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What’s Your Frequency?

We begin this week’s parsha study

after having mourned both Miriam and

Aaron’s deaths. Israel continues to strive

though, evidenced prior to Aaron’s death

as they tested Moses at the waters of

Meribah. Moshe in a flash of anger struck

the rock that GOD used to bring the water

instead of ‘speaking’ to it. Thus those

were identified as the Waters of Meribah,

‘because the children of Israel strove with

The LORD’ (Num 20:13). Briefly,

merı yba h comes from Strongs# H4809 but

traces its root word back to Strongs# H7378.

Meribah, comprised of a Mem-Resh-Yod-Bet-Heh uses the Mem for a prefix letter

meaning ‘from out of’ and the Heh at the end is a suffix letter meaning ‘behold, to

reveal, or sigh’. Do you ever wonder when we stagger at God’s promises through

unbelief despite His remaining faithful, a disappointing sigh ever echoes through

Heaven? In the middle of Meribah is the root word ‘roob’. Comprised of a Resh-

Yod-Bet, and it means to grapple, to wrangle, that is, hold a controversy, chide,

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complain, contend, debate, or rebuke. In the Paleo it means ‘to strive’. On the

negative side when we as an individual strive, like our ancestors, tend to fall into

sin; like Ya’kov says ‘we ask, but we ask amiss’. We end up

striving for what we think is right, but if we would let

GOD be GOD then He would strive for us! On the

positive side in the Paleo it means to rule, master,

and to increase. The pictograph is a picture of a

head; the is a picture of the tent representing the

family. Combined these mean "head of the family".

The Father as the head of each family rules all cases, trials, conflicts and contests.

This person was the representative for the whole tribe, one abundant in authority

and wisdom. (Ex.18:25). When we stop striving amongst ourselves, GOD strives

for us—that is, He rules us as Master and increases us by allowing Him to settle

our conflicts within and without. When He chides it brings forth the peaceable fruit

of righteousness (Heb.12:11). When applied to man, in the renewed covenant we

see this same word found in the Greek translated into English for words such as

doubt, staggering, wavering, quarrel, strive and fight. When we chide, we invite

the poison of death like that demonstrated in the poisonous serpents sent as a

consequence of the congregation’s striving with Moses and Aaron. Now might be a

good time to ask yourself—as far as it depends upon you, is it well with your soul?

If not, why not? What are you striving with? Are you wavering at God’s promises?

Our journey through Torah thus far has taken us ‘around the mountain’ a

few times now and one of the dominating themes we continue to observe is Israel’s

‘Up again—Down again’ emotional roller-coaster mentality. Can we not take some

measure of comfort in seeing the folly of our ancestors? One moment they quarrel

and bicker, the next mourn and weep bitterly after being all but forced to repent for

their sin. All of these outpourings are certainly

reflective of a much deeper problem though, and if

evolution were a reality then our ancestors’ behavior

then and ours today most certainly flies in the face of

such contradictory evidence!

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For the moment, Israel is living

‘the high life’. They suffered for their

squabbling but appear to begin finally

learning when they stop striving and

allow GOD to strive for them, victory

is for the winning. In the unabridged

works of Josephus at this moment we

discover ‘Moses had pitched his camp

in the great plain over against Jericho.

This city is a very happy situation,

and very fit for producing palm trees

and balsam; and now the Israelites began to be very proud of themselves, and were

very eager for fighting. (Whiston, p.108).

HaShem’s Highway of

Holiness (Isa.35:8)

Initially however, Israel thought

to enter God’s promises using the

King’s Highway—how else should

God’s people enter into the land of

promise but by the King’s Highway!

Things are not always as they appear

though are they? The ‘King’s

Highway’ according to Holman’s

Bible Dictionary was at that time ‘the

major transportation route east of the

Jordan River. Literally ‘the way of the

king,’ this highway has been in continuous use for over 3,000 years. It runs from

Damascus to the Gulf of Aqabah and is the main caravan route for the

Transjordan”. (Holmans, p. 994) “Kings of the ancient Near East (Shulgi,

Mesopotamia and Moab) often boasted in their official inscriptions of their road-

building activities. These roadways, so important to the maintenance of political

and economic control of the nation, were probably kept in shape by government-

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sponsored corvée1 workers (2Sam.20:24, 1Ki. 9:15) or by the army. (Holman’s, pp.

1615-1616). If hindsight is 20/20 it almost appears that Israel begins their big push

to the promised land with their ‘kippahs in hand’ respectfully entreating the kings

after GOD had already declared long, long ago that HE would ‘drive out’ these

pagan nations from The Land2.

HaShem has placed us upon His road, but there are many conflicting and

confusing signs, and if we allow our heart to lead we will find ourselves either in

the service of a ‘false king’ as unpaid slave labor maintaining a ‘false-king’s

highway, or destroyed altogether. This is why Adonai repeatedly emphatically

declared ‘Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set’3.

