Parasha Chukat: Day 6

Bamidbar/Numbers 21:21-22:1

Sometimes blessings mean that man is in the will of the Almighty; however, other times blessings are just blessings such as rain being sent on the righteous and wicked alike. It would be great to believe that Israel was walking in the great blessings of YHVH because of obedience. To some extent, that is probably true. Unfortunately, the whole story accounts for Israel still doing what was right in their own sight up until the day the crossed over the Jordan river. A point and case would be the fact that for forty years Israel did not circumcise their boys on the eighth day or any day until the last of the wilderness experience.

Being the people of the Book means that YHVH does favor those that belong to Him. If by favor, one is to understand that His eyes are ever upon His possession. If they do good, they are blessed. If they do evil, then curses encroach around the corner. What may be seen as blessings to Israel, could just be curses to the nations that surround Israel and the beginning of tests for Israel to overcome. Those that are Israel are the apple of YHVH's eye. That means that they are in the center of His attention and the mark for His desire to walk in all of His ways. They are the first to be noticed when they are righteous or when evil abounds.

The people displaced by Israel in the land of the Amorites were passed their time in regards to the days YHVH allowed them to remain in that land. As for Moab and Ammon, they were the sons of Lot and had an inheritance that the Father had granted them until such a day or recompense for their evil deeds occurs. To be honest, many in Israel probably were trying to do walk in some form of the Covenant. Yet, it is showed that many of the children of Israel still lusted after other nations customs and alliances as Phineas stayed one of the last plagues mentioned in Torah to come upon Yah's people.

The outcome for us is that we must be very discerning when thinking that we are walking in blessing in stark contrast to just having YHVH's attention focused on us as His people. Just like our ancestral counterparts, we can succumb to blessings for the nations if their obedience is greater than ours, or due to their expulsion from the land in which we currently abide. It is easy to mistake good fortune as blessings. Furthermore, most of us desire to be blessed so it is easily mistaken for approval.

No matter how well we do or how far we come in our journey with the Almighty, we will be expected to continue in Covenant and to improve upon what perfection we have in Messiah. This cannot be done in and of ourselves, but quite the opposite—we must lose ourselves so that Yeshua is gained. The blessings will come to those that do righteousness, but YHVH will by no means allow the guilty to go unpunished.

Dwell upon 2 Peter 7-10, "...and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then YHVH knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority."