Study over the celebration of "Pentecost" (feast of Weeks) and "B'Midbar"

HAG SAMEACH SHAVUOT  (Happy Pentecost/feast of Weeks) and "B'Bidbar" Parsha study;


Torah:  Lev 23:15-22,  Numbers 1:1-44 ,   HafTorah:  Hosea 2:1-22, 


Brit HaDasha:  1 Cor 12:12-20 and Acts 2 


This week we have a "double study".  We continue forward in our Torah study, starting in the book of Numbers, This is the "count" that YHVH orders Moshe to do, in order to "number" all the males in all the tribes 20 years old and older that are able to "go to war".  After the count, we count 603,550 soldiers from 12 tribes, with exception to the tribe of Levi, the men of that tribe are exempt from carrying sword and spear, since their concern is with the Mishkan, (the tabernacle) and the things of God. 


In today's Armed Forces, we can see something similar, the chaplains do not carry M16s or 45s, their job is to minister to the soldiers, the chaplain assistants though, can carry a rifle, they are like the levites, they minister to the needs of the chaplains, set up altar for services, when I was in the army, I was chaplain assistant for the catholic chaplain, and thus learned how to set up for mass.  


We serve a God of order, of discipline, ALL BELIEVERS are soldiers in the LORD's army, yet we fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities in the regions of darkness, we fight against demonic entities, Satan wants to destroy the ministry and work of all believers everywhere, it does not matter if we are Sabbath honoring messianic believers or Sunday/church going believers, we are ALL the enemy of HaSatan, and he is out to destroy, break up families, churches, synagogues, using all of his demons as "agents of darkness" to set traps for us all, so, we as soldiers must use Holy Writ, prayer, and the "Name of Yeshua" with the authority of His blood, as our powerful weapons, not forgetting we also have at our disposal, armies of angelic hosts. So, we are a powerful army.


LEVITICUS 23:15-22, tells us about "Shavuot" the "feast of weeks" that starts with the barley harvest, and goes through the wheat harvest, and the finally, the grapes, olives, and other fruit in the fall.  One necessary ingredient is the "rain" the "former rains" and "later rains" both play and part in the harvest, as the rain is still necessary today for all of our food crops.  There is the counting of the "omer" which was a 3.7 quart measurement of the "daily bread ration" for each family when they were in the desert.  When they left Egypt, they relied on God's provision of Manna, and they collected one "omer" each day, enough for a family, which probably consisted of a man and his wife, their children, and probably grandma and grandpa, so 3.7 quarts of wheat grains would be kneaded and baked into loaves of bread.  YHVH wants us to realize that we "rely of HIS provision" for our daily needs, that we need not worry about tomorrow,  but only for today.  Most of us when we look into our food pantry and refrigerator, we will find a lot more than an "omer's" worth of food, that is just the way we live these days, a lot more than enough for us and even some leftovers for the cockroaches and mice. 


On day 50, after counting 7 Sabbaths, the priest would "wave" two loaves of leavened bread before the LORD,  these two loaves have several meanings, but the most common is that the loaves represent you and me, believers in Yeshua, born again under Messiah's blood, who come to bow down before YHVH, and thus giving thanks for our daily needs, these loaves were also accompanied by animal sacrifices, of lambs, a goat, and a bull, remembering that only through the "blood" of Messiah, can we come before the LORD, which is who these animals represented back then, and we must remember that the 'leaven" is what we are made of, our "sin nature" we must present ourselves before YHVH just as we are, with all of our shortcomings, and sins, yet we come by the "blood of Messiah Yeshua" who is the ONLY one who can make us righteous. 


We also remember that on Shavuot, the Torah was given on Mt Sinai to all of Israel who came out of Egypt.  The Spirit of YHVH came to rest on the tabernacle in the glory cloud, and by "fire" by night.  1500 years later, the glory of YHVH came again, this time, the Holy Spirit came to rest on "people" that were gathered together in the temple, all were messianic believers who were there to celebrate Shavuot, and they received the presence of the Holy Spirit, who came to them in the guise of "tongues of fire" (Acts 2). so, back on Sinai, we see the "fire of YHVH" and we see again the "fire of YHVH" in Acts, the difference is that the Holy Spirit came to stay! and the Spirit came to "All believers" so today, "all believers" have the presence of God living inside of their "temples" (their own bodies) .  Just as you respect your church and synagogue, respect and care for your bodies, and just as you would not think of taking a can of spray paint and painting graffiti on your church/synagogue, so don't go to a tattoo parlor and get a "nice" tattoo, it doesn't matter if it is a butterfly or a cross, God says NO to that in his WORD!
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HOSEAS:  
  We see in Hoseas, that he was ordered by God to marry a prostitute! imagine that! poor guy,
yet we see this prophet as being obedient, and he did, he married "Gomer" and she was not faithful to her husband, but went sleeping around with other men, she was even sold into slavery, but because Hoseas loved her, he "bought" her back, forgave her, this is God's message to Israel, that even though he "married" Israel on that "Shavuot" day on Mt Sinai, Israel went after false gods, YHVH disciplined his people, drove them out of the land, but still loved her, he "bought" Israel with a price, the price of blood, Yeshua's blood, we are part of HIS people, and we have ALL been bought with a price, even though we are not always a "faithful" bride to HIM, He still loves us, and has forgiven us, yet we must "turn" (Teshuvah) from our "evil ways" and , as Yeshua said to the adulteress "go and sin no more" 
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ACTS 2, and 1 Corinthians
   We see that after the Spirit came to the New Testament believers, "gifts" of the spirit were also given, and as we are "one body in Messiah Yeshua" we all have different jobs or ministries to do in accordance to how the Holy Spirit gives the gifts and abilities, just as a soldier in the army has specific jobs or a certain "job" to do, so we also must be faithful to how YHVH has called us to do, be it a teacher-rabbi, pastor, administrator, finance manager, dance leader, musician, janitor, youth leader, grass cutter, prayer warrior, intercessor, counselor, a "listener" (which is a great gift to have, but many have the gift of "talkers" ) many times, too much so.  Be ye faithful in what you have through the Ruach HaKodesh, the rewards are many in the World to come.   


rabbi Ben Avraham