This is where we begin today, with one man driven by fear—Balak, and

another by pride—Balaam; Two complimentary bedfellows of human nature

scheming together, both with a misguided hope and concerted effort to take

something good and use it for evil. But HaShem told us not to let our good be

spoken evil of4. Rather than abide in Yah’s truth, they would rather attempt to use

God to bring ruin to His people. By the way—this is what we do every time we

strive in our homes or in the corporate body of Messiah—which is why Ya’kov so

desperately declared, Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by

his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter

jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against

the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly,

natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder

and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,

gentle, reason-able, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make

peace5

1 1:unpaid labor, 2:labor exacted in lieu of taxes by public authorities.(Webster’s 11

th Edition Collegiate Dictionary)

2 (Ex.34:11-16)

3 Prov.22:28

4 Rom.14:16

5 Jam 3:8-18 NAS)

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Using the Natural to Teach the Spiritual

Throughout Scripture The LORD uses the natural to teach spiritual

principles. Just look at the parables Yeshua taught His disciples. All of these

agricultural references to seeds and

soil and fruit trees and thorns were

about choices to serve GOD or the

father of lies hasatan. But here we

have a man bent on using a gift God

has given him for monetary profit—a

religious mercenary perhaps?

Here we have a man who is a

known Sorcerer—a soothsayer if you

will. How do we deduct this? Numbers

22 verse 7 says ‘And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the

rewards of divination (Strongs#7081) in their hand; and they came unto Balaam,

and spake unto him the words of Balak’. To our shame Balaam in some ways

reminds us of ourselves. Not unlike Balaam, do we ever find ourselves speaking

ill-will of another person? Didn’t Ya’akov tell us ‘Therewith bless we God, even

the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of

God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these

things ought not so to be’6. In Psalm 34 King David said ‘Who is the man who

desires life, And loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue

from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit7. And we know what happened to

Balaam in the end8.

The word there for divination comes from Strongs# H7081 קסם qesem, keh'-

sem, meaning a lot; also divination (including its fee), oracle: - (reward of)

divination, divine sentence, witchcraft. The word traces back to H7080 קסם kaw-

sam’, a primitive root; properly to distribute, that is, determine by lot or magical

scroll; by implication to divine: - divine (-r, -ation), prudent, soothsayer, use

[divination]. Now, if we examine these words closely as defined by Merriam

6 Jam 3:9-10 KJV

7 Psa 34:12-13 NAS

8 Num.31:8

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Webster himself, English translator of The King James Bible and creator of the

most widely recognized dictionary in the English language, this is what we learn;

A. Divine, v.t. [L.] 1. To foreknow; to foretell; to presage.

2. To deify. To use or practice divination. 3. To utter presages or

prognostications. The prophets thereof divine for money. Micah 3.

B. Witchcraft [witch and craft.] 1. The practices of witches; sorcery;

enchantments; intercourse with the devil. 2. Power more than natural. He

hath a witchcraft over the king ins tongue.

C. Soothsayer n. A foreteller; a prognosticator; one who undertakes to foretell

future events without inspiration.

D. Inspiration n. [L. inspiro.] The act of drawing air into the lungs; the

inhaling of air; 3. The infusion of ideas into the mind by the Holy Spirit; the

conveying into the minds of men, ideas, notices or monitions by

extraordinary or supernatural influence; or the communication of the divine

will to the understanding by suggestions or impressions on the mind, which

leave no room to doubt the reality of their supernatural origin. All Scripture

is given by inspiration of God. 2 Tim 3.

Balaam received the inspired Word of God.

But rather than apply it to his life and share it

with those who needed to hear the Good

News, he chose to twist God’s counsel for

selfish gain. When we break ‘divination’ or

the act of divining down into its Paleo Hebrew roots we observe the 3-letters Qof,

Samech, and Mem, or kaw-sam'. Taking each of their letters in context with the

word they spell, strung together pictographically it reveals ‘The Rising of Chaos

from out of Hate!—Kaw-sam!’

But all this considered, here we have this precious beast of burden. Balaam’s

trusted and perhaps only real friend—the donkey. “The story’s most memorable

feature is the talking donkey. Seeing the angel blocking the path, the donkey can

recognize, better than Balaam does, that what they are setting out to do is wrong.

When temptation and weakness blind us to the wrongness of what we are doing,

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we are no better than dumb animals.”9 After electing to go against GOD’s will and

saddle up with Balak’s men anyway, they come to a section of path that is walled-

up on either side. There in the passage-way stands none other than ‘The ‘malak’ or

Angel of The LORD’. Does this not sound a lot like Israel at the Red Sea?

Taken from Strongs# H4397, the two letter

root word ‘Lok’ comprised of the

Lamed-Kaf means message,

walk, and pictographically

‘shepherd’s staff in the palm’.

