we often do in our personal lives: we forget what the Lord has said: “I have given you the land”. I don’t mean to insult us with the obvious, but I need to fill my mind with what God has said; and be less distracted with the circumstances surrounding me that try to testify against what God says.

Obviously much has been written and could be written about this section of Numbers and there is much of course to learn from it.  The haftorah is also one of those chapters that has gotten a lot of attention, so what I’m going to say may be obvious if not worn out by others, so please bear with me.  We have these ‘spies’ who really are more like prophetic characters that get to prepare the people for what God is about to do for His holy people. The first clue that God is at work, is that He sends them to someone who really knows what’s going on in the land.  Someone who speaks to the mighty and powerful and the common: a prostitute! He is so ‘clever’!  They get confirmation of what the Lord had already said, so just to make sure, she prophesied to them:

10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

Considering she just confirms what they already know, there must be another reason they are here: It’s preparation for the coming Messiah!  Wait a minute, how could God insert something that seems so far off and unconnected, into a moment that could be life and death for the Children of Israel?  Doesn’t He realize that this prostitute could negatively affect the reputation of these servants of God?  I just love God’s economy; He cares about this woman!  So, He sets up her ‘salvation’ and that of her entire household!  He is also so efficient!  Then He does something, I believe to even speak to us today; He puts her in the lineage of Jesus the Jewish Messiah (maybe a little Jew and Gentile foretaste also).  Spend some time here and you will mine riches that I don’t have time to explore, but how about this week we take some time to look at some of the people in our lives or families, that could play the part of Rahab.  Have we judged them or avoided them; have we been afraid of “casting pearls before swine” and never showed them any tenderness or care?  Are we worried about “what it would look like if we were seen speaking to them”?  What if they have something to say to us?  We are exactly like those spies, in the land of promise if we allow ourselves to see it. Our lives can be full of adventure without even going somewhere else!  Father, open our eyes to see the ‘Rehabs’ all around us, so we can experience the exhilaration of being ‘spies in the land’! by john eisner

Beha’alotcha/When You raise

Numbers 8:1-12:16

Zechariah 2:10-4:7

When reading Numbers, it’s easy to either be distracted or overly conscious of the rules, regulations, or just the numbers enumerated therein. Take a ‘step back’ for a moment and consider who these words are written to. Not long before these words were presented to them, they had been slaves in an advanced and beautiful society for over four hundred years, under the rulership and domain of the realms of darkness. Keep in mind that the ten plagues weren’t just ‘pressure’ put upon the Egyptian people and their leadership; but the Holy One of Israel was judging the gods of this world! This demonic atmosphere that had the children of Israel in bondage, was full of power and demonstration of these false gods. Yes, there was incredible beauty, culture and science, but it was in a context of worship for these entities that wanted to corrupt and destroy God’s first born In a way the Children of Israel were like Joshua the High Priest mentioned in Zechariah; being opposed by satan himself; being as a people clothed in filthy rags, as subjects to that demonic realm. As we read in Numbers this week, these people are being prepared to ‘host’ the presence of God in His tabernacle. Remember; over four hundred years of being subject to the gods of this world with no sense of who they really were! (Ezekiel describes the effect of the Tabernacle in their midst: 16:14 “Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor (read verses 16:10-13a) which I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord God”). 

This week’s Torah portion describes the preparations of one of these families to be holy and handle the precious things of God for the benefit of His people, from utter darkness to unimaginable light! So, you can now see how the torah portion and the haftorah are connected, with the description of Joshua’s defilement as the High Priest who was being ‘visited’ by these same evil spirits that tried to enslave the children of Israel for all eternity; “but God!”

So today whether you have a history of bad behavior or been tempted or lied to about your standing before the Living God, Who has spoken for you…know that over four hundred years of living in complete darkness couldn’t put out the light of God in His people and His promises.  Lay hold of His promises for you today, let Him take off the ‘filthy garments’, and put a beautiful robe and a clean ‘turban’ on you and know today you are a beautiful bride and holy priest before the Only, True and Living God! by john eisner

Bonus thought: Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Messiah Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.

Numbers 4:21-7:89

Judges 13:2-25

I can’t explain all that I feel whenever I read Numbers; it’s so easy just to ‘skirt’ through it and whiz by all the numbers and names of the tribes; people, and families mentioned. Think of it; first of all, what an amazing thing it would be to see your name written in the holy word of God…! There is something so personal about it from God’s perspective, even a kind of ‘honoring’ the fact that we live in a fallen world, and it doesn’t put off, the Lord of Glory, from being personally involved in what is going on in our lives. I have to admit I don’t feel like I have any great insights into why this particular haftorah was chosen, except for the most obvious: the Nazarite vow is mentioned in chapter 6 of the Book of Numbers. What can we personally gain here in our understanding of the Living God and our relationship with Him? Is there something important here concerning Samson’s mother: barren and seemingly without a name; but “What Lord”?  What is uniquely here for us to see without reading ahead and learning more about Samson’s exploits? I even heard someone say that the whole Nazarite vow (especially one that involves an entire life) is more like a prophetic word to the people, than just a person who is set apart for personal devotion.

