Chukas

Parashas Chukas

Numbers 19:1 - 22:1

Please Pray this

Prayer, before reading

Prayer

In the name of Yahushua

Our Messiyah,

I pray for the Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Knowledge and

The Spirit of Wisdom

As I read through this Parasha

That the Truth of Torah may

Come forth. Amen

Chukas “Status” is the 39 Torah Portion, it begins with a detail description of the CREATOR’S rules for the Red Heifer ceremony needed to provide purification for those who have come in contact with a dead body.

This is the ordinance of the law “Zot chukat haTorah” which ABBA YAHVEH has command, saying “Speak to the Children of Yisrael that they bring you a red heifer without spot, wherein there is no blemish, and upon which never came a yok.”

The Torah Portion chukat refers to a concept called “Amatri achakmah vehi rechokah mimeni,” meaning that there is something very difficult to comprehend about the portion of Chukat.

When King Solomon said “all this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me,” he was actually speaking about the Portion of Chukat. This is a difficult portion to unpack its meaning. Zot chukat haTorah means this is something that you won’t be able to explain.

What then is this revelation that ABBA YAHVEH would share only with the likes of Moses? We know that it must include the essence of this Torah Portion which is the “para aduma,” the Red Heifer, which involve purification from “tum’at met,” the negative energy from a dead body. The other aspect of Chukat is Moses striking the rock.

The last Torah Potion Korach we learn about a rebellion against Moses, where he was accusation of some heinous crime against the Children of Yisrael. According to the Kabbilist, the secret ABBA YAHVEH revealed to Moses in this Torah Portion was due to the humiliation that Moses suffered as a result of Korach’s accusations.

On the Shabbat of Chukat, the ABBA YAHVEH gave to Moses “bila hamevet lanetzach,” the authority over death, the key to remove “tum’at met,” the negative energy that was neutralized by the sacrifice of the Red Heifer.

This great gift off Torah Portion Chukat was not a transmission of information, but of consciousness. The only difference between where we are today and bila hamavet lanetzach, the removal of our selfish ego is our consciousness.

On this Shabbat Moses got the consciousness of charity and certainty that death can be removed from him. We are told that no one knew where Moses was buried, Like Elijah the prophet he achieved spiritually maturity.

The commentators on the Torah tell us that the process of removal of tum’at met, the removal: of the energy of death, the selfish ego, does not only belong in the Torah Portion Chukat. This Portion focuses on what occurred in the fortieth years of the Yisraeltes’ journey in the desert, whereas the revelation of the Red Heifer and the removal of tum’at met, took place in the  second years after the exodus.

So why is the discussion of the Red Heifer, chukat haTorah, revealed in Torah Portion Chukat. The answer is that Moses could not have received the high level spiritual maturity, had it not been for Korach.

This is why the story of Moses receiving “chukat haTorah” is where it is. Although this level of Maturity was describe by the CREATOR earlier in Torah, if it was not for the Korach in our lives and their contribution in diminishing the ego in our lives, perfection could not be achieved. Psalms 82:7 – 9, admonishes us to live like gods and not die like men. Human who reached this level of Maturity have no grave, “Elijah, Enoch, Messiyah, and Moses.”

The law of the Red Cow is described as the quintessential decree of the Torah, meaning that it is beyond human understanding. What then is the purpose of this commandment? The Torah states that it is a decree of the One who gave the Torah, and it is not for anyone to question why.

It is axiomatic, however, that since all of the laws of Torah are the product of the Kingdom of Heavens, any human inability to comprehend it indicates the limitation of the spirit of understanding in the student’s life.

There is nothing meaningless of purposeless in the Torah, and if it seems so, it is only a product of the reader inability to build their Menorah, or to develop spiritually.

This chapter focuses primarily on one paradox in the laws of the Red Cow: its ashes purify believers who had become contaminated. It was regarding this aspect of its laws that King Solomon exclaimed, “I said I would be wise, but it is far from me” Ecc 7:23.

Following the same theme, this story illustrate  a number of such paradoxical cases of righteous people who descended from wicked parents, such as Abraham from Terach, Josiah from Ammon. As it is forbidden to drink blood in the Torah, but an infant may nurse from its mothers, whose blood supply the ingreadeance the source of life for the child.

The underlying message of all this, as well as many other mysteries of the Torah, is that the Supreme Intelligence has granted man a huge treasury of spiritual wisdom and understanding Isaiah 11:2.

It is not the corpse that causes contamination or the ashes of the Cow that purify, it is our obedience to the principles of Torah. These laws are decrees of the King of the Universe, and man has no right to question them.

In others word, an essential component of wisdom is the knowledge that man’s failure to understand truth does not make it untrue.

Contamination and purification, this chapter, seem to have no sequential or chronological relationship to the chapter before or after it. As to when the laws of the Red Cow were actually given, is not clear, what I do know that these principle was in existence from the foundation of the Kingdom of Heavens.

This law was given for the redeemed community to learn shortly after they left Egypt, but  the people were not yet commanded to carry them out, Exodus 15:25. On the first of Nissan, the second year after leaving Egypt, the day the Tabernacle was inaugurated, and the very next day, on the second of Nissan, Moses oversaw the burning of the first Red Cow. This month of Nissan was the start of the second year in the wilderness. This seems to imply that the purification process would not be implemented until the second years of our spiritual development, after we had learn what is right and what is wrong, from the Spirit of Truth.

The laws of the Tabernacle and the Kohanim, which began in Levitius, we concluded in the chapter 18 with a list of priestly gifts. Therefore,  the laws of the Red Cow belong here, for knowledge of the way to remove contamination was necessary for the individual to keep their own personal Tabernacle clean.

Maintaining the spiritual integrity of our Tabernacle is an exercise in wisdom and understand, which is the developing of the first two branches of the Menorah in our lives, or otherwise called the second day of Creation, where we learn to separate the water under the Heavens from the water above the Heavens.

Num 19:1  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon, saying  -  Symbolically the Red Cow came to atone for the sin of the golden Calf, as if to say let the mother come and clean up the mess left by the child.

Red represents blood, without the shedding of blood there can be no atonement. Therefore, the Red Cow atones for the sin of the Golden Calf. This is a picture of our Master and Savor Yahushua our Messiyah, who died for the curse of our sins. He bore not yoke of bondage, for He was sinless. While Yahushua was never burnt, this Red  Cow was. However, this burning represent the removal of all sin from us, never to be seen again.

The sin of the Golden Calf is in the DNA of every believer, as the sin of Adam and Eve is still in the lives of every human. The ritual involves the use of cedar wood, hyssop, and a thread dyed with the blood of a worm, a combination that signifies atonement and repentance. A sinner has been haughty like a lofty cedar tree, and  in order to gain atonement he must humble himself as a blade of hyssop grass and a lowly worm.

Just as the sin of the Golden Calf has never been completely forgiven, the ash of the  Red Cow was preserved for that purpose.

Num 19:2 “This is a law of the Torah which יהוה has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, that they bring you a red heifer, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish and on which a yoke has never come. – A believer in their second day of creation is still a child spiritually, therefore the term speak to the children of Yisrael is indicative of those who are still immature spiritually.

Since the verse specifies that the cow must be blemish free, it is alluding to out Messiyah, the One who is without sin.

Num 19:3 ‘And you shall give it to Elʽazar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and shall slaughter it before him. – This Red Cow had to be burned by the Deputy Kohen Gadol. It was to be burn in the Wilderness, the service had to be performed outside the Camp, as Yahushua was crucified outside of Yerushalayim on a hill called Calvery.  

The Red Heifer proclaim the provision of YAHVEH would be sacrifice outside the camp, Messiyah Yahushua blood would not be upon the Altar, He would die for the unfaithful bride, and He would be defile to make us clean.

Num 19:4 ‘And Elʽazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. – After the Slaughter, and we know that Yahushua was not slaughter, He gave up His life willingly. Which had to be done by the  Elazar, he would perform the blood service. Standing to the east of the Tabernacle, or the Temple, so that he could see the entrance, he received the blood in a vessel and threw it in the direction of the Tabernacle. We also knew that Yahushua did this ritual when He atones for our sins.

Num 19:5 ‘And the heifer shall be burned before his eyes – he burns its hide, and its flesh, and its blood, and its dung. – Our Messiyah, which this Red Heifer represent was never burn, nor was any of His body damage or broken, yet the  ash was used for generation to atone for their decontamination. Ash like the sacrifice that Yahushua did for us will never out-lives its usefulness. He dies for our sins almost two thousand years ago, yet, His Blood is just as effective as if it was shed yesterday.

The whole burn offering speaker of Messiyah commitment as a High Priest between Heaven and earth. This system is to establish a dialog and not a monology for us to overcome our sinful nature.

 

Num 19:6 ‘And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and throw them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. – Fire is a purifier, by placing all the ingredients into the fire, the end result will be a pure individual. Gold is made pure by going through the firry kilt seven times, just like the Blood is sprinkle towards that Tabernacle seven times in verse 4. When we bring our offering, we are showing that we have faith in ABBA YAHVEH provision for us to draw near, and also that we desire to draw near to ABBA YAHVEH. Every Altar is a proclamation that we are will, we have faith or desire to draw near to the CREATOR. We desire intimate communication with the Holy One. 

Num 19:7 ‘The priest shall then wash his garments, and shall bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest is unclean until evening. – This verse describe the action of our earthly high priest, however, our Heavenly High Priest El Yahushua, who never sinned, He has no need for any atonement. He is constantly in a state of perpetual Holiness.

Num 19:8 ‘And he who is burning it washes his garments in water, and shall bathe his body in water, and is unclean until evening. -  The Kohen must immerse himself and his garments, and the contamination leaves them by nightfall.

Num 19:9 ‘And a clean man shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and shall place them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl for the water for uncleanness, it is for cleansing from sin. – The ash were divided into three par: 1 part was stored on the Mount of Olive for future use: either to purify the Kohen performing the service in the future, or to mix with the ash of future Red Cow; 2 another part was divided among the twenty four divisions of the Kohanim, for the use in purifying the people; and 3 part was kept in the chail, an area next to the wall of the courtyard, for safekeeping, as required by this verse. It was to be in the hand of a mature believer, someone who would know how to use it properly.

 

Num 19:10 ‘And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments, and is unclean until evening. And it shall be a law forever to the children of Yisra’ĕl and to the stranger who sojourns in their midst. -  The one who were to apply the ashes, when he goes to gather, he should gather it in the day, then he should go and sanctified himself before he attempted to apply the principle of the ash to the individual. Meaning that not anyone can apply the purification of the ash.

The Torah used the Hebrew word chatas, which usually refers to a sin offering, to indicate that it is forbidden to use the ashes for personal benefit, as if they were an offering, and if one does, he must bring an offering and make restitution, as in Leviticus 5:14-16.

Num 19:11 ‘He who touches the dead of any human being is unclean for seven days. – in this verse we see an example of those things which contaminates the individual, a dead body. This would indicate any dead body.

Num 19:12 ‘He is to cleanse himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean. -  The purification must be carried out with the ashes of the Red Cow, according to the procedure outlined in the following verses.

Num 19:13 ‘Anyone who touches the dead of a human being, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the Dwelling Place of יהוה. And that being shall be cut off from Yisra’ĕl. He is unclean, for the water for uncleanness was not sprinkled on him, his uncleanness is still upon him. – If anyone becomes contaminated through a dead human and neglected to purify himself with the ashes of the Red Cow, even though he immersed himself with, he remain in his state of contamination.

Consequently, if he intentionally enters the Sanctuary or Courtyard, he is subjected to the Heavenly punishment of kares, meaning that his soul is cut off from the Hebrew people. 

Num 19:14 ‘This is the Torah when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent are unclean for seven days -  This verse teaches the principle of contamination under a tent, or any other sort of building. Therefore, if a dead body is in one room of a house or under a tree, any person, or vessel that is anywhere in the house of general area become contaminated.

When a dead body is carried into a church is a definitely no, no. Church who makes it a practice to bring a dead body in the vicinity of a church also fined themselves violating this same principle of Torah.

Num 19:15 and every open vessel which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. – Anyone who have an open mind, but do not believe in Messiyah is unclean or unsaved. That is why when we are admonish to have an open mind, we must be careful. Our mind must be open to the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Knowledge and the Spirit of Wisdom.

Num 19:16 ‘Anyone in the open field who touches someone slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, is unclean for seven days. – In the open field where there is no roof over the body, contamination is conveyed only by actual touching the dead body or the grave site.

Verse 17 – 20, the Torah gives the process of purification. First fresh water from a spring or river is put into a vessel, the Ash is poured into it and they are mixed together.

If the tent is made of materials that can become defiled, it must be purified. Building that are anchored to the ground do not become contaminated.

A pure person should apply the ash water upon the contaminated person or vessels on the third and seventh day, after which the person and vessels are immersed in a Mikveh to conclude the purification process.

Verse 20 repeated the law of verse 13 that one who enters the Sanctuary while contaminated is liable to keres.

  

Num 19:17 ‘And for the unclean Person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for cleansing from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. - How the ashes were to be used and applied in these cases. A small quantity of the ashes must be put into a cup of spring water, and mixed with the water, which thereby was made, as it is here called, a water of separation, because it was to be sprinkled on those who were separated or removed from the sanctuary by their uncleanness.

As the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Messiyah, so the running water signified the power of the Word, who is compared to rivers of living water; and it is by His operation that the righteousness of Yahushua HaMashiach is applied to us for our cleansing. Hence, we are said to be washed, that is, sanctified and justified, not only in the name of Yahushua, but by the Spirit of YAHVEH, 1 Co. 6:11; 1 Pt. 1:2.

This is the same as the Blood and the Water that flows from the side of Yahushua Messiyah. It is for our ritual cleansing from ritual contamination. 

Num 19:18 ‘And a clean man shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and shall sprinkle it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the beings who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or the slain, or the dead, or a grave. - Those that required deliverance by the Blood and the Water, must submit themselves to the righteousness of the Word, before they can benefit by the righteousness of Messiyah, while they submit not to the grace and influence of the Spirit, do but deceive themselves, for we cannot put asunder what YAHVEH has joined, nor be purified by the ashes otherwise than in the running water. It is the word that break up the rocky area of our lives, as it is the water of the Red Sea that destroy the Pharaoh armies in our lives.

The red cow is a portable red sea; it carries the same spiritual effect. As believers we may get delivered once from our demonic influences, yet we are in constant need of sanctification. Our first visit to the Laver is for freedom from demonic influence. As believers we need to have our hands and feet constantly wash by the water that flow from Messiyah side.

Remember what Yahushua said to Peter, when he refused to have Him wash his feet. Yahushua said you cannot be my disciples if I do not wash your feet. Peter said to Him wash my whole body Master, and Yahushua a man who is clean, who is already set free by water baptism, only need to have their hand their works, their feet their walk washed in the Water that flows from Messiyah Side “Red Cow.”

This water must be applied by a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, with which the person or thing to be cleansed must be sprinkled, in allusion to which David prays, Purge me with hyssop. Faith is the bunch of hyssop wherewith the conscience is sprinkled and the heart purified.

Many might be sprinkled at once, and the water with which the ashes were mingled might serve for many sprinklings, till it was all spent; and a very little lighting upon a man served to purify him, if done with that intention.

In allusion to this application of the water of separation by sprinkling, the blood of Yahushua is said to be the blood of sprinkling (Heb. 12:24), and with it were are said to be sprinkled from an evil conscience (Heb. 10:22), that is, we are freed from the uneasiness that arises from a sense of our guilt. And it is foretold that Messiyah, by the Blood and Water that flow from His side, shall sprinkle many nations, Isa. 52:15.  

The application is the blood and the water to our lives situations is the sprinkling, any characteristic trait that may cause us to become unclean, we must be washed in the Water that flows from the side of Yahushua.

Num 19:19 ‘And the clean one shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. And on the seventh day he shall cleanse himself, and shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and shall be clean in the evening. - The unclean person must be sprinkled with this water on the third day after his pollution, and on the seventh day, verse 12–19. The days were reckoned (we may suppose) from the last time of his touching or coming near the dead body; for he would not begin the days of his cleansing while he was still under a necessity of repeating the pollution; but when the dead body was buried, so that there was no further occasion of meddling with it, then he began to count his days.