Viewed as a prefix letter the mem means from, or out of, so found in the center of

this 3-letter word is the Aleph—meaning Father, leader, strength, and power.

Strung together, the word malak can be pictographically defined as ‘One from The

Father bringing His message’. Who do we know that came from The Father

bringing His message? Yeshua! And in this case he was coming against Balaam

because he was disobeying God’s orders. Rabbinic sages describe God as having

‘prohibited Balaam from cursing the Israelites because the nation is blessed, Balak

persisted. So God informs Balaam: If the new emissaries came to fetch you

knowing that you are unable to curse the Israelites, then you may go with them, but

you have to tell them that you cannot curse the Israelites. But Balaam was so

anxious to go that he did not inform the messengers of God’s condition. The

emissaries thought that Balaam was granted permission by God to curse Israel.

That is why God became angry with Balaam’10

Read from a copy of The Scriptures 2 Peter 2 verses 14 and 15 we read

‘having eyes filled with an adulteress, and unable to cease from sin, enticing

unstable beings, having a heart trained in greed, children of a curse, having left

the right way they went astray, having followed the way of Bil’am the son of

Be’or, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,’. Here is the problem. Beloved,

our ancestors struggled with a ‘heart murmur’—we too all struggle with a heart

murmur. To walk in rebellion, to ride towards something that is nothing more than

emptiness (the meaning of the name of Balak) is to pursue a heart trained in greed.

It gives you a heart murmur.

9 Etz Hayim Torah and Commentary, p.894

10 Onkelos on The Torah, Understanding The Bible Text, Numbers, p.209

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Referring one last time back to our trusted brother Ya’akov, he writes, ‘Do ye

think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore

he saith, God resisteth the proud, but

giveth grace unto the humble. Submit

yourselves therefore to God. Resist

the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw

nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye

sinners; and purify your hearts, ye

double minded. Be afflicted, and

mourn, and weep: let your laughter be

turned to mourning, and your joy to

heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and

judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge

the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is

able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?11

What is that spirit

that ‘lusteth unto envy?’ David Stern, translator of the Complete Jewish Bible and

writer of the complimentary commentary states it is in Hebrew called the ‘yetzer

hara’, in English—the evil inclination. We all wrestle with it. Cain did, Jacob did,

Joseph did, Peter did—in fact, all of the disciples struggled with a heart murmur.

But because of the fall, mankind is plagued with this battle until his final

redemption. The Good News is, Abba has given us victory right now! We are

Blessed today! God calls Israel Blessed and that we can have victory today! But let

us not fall into the same trap as Yeshua remarked in Revalation chapter two to the

church in Pergamum. “14

'But I have a few things against you, because you have

there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a

stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to

commit acts of immorality. 'Thus you also have some who in the same way hold

the teaching of the Nicolaitans. (Rev 2:14-15 NAS)” What are Nicolaitans?

According to David Stern, writer of the CJB commentary the Nicolaitans were ‘a

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Jam 4:5-12 KJV

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heretical sect which encouraged idolatry and sexual sin’ (Stern, p.795). In his

article ‘The Mother of All Strongholds: Nicolaitanes’ as Lew White points out

they ‘were among those who maintained that there must be a religious hierarchy to

control the spiritual development of the common people; that would give them

absolute control over the laity, who would be completely dependent upon them.

Division is the challenge, and love is the answer. This is why the humble will

inherit the reign of Yahweh [change, mine]. We read in Mark 9:33-35

33 They arrived at K'far-Nachum. When Yeshua was inside the house, he asked

them, "What were you discussing as we were traveling?" But they kept quiet;

because on the way, they had been arguing with each other about who was the

greatest. He sat down, summoned the Twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to

be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all." (Mar 9:33-35 CJB)

Friends, if we are going to pull down the strongholds familiar to the Nicolaitanes,

if we want to be true overcomers in this life today—victory awaits us today. Not

on the ‘kings Highway’ of ego, pride and self-promotion—rather it awaits us on

YHVH’s Highway of Holiness—the same path our Messiah took to bring us the

Good News of Redemption. As we lay our lives down, and trust not in our heart,

but in His Word that He will engrave upon it, we can push out those pagan

strongholds that have for too long whispered in our ear ‘you have to cling to me

because it’s comfortable, it’s all you’ve ever known and you feel safe here’. In

truth, The LORD said that if we will obey Him, then we will know the truth—and

if we know The Truth, then The Truth will set us free (John 8:32).

‘A highway will be there, a way, called the Way

of Holiness. The unclean will not pass over it,

but it will be for those whom he guides- fools

will not stray along it.No lion or other beast of

prey will be there, traveling on it. They will not

be found there, but the redeemed will go there.

Those ransomed by ADONAI will return and

come with singing to Tziyon, on their heads

will be everlasting joy. They will acquire

gladness and joy, while sorrow and sighing

will flee’. (Isa 35:8-10 CJB)