Chukkat (Regulation) Parashah 39

B'midbar 19:1~22:1

12 Tamuz 5769/July 4, 2009

A Being a regular year, we have a double parshiyot this week. The first parashah #39 is: Chukkat and the second #40 is Balak. There is an amazing amount of study in these portions but I want to focus this morning on Chukkat, because I belive hidden under its obvious surface is an element of testing that demonstrates what true spiritual maturity looks like.In addition we also get a look at the human side of Moshe which we don't see very often.

Ultimately a condition of true spiritual maturity lies in kavana, a genuine repentance for sins that draws from as its source, a heart of contrition. This is G-D's way and it is not the easiest nor is it always the first considered way. With a lack of faith once again in G-D's perfect provision for His people, becoming a contagion, we find B'nei Yisra'el complaining against the leadership and ultimately against ADONAI once again.

Read B'midbar Ch 20:1~5 pg 172

It's in an astounding wave of actions, following on the heels of the Korach rebellion, when ADONAI through new and supernatural manifestations had confirmed the rites and the order of His chosen leadership, that B'nei Yisra'el continue to rebel and speak against these Divinely appointed leaders.They had just experienced first hand the consequences of disobedience and rebellion in the deaths of around 15,000 people, and now they present themselves as if they had never witnessed any account of it.

Just what was it that they were angrily kvetching about now? First of all they were without water, and and in their wilderness experience this was the third recorded time of such a concern which leads us to understand that provision was adequately made in the first two situations, so why is now an issue?

The second concern levied against Moshe was their disappointment that they were still alive. The absence of water was certain death in the wilderness climate, but they complained because they didn't have it, and if somehow it were to miraculously appear they would live. What a bummer! Confusion abounds in the camp with the abandonment of ADONAI.

The third conflict of dispute was the age old (probably almost 40 yrs now) question as to why Moshe forced them to leave Mitsrayim only to bring them and their livestock into a wilderness void of grains (seed), figs, vines, pomegranates or even water.

B I would imagine that another attitude adjustment program Divinely initiated would hardly bring about any other results that would be different to their current situation, so what was the underlying problem? I believe that they had lost hope, the lives of their disobedient parents and grandparents had been strewn across and under the wilderness floor, so their own lives seemingly of little value now in their present circumstances, ushered in a feeling of hopelessness.

When one falls into a state of hopelessness, the first tendency is to turn away from ADONAI, and find someone to pin the blame on (in this case the leadership) for the shameful condition they find themselves in. Yirmeyahu 17:13 states:"Hope of Yisra'el ADONAI! All who abandon You will be ashamed, those who leave you will be inscribed in the dust, because they have abandoned ADONAI, the source of Living Water."

C The state of hopelessness attacks ones memory, the reason for the wilderness experience has been forgotten, and the accusations against Moshe for making them leave Mitsrayim and bringing them there were unfounded. If they would only remember the words of Torah in Sh'mot 2:23~25 where it states: "Sometime during those many years the king of Egypt died, but the people of Isra'el still groaned under the yoke of slavery, and they cried out, and their cry for rescue from slavery came up to G-d. G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered his covenant with Avra- ham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov. God saw the people of Isra'el, and G-d ack- nowledged them."

Read Sh'mot Ch 3:6~10 pg 62

The text indicates that the blame for B'nei Yisra'el being taken out of Mitzrayim was not Moshe's fault, but it was a result of G-D Divinely intervening in response to their cries to be redeemed from slavery. Moshe as we know from Sh'mot 4:10~17 really didn't even want the task of leadership. And how quickly they forgot that the reason for their being in the wilderness in the first place, was because of disobedience and rebellion, after spying out the land.

B'midbar 14:31~35 we see the consequence of disobedience. We can always chose to be obedient or disobedient, but we cannot chose the consequences. The text states: "But your little ones, who you said would be taken as booty - them I will bring in. They will know the land you have rejected. But you, your carcasses will fall in this desert; and your children will wander about in the desert for forty years bearing the consequences of your prostitutions until the desert eats up your carcasses. It will be a year for every day you spent reconnoitering the land that you will bear the consequences of your offenses - forty days, forty years. Then you will know what it means to oppose me! I, ADONAI, have spoken.' I will certainly do this to this whole evil community who have assembled together against me - they will be destroyed in this desert and die there."

The taxing of the memory in its contribution to hopelessness also applied to their forgetting ADONAI's words to Moshe in Sh'mot 19:3~6: Moshe went up to G-d, and ADONAI called to him from the mountain: "Here is what you are to say to the household of Ya'akov, to tell the people of Isra'el: 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will pay careful attention to what I say and keep my covenant, then you will be my own treasure from among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart.'These are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra'el."

          The words of the Prophet Yesha'yahu in Ch 40:31 states in part: "....but those who hope in ADONAI will renew their strength, they will soar aloft as with eagles' wings;"

So with our textual understanding as to why B'nei Yisra'el left Mitzrayim and why they were wandering around in the wilderness being quit clear then, it is probably fair to ascertain that they themselves knew the reasoning also. It really had nothing to do with Moshe, but had everything to do with themselves based on acts of their own choosing.

D       It's pretty easy for us a believers today to assault someone else's integrity in the face of what appears to be blatant sin in their lives. Let me ask you this;Have you ever levied false accusations against someone in a position of leadership,have you ever been guilty of Lashon Hara or gossip about a person in leadership, have you ever challenged the decisions that a leader has made without knowing all of the facts, or have you ever said about a leader: "I didn't vote for them," in such a way to suggest your disapproval of their leadership position?

Romans 13:1~2 states: "Everyone is to obey the governing authorities. For there is no authority that is not from G-d, and the existing authorities have been placed where they are by G-d. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities is resisting what G-d has instituted; and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves." Mishlei (Proverbs) 8:15~16 states: "By Me kings reign, and princes make just laws. By Me princes govern, nobles too, and all the earth's rulers."

  In our parashah Read B'midbar Ch 20:6~12 pg 172  We are told here, that Moshe and Aharon were guilty of losing faith in ADONAI by striking the Rock, and in D'varim Ch 1:37 Moshe goes so far in his hopeless situation of unrepentence that he blames Yisra'el for ADONAI's anger that prevents him from going into the land.

          Certainly we try to understand Moshe's logic and even tend to be a little sympathetic to his situation, after all B'nei Yisra'el spurred him on until he could no longer contain his anger and he strikes the rock, and this came on the heels of multiple backslidings and rebellions to boot. Moshe the greatest of prophets, and in his leadership capacity was expected by G-D to have taken responsibility for having organized a disasterous reconnoitering mission, and for losing his temper. G-D expected an admission of guilt in form of repentance, but understandably nevertheless incorrectly Moshe justifies himself by blaming someone else.

Like Yisra'el, including Moshe and Aharon, we tend to not accept responsibility for our mistakes and shortcomings. We don't want to be responsible for our own actions and thus we seek someone or something else out to affix the blame on.

E       We mentioned a test of true Spiritual Maturity earlier, what is the test? The test is this: When one stops blaming one's parents,one's boss,one's teacher,one's Rabbi, one's pastor, one's wife, one's husband, one's siblings, one's environment,one's society, one's president,one's government, etc. for one's transgressions, and shamefacedly blames oneself, with admission of his own guilt.

          Because of the difficulty and our tendency to have reservation concerning such, this kind of confession defines the very essence (fundamental nature or quality) of what repentance looks like. If this is true, then the essence of repentance needs to be a turning or returning of the heart rather than a verbal confession back to ADONAI.

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