Then, and then only, we may with comfort apply Messiyah’s merit to our souls, when we have forsaken sin, and cease all fellowship with the unfruitful works of death and darkness. The repetition of the sprinkling teaches us often to renew the acting’s of repentance and faith, wash as Naaman, seven times; we need to do that often which is so necessary to be well done. 

Num 19:20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not cleanse himself, that being shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the set-apart place of יהוה – water for uncleanness has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean. - Though the pollution contracted was only ceremonial, yet the neglect of the purification prescribed would turn into moral guilt: He that shall be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off.

It is a dangerous thing to contemn divine institutions, though they may seem minute. A slight wound, if neglected, may prove fatal; a sin we call little, if not repented of, will be our ruin, when great sinners that repent shall find mercy. Our uncleanness separates us from YAHVEH, but it is our being unclean and not purifying ourselves that will separate us forever from him: it is not the wound that is fatal, so much as the contempt for the remedy. 

Num 19:21 ‘And it shall be a law for them forever. And the one who sprinkles the water for uncleanness washes his garments. And the one who touches the water for uncleanness is unclean until evening. -   The one who sprinkles, this cannot refers to the one who throw the water to purify a contaminated person, because verse 18 implies that even after sprinkling the water on the tent, the person goes on to sprinkle it on the vessels and people; clearly, if he were to have become contaminated, he would be disqualified from further service.

When Yahushua our Messiyah was on the Cross, darkness fell for three hours, this was a sign of Him bearing our sins, He became contaminated for our purposes, causing Our Father Eyes to close for three hours. He could not look upon His Favorite Son who became contaminated, as He sprinkled us with the Blood and Water from His Side, which is an example of the cleansing water of the Red Cow.

Num 19:22 ‘And whatever the unclean being touches is unclean. And the being who touches it is unclean until evening.’  -  This verse refers back to a person who touches a corpse, and it reveals that his degree of contamination is so severe that he can pass on the contamination to another human. The second person, however, does not require the same seven-day process describe above. He need only immerse himself in water, and then remains contaminated until the evening. Any person who touches a unclean person becomes unclean until evening when they wash in the Water that flows from the Side of El Yahushua.

Chapter 20

 A new era was now beginning in the life of the nation. Nearly thirty-eight years had passed since the narrative in chapter 19. The decree that the entire generation of the spies would die in the Wilderness had been fulfilled.

From this point on, the Torah records the events of the last years in the Wilderness and the commandments, some new and some additions to previous ones transmitted to Moses during that journey.

Forty is a time of trials and testing, is during that time in our spiritual journey that the principle of Torah is tested to see how well we adhere to those principle. Like a student in school after they have been given a principle to lead by the teach, you may rest assure that that student will be tested to see how well that idea or ideas are cemented into their character.

Now it is time to enter the Promise Land, who will be found worthy of it! Psalms 15. A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who shall dwell in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell on Your holy hill?  He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart;  he does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;  in whose eyes the reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear Jehovah; he has sworn to his hurt, and does not change it;  he has not put out his money at interest, nor has he taken a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall not be moved forever.

Verse 1 – 2 speaks of the death of Miriam and the lack of water. Does the incident of the death of Miriam and the lack of water are one of the same. Does the lack of remorse for her have anything to do with the lack of water?

Num 20:1  And the children of Yisra’ĕl, all the congregation, came into the Wilderness of Tsin in the first month, and the people stayed in Qaḏĕsh. And Miryam died there and was buried there. – A Miriam type leader will die after the completion of all that she has to experience in order to reach maturity. She did not die before the time of testing, she die after she finishes her test. It was around the beginning of the Scriptural year, when another spiritual cycle starts. EL YAHVEH found it necessary to give Miriam her final examination, which our death represents.

She needed not further training or any more spiritual development. She had learned her lesson on rebellion, which was her strong tower. She definitely learn humility, for we hear on no further rebellion from her in Torah. Her life, was a lesson in spiritual development. The church need to take a lesson from her life, and stop questioning the leadership EL YAHVEH provided for His people.

The seven day of leprosy did not harden her heart, it brought her to the realization that EL YAHVEH is Sovereign over ever thing. Thanks Miraim for that wonder example you set.

Num 20:2 Now there was no water for the congregation and they assembled against Mosheh and against Aharon. – Miriam who had earlier assemble against Moses had learn her lesson, however there was still a few who most definitely had not learn anything. They gather against Moses because they were no water. The Torah did not record that the assembly wept at her death, as they did for Moses. Indeed, because they did not shed tears over the loss of Miriam, the source of their water dried up, for it was as if her merit did not even matter to them.

Num 20:3 And the people contended with Mosheh and spoke, saying, “If only we had died when our brothers died before יהוה! – Spiritually blind people will never see the spiritually obvious. Instead of asking what is the reason for a lack of water? They did what all spiritual babies do, they cry.

The people need water is understandable, but that they should, by the vehemence of their complaint, repeat the sins of the previous generation is puzzling.

A comparison of this narrative with the earlier complains about the meat or the bland food; this group of protestor demand water. They like their predecessors did not want to return to Egypt.

They however, ask rhetorically why Moses had taken them out of Egypt. They however, had forgotten the purpose of the journey. They had allowed them self to take their eyes or their focus of their ultimate destination which was the Promise Land.

They mean that they would now question the leader on the route he was taken to achieve his objective. When they voice their objective to Moses, they meant that he should have led them on a route that would have  afford them at least such basic necessity as drinking water.

EL YAHVEH is indulgent of people who have a legitimate complain, even when they voice it more provocatively than they should.

Num 20:4 “Why have you brought up the assembly of יהוה into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? – These people were still focusing on the natural, they do not realize that the natural is to support the spiritual. The objective of life is to achieve spiritual perfection.

Num 20:5 “And why have you brought us up out of Mitsrayim, to bring us to this evil place? – not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” – These people want to achieve, without any form of testing. They do not realize that all things work for good for those who are on the journey to the promise land. The obstacle on the way is to sharpen our resolve that when we reach the land we are spiritually and physically ready to occupy our possession.

Num 20:6 Then Mosheh and Aharon went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the esteem of יהוה appeared to them. – Here we see Aaron spiritual maturity been displayed. He had obviously used the last thirty-eight years to develop himself spiritually. He was no longer will to catered to the desire of the people, as when he help them build a Golden Calf.

Aaron now went to where he should have gone at the beginning of the journey. Welcome Aaron to spiritual maturity. We also see the Shekinah of EL YAHVEH appearing to both of them. I can just feel how proud Moses must have been to have Aaron his brother by his side as they both fell on their in the Holy of Holies.

Num 20:7 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, - In this part of the chapter EL YAHVEH command Moses to bring water. Yah commanded Moses to take the same staff that he had used to perform the miracle in Egypt and which he had used to provide water for the people after they crossed the Red Sea. At that time, he performed the miracle by striking the rock, when he was told to speak to it.

Num 20:8 “Take the rod and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aharon. And you shall speak to the rock before their eyes, and it shall give its water. And you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their livestock.” -  The affirmation of Aaron, you and your brother. A symbol of partnership in ministry. “The rock”; the definite article indicates that this rock that is a known Rock.

The Hebrew people teach that EL YAHVEH had created  a rock, that He used often as a source of miraculous waters. This was the Rock that the angels revealed to Hagar when her son Ishmael was dying of thirst in Genesis  21:19, and from which Moses was command to draw water nearly forty years earlier.

That same rock which is the Messiyah accompanied them the people throughout their Wilderness experience as it accompanied us today. As long as Miriam at type of the Messiyanic Assembly is remembered He will provide water for the people. After her death, it ceased to yield water and was hidden away from the children of Yisrael; she is hidden away from the Jewish people today.

Verse 9 – 13 we see Moses and Aaron err and are punished. As he was commanded, Moses took the staff and went with Aaron to summon the entire assembly and give them water in such a way that יהוה Name would be sanctified.

He succeeded in drawing forth water from a stone, but did not sanctify the Name, at least in the way and to the degree to which he had been commanded.

The exact nature of Moses sin is puzzling to today’s Jewish community. Whatever it was, the sin causes Moses and Aaron to lose the privilege of entering the Land with the nation.

The Rock was and is a picture of our Yahushua HaMashiach, the first time it was struck represents His death as the Lamb Slaying from the foundation of the Earth. The second time Moses was instructed to speak to the Rock, not stuck or kill it a second time. Moses action causes the people to have a wrong interpretation of who El Yahushua first and second coming was all about.

The first coming was as the Lamb, the second coming is to be the King of Kings. When we fail as leaders to portray the King of Kings as He truly is, it might cause us not to enter into the promise land. 

Num 20:9 And Mosheh took the rod from before יהוה as He commanded him. – Moses took the rod from its usual place in the Holy of Holies, before the Holy Ark.

Num 20:10 And Mosheh and Aharon assembled the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” -  Since this verse speaks of this rock, implies that the people pointed to a specific rock and demanded that Moses bring water from it. To this Moses responded, “can we bring water from a rock other than that designated by YAHVEH.” Too often most people does not care were the water comes from, so long as their needs are catered to. From a spiritual point of view, many do not care where their instruction comes from as long as their spiritual needs are met.

Num 20:11 Then Mosheh lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. And much water came out, and the congregation and their livestock drank. – EL YAHVEH had commanded Moses to speak to the rock that had given them water before, but he struck the rock, but since that was not how the miracle was supposed to happen.

Apparently, Moses should have spoken to the rock, once he became angry, he erred in judgment and struck the rock in frustration. This seems to paint a picture that even a mature believer like Moses can err when in a state of anger.

Num 20:12 But יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon, “Because you did not believe Me, to set Me apart in the eyes of the children of Yisra’ĕl, therefore you do not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” – The point of this exercise is to show believers, that obedience to every command is mandatory. There is always a price to pay for disobedient. The action of Moses striking the first rock is indicative of the life of Yahushua first coming were He would die on the Cross. Speaking to the Rock when Moses went to get water is illustrative of Speaking to the King of King, when He returns for the second time.

By Moses striking the Rock the second time Moses distorted the picture words of Messiyah to the Yisraelites. No wonder they have such a hard time seeing the parallel of the coming of the Messiyah. After all today Moses is revered like a god to the Jewish people. If Moses had done what he was told to do, the picture words of talking to the Rock, might have been cleared to the Jewish people. This verse says that Moses did not sanctify EL YAHVEH in the eyes of the people, he did not present the picture words of the Messiyah clearly to the people.

Num 20:13 These were the waters of Meriḇah, because the children of Yisra’ĕl contended with יהוה, and He was sanctified through them. – Sanctification came about through the water, because the entire assembly, without exception, saw the miracle. In the case of water of the water that Moses brought in Exodus 17:6, the sanctification was not as great because only the elders were present.

Disobedient will always produce the water of strife. The water of strife is used to remove from us that evil inclination, that so prevalently existed in humans. When Adam and Eve eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil, that evil inclination became a part of the DNA of every human. We question everything we see, or hear. This verse says that the people contend with EL YAHVEH. Even today we still contend with יהוה and with each other.

What we sometime forget that יהוה can use every situation for His purposes. יהוה was sanctified through the whole purpose. The lesson of Moses and Aaron barred from entering the Land is a reminder for all of us to remember that obedience is better than sacrifice.

Verse 14 - 21 explain Edom refusing passage to Yisrael. The time had come for Yisrael to enter the Promise Land. They had completed their journey from Egypt. They had removed those who had the slavery mindset from among them. This was a new set of believer with a totally different mindset from their predecessors.

They were in the Wilderness just to the south of the Land of Yisrael, and the preferred route into the Land was northwards through the territory of Edom, the descendants of Esau.

Moses send a delegation to the King of Edom, requesting permission to traverse his land, but the king refused, forcing the nation of Yisrael to travel around Edom, east then north,  thus eventually crossing through the Kingdom of the Amorite, on the east side of the Jordan., entering the Land from by crossing the Jordan from east to west.

It would not have been a difficult matter for the Jews to invade Edom, just as they were later forced to fight them, but EL YAHVEH had commanded them not to provoke their Edomite cousins.

In our spiritual journey we will come across Edomites in our lives, they are the ones who will tell you that you cannot reach perfection in this life. They were given their inheritance there, yet they do not want you to past them, and excel spiritually. The Spirit of Edom is a jealous spirit, we like the Children of Yisrael will have to confront this spirit head on.

Num 20:14 And Mosheh sent messengers from Qaḏĕsh to the sovereign of Eḏom. “This is what your brother Yisra’ĕl said, ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, -  Edomites are saved people, they got their inheritance not in the Promise land, but they got theirs. Moses was told to respect them, do not grudge them for the Yisraelites possession was far superior to the Edomites. Moses messengers pleaded with them as fellow cousins to no avail. They did not inherit the Land so why should you.

Num 20:15 that our fathers went down to Mitsrayim, and we dwelt in Mitsrayim a long time, and the Mitsrites did evil to us and our fathers. -  As Moses messengers pleaded their cause, hoping that they a fellow kindred would be sympathetic to their plight. Often times in our spiritual journey, it is those closes to us who will be a hindrance to our spiritual growth.

Num 20:16 ‘And we cried out to יהוה, and He heard our voice and sent the Messenger and brought us up out of Mitsrayim. And see, we are in Qaḏĕsh, a city on the edge of your border. – We are at the final leg of our journey, would you please help us. I believe, that this was a test for the Edomite. If they had granted Moses safe passage, there is a possibility that they might even become one nation. When we help others to posses their Land, EL YAHVEH will help us posses ours. I believe this strongly. Helping someone else to achieve elevates us also. By trying to keep other down, we also stay down, by helping others to go up we also move up.

Num 20:17 ‘Please let us pass over, through your land. We shall not pass over through fields or vineyards, nor drink water from wells, we shall go along the sovereign’s highway. We shall not turn aside, right or left, until we have passed over your border.’ ” – in the plain sense of this verse, Moses assured the Edomite king that the Hebrews would not damage his country or even deplete his water supply. Moses assured them that they would even purchase water from them.

Num 20:18 But Eḏom said to him, “You do not pass over through me, lest I come out against you with the sword.” –  The king response to Moses’ statement about Yisrae’l voice of prayer. The king suggested that he was quite content to hold fast to Esau’s blessings of the sword. He was not prepared to elevate himself and his people any further. By showing compassion to his cousins, he would have elevated himself and the Edomites to another spiritual level.

Num 20:19 And the children of Yisra’ĕl said to him, “We shall go by the highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I shall pay for it. Let me only pass over on foot, without a word.” – Moses offered an alternate proposal. Originally he had asked  for permission to traverse the land, implying that they would go even through the populated areas. Now, he suggested to the King that the Hebrew people stay on the main road, which bypasses the cities.

By offering to pay for the water, they meant to say that they would even pay for the river water that they might use during crossing of a river or stream. If the Rock that produces Living Water travel with them at all times, there would be a residual blessing if these people were allowed to travel in their lands. When a sheep graze in a field, both of them benefit. The lamb get the grass and the land get vital minerals from the droppings of the sheep. What blessings did Edom forfeited by been stubborn, what spiritual benefits do we lose by not been kind to someone else.

Num 20:20 But he said, “You do not pass over.” And Eḏom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. -  Stubbornness will often destroy our possible blessings. We as believers must be stubborn for the uncompromised Words of Torah. This is what Torah says and that is final, there is no debate.

Num 20:21 So when Eḏom refused to let Yisra’ĕl pass over through his border, Yisra’ĕl turned away from him. -  When dialogue fail, as believers our next step is to turn away. When we are in an open dialogue, there is always hope. When dialogue turn to possible confrontation it is time for a believer to do the disappearing act.

Verse 22 – 29  talk about the death of Aaron. On the 1^st of Av, in the fortieth year of Yisrael’s wandering in the Wilderness, at the age of one hundred and twenty-three, Aaron died and was succeeded by his son Elazar. Before he died, Aaron had the satisfaction of seeing Elazar clothed in the vestments of the Kohen Gadol, thus seeing how a mature son succeeded a mature father

Then Aaron died through, a death by a kiss of יהוה this is taken from the interpretation of the Hebrew words.  Meaning that his soul became united with the holiness of the Shechinah, the Divine presence.

