Torah 101-BaMidbar Portion ANSWERS TO LAST WEEKS STUDY QUESTIONS (from BaharBeChukkotai)

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1) Question for Leviticus 25: Why do we have to go all the way through to near the end of Leviticus to in effect catch back up with the chronology given all the way back at the end of Exodus? BAHAR SINAY (25:1) = on or at the mountain. The more probable reading is that the Israelites are still at the base of Mount Sinai, but in terms of chronology, this narrative towards the end of Leviticus has not caught up with the end of Exodus, where Moshe erected the Tabernacle on the first day of the first month, the year after Exodus (40:1-17). We do not get into year 2 until the start of Numbers, and even then it is still recapping earlier events from year 1 for a while. It may seem a bit odd that the Torah text skips around chronologically as it does, but this is because of Moshes priorities in putting the text together. In the Torah, the actual order of things is secondary to spiritual teachings and the organization of said teachings. It becomes important, as we just saw recently, that 5 chapters of purification rules go after the death of Aarons two sons before the narrative resumes again. The same narrative break happens just after the Ten Commandments are given in Exodus 20. 2) Question for Leviticus 26: There is a Hebrew term in this chapter that has become part of the name of one of the presidents of the United States. What is the term, who is the president and what does it mean? The cultural proverb is to avoid religion and politics, and since I am clearly doing one of these all the time, I tend to shy away from the otherbut not this time! The answer is our current president, Barack Obama. It is this part of his name that is in the text: BAMA (26:30) = high place for pagan worship. Later BYMA will be the high place for proper worship of YHWH. It can also generically mean high. Technically though BAMA is the pagan high place and BYMA is the sanctified place. BARAK has an interesting etymology as well, depending on how it is spelled. Spelled beyt-resh-kaph it means bless, kneel. Spelled beyt-reshqoph it means lightning. Since we dont know which Hebrew word was 1|Page

intendedmaybe we should check the birth certificate (kidding)these are the following possibilities for the full meaning of the presidents name: Blessing (pagan) high place (the O might be a vav/waw for AND so blessing and pagan high place). Kneel and pagan high place Lightning and pagan high place I have heard the president call his first name African for blessing but thats not technically accurate. It is actually a Semitic root common to Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. An African word would most certainly be coming out of Islamic tradition. Incidentally, his middle name of HUSSEIN is wholly Arabic and means good, small and handsome. It is also the name of a famous Shiite warrior. I also think when we use two meanings for the word BARAK it makes for an interesting sentence not otherwise possible: KNEEL (BARAK) (to the) good, small and handsome one (HUSSEIN). AND (O) BLESS (BARAK again) [the] pagan high place (BAMA). There are several other possibilities though just to be fair and I am really just confining my focus to the words themselves. 3) Question for Leviticus 27: How is one core assumption that runs through both Leviticus 26 and 27 contradicted by Rabbinic tradition? First, here is the corporate line, from Bible.ort.org: Jubilee was only in force as long as the majority of tribes owned their hereditary lands; thus, it ceased to be in force after the ten tribes were exiled (Arukhin 32b; Yad, Shemitah 10:8). The laws of Hebrew slaves and houses in walled cities were also in force only as long as the jubilee (Arukhin 29a; Yad, Shemitah 10:9). To my mind, this is exactly the WRONG attitude that got Israel into trouble in the first place (Leviticus 26:34)! Eternal residence is assumed by YHWH as is eternal obedience that keeps Israel in the land. The Northern Tribes leaving should have been a wake up call for the southern kingdom to be extra careful here. Instead, they also sinned and the result was the same: Exile. 4) Haftorah Question of the Week: Jeremiah 16:19-17:14; 32:6-27 Jeremiahs scribe is listed along with his father and grandfathers names. Together they all spell out a message. What is that message? BARUCH BEN NERIAH BEN MAHSEIAH (32:12) = Baruch means blessed, Neriah means lamp of Yah and Mahseiah means Yah is my refuge. 2|Page

Comes out as: Blessed (is) the Lamp of Yah (for) Yah is my refuge. II. QUESTIONS FOR THIS TORAH PORTION (Bamidbar) Please NOTE: For clarity and time constraints, if I elect to not read the whole parsha (which is the case this week) I may still ask questions relating to the portions I did not read! 5) Question for Numbers 1: How does one name for the Tabernacle help reveal its most important function? 6) Question for Numbers 2: What is special about the numbers for Yehudah in relationship to the whole 603,550 total for all Israel that isnt true about the numbers for any other tribe? (Sorry this one is a harder question than I normally do for Torah 101 but I have to do it!) 7) Question for Numbers 3: What does the metaphor on the face of Aaron really mean here? 8) Question for Numbers 4:1-20: Kohath is mentioned here in this chapter, but what is the significance of the first time his name appears, in Genesis 46:11? 9) Haftorah Question of the Week: Hosea 2:1-22 What is one of the most ironic twists in Hosea regarding the names of the people involved? Please note, I am not referencing the names of the children. 10) Renewed Covenant Commentary: Revelation 7:1-17 Revelation 7:8 29) There is all manner of speculation as to why these particular names are revealed while others were not, and why they appear in this particular order. The answer to the mystery lies in the reality that Revelation is a book of spiritual symbols, revealing the nature of YHWH, Mashiyach, the Kingdom of Heaven and the spiritual man in a sod or hidden way. Hidden or mystery does not mean we cannot know, it means our spirits must discern rather than 3|Page