In the Jewish culture and practice, wine was for celebration with God and man, and when someone is asked to abstain from this, it’s making a statement of God’s displeasure with His people and needing to ‘withhold’ celebration, which always involves His presence… I know, this is probably quite a stretch, so I still need to say: “what is here for me to see, with what is written?”.  Maybe the focus here isn’t so much unlocking the mysteries of a person so set apart for the Lord; what if it’s not about Samson at all? What if it’s really about his barren, nameless mom? What if it’s a word of encouragement to each of us, when our lives seem at times to be “barren and nameless”? God’s ‘numbering system’ doesn’t overlook our brokenness and struggle as we cry out. His lovingkindness answers and produces great signs and wonders, even as He produced for this woman, in the form of a mighty deliverer for His people! 

So, if this week you felt a little “barren and nameless”, use the occasion to cry out to the One Who knows every hair on your head, and is about to do an amazing thing with your ‘cry’.  We serve such an awesome God! He will write your name in the Book of Life! by john eisner

Bamidbar/In the wilderness

Numbers 1:1 – 4:20

Hosea 1:10 – 2:22

As usual there is enough to write a large volume here, so I will just endeavor to stir your heart and interest to spend some time in these verses and ‘discover gold and silver’. Numbers begins, as you would expect, and ‘numbers’ the children of Israel. Since God however has chosen us (Jews and Gentiles) from before the foundation of the world and knows each of us; we aren’t just enumerated in His counting but personally set apart for His love and life before Him, all of our days. So, know, oh dear lover of the Living God, that you (Gentile), as well as His First Born, aren’t just a number in His glorious ‘spreadsheet’ of creation!  Before we venture over to the haftorah in Hosea, I just want to note that Numbers is like a starting point for His people to express the wonders of the God of Israel before the nations. It’s like a parents’ plans for their children’s future with all their best intentions for them, and notice that He takes time to note their names… 

Hosea ‘picks’ the story up a bit later in their history: how are these ‘hopes and aspirations’ being played out in real time? I feel that the first word in Hosea 1:10, gives a bit of warning for their condition: “yet”; though it may be used to indicate their condition; it is followed with the evidence of God’s heart and promise of redemption. Isn’t it awesome that we serve a God that doesn’t shy away from showing His best for us even in the negative circumstances of our lives (even the self-imposed ones). Here are a few of the ‘words’ flowing out of His “yet”: “Shall be as the sand of the sea”, “You are the sons of the Living God”, “Gathered together”, “My people”, and “Mercy is shown”…and this is mere a prelude to what is still ahead.  Let’s now take a look at some of the causes of His “yet”: “Harlotries; adulteries; behaved shamefully; went after other lovers (false gods); she gave the elements meant to serve the One True God (My bread, My water, My wool, My linen, My oil, My drink, etc) to the false gods she pursued! Yet the Father’s love, “walls her in with hedges of thorns; keeps her from overtaking her false gods and unable to completely serve them”…”then she will say, “I will go and return to my first Husband, for then it was better for me than now “”. Just like in the Book of Joel, He removes the grain, new wine, wool, linen and other crops that were used to “cover Israel’s nakedness” through the use of these elements in the tabernacle and the temple for sacrifices and celebrating their position as His people before the nations. Stop here for a moment and consider how tender it is for Him to see it as “covering their nakedness”; as we are all ‘naked’ without His covering us also.

In Hosea 2:10 the “lewdness” of serving these gods is seen for what it is, though these false gods require all sorts of perversion from those that serve them. In vs 11 He lets us see the Biblical Feasts as what caused mirth and rejoicing among His people. In vs 12 He will expose the lie that the false gods were capable of bringing any kind of blessing or abundance. Hear His heart in vs 13: “But Me she forgot, says the Lord”; how amazing that He cares and can be hurt…  So how does He deal with this apostasy and unfaithfulness? Hosea 2:14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her”.

Take a moment and experience with Israel, the God we serve!  “She will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up from the land of Egypt”  “You will call Me  my Husband” “I will take from her mouth the names of the false gods” “I will betroth you to Me forever…in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy, I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord”.  Soak it in!  Soak in it! Let it rearrange your mind and heart. He then goes on to restore all that they needed to worship Him and have a life of abundance and joy. Oh, what a God we have been invited in to know!  by john e