Meaning that the soul leaves the body without resistance. The extent that one sin in life establishes a bond between their soul and the pleasures of this world, it becomes more difficult for them to part from the physical body.

To those of the spiritual status of Aaron, whose soul was dominated by Torah and the Holy Spirit, there is no regret and no resistance when the soul seeks to depart the physical body.

Num 20:22 And the children of Yisra’ĕl, all the company, departed from Qaḏĕsh and came to Mount Hor. -  Mount Hor, this name was given because it represent a mountain on top of another mountain.

Num 20:23 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon in Mount Hor near the border of the land of Eḏom, saying -  It is obvious that both men plus Elzar was called to a final meeting here on Earth. I do not believe that there was a single tear of regret, maybe it was a chance for Moses and Aaron to see the objective they had work so hard to achieve. But it end up been a changing of the guards.

Num 20:24 “Aharon is to be gathered to his people, for he is not to enter the land which I have given to the children of Yisra’ĕl, because you rebelled against My mouth at the water of Meriḇah. – Even though Torah said it was Moses who struck the Rock, both he and Aaron. were held responsible.

Num 20:25 “Take Aharon and Elʽazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor -  The successor of Aaron his son was chosen. How proud for a father who spend all these years trying to reach maturity, regardless of his human weakness and believe me he had a few. To see his son being chosen as the Kohen Gadol.

Num 20:26 and strip Aharon of his garments and put them on Elʽazar his son, for Aharon is to be gathered to his people and die there.” -  The word strip seem to infer a degrading of Aaron, but I believe this is not so. The removal of the High Priest garment was not a slay in the face of Aaron, it was an exalting of a man who trained his son well.

Num 20:27 And Mosheh did as יהוה commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor before the eyes of all the congregation. – The changing of the guards so to speak was a exalting of the Heavenly principle that only certain people may serve in the Tabernacle. They left the camp in full view of all the people, that no one could say that Moses or Aaron gave the priesthood to his son or friend.

Num 20:28 And Mosheh stripped Aharon of his garments and put them on Elʽazar his son. And Aharon died there on the top of the mountain. And Mosheh and Elʽazar came down from the mountain. – Aaron went up and never came back. Elazar went up a priest and came back a High Priest. No one dared say it was favoritism.

Num 20:29 And when all the congregation saw that Aharon was dead, all the house of Yisra’ĕl wept for Aharon, thirty days. – Everyone, men, and women alike mourned Aaron, because Aaron extended himself to bring harmony between יהוה and the people and among the people themselves.

Chapter 21

Num 21:1  And the sovereign of Araḏ, the Kenaʽanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Yisra’ĕl was coming on the way to Atharim, and he fought against Yisra’ĕl and took some of them captive. – after the death of Aaron Yisrael continue its journey to the Land, which had been interrupted for a period of mourning. It was right after the death of Aaron that the Pillar of cloud, which had guided the left their presence. Did Aarons death played any part in?

There was a Canaanite king who dwelled to the south who heard that the Yisraelites were heading his way. They attack and took some of the Yisraelites captive. These Canaanite are a set of spirits that will try their best to prevent יהוה people from reaching their objective. Remember the temptation of El Yahushua in the Wilderness, that too is a form of an attack by the Canaanite, trying to stop Yahushua from fulfilling His objective.

As the verse indicates, some was taken captive, meaning that during this spiritual attack, some would be taken captive by the Canaanite. But like Yahushua we must defend our position by using the Written Word found only in Torah.

Num 21:2 Then Yisra’ĕl made a vow to יהוה, and said, “If You deliver this people into my hand indeed, then I shall put their cities under the ban.” – In this verse Yisrael made a vow to יהוה if He did delivered the enemy into their hand they would consecrate the spoils for the Kingdom.    

Num 21:3 And יהוה listened to the voice of Yisra’ĕl and gave up the Kenaʽanites, and they put them and their cities under the ban. So the name of that place was called Ḥormah. -  From this verse we see that it was יהוה  who gave up the Canaanites, He remove the protected spirit over them ensuring their defeat. After the defeat, the Yisraelite fulfilled their obligation and rename the cities.

Verse 4 – 9 we saw a new challenge and miracle. The strain of travel begins to take its toll on the people, resulting in complains without justification, provoking יהוה anger until Moses saved them.

It all began when they had to take a detour around the land of Edon, which יהוה had forbidden them to attack for denying them access.

Num 21:4 And they departed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Sea of Reeds, to go around the land of Eḏom. But the being of the people grew impatient because of the way. -  There was still one character trait that had to be worked into the Yisraelites, that was patience. Our character trait will show itself when we are pushed to our limits. As one person said, who we are will come forth when we are under pressure.

Num 21:5 And the people spoke against Elohim and against Mosheh, “Why have you brought us up out of Mitsrayim to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our being loathes this light bread.” -   Some time the people who knew that all that a leader does is from יהוה, but they blamed the leader anyway, for not taking them to the objective by the quickest and shortest route.

It is יהוה who determine the diet of every individual, at each stage of his or her spiritual journey. If יהוה sees fit to provide light bread for our spiritual diet, then the All-wise יהוה knows best. Grumbling against spiritual authority will always bring about the fiery serpents upon us.

There are some people who are in their first day of Creation, just learning what is right from what is wrong, yet they want to get involve in prophecy, without acquiring the essential basic of their spiritual journey. There are certain basic facts that we must learn spiritually that will establish a solid foundation for our spiritual house, that we cannot avoid. We must build on the solid rock of truth, before we can develop spiritual understanding.

Num 21:6 And יהוה sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And many of the people of Yisra’ĕl died. – The poison in the fangs of the fiery serpent made the victims feel as if they were burning up. Snakes in those days were the fitting agents of punishment.

 Primeval serpent had slandered יהוה to Eve and was cursed forever; it was its punishment by having it crawled on its belly.

Now it was being used to punish the people the ungrateful slanderers who defamed the Divine food.  

Num 21:7 Then the people came to Mosheh, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against יהוה and against you. Pray to יהוה to take away the serpents from us.” So Mosheh prayed on behalf of the people. – The people run to Moses and begged him to intercede on their behalf, for we have sinned.

Once a natural force has been unleashed, a special decree is needed to remove it or protect against it, even if the sin that caused it has been forgiven.

Num 21:8 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole. And it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” – It must have taken some time to fashioned this serpent, I am sure they did not have one stored away someplace. However, this serpent is a type and shadow of our Messiyah, when we look upon the One that was nailed to the pole we will live spiritually.

Notice that a serpent is used here to depicted Yahushua. I taught that a serpent was used only to describe the evil one.

Num 21:9 So Mosheh made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole. And it came to be, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. -  Moses like all good leaders will always take the people to the place where their eyes are focus on, no one else but El Yahushua. When we are attack by the serpent of death, and we look towards the Serpent of Life, we will live.

Num 21:10 And the children of Yisra’ĕl set out and camped in Oḇoth. -   We have here an account of the several stages and removals of the children of Yisrael, till they came into the plains of Moab, out of which they at length passed over Jordan into Canaan, as we read in the beginning of Joshua. Natural motions are quicker the nearer they are to their center.

The Yisraelites were now drawing near to the promised rest, and now they set forward, as the expression is. It were well if we would do thus in our way to heavens, rid ground in the latter end of our journey, and the nearer we come to heavens be so much the more active and abundant in the work of YAHVEH. Two things especially are observable in the brief account here given of these removals.

Num 21:11 And they departed from Oḇoth and camped at Iyĕ Ha-Aḇarim, in the wilderness which is east of Mo’aḇ, toward sunrise. – Each stage of our spiritual journey is a spiritual place we should camp until we learn the particular spiritual skill require for our spiritual growth. Since Canaan is a spiritual place, the Holy of Holies, the promise land. Our journey towards this goal is to prepare us for our arrival, that we may possess the necessary tool for us to occupy our spiritual land efficiently. 

Num 21:12 From there they set out and camped at the wadi Zereḏ. -  After every test or trials, the believer like the Yisraelites usually journey towards a new spiritual experience. The river Zered was there next spiritual challenge they must overcome. The definition of Zered is from the root “Zed-red” meaning to be exuberant in growth.

Num 21:13 From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Mo’aḇ, between Mo’aḇ and the Amorites. - Care is taken to let us know that the Yisraelites in their march religiously observed the orders which YAHVEH gave them to use no hostility against the Moabites (Deu. 2:9), because they were the posterity of righteous Lot; therefore they pitched on the other side of Arnon, that side which was now in the possession of the Amorites, one of the devoted nations, though formerly it had belonged to Moab, as appears here. In other words do not take away the people from another Assembly.

 This care of theirs not to offer violence to the Moabites is pleaded by Jephtha long afterwards, in his remonstrance against the Ammonites (Jdg. 11:15, etc.), and turned to them for a testimony. What their achievements were, now that they pitched on the banks of the river Arnon, we are not particularly told, but are referred to the book of the wars of YAHVEH, perhaps that book which was begun with the history of the war with the Amalekites, Ex. 17:14.

Write it (said YAHVEH) for a memorial in a book, to which were added all the other battles which Yisrael fought, in order, and, among the rest, their actions on the river Arnon, at Vaheb in Suphah (as our margin reads it) and other places on that river. Or, it shall be said (as some read it) in the rehearsal, or commemoration, of the wars of YAHVEH, what he did in the Red Sea, when he brought Yisrael out of Egypt, and what he did in the brooks of Arnon, just before he brought them into Canaan.

In celebrating the memorials of YAH’s favors to us, it is good to observe the series of them, and how divine goodness and mercy have constantly followed us, even from the Red Sea to the brooks of Arnon. In every stage of our lives, nay, in every step, we should take notice of what YAHVEH has wrought for us; what he did at such a time, and what in such a place, ought to be distinctly remembered. 

Num 21:14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Battles of יהוה, “Wahĕḇ in Suphah, the wadi Arnon - I would certain like to read the Book of the Battles of יהוה for some clarification. However, if the incident of the Red Sea and this location, a similar incident took place. We know that יהוה destroyed the Armies of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, then it is safe to say that the incident at the river of Arnon followed a similar faith.

Num 21:15 and the slope of the wadi that turns aside to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Mo’aḇ.” -  The flow of the river as it turns towards Ar along the borders with Moab.

Num 21:16 And from there on to Be’ĕr, which is the well where יהוה said to Mosheh, “Gather the people, and let Me give them water.” -  from there on to the well that supplied water to Yisrael the people was to assemble.

Num 21:17 Yisra’ĕl then sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it -  It was at this point in their journey that the people proclaim the miracle of Amon, Yisrael sang to express its own gratitude to יהוה for having given them the well and its constant water supply throughout the frothy years in the dry Wilderness..

At this point in their journey the Yisrael had learn their lesson, which was actually a miracle in itself. The sang the song at the Red sea with the help of Moses. Now, they were singing the song at the river Arnon without Moses help. They finally realize that the Rock that followed them through the wilderness was indeed a very great miracle.

Num 21:18 a well the leaders sank, which the nobles of the people dug with their staves, by the word of the Law-giver.” Then from the wilderness on to Mattanah -  The nobles the leaders of the people were Moses and Aaron were the one responsible for the Rock becoming a well for the people

The lawgiver was Moses, who played an active role in bringing water to the people by using his staff. However, the second time it was both Aaron and Moses. The well was a gift to the people from the Wilderness where there was no natural source of water, thus accentuating the greatness of the miracle.

Verse 19 -20 these two verses trace the path of the well as it followed the people wherever they went, no matter what the elevation of difficult terrain, much like the Rock that followed them for nearly 39 years. 

Num 21:19 from Mattanah to Naḥali’ĕl, from Naḥali’ĕl to Bamoth -  The nobles of Yisrael were forward to set their hands to this work, and used their staves, probable those that were the ensigns of their honor and power, for the public service, and it is recorded to their honor. And we may suppose that it was a great confirmation to them in their offices, and a great comfort to the people, that they made use of the divine power as instruments by this miracle.

Num 21:20 and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Mo’aḇ, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland. – The implication of this verse, shows us that the people move from a low elevation to a higher elevation. This alluded to our spiritual growth of one who devotes himself to building their Menorah and a rigorous study of Torah.

By drinking from the well and now the well, allude to the principle of carrying our cross. The Rock represents the Torah and the well represent the Spirit. A continues study of Torah will endowed us with the Holy Spirit. The seven Spirits of Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of YAHVEH, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Authority, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of YAHVEH. Our Journey thought our spiritual Wilderness is to allow us to drink often from these two sources of water.

Verse 21 – 32 describe another battle, the battle with Sihon. The nation of Yisrael, not the Children of Yisrael had journey around the Land of Edom and was now poised to go westward toward the Jordan, crossing the land of Sihon and Og, two kings of Amorites nations. First were Sihon and Moses send emissaries to ask for the right to cross his land in peace. As believer it is our first option to seek a peaceful solution to every action. When that is exhorted we may used force only as a last resort.

Num 21:21 And Yisra’ĕl sent messengers to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, saying,  - Yisrael sent a peaceable message to Sihon king of the Amorites, but received an unpeaceable return, worse than that of the Edomites, ch. 20:18, 20.

Num 21:22 “Let me pass through your land. We shall not turn off into fields or vineyards, we shall not drink water from wells, but go by the sovereign’s highway until we have passed over your border.” – One of the main principles of Torah is spiritual authority. We must always respect authority regardless of if we like the person or not. Even a gentile king deserve to be treated with respect, they were put there by יהוה. 

Num 21:23 But Siḥon would not allow Yisra’ĕl to pass through his border. So Siḥon gathered all his people together and went out against Yisra’ĕl in the wilderness, and he came to Yahats and fought against Yisra’ĕl. – The Canaanite kings paid tribute to Sihon to protect them against invaders so Shon could not, in good faith, permit Yisrael to cross his territory.

Notice the frequency of wars the Yisralites participate in as they near the Promise Land. It is the goal of the enemy of our soul to increase the frequency of this attack as we near our spiritual destination. 

Num 21:24 And Yisra’ĕl smote him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Yabboq, as far as the children of Ammon, for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. – The source of the ammonite power was יהוה command Deut 2:19 that Yisrael not harass or wage war against them. The enemies of YAH’s Assembly are often infatuated in those very counsels which they think most wisely taken. Sihon’s army was routed, and not only so, but all his country came into the possession of Yisrael.

This seizure is justified, Against the Amorites themselves, for they were the aggressors, and provoked the Israelites to battle; and yet, perhaps, that would not have been sufficient to entitle Yisrael to their land, but that YAHVEH himself, the King of nations, the Master of the whole earth, had given them a grant of it.

The Amorites formed one of the devoted nations whose land YAHVEH had promised to Abraham and his seed, which promise should be performed when the iniquity of the Amorites should be full, Gen. 15:16. Jephtha insists upon this grant as their title, Jdg. 11:23, 24. The victory which YAHVEH gave them over the Amorites put them in possession, and then, the promise made to their fathers having given them a right, by virtue of that they kept possession.

Against the Moabites, who had formerly been YAHVEHs-proprietors of this country. If they should ever lay claim to it, and should plead that YAHVEH himself had provided that none of their land should be given to Israel for a possession (Deu. 2:9), Moses here furnishes posterity with a replication to their plea, and Jephtha makes use of it against the Amorites 260 years afterwards, when Yisrael’s title to this country was questioned.

 

Num 21:25 And Yisra’ĕl took all these cities, and Yisra’ĕl dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites – in Ḥeshbon and in all its villages, - We must remember that these Canaanite are squatters in our land, we need to defeat them thoroughly when the opportunity present itself. 

Num 21:26 for Ḥeshbon was the city of Siḥon the sovereign of the Amorites, who had fought against the former sovereign of Mo’aḇ, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon. -  This verse establishes Yisrael’s right to occupy Sihon’s territory, even though it had originally belonged to Moab. One Sihon conquered it, Moab lost its claim.