our intellectual logic and reason. The number 144,000 alludes to a type of people, rather than the numerical sum (see footnote on Rev_14:1) of a people. Many levels of revelation are embedded within these names, starting with the peshat (plain) meanings of these names: 1) Yehudah: Praise YHWH 2) Reuben: see a Son 3) Gad: a troop is coming 4) Ashur: happy am I 5) Naphtali: wrestling 6) Manasseh: causing to forget 7) Simeon: hearing 8) Levi: joined to 9) Issachar: there is reward 10) Zebulon: exalted 11) Yosip: YHWH has added 12) Benjamin: Son of the right hand A fatal mistake many theologians make is seeking religious, cultural or theological identity in Scripture rather than hearing in our spirits and discerning the Word of YHWH through spiritual eyes. Another reckless mistake is to overlay a dualistic Greco-Roman mindest over a Hebraic text (see dualism in footnote Jud_1:9) that completely alters the message. A full message might be something like: Praise YHWH (and) see (His) Son (because) a troop is coming and I am happy. (But they are) wrestling and (it is) causing (them) to forget. (But now they are) hearing (truth?) and are joined (together because) there is a reward (that is) exalted and YHWH has added the Son of (His) right hand. BONUSSince Revelation 8 is not a scheduled reading, I thought I should put a little essay in about the Wormwood star here, since this is as close as we will get to that chapter! What is the Wormwood Star? And the third Messenger sounded, and there fell from heaven a star burning like a lamp; and it fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of water. And the name of the star was called Wormwood; and a third part of the waters became wormwood; and many persons died from the waters because they were bitter.-Revelation 8:10-11 (AENT)

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First lets see the Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic terms: n.f. wormwood (NH id.; Ar. lanun is curse (vb. laana id.), so Nab. ( vb. ) cf. Cook:Gloss.);only fig. of bitter things:of perverted justice, Am 5:7, 6:12 (|| ; of result of idolatry, Dt 29:17 (|| id.); of 's chastisement Je 9:14 (||51:32,) (|| id.), La 3:15 (|| ),v:19 (|| ;) sim. of bitter ( )result of intercourse with strange woman Pr 5:4.On wormwood (Artemisia absinthium, etc., Gk. ) cf. Lw:80f. 401, 421 Tristr:Nat, Hist. Bib. 493. 4409 , , (also , , ) Absinthos, masculine (also neuter) proper noun of a star meaning Bitterness, Wormwood, used symbolically in RV 8.11 When a star falls apparently the waters become poisoned ( )and this causes great death and destruction. It is inevitable that some will try to link this phenomenon to an actual star, but to do so without further research is a precarious endeavor. The fact is, the ancients often called celestial objects stars that we today have separate terms for, including planets (from planes aster or planete which is wandering star in Greek) and possibly asteroids and comets as well. The aster part of the word asteroid is again star in Greek. But does that mean Wormwood is a killer asteroid then, like Apophis coming close to us in 2029? Hardly! For one thing, Apophis is going to miss us and therefore it will not have any impact on embittering the waters of the earth. However, that doesnt mean we have to ignore heavenly phenomena altogether and look for something symbolic of an evil person or doctrine, as other scholars have attempted to do. I simply do not believe the text allows for a non-literal override of the plain meanings, although simultaneous symbolism is always possible in tandem with a plain reading. It is more likely then to my mind that Revelation is describing something closer to a meteor shower which, if massive enough, could most certainly make the waters bitter and cause a lot of deaths. It certainly depends on also if other disasters happen along with it too, such as an increase in volcanic activity which could spew poisonous sulfur and other gasses into the atmosphere and also cause acid raina very bitter phenomenon indeed that could also make fish die. The description also like a burning lamp makes more sense as a meteor shower than an actual star. The ancients didnt really see falling/burning stars per se but other things like meteors or perhaps comets that were called as such. But whatever Wormwood ultimately is, the regrettable high number of casualties does not appear to rise to the level of countless millions that seem to pervade the rest of the book of Revelation. On the 5|Page

other hand though, considering todays shortages of fresh water, one third going badeven with technology to restore itmust be viewed as a very serious matter indeed.

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