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Whats Your Frequency?

We begin this weeks parsha study
after having mourned both Miriam and
Aarons deaths. Israel continues to strive
though, evidenced prior to Aarons 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,
m
e
rybah 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 Gods 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 Yakov 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 usthat 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 congregations striving with Moses and Aaron. Now might be a
good time to ask yourselfas 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 Gods 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 Israels
Up againDown 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).
HaShems Highway of
Holiness (Isa.35:8)
Initially however, Israel thought
to enter Gods promises using the
Kings Highwayhow else should
Gods people enter into the land of
promise but by the Kings Highway!
Things are not always as they appear
though are they? The Kings
Highway according to Holmans
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 corve
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workers (2Sam.20:24, 1Ki. 9:15) or by the army. (Holmans, 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 Land
2
.
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-kings
highway, or destroyed altogether. This is why Adonai repeatedly emphatically
declared Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set
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.
This is where we begin today, with one man driven by fearBalak, and
another by prideBalaam; 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 of
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. Rather than abide in Yahs truth, they would rather attempt to use
God to bring ruin to His people. By the waythis is what we do every time we
strive in our homes or in the corporate body of Messiahwhich is why Yakov 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
peace
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1:unpaid labor, 2:labor exacted in lieu of taxes by public authorities.(Websters 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 profita
religious mercenary perhaps?
Here we have a man who is a
known Sorcerera 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? Didnt Yaakov 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
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. 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 deceit
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. And we know what happened to
Balaam in the end
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.
The word there for divination comes from Strongs# H7081 qesem, keh'-
sem, meaning a lot; also divination (including its fee), oracle: - (reward of)
divination, divine sentence, witchcraft. The word traces back to H7080 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

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Jam 3:9-10 KJV
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Psa 34:12-13 NAS
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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 Gods 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. Balaams
trusted and perhaps only real friendthe donkey. The storys 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.
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After electing to go against GODs will and
saddle up with Balaks 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
shepherds 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 Alephmeaning 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 Gods 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 Gods condition. The
emissaries thought that Balaam was granted permission by God to curse Israel.
That is why God became angry with Balaam
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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 Bilam the son of
Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,. Here is the problem. Beloved,
our ancestors struggled with a heart murmurwe 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 Yaakov, 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?
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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 Englishthe evil inclination. We all wrestle with it. Cain did, Jacob did,
Joseph did, Peter didin 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.
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'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 todayvictory awaits us today. Not
on the kings Highway of ego, pride and self-promotionrather it awaits us on
YHVHs Highway of Holinessthe 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 its comfortable, its all youve ever known and you feel safe here. In
truth, The LORD said that if we will obey Him, then we will know the truthand
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)