Those that had conquered the Moabites, and insulted over them, were now themselves conquered and insulted over by the Yisrael of YAHVEH. It is very probable that the same Sihon, king of the Amorites, that had got this country from the Moabites, now lost it to the Yisraelites; for, though it is said to be taken from a former king of Moab, yet not by a former king of the Amorites; and then it shows how sometimes justice makes men to see the loss of that which they got by violence, and were puffed up with the gain of. They are exalted but for a little while, Job 24:24.

Num 21:27 That is why those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Ḥeshbon, let the city of Siḥon be built and established. -  That such and such places that are here named, though they had been in the possession of the Moabites, had by right of war become the dominion of Sihon king of the Amorites. Heshbon had become his city, and he obtained such a quiet possession of it that it was built and prepared for him, and the country to Dibon and Nophah was likewise subdued, and annexed to the kingdom of the Amorites, verse 30.

Num 21:28 “For fire went out from Ḥeshbon, a flame from the city of Siḥon. It consumed Ar of Mo’aḇ, the masters of the heights of the Arnon. -  That the Moabites were utterly disabled ever to regain the possession. Even Ar of Moab, though not taken or attempted by Sihon, but still remaining the metropolis of Moab, yet was so wasted by this loss that is would never be able to make head.

Num 21:29 “Woe to you, Mo’aḇ! You have perished, O people of Kemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Siḥon the sovereign of the Amorites. - The Moabites were undone, and even Chemosh their god had given them up, as unable to rescue them out of the hands of Sihon. By all this it appears that the Moabites’ claim to this country was barred forever. There may be a further reason for inserting this Amorite poem, namely, to show that the triumphing of the wicked is short.

Num 21:30 “Then we shot them – Ḥeshbon has perished as far as Diḇon. And we laid waste as far as Nophaḥ, which reaches to Mĕyḏeḇa.” -  The word shot comes from the root word “Yaw-raw” meaning to flow as water, to point out, to teach, direct, informed, instruct. The information given here is that the inhabitance of Heshbon was destroyed as far as Dibon all the way to Nophad and Meydeba. This speaks of the Heavenly body or Angels who had followed Lucifer in there rebellion. The Journey of the Children of Yisrael like our journey to the restoration of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are shown the one third of the heavenly kingdom which was lay waste by the battle between Lucifer and Michael.

Num 21:31 So Yisra’ĕl dwelt in the land of the Amorites. -  On our journey to our spiritual Canaan those of us who are spiritually mature will past through the desolate part of the heavens, before we reach our intended goal.

Num 21:32 And Mosheh sent to spy out Yaʽzĕr. And they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there - When we first fail at a task or test, we are often given a makeup test, this is called grace. In this verse we see Moses sending out spies again, only there was a different consequence. Even though the first spy mission had been a total disaster, Moses did not hesitate to send spies again. This time, there was none of the national frenzy and fear that doomed the first mission. Now, Moses sent them quietly and they were responsible only to him.

When we reach to the heavens, we still have more spiritual battle to fight. At present there are squatters on our possession in Heavens. These squatters must be driven out. We must not make a treaty with them. The Promise land is ours alone, it must not be shared with anyone else. 

Verse 33 – 35 we see Og goes to battle with Yisrael. Og was the last survivor of the huge giants of the generation before the flood, Deuteronomy 3:11, a man whose very appearance inspired fear in other.

It is unheard off that Moses, who would later admonish Yisrael never to be afraid, and whom יהוה had promised that he would defeat his entire enemy, would fear Og’s physical size. Never the less, יהוה had to tell Moses not to fear, because Yisrael had a power that transcended size and strength.

Num 21:33 and turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Oḡ sovereign of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Eḏreʽi. – Bashan the northern part of Jordon which include Syria, stretching from the River Jabbok in the south to Mount Hermon on the north. King OG led his army out to war without waiting for Moses to send a peace deligation.

That the Amorite begins the war, just like it was Lucifer who starts the rebellion in the Heavens: He went out to battle against Yisrael. His country was very rich and pleasant. Bashan was famous for the best timber (witness the oaks of Bashan), and the best breed of cattle, witness the bulls and kine of Bashan, and the lambs and rams of that country, which are celebrated, Deu. 32:14. Wicked men do their utmost to secure themselves and their possessions against the judgments of YAHVEH, but all in vain, when their day comes, on which they must fall. 

Num 21:34 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, with all his people and his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon.” -   That YAHVEH interests himself in the cause, bids Israel not to fear this threatening force, and promises a complete victory: "I have delivered him into thy hand ; the thing is as good as done already, it is all thy own, enter and take possession.’’ Giants are but worms before YAH’s power.

That Yisrael is more than a conqueror, not only routs the enemies’ army, but gains the enemies’ country, which afterwards was part of the inheritance of the two tribes and a half that were first seated on the other side Jordan.

YAHVEH gave Yisrael these successes, while Moses was yet with them, both for his comfort (that he might see the beginning of that glorious work, which he must not live to see the finishing of) and for the encouragement of the people in the war of Canaan under Joshua. Though this was to them in comparison but as the day of small things, yet it was an earnest of great things.

Num 21:35 And they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until no remnant was left to him. And they took possession of his land. -  It is absolutely imperative that we learn to destroy the inhabitance of the land we are given. As it is imperative we learn to destroy the influence of the flesh in our lives. There must be no shared citizenship in the Kingdom.

Num 22:1  And the children of Yisra’ĕl set out and camped in the desert plains of Mo’aḇ beyond the Yardĕn of Yeriḥo. -   The children of Yisrael have at length finished their wanderings in the wilderness, out of which they went up (ch. 21:18), and are now encamped in the plains of Moab near Jordan, where they continued till they passed through Jordan under Joshua, after the death of Moses.

In this sense wilderness means they are that was made desolate by the war between Michael and Lucifer. The restoration of this Wilderness is what Torah and the Holy Spirit is all about. To bring life back to that which was made desolate?

Haftarah

Judges 11:1 –33

This chapter gives as the history of Jephthah, another of Yisrael’s judges, and numbered among the worthies of the Old Testament, that by faith did great things (Heb. 11:32), though he had not such an extraordinary call as the rest there mentioned had. Here we have, 

I. The disadvantages of his origin verse 1 – 3.

II. The Gileadites’ choice of him to be commander-in-chief against the Ammonites, and the terms he made with them vers 4–11. 

III. His treaty with the king of Ammon about the rights of the two nations, that the matter might be determined, if possible, without bloodshed verse 12–28. 

IV. His war with the Ammonites, which he enters upon with a solemn vow verse 29–31.

V. prosecutes with bravery verse 32.

VI. and ends with a glorious victory verse 33.

VII. The straits he was brought into at his return to his own house by the vow he had made verse 34 – 40.

Jdg 11:1  And Yiphtaḥ the Gilʽaḏite was a mighty brave one, but he was the son of a whore. And Gilʽaḏ brought forth Yiphtaḥ. - The princes and people of Gilead we left, in the close of the foregoing chapter, consulting about the choice of a general, having come to this resolve, that whoever would undertake to lead their forces against the children of Ammon should by common consent be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. The enterprise was difficult, and it was fit that so great an encouragement as this should be proposed to him that would undertake it. Now all agreed that Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of velour, and very fit for that purpose, none so fit as he, but he lay under three disadvantages:

He was the son of a harlot , of a strange woman verse 2, one that was neither a wife nor a concubine; some think his mother was a Gentile; so Josephus, who calls him a stranger by the mother’s side. An Ishmaelite, say the Jews. If his mother was a harlot, that was not his fault, however it was his disgrace. Men ought not to be reproached with any of the infelicities of their parentage or extraction, so long as they are endeavoring by their personal merits to roll away the reproach.

The son of a harlot, if born again, born from above, shall be accepted of YAHVEH, and be as welcome as any other to the glorious liberties of his children. Jephthah could not read in the law the brand they put on the Ammonites, the enemies he was to grapple with, that they should not enter into the congregation of YAHVEH, but in the same paragraph he met with that which looked black upon himself, that a bastard should be in like manner excluded, Deu. 23:2, 3. But if that law means, as most probably it does, only those that are born of incest, not of fornication, he was not within the reach of it.

Jdg 11:2 And the wife of Gilʽaḏ bore sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Yiphtaḥ out, and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in the house of our father, for you are the son of another woman.”  – He had been driven from his country by his brethren. His father’s legitimate children, insisting upon the rigor of the law, thrust him out from having any inheritance with them, without any consideration of his extraordinary qualifications, which merited a dispensation, and would have made him a mighty strength and ornament of their family, if they had overlooked his being illegitimate and admitted him to a child’s part.

Jdg 11:3 And Yiphtaḥ fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Toḇ. And worthless men banded together with Yiphtaḥ and went out with him. – One would not have thought this abandoned youth was intended to be Yisrael’s deliverer and judge, but YAHVEH often humbles those whom he designs to exalt, and makes that stone the head of the corner which the builders refused; so Joseph, Moses, and David, the three most eminent of the shepherds of Israel, were all thrust out by men, before they were called of God to their great offices.

He had, in his exile, headed a rabble. Being driven out by his brethren, his great soul would not suffer him either to dig or beg, but by his sword he must live; and, being soon noted for his bravery, those that were reduced to such straits, and animated by such a spirit, enlisted themselves under him. Vain men they are here called, that is, men that had run through their estates and had to seek for a livelihood.

These went out with him, not to rob or plunder, but to hunt wild beasts, and perhaps to make incursions upon those countries which Yisrael was entitled to, but had not as yet come to the possession of, or were some way or other injured by. This is the man that must save Yisrael.

That people had by their idolatry made themselves children of whoredoms, and aliens from YAHVEH and His covenant, and therefore, though YAHVEH upon their repentance will deliver them, yet, to mortify them and remind them of their sin, he chooses to do it by a bastard and an exile.

Jdg 11:4 And it came to be, some time later, that the children of Ammon fought against Yisra’ĕl. – The distress, which the children of Yisrael were in spiritually and physically upon the Ammonites’ invasion of their country. Father YAHVEH does not allow HIS people to be overrun by an eviler race unless they had fall into sin.

Probably this was the same invasion with that mentioned, ch. 10:17, when the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in or against Gilead. And those words, in process of time, refer to what goes immediately before of the expulsion of Jephthah; many days after he had been thus thrust out in disgrace was he fetched back again with honor.

Jdg 11:5 And it came to be, when the children of Ammon fought against Yisra’ĕl, that the elders of Gilʽaḏ went to bring Yiphtaḥ out of the land of Toḇ. – Duet 23:2-3 say a son of an harlot could not be leader in Yisrael. However in this period in the history of Yisrael, they had to depend on Yiphtah to do battle against the enemy. The verse a child shall lead them and women shall rule over them apply to this situation. Remember Deborah who became a Judge in Yisrael, for there was not man to lead them. In twenty-century earth we are in much the same spiritual predicament.

Jdg 11:6 And they said to Yiphtaḥ, “Come, and you shall be our commander, and let us fight against the children of Ammon.” - The court which the elders made to Jephthah hereupon to come and help them. They did not write or send a messenger to him, but went themselves to fetch him, resolving to have no denial, and the exigency of the case was such as would admit no delay.

Their beg to him was, Come, and be our captain. They knew among themselves that he was able to undertake that great trust, but in effect confessed themselves unfit for it; they know him to be a bold man, and inured to the sword, and therefore he must be the man.

 See how YAHVEH prepared men for the service he designs them for, and makes their troubles work for their advancement. If Jephthah had not been put to his shifts by his brethren’s unkindness, he would not have had such occasion as this gave him to exercise and improve his martial genius, and so to signalize himself and become famous. Out of the eater comes forth meat.

The children of Yisrael were assembled and encamped, ch. 10:17. But an army without a general is like a body without a head; therefore Come, say they, and be our captain, that we may fight. See the necessity of a mature spiritual leader; though they were hearty enough in the cause, yet they owned they could not fight without a captain to command them.

So necessary is it to all societies that there be a pars imperans and a pars subdita, some to rule and others to obey, that any community would humbly beg the favor of a leader who was not spiritually qualified to commanded rather than that every man should be his own master. Blessed be YAHVEH for government, for a good government.

Jdg 11:7 But Yiphtaḥ said to the elders of Gilʽaḏ, “Did you not hate me, and drive me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” – The objections Jephthah makes against accepting their offer: Did you not hate me, and expel me?  It should seem that his brethren were some of these elders, or these elders by suffering his brethren to abuse him, and not righting him as they ought to have done (for their business is to defend the poor and fatherless, Ps. 82:3, 4, had made themselves guilty of his expulsion, and he might justly charge them with it.

Magistrates, that have power to protect those that are injured, if they neglect to redress their grievances are really guilty of inflicting them. "You hated me and expelled me, and therefore how can I believe that you are sincere in this proposal, and how can you expect that I should do you any service?’’

Not but that Jephthah was very willing to serve his country, but he thought fit to give them a hint of their former unkindness to him, that they might repent of their sin in using him so ill, and might for the future be the more sensible of their obligations.

Thus Joseph humbled his brethren before he made himself known to them. The particular case between the Gileadites and Jephthah was a resemblance of the general state of the case between Yisrael and YAHVEH at this time. They had thrust YAHVEH out by their idolatries, yet in their distress begged his help; he told them how justly he might have rejected them, and yet graciously delivered them. So did Jephthah. Many slight YAHVEH and good men till they come to be in distress, and then they are desirous of YAH’s mercy and good men’s prayers.

Jdg 11:8 And the elders of Gilʽaḏ said to Yiphtaḥ, “That is the reason we have turned to you, that you shall go with us and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilʽaḏ.”  - Their urgency with him to accept the government they offer him. "Therefore because we formerly did thee that wrong, and to show thee that we repent of it and would gladly atone for it, we turn again to thee now, to put such an honor upon thee as shall balance that indignity.’’ Let this instance be,

A caution to us not to despise or trample upon any because they are mean, nor to be injurious to any that we have advantage against, because, whatever we think of them now, the time may come when we may have need of them, and may be glad to be beholden to them. It is our wisdom to make no man our enemy, because we know not how soon our distresses may be such as that we may be highly concerned to make him our friend.

An encouragement to men of worth that is slighted or ill-treated. Let them bear it with meekness and cheerfulness, and leave it to YAHVEH to make their light shine out of obscurity. Fuller’s remark on this story, in his "Pisgah Sight,’’ is this: "Virtue once in an age will work her own advancement, and, when such as hate it chance to need it, they will be forced to prefer it,’’ and then the honor will appear the brighter.

Jdg 11:9 And Yiphtaḥ said to the elders of Gilʽaḏ, “If you take me back home to fight against the children of Ammon, and יהוה gives them to me, am I to be your head?” – The bargain he makes with them. He had mentioned the injuries they had formerly done him, but, perceiving their repentance, his spirit was too great and generous to mention them anymore. YAHVEH had forgiven Yisrael the affronts they had put upon him (ch. 10:16), and therefore Jephthah will forgive.

Only he thinks it prudent to make his bargain wisely for the future, since he deals with men that he had reason to distrust.

He puts to them a fair question. He speaks not with too much confidence of his success, knowing how justly YAHVEH might suffer the Ammonites to prevail for the further punishment of Yisrael; but puts an if upon it. Nor does he speak with any confidence at all in himself; if he do succeed, it is YAHVEH that delivers them into his hand, intending hereby to remind his countrymen to look up to YAHVEH, as arbitrator of the controversy and the giver of victory, for so he did.

"Now if, by the blessing of YAHVEH, I come home a conqueror, tell me plainly shall I be your head? If I deliver you, under YAHVEH, shall I, under him, reform you?’’ The same question is put to those who desire salvation by Messiyah. "If he save you, will you be willing that he shall rule you? For on no other terms will he save you. If he make you happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your helper, shall he be your head?

Jdg 11:10 And the elders of Gilʽaḏ said to Yiphtaḥ, “יהוה is witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” – They immediately give him a positive answer: "We will do according to thy words; command us in war, and thou shalt command us in peace.’’ They do not take time to consider of it. The case was too plain to need a debate, and the necessity too pressing to admit a delay. They knew they had power to conclude a treaty for those whom they represented, and therefore bound it with an oath, YAHVEH be witness between us.

