This Daily Dose of Chukkim is entitled: Maintaining The Covenant of Peace!

Have you ever victoriously won a major battle against the enemy only to be held captive to peer pressure shortly thereafter? If so, then this daily dose of chukkim is for you.

This week’s Torah portion; “Mattot” talks about the tribes of Israel and among other things how they won the epic battle against the midianites (to include the prophet Balaam). The great feat was accomplished with the help and leadership of Pinchas the son of Eleazar the high priest. What scripturally seems to be a wonderful victory over “The Spirit of Occultism” turned out to be an even greater infiltration of demonic activity by way of The Unclean Spirit. So let's examine the mechanism of entry into the heart of the children of Israel, - shall we. Again it is important to understand why this daily dose of chukkim centers around this week’s parasha “Mattot.”

For those of you who are absolutely clueless as to what a parasha (singular) or parashot (plural) are I will try to give a brief explanation. The children of Israel back in antiquity needed a systematic way to study Yah's word. During their Exodus from Egypt to the promised land Moses was told to write all of their instructions from Yah in a myriad of scrolls which we understand to be books today. The first five books of the Bible; known in English as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are typically referred to as the Torah.

Other men of God were called to write the words from Yah (called the Neviim) pertaining to the time period of the former & latter prophets; the latter prophets are further broken down into the major, and minor prophets. This by the way is the second largest collection of words from Yah found in the old testament (or Tanakh in Hebrew). The former prophets include the likes of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings; totaling four books. Please note: I am grouping 1st and 2nd Samuel and Kings as one book each in my calculations. The major prophets begin with Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel totaling 3 books. And last is the minor prophets beginning with Hosea to Malachi summing up a grand total of 12 books. I am sure you are aware that this is not all of the old testament books and you are right, but as it pertains to the weekly reads these groupings were the central focus. It was Ezra who was commanded by Yah to begin teaching the children of Israel to learn the Torah & most of the Neviim by weekly divisions. (important to note here that Haggai (520 BCE) & Malachi (458 BCE) came on the scene shortly after Ezra in 535 BCE.

Anyway, the weekly Torah reading out of the first five books of the bible is as stated earlier; Mattot which means tribes. This Torah portion starts from Numbers chapter 30:2 to 32:42. Why I chose this daily devotional entitled ‘maintaining the covenant of peace,” was primarily because of the peaks and valleys that we as believers travel on a daily basis. Each parasha is packed with lessons for us today pertaining to exactly what we are facing. So in this parasha, although on the surface, it seems the children of Israel have finally conquered the Midianites to include the prophet Balaam,

Numbers 31:1-2 NASB

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“TAKE FULL

vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.” 3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD’S [FULL] vengeance on Midian.

After closer observation one begins to see the spiritual tragedy that actually took place

(Numbers 31:13-17 NASB

“Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was ANGRY WITH THE OFFICERS of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 And Moses said to them, “HAVE YOU SPARED ALL THE WOMEN? 16“Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD. 17 “Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and KILL EVERY WOMAN WHO HAS KNOWN MAN INTIMATELY).

And if this wasn’t bad enough … the very hero in the last two parasha portions (Phinehas) was the one who had the mantle of authority (and responsibility) pertaining to this “Seek & Destroy Mission.” Ouch!!! “What you talkin about Willis!?!” It was none other than Phinehas the son of Eleazar the High Priest who dropped the football at the two yard line just before scoring the winning touchdown with NO TIME LEFT ON THE CLOCK!

Numbers 31:5-12 NASB

“So there were furnished from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and PHINEHAS THE SON OF ELEAZAR THE HIGH PRIEST, TO WAR WITH THEM, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 So they made war against Midian, JUST AS THE LORD HAD COMMANDED MOSES, and they killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10 Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire. 11 They took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast. 12 They brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Although it doesn't say much about the conversation that Phineas had with his father Eliezer the high priest at the time; you better believe that that was one HEATED CONVERSATION which would have burned your ears if you were there! The only reasonable conclusion that one could surmise is that Phinehas HAD succumb to PEER PRESSURE! We must learn to maintain the covenant of peace rewarded to Phinehas in the last parasha which proclaims his name. Actually what happened here caused THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT to begin to take the throne of the hearts of the children of Israel. In the midst of their victory in stamping out THE SPIRIT OF OCCULTISM the righteousness to mercy model (one of the many ZUL class course models we teach at our Bible College- and yes that was a pitch for more enrollment) was flawed. They by passed the first step (Righteousness) and began to pervert the second step (Judgement) by implementing their own justification.

Much love in Yahushua! Rabbi John Wesley A., PhD & Pastor Martha
Congregation Beth Hashem in Durham, Greenville, & Wilson, NC