They appeal to YAH’s omniscience as the judge of their present sincerity, and to his justice as an avenger if afterwards they should prove false. YAHVEH be a hearer, so the word is. Whatever we speak, it concerns us to remember that YAHVEH is a hearer, and to speak accordingly.

Thus was the original contract ratified between Jephthah and the Gileadites, which all Yisrael, it should seem, agreed to afterwards, for it is said (ch. 12:7), he judged Israel. He hereupon went with them to the place where they were all assembled (ch. 10:17), and there by common consent they made him head and captain, and so ratified the bargain their representatives had made with him, that he should be not only captain now, but head for life.

Jephthah, to obtain this little honor, was willing to expose his life for them (ch. 12:3), and shall we be discouraged in our Messiyanic warfare by any of the difficulties we may meet with in it, when Messiyah Himself has promised a crown of life to him that overcometh?

Jdg 11:11 Then Yiphtaḥ went with the elders of Gilʽaḏ, and the people set him over them, as head and commander. And Yiphtaḥ spoke all his words before יהוה in Mitspah. – Jephthah’s pious acknowledgment of YAHVEH in this great affair: He uttered all his words before YAHVEH in Mizpeh, that is, upon his elevation, he immediately retired to his devotions, and in prayer spread the whole matter before YAHVEH, both his choice to the office and his execution of the office, as one that had his eye ever towards YAHVEH, and would do nothing without him, that leaned not to his own understanding or courage, but depended on YAHVEH and his favor.

He utters before YAHVEH all his thoughts and cares in this matter; for YAHVEH gives us leave to be free with him.

"YAHVEH, the people have made me their head; wilt thou confirm the choice, and own me as thy people’s head under thee and for thee?’’ YAHVEH justly complains of Israel (Hos. 8:4), they have set up kings, but not by me. "YAHVEH,’’ said Jephthah, "I will be no head of their making without thee. I will not accept the government unless thou give me leave.’’ Had Abimelech done this, he might have prospered.

"YAHVEH, they have made me their captain, to go before them in this war with the Ammonites; shall I have thy presence? Wilt thou go before me? If not, carry me not up hence. Master satisfy me in the justice of the cause. Assure me of success in the enterprise.’’ This is a rare example, to be imitated by all, particularly by great ones; in all our ways let us acknowledge YAHVEH, seek his favor, ask counsel at his mouth, and take him along with us; so shall we make our way prosperous. Thus Jephthah opened the campaign with prayer. That was likely to end gloriously which began thus piously.

Jdg 11:12 And Yiphtaḥ sent messengers to the sovereign of the children of Ammon, saying, “What is between you and me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?” – We have here the treaty between Jephthah, now judge of Yisrael, and the king of the Ammonites (who is not named), that the controversy between the two nations might, if possible, be accommodated without the effusion of blood.

Jephthah, as one having authority, sent to the king of Ammon, who in this war was the aggressor, to demand his reasons for invading the land of Yisrael: "Why hast thou come to fight against me in my land?  Had I come first into thy land to disturb thee in thy possession, this would have been reason enough for fighting against me, for how must force be repelled but by force? but what hast thou to do to come thus in a hostile manner into my land?’’ so he calls it, in the name both of YAHVEH and Yisrael. Now this fair demand shows,

That Jephthah did not delight in war, though he was a mighty man of valour, but was willing to prevent it by a peaceable accommodation. If he could by reason persuade the invaders to retire, he would not compel them to do it by the sword. War should be the last remedy, not to be used till all other methods of ending matters in variance have been tried in vain, the last resource of kings. This rule should be observed in going to law. The sword of justice, as well as the sword of war, must not be appealed to till the contending parties have first endeavored by gentler means to understand one another, and to accommodate matters in variance, 1 Co. 6:1.

That Jephthah did delight in equity, and designed no other than to do justice. If the children of Ammon could convince him that Israel had done them wrong, he was ready to restore the rights of the Ammonites. If not, it was plain by their invasion that they did Israel wrong, and he was ready to maintain the rights of the Israelites. A sense of justice should guide and govern us in all our undertakings.

Jdg 11:13 And the sovereign of the children of Ammon said to the messengers of Yiphtaḥ, “Because Yisra’ĕl took my land when they came up out of Mitsrayim, from the Arnon as far as the Yabboq, and to the Yardĕn. And now, give back those lands in peace.” – The king of the Ammonites now gives in his demand, which he should have published before he had invaded Israel. His pretence is, "Yisrael took away my lands long since; now therefore restore those lands.’’

We have reason to think the Ammonites, when they made this descent upon Israel, meant no other than to spoil and plunder the country, and enrich themselves with the prey, as they had done formerly under Eglon (ch. 3:13) when no such demand as this was made, though the matter was then fresh; but when Jephthah demanded the cause of their quarrel, and they could not for shame own what was their true intent and meaning, some old musty records were searched, or some ancient traditions enquired into, and from them this reason was drawn to serve the present turn, for a colorable pretence of equity in the invasion.

Even those that do the greatest wrong yet have such a conviction in their consciences of justice that they would seem to do right. Restore those lands. See upon what uncertain terms we hold our worldly possessions; what we think we have the surest hold of may be challenged from us, and wrested out of our hands. Those that have got to the heavenly Canaan need not fear having their titles questioned.

Jdg 11:14 But Yiphtaḥ again sent messengers to the sovereign of the children of Ammon, - Jephthah gives in a very full and satisfactory answer to this demand, showing it to be altogether unjust and unreasonable, and that the Ammonites had no title to this country that lay between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok, now in the possession of the tribes of Reuben and Gad. As one very well versed in the history of his country, he shows,

Jdg 11:15 and said to him, “This is what Yiphtaḥ said, ‘Yisra’ĕl did not take the land of Mo’aḇ, nor the land of the children of Ammon. – That Yisrael never took any land away either from the Moabites or Ammonites. He puts them together because they were brethren, the children of Lot, near neighbors, and of united interests, having the same El, Chemosh, and perhaps sometimes the same king.

The lands in question Yisrael took away, not from the Moabites or Ammonites (they had particular orders from YAHVEH not to meddle with them nor any thing they had, Deu. 2:9, 19, and religiously observed their orders, but they found them in the possession of Sihon king of the Amorites, and out of his hand they took them justly and honorably, as he will show afterwards.

If the Amorites, before Yisrael came into that country, had taken these lands from the Moabites or Ammonites, as it should seem they had (Num. 21:26; Jos. 13:25), Yisrael was not concerned to enquire into that or answer for it. If the Ammonites had lost these lands and their title to them, the children of Yisrael were under no obligation to recover the possession for them. Their business was to conquer for themselves, not for other people. This is his first plea, "Not guilty of the trespass.’’

Jdg 11:16 ‘For when they came up from Mitsrayim, and Yisra’ĕl walked through the wilderness as far as the Sea of Reeds and came to Qaḏĕsh, - That they were so far from invading the property of any other nations than the devoted posterity of cursed Canaan (one of the branches of which the Amorites were, Gen. 10:16) that they would not so much as force a passage through the country either of the Edomites, the seed of Esau, or of the Moabites, the seed of Lot; but even after a very tedious march through the wilderness, with which they were sadly tired.

Jdg 11:17 then Yisra’ĕl sent messengers to the sovereign of Eḏom, saying, “Please let me pass over, through your land.” But the sovereign of Eḏom would not listen. And they also sent to the sovereign of Mo’aḇ, but he refused, so Yisra’ĕl stayed at Qaḏĕsh. - When the king of Edom first, and afterwards the king of Moab, denied them the courtesy of a way through their country, rather than give them any offence or annoyance, weary as they were, they put themselves to the further fatigue of compassing both the land of Edom and that of Moab, and came not within the border of either.

Jdg 11:18 ‘Then they went through the wilderness and around the land of Eḏom and the land of Mo’aḇ, and came to the east side of the land of Mo’aḇ, and encamped beyond Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Mo’aḇ, for Arnon was the border of Mo’aḇ. -  Those that behave themselves inoffensively may take the comfort of it, and plead it against those that charge them with injustice and wrong doing. Our righteousness will answer for us in time to come (Gen. 30:33) and will put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, 1 Pt. 2:15.

Jdg 11:19 ‘And Yisra’ĕl sent messengers to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, sovereign of Ḥeshbon, and Yisra’ĕl said to him, “Please let us pass over, through your land into our place.” – That in that war in which they took this land out of the hands of Sihon king of the Amorites he was the aggressor, and not they. They sent a humble petition to him for leave to go through his land, willing to give him any security for their good behavior in their march. "Let us pass (say they) unto our place, that is, to the land of Canaan, which is the only place we call ours, and to which we are pressing forward, not designing a settlement here.’

Jdg 11:20 ‘But Siḥon did not trust Yisra’ĕl to pass over through his border, and Siḥon gathered all his people together, and they encamped in Yahats, and fought against Yisra’ĕl. – But Sihon not only denied them this courtesy, as Edom and Moab had done (had he only done so, who knows but Yisrael might have gone about some other way?) but he mustered all his forces, and fought against Yisrael, not only shut them out of his own land, but would have cut them off from the face of the earth (Nub. 21:23, 24), aimed at nothing less than their ruin. Yisrael therefore, in their war with him, stood in their own just and necessary defense, and therefore, having routed his army, might justly, in further revenge of the injury, seize his country as forfeited.

Jdg 11:21 ‘And יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl gave Siḥon and all his people into the hand of Yisra’ĕl, and they smote them. So Yisra’ĕl took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land. – Thus Yisrael came into the possession of this country, and doubted not to make good their title to it.

Jdg 11:22 ‘Thus they took possession of all the border of the Amorites, from Arnon to the Yabboq and from the wilderness to the Yardĕn. –It is very unreasonable for the Ammonites to question their title, for the Amorites were the inhabitants of that country, and it was purely their land and their coasts that the Israelites then made themselves masters of.

Jdg 11:23 ‘And now, יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl has driven out the Amorites from before His people Yisra’ĕl, should you then possess it? -  He pleads a grant from the crown, and claims under that. It was not Yisrael (they were fatigued with their long march, and were not fit for action so soon), but it was the YAHVEH EL of Yisrael, who is King of nations, whose the earth is and the fullness thereof, he it was that dispossessed the Amorites and planted Yisrael in their room.

YAHVEH gave them the land by an express and particular conveyance, such as vested the title in them, which they might make good against all the world. Deu. 2:24, I have given into thy hand Sihon and his land; he gave it to them, by giving them a complete victory over the present occupants, notwithstanding the great disadvantages they were under.

"Can you think that YAHVEH gave it to us in such an extraordinary manner with design that we should return it to the Moabites or Ammonites again? No, we put a higher value upon YAH’s favors than to part with them so easily.’’

Jdg 11:24 ‘Whatever Kemosh your mighty one gives you to possess, do you not possess it? And all that which יהוה our Elohim takes possession of before us, we possess. - To corroborate this plea, he urges an argument ad hominem, directed to the man: Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee? He not only appeals to the common resolutions of men to hold their own against all the world, but to the common religion of the nations, which, they thought, obliged them to make much of that which their gods gave them.

Not that Jephthah thought Chemosh a god, only he is thy god, and the worshippers even of those dunghill deities that could do neither good nor evil yet thought themselves beholden to them for all they had (Hos. 2:12, These are my rewards which my lovers have given me; and see Jdg. 16:24) and made this a reason why they would hold it fast, that their gods gave it to them.

"This thou thinkest a good title, and shall not we?’’ The Ammonites had dispossessed those that dwelt in their land before them; they thought they did it by the help of Chemosh their god, but really it was YAHVEH the EL of Yisrael that did it for them, as is expressly said, Deu. 2:19, 21. "Now,’’ says Jephthah, "we have as good a title to our country as you have to yours.’’

One instance of the honor and respect we owe to YAHVEH, as our EL, is rightly to possess that which he gives us to possess, receive it from him, use it for him, keep it for his sake, and part with it when he calls for it. He has given it to us to possess, not to enjoy. He himself only must be enjoyed.

Jdg 11:25 ‘And now are you any better than Balaq son of Tsippor, sovereign of Mo’aḇ? Did he ever strive against Yisra’ĕl? Did he ever fight against them? – He pleads prescription. Their title had not been disputed when they first entered upon it. "Balak who was then king of Moab, from whom the greatest part of these lands had been taken by the Amorites, and who was most concerned and best able to oppose us, if he had had anything to object against our settlement there, yet sat still, and never offered to strive against Yisrael.’’

He knew that for his own part he had fairly lost it to the Amorites and was not able to recover it, and could not but acknowledge that Israel had fairly won it of the Amorites, and therefore all his care was to secure what was left: he never pretended a title to what was lost. See Num. 22:2, 3.

Jdg 11:26 ‘While Yisra’ĕl dwelt in Ḥeshbon and its villages, and in Aroʽĕr and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? – Their possession had never yet been disturbed. He pleads that they had kept this country as their own now about 300 years, and the Ammonites in all that time had never attempted to take it from them, no, not when they had it in their power to oppress them, ch. 3:13, 14.

So that, supposing their title had not been clear at the first (which yet he had proved it was), yet, no claim having been made for so many generations, the entry of the children of Ammon, without doubt, was barred forever. A title so long unquestioned shall be presumed unquestionable.

Jdg 11:27 ‘So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me evil by fighting against me. Let יהוה the Judge, judge today between the children of Yisra’ĕl and the children of Ammon.’ ” – By these arguments Jephthah justifies himself and his own cause ("I have not sinned against thee in taking or keeping what I have no right to; if I had, I would instantly make restitution’’), and condemns the Ammonites: "Thou doest me wrong to war against me, and must expect to speed accordingly,’’.

 It seems to me an evidence that the children of Yisrael, in the days of their prosperity and power (for some such days they had in the times of the judges) had conducted themselves very inoffensively to all their neighbors and had not been vexatious or oppressing to them (either by way of reprisal or under color of propagating their religion), that the king of the Ammonites, when he would seek an occasion of quarrelling with them, was forced to look 300 years back for a pretence. It becomes the people of YAHVEH thus to be blameless and harmless, and without rebuke.

Jdg 11:28 But the sovereign of the children of Ammon did not listen to the words which Yiphtaḥ sent him. – For the beginning of the controversy, he puts himself upon YAHVEH and HIS sword, and the king of Ammon took issue with him: YAHVEH the Judge judged this day. With this solemn reference of the matter to the Judge of the heavens and earth, he desided either to deter the Ammonites from proceeding or get them to retire, when they saw the right of the cause was against them, or to justify himself in subduing them if they should go on.

In an appeal to heavens, to YAHVEH the Judge of all, to whom the final decision of all issues belong. If doubtful rights be disputed, he is hereby requested to determine them. If manifest rights be invaded or denied, he is hereby applied to for the vindicating of what is just and the punishing of wrong.

As the sword of justice was made for lawless and disobedient persons (1 Tim. 1:9), so was the sword of war made for lawless and disobedient princes and nations. In war therefore, the eye must be ever focus on YAHVEH TSEBAOTE, and it must always be thought a dangerous thing to desire or expect that YAHVEH TSIDKENU should patronize unrighteousness.

Neither Jephthah’s apology, nor his appeal, had any effect upon the king of the children of Ammon; they had found the sweets of the spoil of Yisrael, in the eighteen years wherein they had oppressed them (ch. 10:8), and hoped now to make themselves masters of the tree with the fruit of which they had so often enriched themselves. He hearkened not to the words of Jephthah, his heart being hardened to his destruction.

Jdg 11:29 And the Spirit of יהוה came upon Yiphtaḥ, and he passed through Gilʽaḏ and Menashsheh, and passed through Mitspeh of Gilʽaḏ. And from Mitspeh of Gilʽaḏ he passed on toward the children of Ammon. – We have here Jephthah triumphing in a glorious victory, but, as an alloy to his joy, troubled and distressed by an unadvised vow.

Jephthah’s victory was clear, and shines very brightly, both to his honor and to the honor of YAHVEH, his in pleading and YAH’s in owning a righteous cause. YAHVEH gave him an excellent spirit, and he improved it bravely.

When it appeared by the people’s unanimous choice of him for their leader that he had so clear a call to engage, and by the obstinate deafness of the king of Ammon to the proposals of accommodation that he had so just a cause to engage in, then the Spirit of YAHVEH came upon him, and very much advanced his natural faculties, enduing him with power from on high, and making him more bold and more wise than ever he had been, and more fired with a holy zeal against the enemies of his people.

Jdg 11:30 And Yiphtaḥ made a vow to יהוה, and said, “If You give the children of Ammon into my hands, - Jephthah’s vow is dark, and much in the clouds. When he was going out from his own house upon this hazardous undertaking, in prayer to YAHVEH for HIS presence to go with him, he makes a vow or religious promise to YAHVEH, that, if HE would graciously bring him back a conqueror, whosoever or whatsoever should first come out of his house to meet him it should be devoted to YAHVEH, and offered up for a burnt-offering.

Jdg 11:31 then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall belong to יהוה, and I shall offer it up as a burnt offering.” – At his return, tidings of his victory coming home before him, his own and only daughter meets him with the seasonable expressions of joy. This puts him into a great confusion; but there was no remedy: after she had taken some time to lament her own infelicity, she cheerfully submitted to the performance of his vow. Now, there are several good lessons to be learnt out of this story.

That there may be remainders of distrust and doubting even in the hearts of true and great believers. Jephthah had reason enough to be confident of success, especially when he found the Spirit of YAHVEH come upon him, and yet, now that it comes to the settling, he seems to hesitate: If thou wilt without fail deliver them into my hand, then I will do so and so. And perhaps the snare into which his vow brought him was designed to correct the weakness of his faith, and a fond conceit he had that he could not promise himself a victory unless he proffered something considerable to be given to YAHVEH in lieu of it.

That yet it is very good, when we are in the pursuit or expectation of any mercy, to make vows to YAHVEH of some instance of acceptable service to him, not as a purchase of the favour we desire, but as an expression of our gratitude to him and the deep sense we have of our obligations to render according to the benefit done to us. The matter of such a singular vow (Lev. 27:2) must be something that has a plain and direct tendency either to the advancement of YAH’s glory, and the interests of his kingdom among men, or to the furtherance of ourselves in his service, and in that which is antecedently our duty.

That we have great need to be very cautious and well advised in the making of such vows, lest, by indulging a present emotion even of pious zeal, we entangle our own consciences, involve ourselves in perplexities, and are forced at last to say before the angel that it was an error, Eccl. 5:2-6. It is a snare to a man hastily to devour that which is holy, without due consideration what we are able or unable to effect, and without inserting the needful provisos and limitations which might prevent the entanglement, and then after vows to make the enquiry which should have been made before, Prov. 20:25. Let Jephthah’s harm be our warning in this matter. See Deu. 23:22.

Jdg 11:32 Yiphtaḥ then passed on toward the children of Ammon to fight against them, and יהוה gave them into his hands. – YAHVEH gave him eminent success, and he bravely improved that too: YAHVEH delivered the Ammonites into his hand, and so gave judgment upon the appeal in favor of the righteous cause, and made those feel the force of war that would not yield to the force of reason; for he sits in the throne, judging right. Jephthah lost not the advantages given him, but pursued and completed his victory.

Jdg 11:33 And he smote them from Aroʽĕr as far as Minnith, twenty cities, and to Aḇĕl Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children of Yisra’ĕl. - Having routed their forces in the field, he pursued them to their cities, where he put to the sword all he found in arms, so as utterly to disable them from giving Yisrael any molestation. But it does not appear that he utterly destroyed the people, as Joshua had not destroyed the devoted nations, nor that he offered to make himself master of the country, though their pretensions to the land of Yisrael might have given him color to do so: only he took care that they should be effectually subdued. Though others’ attempting wrong to us will justify us in the defense of our own right, yet it will not authorize us to do them wrong?

Brit Chadasha

John 3:9 – 21

Joh 3:9 Naḵdimon answered and said to Him, “How is it possible for this to take place?” –

Here is a discourse concerning the certainty and sublimity of gospel truths, which Messiyah takes occasion for from the weakness of Nicodemus. Here is,

The objection which Nicodemus still made: How can these things be? Messiyah’s explication of the doctrine of the necessity of regeneration, it should seem, made it never the clearer to him.

The corruption of nature which makes it necessary, and the way of the Spirit which makes it practicable, are as much mysteries to him as the thing itself; though he had in general owned Messiyah a divine teacher, yet he lack the spirit of understanding even though he was a teacher of Torah in Yisrael.

Nakdimon “Nicodemus” was taught under the system of Ribinic Judaism. He was never taught under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Two of the seven attribute of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Understanding and the Spirit of Knowledge. If Nakdimon had read the Torah in the influence of the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Yahushua teaching would have been clear to him, he would never ask “How can this be.”

Even today, many profess to admit the doctrine of Messiyah in general, and yet will neither believe the truths of Messiyanic faith nor submit to the laws of it further than they please. Messiyah shall be their teacher, provided they may choose their lesson. Now here,

Nicodemus owns himself ignorant of Messiyah’s meaning, after all: "How can these things be? They are things I do not understand, my capacity will not reach them.’’ Thus the things of the Spirit of YAHVEH are foolishness to the natural man. He is not only estranged from them, and therefore they are dark to him, but prejudiced against them, and therefore they are foolishness to him.

Because this doctrine was spiritually unintelligible to him (so he was pleased to make it), he questions the truth of it; as if, because it was a paradox to him, it was a chimera in itself. Many have such an opinion of their own capacity as to think that that cannot be proved which they cannot believe; by their limited understanding they knew Messiyah, but not the Spirit of Him.

Joh 3:10 יהושע answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Yisra’ĕl, and do not know this? – The reproof which Yahushua gave him for his dulness and ignorance: "Art thou a master in Yisrael, Didaskalos—a teacher, a tutor, one who sits in Moses’s chair, and yet not only unacquainted with the doctrine of regeneration, but incapable of understanding it?’’

This word is a reproof, to those who undertake to teach others and yet are ignorant and unskillful in the word of righteousness themselves.

To those that spend their time in learning and teaching in religion, niceties and criticisms in the scripture, and neglect that which is practical and tends to reform the heart and life. Two words in the reproof are very emphatic:

First, The place where his lot was cast: in Yisrael, where there was such great plenty of the means of spiritual knowledge, where divine revelation should be. He should have learned this out of the Torah.

Secondly, The things he was thus ignorant in: these things, these necessary things, there great things, these divine things; had he never read Ps. 50:5, 10; Eze. 18:31; 36:25, 26?

Joh 3:11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, We speak what We know and witness what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. – Messiyah’s discourse, continue on the certainty and sublimity of gospel truths, to show the folly of those who make strange of these things, and to recommend them to our search. Observe here,

That the truths Messiyah taught were very certain and what we may venture upon: We speak that we do know. We; whom does he mean besides himself? Some understand it of those that bore witness to him and with him on earth, the prophets and John Baptist; they spoke what they knew, and had seen, and were themselves abundantly satisfied in: divine revelation carries its own proof along with it.

Anyone who desire to bore witness for heaven, the Father and the Holy Spirit; the Father was with him, the Spirit of YAHVEH was upon him; therefore he speaks in the plural number, as ch. 14:23: We will come unto him. 

First, That the truths of Messiyah are of undoubted certainty. We have all the reason in the world to be assured that the sayings of Messiyah are faithful sayings, and such as we may venture our souls upon; for he is not only a credible witness, who would not go about to deceive us, but a competent witness, who could not himself be deceived: We testify that we have seen. He spoke not upon hear-say, but upon the clearest evidence, and therefore with the greatest assurance.

What he spoke of YAHVEH, of the invisible world, of heaven and hell, of the divine will concerning us, and the counsels of peace, was what he knew, and had seen, for he was by him as one brought up with him, Prov. 8:30. Whatever Messiyah spoke, He spoke of His own knowledge.

Secondly, That the unbelief of sinners is greatly aggravated by the infallible certainty of the truths of Messiyah. The things are thus sure, thus clear; and yet you receive not our witness. Multitudes to be unbelievers of that which yet (so cogent are the motives of credibility) they cannot disbelieve!

Joh 3:12 “If you do not believe when I spoke to you about earthly matters, how are you going to believe when I speak to you about the heavenly matters? – The truths Messiyah taught, though communicated in language and expressions borrowed from common and earthly things, yet in their own nature were most sublime and heavenly; this is intimated.

 "If I have told them earthly things, that is, have told them the great things of YAHVEH in similitudes taken from earthly things, to make them the more easy and intelligible, as that of the new birth and the wind, if I have thus accommodated myself to your capacities, and lisped to you in your own language, and cannot make you to understand my doctrine, what would you do if I should accommodate myself to the nature of the things, and speak with the tongue of angels, that language which mortals cannot utter?

If such familiar expressions be stumbling-blocks, what would abstract ideas be, and spiritual things painted proper?’’ Now we may learn hence,

First, To admire the height and depth of the doctrine of Messiyah; it is a great mystery of godliness. The things of the gospel are heavenly things, out of the road of the enquiries of human reason, and much more out of the reach of its discoveries.

Secondly, To acknowledge with thankfulness the condescension of Messiyah, that he is pleased to suit the manner of the gospel revelation to our capacities, to speak to us as to children by the Holy Spirit. He considers our frame, that we are of the earth, and our place, that we are on the earth, and therefore speaks to us earthly things, and makes things sensible the vehicle of things spiritual, to make them the more easy and familiar to us.

Thirdly, To lament the corruption of our nature, and our great inaptness to receive and entertain the truths of Messiyah. Earthly things are despised because they are vulgar, and heavenly things because they are abstruse; and so, whatever method is taken, still some fault or other is found with it (Mt. 11:17), but Wisdom is, and will be, justified of her children, notwithstanding.

Joh 3:13 “And no one has gone up into the heaven except He who came down from the heaven – the Son of Aḏam. – Our Messiyah Yahushua, and he alone, was fit to reveal to us a doctrine thus certain, thus sublime: No man hath ascended up into heaven but he. .

First, None but the Messiyah who operates under the influence of the Holy Spirit was able to reveal to us the will of YAHVEH for our salvation. Nicodemus addressed Messiyah as a prophet; but he must know that Yahushua is greater than all the Old-Testament prophets, for none of them had ascended into the heavens. They wrote by divine inspiration, and not of their own knowledge; see ch. 1:18. Moses ascended into the mount, but not into heaven. No man hath attained to the certain knowledge of YAHVEH and heavenly things as Yahushua has; see Mt. 11:27. It is not for us to send to the heavens for instructions; we must wait to receive what instructions the Heavens will send to us; see Prov. 30:4; Deu. 30:12.

Secondly, Yahushua HaMashiach is able, and fit, and every way qualified, to reveal the will of YAHVEH to us; for it is He that came down from the heavens and is in the heavens. He had said, How shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? Now here,

He gives them an instance of those heavenly things which he could tell them of, when he tells them of one that came down from heaven, and yet is the Son of man; is the Son of man, and yet is in heaven. If the regeneration of the soul of man is such a mystery, what then is the incarnation of the Son of YAHVEH?

These are divine and heavenly things indeed. We have here an intimation of Messiyah’s two distinct natures in one person: his divine nature, in which he came down from heaven; his human nature, in which he is the Son of man; and that union of those two, in that while he is the Son of man yet he is in heaven.

He gives them a proof of his ability to speak to them heavenly things, and to lead them into the arcana of the kingdom of heaven, by telling them,

That He came down from heaven. The intercourse settled between YAHVEH and man began above; the first motion towards it did not arise from this earth, but came down from the heavens. We love Him, and send to Him, because He first loved us, and sent to us. Now this intimates,

Messiyah’s divine nature. He that came down from heaven is certainly more than a mere man; HE is from heaven, 1 Co. 15:47.

His intimate acquaintance with the divine counsels; for, coming from the court of heaven, he had been from eternity conversant with them.

The manifestation of YAHVEH. Under the Torah YAH’s favours to HIS people are expressed by his hearing from heaven (2 Chr. 7:14), looking from heaven (Ps. 80:14), speaking from heaven (Neh. 9:13), sending from heaven, Ps. 57:3. But the Brit Chadasha shows us Yahushua coming down from heaven, to teach and save us. That he thus descended is an admirable mystery, for the Kingdom cannot change places, nor did he bring his body from heaven; but that he thus condescended for our redemption is a more admirable mercy; herein he commended his love.

That He is the Son of man, that Son of man spoken of by Daniel (7:13), by which the Jews always understand to be meant the Messiyah. Messiyah, in calling himself the Son of man, shows that he is the second Adam, for the first Adam was the father of man. And of all the Torah titles of the Messiyah he chose to make use of this, because it was most expressive of his humility, and most agreeable to his present state of humiliation.

That He is in heaven. Now at this time, when he is talking with Nicodemus on earth, yet, as YAHVEH, HE is in the heavens. The Son of man, as such, was not in heaven till his ascension; but he that was the Son of man was now, by his divine nature, everywhere present, and particularly in heaven. Thus YAHVEH of glory, as such, could not be crucified, nor could YAHVEH, as such, shed his blood; yet that person who was YAHVEH of glory was crucified (1 Co. 2:8), and YAHVEH redeemed the Assembly with His own blood, Acts 20:28. So close is the union of the two natures in one person that there is a communication of properties. He doth not say hos esti. YAHVEH is the he that is, and heaven is the habitation of his holiness.

Joh 3:14 “And as Mosheh lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Aḏam has to be lifted up, - Messiyah here discourses of the great design of His own coming into the world, and the happiness of those that believe in him. Here we have the very marrow and quintessence of the whole gospel, that faithful saying (1 Tim. 1:15), that Yahushua HaMashiach came to seek and to save the children of men from death, and recover them to life.

Now sinners are dead men upon a twofold account: As one that is mortally wounded, or sick of an incurable disease, is said to be a dead man, for he is dying; and so Messiyah came to save us, by healing us, as the brazen serpent healed the Yisraelites.

Joh 3:15 so that whoever is believing in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life. – Yahushua HaMashiach came to save us by healing us, as the children of Yisrael that were stung with fiery serpents were cured and lived by looking up to the brazen serpent; we have the story of it, Num. 21:6-9. It was the last miracle that passed through the hand of Moses before his death. Now in this type of Messiyah we may observe,

First, The deadly and destructive nature of sin, which is implied here. The guilt of sin is like the pain of the biting of a fiery serpent; the power of corruption is like the venom diffused thereby. The devil is the old serpent, subtle at first (Gen. 3:1), but ever since fiery, and his temptations fiery darts, his assaults terrifying, his victories destroying. Ask awakened consciences, ask damned sinners, and they will tell you, how charming so ever the allurements of sin are, at the last it bites like a serpent, Prov. 23:30–32. YAH’s wrath against us for sin is as those fiery serpents which YAHVEH sent among the people, to punish them for their murmurings. The curses of the law are as fiery serpents, so are all the tokens of divine wrath.

Secondly, The powerful remedy provided against this fatal malady. The case of poor sinners is deplorable; but is it desperate? Thanks be to YAHVEH, it is not; there is balm in Gilead. The Son of man is lifted up, as the serpent of brass was by Moses, which cured the stung Israelites.

It was a serpent of brass that cured them. Brass is bright; we read of Messiyah’s feet shining like brass, Rev. 1:15. It is durable; Messiyah is the same. It was made in the shape of a fiery serpent, and yet had no poison, no sting, fitly representing Messiyah, who was made sin for us and yet knew no sin; was made in the likeness of sinful flesh and yet not sinful; as harmless as a serpent of brass. The serpent was a cursed creature; Messiyah was made a curse. That which cured them reminded them of their plague; so in Messiyah sin is set before us most fiery and formidable.

It was lifted up upon a pole, and so must the Son of man be lifted up; thus it behoved him, Lu. 24:26, 46. No remedy now. Messiyah is lifted up,

In his crucifixion. He was lifted up upon the cross. His death is called his being lifted up, ch. 12:32, 33. He was lifted up as a spectacle, as a mark, lifted up between heaven and earth, as if he had been unworthy of either and abandoned by both.

In his exaltation. He was lifted up to the Father’s right hand, to give repentance and remission; he was lifted up to the cross, to be further lifted up to the crown.

In the publishing and preaching of his everlasting gospel, Rev. 14:6. The serpent was lifted up that all the thousands of Yisrael might see it. Messiyah in the gospel is exhibited to us, evidently set forth; Messiyah is lifted up as an ensign, Isa. 11:10.

It was lifted up by Moses. Messiyah was made under the law of Moses, and Moses testified of him.

Being thus lifted up, it was appointed for the cure of those that were bitten by fiery serpents. He that sent the plague provided the remedy. None could redeem and save us but he whose justice had condemned us. It was YAHVEH Himself that found the ransom, and the efficacy of it depends upon his appointment. The fiery serpents were sent to punish them for their tempting Messiyah(so the apostle saith, 1 Co. 10:9), and yet they were healed by virtue derived from him. He whom we have offended is our peace.

Thirdly, The way of applying this remedy, and that is by believing, which plainly alludes to the Yisraelites’ looking up to the brazen serpent, in order to their being healed by it. If any stung Israelite was either so little sensible of his pain and peril, or had so little confidence in the word of Moses as not to look up to the brazen serpent, justly did he die of his wound; but every one that looked up to it did well, Num. 21:9.

If any so far slight either their disease by sin or the method of cure by Messiyah as not to embrace Messiyah upon his own terms, their blood is upon their own head. He hath said, Look, and be saved (Isa. 45:22), look and live. We must take a complacency in and give consent to the methods which Infinite Wisdom has taken is saving a guilty world, by the mediation of Yahushua HaMashiach, as the great sacrifice and intercessor.

Fourthly, The great encouragements given us by faith to look up to him.

It was for this end that he was lifted up, that his followers might be saved; and he will pursue his end.

The offer that is made of salvation by him is general, that whosoever believes in him, without exception, might have benefit by him.

The salvation offered is complete.

They shall not perish, shall not die of their wounds; though they may be pained and ill frightened, iniquity shall not be their ruin. But that is not all.

They shall have eternal life. They shall not only not die of their wounds in the wilderness, but they shall reach Canaan (which they were then just ready to enter into); they shall enjoy the promised rest.

Joh 3:16 “For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only brought-forth Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life. – Yahushua HaMashiach came to save us by pardoning us, that we might not die by the sentence of the law. Here is gospel indeed, good news, the best that ever came from heaven to earth. Here is much, here is all in a little, the word of reconciliation in miniature.

First, Here is YAH’s love in giving HIS Son for the world, where we have three things:

The great gospel mystery revealed: YAHVEH so loved the world that HE gave HIS only-begotten Son. The love of YAHVEH the Father is the original of our regeneration by the Spirit and our reconciliation by the lifting up of the Son. 

Yahushua HaMashiach is the only-begotten Son of YAHVEH. This magnifies HIS love in giving Him for us, in giving him to us; now know we that he loves us, when he has given his only-begotten Son for us, which expresses not only his dignity in himself, but his dearness to his Father; he was always his delight.

In order to the redemption and salvation of man, it pleased YAHVEH to give HIS only-begotten Son. He not only sent him into the world with full and ample power to negotiate a peace between heaven and earth, but he gave him, that is, he gave him up to suffer and die for us, as the great propitiation or expiatory sacrifice. It comes in here as a reason why he must be lifted up; for so it was determined and designed by the Father, who gave him for this purpose, and prepared him a body in order to it. His enemies could not have taken him if his Father had not given him.

Though he was not yet crucified, yet in the determinate counsel of YAHVEH HE was given up, Acts 2:23. Nay, further, YAHVEH has given Him, that is, HE has made an offer of Him, to all, and given him to all true believers, to all the intents and purposes of the new covenant. HE has given him to be our prophet, a witness to the people, the high priest of our profession, to be our peace, to be head of the church and head over all things to the church, to be to us all we need.

Herein YAHVEH has commended his love to the world: YAHVEH so loved the world, so really, so richly. Now HIS creatures shall see that he loves them, and wishes them well. He so loved the world of fallen man as he did not love that of fallen angels; see Rom. 5:8; 1 Jn. 4:10. Behold, and wonder, that the great YAHVEH should love such a worthless world! That the holy Elohim should love such a wicked world with a love of good will, when he could not look upon it with any complacency.

This was a time of love indeed, Eze. 16:6, 8. The Jews vainly conceited that the Messiyah should be sent only in love to their nation, and to advance them upon the ruins of their neighbors; but Messiyah tells them that he came in love to the whole world, Gentiles as well as Jews, 1 Jn. 2:2.

Though many of the worlds of mankind perishes, yet YAH’s giving his only-begotten Son was an instance of his love to the whole world, because through him there is a general offer of life and salvation made to all. It is love to the revolted rebellious province to issue out a proclamation of pardon and indemnity to all that will come in, plead it upon their knees, and return to their allegiance. So far YAHVEH loved the apostate lapsed world that he sent his Son with this fair proposal, that whosoever believes in him, one or other, shall not perish. Salvation has been of the Jews, but now Messiyah is known as salvation to the ends of the earth, a common salvation.

Here is the great gospel duty, and that is to believe in Yahushua HaMashiach (Whom YAHVEH has thus given, given for us, given to us), to accept the gift, and answer the intention of the giver. We must yield an unfeigned assent and consent to the record YAHVEH hath given in his word concerning his Son. YAHVEH having given him to us to be our prophet, priest, and king, we must give up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him.

Here is the great gospel benefit: That whosoever believes in Messiyah shall not perish. This he had said before, and here repeats it. It is the unspeakable happiness of all true believers, for which they are eternally indebted to Messiyah,

 That they are saved from the miseries of hell, delivered from going down to the pit; they shall not perish. YAHVEH has taken away their sin, they shall not die; a pardon is purchased, and so the attainder is reversed.

They are entitled to the joys of heaven: they shall have everlasting life. The convicted traitor is not only pardoned, but preferred, and made a favorite, and treated as one whom the King of kings delights to honor. Out of prison he comes to reign, Eccl. 4:14. If believers, then children; and, if children, then heirs.

Joh 3:17 “For Elohim did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. – Here is YAH’s design in sending HIS Son into the world: it was that the world through him might be saved. He came into the world with salvation in his eye, with salvation in his hand.

Therefore the aforementioned offer of live and salvation is sincere, and shall be made good to all that by faith accept it: YAHVEH sent HIS Son into the world, this guilty, rebellious, apostate world; sent him as his agent or ambassador, not as sometimes he had sent angels into the world as visitants, but as resident.

Ever since man sinned, he has dreaded the approach and appearance of any special messenger from heaven, as being conscious of guilt and looking for judgment: We shall surely die, for we have seen YAHVEH. If therefore the Son of YAHVEH Himself come, we are concerned to enquire on what errand he comes: Is it peace? Or, as they asked Samuel trembling, Comest thou peaceably? And this scripture returns the answer, Peaceably.

He did not come to condemn the world. We had reason enough to expect that he should, for it is a guilty world; it is convicted, and what cause can be shown why judgment should not be given, and execution awarded, according to law? That one blood of which all nations of men are made (Acts 17:26) is not only tainted with an hereditary disease, like Gehazi’s leprosy, but it is tainted with an hereditary guilt, like that of the Amalekites, with whom YAHVEH had war from generation to generation; and justly may such a world as this be condemned; and if YAHVEH would have sent to condemn it he had angels at command, to pour out the vials of his wrath, a cherub with a flaming sword ready to do execution. If YAHVEH had been pleased to kill us, he would not have sent his Son amongst us.

He came with full powers indeed to execute judgment (ch. 5:22, 27), but did not begin with a judgment of condemnation, did not proceed upon the outlawry, nor take advantage against us for the breach of the covenant of innocency, but put us upon a new trial before a throne of grace.

He came that the world through him might be saved, that a door of salvation might be opened to the world, and whoever would might enter in by it. The Spirit of YAHVEH was in Messiyah reconciling the world to HIMSELF, and so saving it. An act of indemnity is passed and published, through Messiyah a remedial law made, and the world of mankind dealt with, not according to the rigors of the first covenant, but according to the riches of the second; that the world through him might be saved, for it could never be saved but through him; there is not salvation in any other. This is good news to a convinced conscience, healing to broken bones and bleeding wounds, that Messiyah, our judge, came not to condemn, but to Redeem.

Joh 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe is judged already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only brought-forth Son of Elohim. – From all this is inferred the happiness of true believers: He that believeth on him is not condemned. This condemnation is found in Deut 28:15-68. Though he has been a sinner, a great sinner, and stands convicted by his own confession), yet, upon his believing, process is stayed, judgment is arrested, and he is not condemned.

This denotes more than a reprieve; he is not condemned, that is, he is acquitted; he stand upon his deliverance (as we say), and if he be not condemned he is discharged; He is not judged, not dealt with in strict justice, according to the desert of his sins.

He is accused, and he cannot plead not guilty to the indictment, but he can plead in bar, can plead upon the indictment, as blessed Paul does, Who is he that condemns? It is Messiyah that died. He is afflicted, chastened of YAHVEH, persecuted by the world; but he is not condemned. The curse of the cross perhaps lies heavy upon Him, but We are saved from the curse: condemned by the world, it may be, but not condemned with the world, Rom. 8:1; 1 Co. 11:32.

Messiyah, in the close, discourses concerning the deplorable condition of those that persist in unbelief and willful ignorance.

Read about the doom of those that will not believe in Messiyah: they are condemned already.

How great the sin of unbelievers is; it is aggravated from the dignity of the person they slight; they believe not in the name of the only-begotten Son of YAHVEH who is infinitely true, and deserves to be believed, infinitely good, and deserves to be embraced. YAHVEH sent one to save us that was dearest to himself; and shall not he be dearest to us? Shall we not believe on his name who has a name above every name?

How great the misery of unbelievers is: they are condemned already; which bespeaks,

First, A certain condemnation. They are as sure to be condemned in the judgment of the great day as if they were condemned already.

Secondly, A present condemnation. The curse has already taken hold of them; the wrath of YAHVEH now fastens upon them. They are condemned already, for their own hearts condemn them.

Thirdly, A condemnation grounded upon their former guilt: He is condemned already, for he lies open to the law for all his sins; the obligation of the law is in full force, power, and virtue, against him, because he is not by faith in Messiyah interested in the gospel defeasance; he is condemned already, because he has not believed in Messiyah. Unbelief may truly be called the great damning sin, because it leaves us under the guilt of all our other sins; it is a sin against the remedy, against our appeal.

Joh 3:19 “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked. – In this verse we read about the doom of those that would not so much as know him. Many inquisitive people had knowledge of Yahushua HaMashiach and His doctrine and miracles, but they were prejudiced against him, and would not believe in him, while the generality were sottishly careless and stupid, and would not know him.

This is the condemnation, the sin that ruined them, that light is come into the world, and they loved darkness rather.

That the gospel is light, and, when the gospel came, light came into the world, Light is self-evidencing, so is the gospel; it proves its own divine origin. Light is discovering, and truly the light is sweet, and rejoices the heart. It is a light shining in a dark place, and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. It is come into all the world (Col. 1:6), and not confined to one corner of it, as the Old-Testament light was.

It is the unspeakable folly of the most of men that they loved darkness rather than light, rather than this light. Some Jews loved the dark shadows of their law, and the instructions of their blind guides, rather than the doctrine of Messiyah. The Gentiles loved their superstitious services of an unknown Elohim, whom they ignorantly worshipped, rather than the reasonable service which the gospel enjoins. Sinners that were wedded to their lusts loved their ignorance and mistakes, which supported them in their sins, rather than the truths of Messiyah, which would have parted them from their sins. Man’s apostasy began in an affectation of forbidden knowledge, but is kept up by an affectation of forbidden ignorance. Wretched man is in love with his sickness, in love with his slavery, and will not be made free, will not be made whole.

The true reason why men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil. They love darkness because they think it is an excuse for their evil deeds, and they hate the light because it robs them of the good opinion they had of themselves, by showing them their sinfulness and misery. Their case is sad, and, because they are resolved that they will not mend it, they are resolved that they will not see it.

Willful ignorance is so far from excusing sin that it will be found, at the great day, to aggravate the condemnation: This is the condemnation, this is what ruins souls, that they shut their eyes against the light, and will not so much as admit a parley with Messiyah and His good news; they set YAHVEH so much at defiance that they desire not the knowledge of his ways, Job 21:14.

We must account in the judgment, not only for the knowledge we had, and used not, but for the knowledge we might have had, and would not; not only for the knowledge we sinned against, but for the knowledge we sinned away. For the further illustration of this he shows that according as men’s hearts and lives are good or bad, so they stand affected to the light of Messiyah was brought into the world.

Joh 3:20 “For everyone who is practising evil matters hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. – It is not strange if those that do evil, and resolve to persist in it, hate the light of Messiyah’s gospel; for it is a common observation that every one that doeth evil hateth the light. Evil-doers seek concealment, out of a sense of shame and fear of punishment; see Job 24:13, etc. Sinful works are works of darkness; sin from the first affected concealment, Job 31:33.

The light shakes the wicked, Job 38:12, 13. Thus the gospel is a terror to the wicked world: They come not to this light, but keep as far off it as they can, lest their deeds should be reproved.

The light of the gospel is sent into the world to reprove the evil deeds of sinners; to make them manifest (Eph. 5:13), to show people their transgressions, to show that to be sin which was not thought to be so, and to show them the evil of their transgressions, that sin by the new commandment might appear exceeding sinful. The gospel has its convictions, to make way for its consolations.

It is for this reason that evil-doers hate the light of the gospel. There were those who had done evil and were sorry for it, who bade this light welcome, as the publicans and harlots. But he that does evil, that does it and resolves to go on in it, hateth the light, cannot bear to be told of his faults. All that opposition which the gospel of Messiyah has met with in the world comes from the wicked heart, influenced by the wicked one. Messiyah is hated because sin is loved.

They who do not come to the light thereby evidence a secret hatred of the light. If they had not an antipathy to saving knowledge, they would not sit down so contentedly in damning ignorance.

Joh 3:21 “But the one doing the truth comes to the light, so that his works are clearly seen, that they have been wrought in Elohim.” - On the other hand, upright mind, that approve themselves to YAHVEH in their integrity, bid this light welcome: He that doeth truth cometh to the light. It seems, then, that though the gospel had many enemies it had some friends. It is a common observation that truth seeks no corners.

Those who mean and act honestly dread not a scrutiny, but desire it rather. Now this is applicable to the gospel light; as it convinces and terrifies evil-doers, so it confirms and comforts those that walk in their integrity.

The character of a good man.

He is one that doeth truth; that is, he acts truly and sincerely in all he does. Though sometimes he comes short of doing good, the good he would do, yet he doeth truth, he aims honestly; he has his infirmities, but holds fast his integrity; as Gaius, that did faithfully (3 Jn. 5), as Paul (2 Co. 1:12), as Nathanael (ch. 1:47), as Asa, 1 Ki. 15:14.

He is one that cometh to the light. He is ready to receive and entertain divine revelation as far as it appears to him to be so, what uneasiness so ever it may create him. He that doeth truth is willing to know the truth by himself, and to have his deeds made manifest. A good man is much employed in trying himself, and is desirous that God would try him, Ps. 26:2. He is solicitous to know what the will of YAHVEH is, and resolves to do it, though ever so contrary to his own will and interest.

Here is the character of a good work: it is wrought in YAHVEH, in union with him by a covenanting faith, and in communion with him by devout affections. Our works are then good, and will bear the test, when the Will of YAHVEH is the rule of them and the glory of YAHVEH the end of them; when they are done in his strength, and for his sake, to him, and not to men; and if, by the light of the good news, it be manifest to us that our works are thus wrought, then shall we have rejoicing, Gal. 6:4; 2 Co. 1:12.

Thus far we have Messiyah’s discourse with Nicodemus; it is probable that much more passed between them, and it had a good effect, for we find (ch. 19:39) that Nicodemus, though he was puzzled at first, yet afterwards became a faithful disciple of Yahushua HaMashiach.

Joh 3:22 After this, יהושע and His taught ones came into the land of Yehuḏah, and He remained there with them, and was immersing. – Messiyah’s removal into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with his disciples.

Our Yahushua our Messiyah, after he entered upon his public work, travelled much, and removed often, as the patriarchs in their sojourning. As it was a good part of his humiliation that he had no certain dwelling-place, but was, as Paul, in journeying often, so it was an instance of his unwearied industry, in the work for which he came into the world, that he went about in prosecution of it; many a weary step he took to do good to souls. The Sun of righteousness took a large circuit to diffuse his light and heat, Ps. 19:6.

He was not wont to stay long at Yerushalayim. Though he went frequently thither, yet he soon returned into the country; as here. After these things, after he had had this discourse with Nicodemus, he came into the land of Judea; not so much for greater privacy (though mean and obscure places best suited the humble Yahushua in His humble state) as for greater usefulness. His preaching and miracles, perhaps, made most noise at Yerushalayim, the fountain-head of news, but did least good there, where the most considerable men of the Jewish church had so much the ascendant.

When he came into the land of Judea his disciples came with him; for these were they that continued with him in his temptations. Many that flocked to him at Yerushalayim could not follow his motions into the country, they had no business there; but his disciples attended him. If the ark remove, it is better to remove and go after it (as those did, Jos. 3:3) than sit still without it, though it be in Yerushalayim itself.

There he tarried with them, He conversed with them, discoursed with them. He did not retire into the country for his ease and pleasure, but for more free conversation with his disciples and followers. See Cant. 7:11, 12. Note, Those that are ready to go with Messsiah shall find him as ready to stay with them. It is supposed that he now staid five or six months in this country.

There he baptized; he admitted disciples, such as believed in him, and had more honesty and courage than those had at Yerushalayim, ch. 2:24. John began to baptize in the land of Judea (Mt. 3:1), therefore Messiyah began there, for John had said, There comes one after me. He himself baptized not, with his own hand, but his disciples by his orders and directions, as appears, ch. 4:2. But his disciples’ baptizing was his baptizing. Holy ordinances are Messiyah’s, though administered by weak men.

Joh 3:23 And Yoḥanan was also immersing in Ayin near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. And they were coming and were being immersed, - That John was baptizing. Messiyah’s baptism was, for substance, the same with John’s, for John bore witness to Messiyah, and therefore they did not at all clash or interfere with one another. But,

Messiyah began the work of preaching and baptizing before John laid it down, that he might be ready to receive John’s disciples when he should be taken off, and so the wheels might be kept going. It is a comfort to useful men, when they are going off the stage, to see those rising up who are likely to fill up their place.

John continued the work of preaching and baptizing though Messiyah had taken it up; for he would still, according to the measure given to him, advance the interests of YAH’s kingdom. There was still work for John to do, for Messiyah was not yet generally known, nor were the minds of people thoroughly prepared for him by repentance. From heaven John had received his command, and he would go on in his work till he thence received his countermand, and would have his dismission from the same hand that gave him his commission. He does not come in to Messiyah, lest what had formerly passed should look like a combination between them; but he goes on with his work, till Providence lays him aside.

The greater gifts of some do not render the labors of others, that come short of them, needless and useless; there is work enough for all hands. They are sullen that will sit down and do nothing when they see themselves out-shone. Though we have but one talent, we must account for that: and, when we see ourselves going off, must yet go on to the last.

 That he baptized in Enon near Salim, places we find nowhere else mentioned, and therefore the learned are altogether at a loss where to find them. Wherever it was, it seems that John removed from place to place; he did not think that there was any virtue in Jordan, because Jesus was baptized there, which should engage him to stay there, but as he saw cause he removed to other waters. Ministers must follow their opportunities.

He chose a place where there was much water, many waters, that is, many streams of water; so that wherever he met with any that were willing to submit to his baptism water was at hand to baptize them with, shallow perhaps, as is usual where there are many brooks, but such as would serve his purpose. And in that country plenty of water was a valuable thing.

That thither people came to him and were baptized. Though they did not come in such vast crowds as they did when he first appeared, yet now he was not without encouragement, but there were still those that attended and owned him. Some refer this both to John and to Messiyah: They came and were baptized; that is, some came to John, and were baptized by him, some to Messiyah and were baptized by him, and, as their baptism was one, so were their hearts.

Joh 3:24 for Yoḥanan had not yet been put into prison. - It is noted that John was not yet cast into prison, to clear the order of the story, and to show that these passages are to come in before Mt. 6:12. John never desisted from his work as long as he had his liberty; nay, he seems to have been the more industrious, because he foresaw his time was short; he was not yet cast into prison, but he expected it ere long, ch. 9:4.

Joh 3:25 Then a dispute arose between some of Yoḥanan’s taught ones and the Yehuḏim about cleansing, - A contest between John’s disciples and the Rabbinic Jews about purifying. See how the good news of Messiyah came not to send peace upon earth, but division.

Who were the disputants: some of John’s disciples, and the Jews who had not submitted to his baptism of repentance? Penitents and impenitent’s divide this sinful world. In this contest, it should seem, John’s disciples were the aggressors, and gave the challenge; and it is a sign that they were novices, who had more zeal than discretion. The truths of YAHVEH have often suffered by the rashness of those that have undertaken to defend them before they were able to do it.

What was the matter in dispute: about purifying, about religious washing.  We may suppose that John’s disciples cried up his baptism, his purifying, as superior to all others, and gave the preference to that as perfecting and superseding all the purifications of the Jews, and they were in the right; but young converts are too apt to boast of their attainments, whereas he that finds the treasure should hide it till he is sure that he has it, and not talk of it too much at first.

Joh 3:26 and they came to Yoḥanan and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Yardĕn, to whom you have witnessed, see, He is immersing, and all are coming to Him!” – Now it is very likely that the Jews in this dispute, when they could not deny the excellent nature and design of John’s baptism, raised an objection against it from Messiyah’s baptism, which gave occasion for the complaint that follows here: "Here is John baptizing in one place.’’ say they, "and Jesus at the same time baptizing in another place; and therefore John’s baptism, which his disciples so much applaud, is either,’’

Dangerous, and of ill consequence to the peace of the church and state, for you see it opens a door to endless parties. Now that John has begun, we shall have every little teacher set up for a Baptist presently. Or,’’

At the best it is defective and imperfect. If John’s baptism, which you cry up thus, have any good in it, yonder the baptism of Yahushua goes beyond it, so that for your parts you are shaded already by a greater light, and your baptism is soon gone out of request.’’ Thus objections are made against the gospel from the advancement and improvement of gospel light, as if childhood and manhood were contrary to each other, and the superstructure were against the foundation. There was no reason to object Messiyah’s baptism against John’s, for they consisted very well together.

A complaint which John’s disciples made to their master concerning Messiyah and his baptizing. They, being nonplussed by the fore-mentioned objection, and probably ruffled and put into a heat by it, come to their master, and tell him, "Rabbi, he that was with thee, and was baptized of thee, is now set up for himself; he baptizeth, and all men come to him; and wilt thou suffer it?’’ Their itch for disputing occasioned this.

It is common for men, when they find themselves run aground in the heat of disputation, to fall foul upon those that do them no harm. If these disciples of John had not undertaken to dispute about purifying, before they understood the doctrine of baptism, they might have answered the objection without being put into a passion. In their complaint, they speak respectfully to their own master, Rabbit; but speak very slightly of our Savior, though they do not name him.

They suggest that Messiyah’s setting up a baptism of his own was a piece of presumption, very unaccountable; as if John, having first set up this rite of baptizing, must have the monopoly of it, and, as it were, a patent for the invention: "He that was with thee beyond Jordan, as a disciple of thine, behold, and wonder, the same, the very same, baptizes, and takes thy work out of thy hand.’’ Thus the voluntary condescension’s of the Yahushua HaMashiach, as that of his being baptized by John, are often unjustly and very unkindly turned to his reproach.

They suggest that it was a piece of ingratitude to John. He to whom thou barest witness baptizes; as if Yahushua owed all His reputation to the honorable character John gave of him, and yet had very unworthily improved it to the prejudice of John. But Messiyah needed not John’s testimony, ch. 5:36.

He reflected more honor upon John than he received from him, yet thus it is incident to us to think that others are more indebted to us than really they are. And besides, Messiyah’s baptism was not in the least an impeachment, but indeed the greatest improvement, of John’s baptism, which was but to lead the way to Messiyah’s. John was just to Messiyah, in bearing witness to him; and Messiyah’s answering His testimony did rather enrich than impoverish John’s ministry.

They conclude that it would be a total eclipse to John’s baptism: "All men come to him; they that used to follow with us now flock after him, it is therefore time for us to look about us.’’ It was not indeed strange that all men came to him. As far as Messiyah is manifested he will be magnified; but why should John’s disciples grieve at this?

Aiming at the monopoly of honor and respect has been in all ages the bane of the church, and the shame of its members and ministers; as also a vying of interests, and a jealousy of rivalship and competition. We mistake if we think that the excelling gifts and graces, and labors and usefulness, of one, are a diminution and disparagement to another that has obtained mercy to be faithful; for the Spirit is a free agent, dispensing to everyone severally as he will. Paul rejoiced in the usefulness even of those that opposed him, Phil. 1:18. We must leave it to YAHVEH to choose, employ, and honor his own instruments as he pleased, and not covet to be placed alone.

Joh 3:27 Yoḥanan answered and said, “No man is able to receive any matter unless it is given to him from the heaven. – In this verse John’s answer to this complaint which his disciples made. His disciples expected that he would have resented this matter as they did; but the manifestation of Messiyah in Yisrael was no surprise to John, but what he was looking for; it was not disturbance to him, but what he wished for.

He therefore checked the complaint, as Moses, Enviest thou for my sake? and took this occasion to confirm the testimonies he had formerly borne to Messiyah as superior to him, cheerfully consigning and turning over to him all the interest he had in Yisrael. In this discourse here, the first minister of the gospel (for so John was) is an excellent pattern to all ministers to humble themselves and to exalt the Yahushua HaMashiach.

John here abases himself in comparison with Messiyah. The more others magnify us, the more we must humble ourselves, and fortify ourselves against the temptation of flattery and applause, and the jealousy of our friends for our honor, by remembering our place, and what we are, 1 Co. 3:5.

John acquiesces in the divine disposal, says that: A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven, whence every good gift comes (James 1:17), a general truth very applicable in this case. Different employments are according to the direction of divine Providence, different endowments according to the distribution of the divine grace. No man can take any true honor to himself, Heb. 5:4.

We have as necessary and constant a dependence upon the grace of YAHVEH in all the motions and actions of the spiritual life as we have upon the providence of YAHVEH in all the motions and actions of the natural life: now this comes in here as a reason,

 Why we should not envy those that have a larger share of gifts than we have, or move in a larger sphere of usefulness. John reminds his disciples that Jesus would not have thus excelled him except he had received it from heaven, for, as man and Mediator, he received gifts; and, if YAHVEH gave him the Spirit without measure , shall they grudge at it? The same reason will hold as to others. If YAHVEH is pleased to give to others more ability and success than to us, shall we be displeased at it, and reflect upon the Creator as unjust, unwise, and partial? See Mt. 20:15.

Why we should not be discontented, though we be inferior to others in gifts and usefulness, and be eclipsed by their excellencies. John was ready to own that it was the gift, the free gift, of the heavens, that made him a preacher, a prophet, a Baptist: it was YAHVEH that gave him the interest he had in the love and esteem of the people; and, if now his interest decline, YAH’s will be done! He that gives may take. What we receive from heaven we must take as it is given.

Now John never received a commission for a standing perpetual office, but only for a temporary one, which must soon expire; and therefore, when he has fulfilled his ministry, he can contentedly see it go out of date. Some give quite another sense of these words: John had taken pains with his disciples, to teach them the reference which his baptism had to Messiyah, who should come after him, and yet be preferred before him, and do that for them which he could not do; and yet, after all, they dote upon John, and grudge this preference of Messiyah above him: Well saith John, I see a man can receive (that is, perceive) nothing, except it be given him from heaven. The labor of ministers if all lost labor, unless the grace of YAHVEH make it effectual. Men do not understand that which is made most plain, nor believe that which is made most evident, unless it is given them from heaven to understand and believe it.

Joh 3:28 “You yourselves are witnesses for me that I said, ‘I am not the Messiyah, but I am sent ahead of Him.’ – John appeals to the testimony he had formerly given concerning Messiyah: You can bear me witness that I said, again and again, I am not the Messiyah, but I am sent before him. It is the goal of every Yisraelite to see the Messiyah. As it is the goal of every young Hebrew girl to be the mother of Messiyah. Even today the Yisraelites is still looking for the Messiyah.

See how steady and constant John was in his testimony to Messiyah, and not as a reed shaken with the wind; neither the frowns of the chief priests, nor the flatteries of his own disciples, could make him change his note. Now this serves here,

As a conviction to his disciples of the unreasonableness of their complaint. They had spoken of the witness which their master bore to Yahushua: "Now,’’ saith John, "do you not remember what the testimony was that I did bear? Call that to mind, and you will see your own cavil answered. Did I not say, I am not the Messiyah? Why then do you set me up as a rival with him that is? Did I not say, I am sent before him? Why then does it seem strange to you that I should stand by and give way to him?’’

It is a comfort to himself that he had never given his disciples any occasion thus to set him up in competition with Messiyah; but, on the contrary, had particularly cautioned them against this mistake, though he might have made a hand of it for himself. It is a satisfaction to faithful ministers when they have done what they could in their places to prevent any extravagances that their people ran into.

John had not only not encouraged them to hope that he was the Messiyah, but had plainly told them the contrary, which was now a satisfaction to him. It is a common excuse for those who have undue honor paid them, If the people will be deceived, let them; but that is an ill maxim for those to go by whose business it is to undeceive people. The lip of truth shall be established.

Joh 3:29 “He that has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the voice of the bridegroom. So this joy of mine is complete. – John professes the great satisfaction he had in the advancement of Messiyah in Yisrael and his interest. He was so far from regretting it, as his disciples did, that he rejoiced in it. This he expresses by an elegant similitude.

Many Rabbis and Pastors need to understand the Mind Set of John when they try to hold on to their sheep. Some leaders can only carry their sheep to the First Day of Creation, and not any further, spiritually. The object is to get them to experience the sixth day spiritually.

He compares our Savior to the bridegroom: "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. Do all men should come to Him? It is well, whither else should they go? Has he got the throne in men’s affections? Who else should have it? It is his right; to whom should the bride be brought but to the bridegroom?’’

Messiyah was prophesied of in the Torah as a bridegroom, Ps. 45. The Word was made into the flesh, that the disparity of nature might not be a bar to the match. Provision is made for the purifying of the Assembly, that the defilement of sin might be no bar. Messiyah espouses His Assembly to himself; He has the bridegroom, for he is looking for His Brides, He has her promise; the Assembly is subject to Messiyah. As far as particular souls are devoted to him in faith and love, so far the bridegroom has the bride.

He compares himself to the friend of the bridegroom, who attends upon him, to do him honor and service, assists him in prosecuting the match, speaks a good word for him, uses his interest on his behalf, rejoices when the match goes on, and most of all when the point is gained, and he has the bride. All that John had done in preaching and baptizing was to introduce him; and, now that he was come, he had what he wished for: The friend of the bridegroom stands, and hears him; stands expecting him, and waiting for him; rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice, because he is come to the marriage after he had been long expected. 

First, Faithful ministers are friends of the bridegroom, to recommend the Bridegroom to the affections and choice of the children of men; the servants help to prepare the bride for the Bridegrooms; and herein they must be faithful to him.

Secondly, The friends of the bridegroom must stand, and hear the bridegroom’s voice; must receive instructions from him, and attend his orders; must desire to have proofs of Messiyah speaking in them, and with them (2 Co. 13:3); that is the bridegroom’s voice.

Thirdly, The espousing of souls to Yahushua HaMashiach, in faith and love, is the fulfilling of the joy of every good minister. If the day of Messiyah’s espousals be the day of the gladness of his heart (Cant. 3:11), it cannot but be of their too who love him and wish well to his honor and kingdom. Surely they have no greater joy.

Joh 3:30 “It is right for Him to increase, but me to decrease. – He owns it highly fit and necessary that the reputation and interest of Messiyah should be advanced, and his own diminished: He must increase, but I must decrease. If they grieve at the growing greatness of the Messiyah, they will have more and more occasion to grieve, as those have that indulge themselves in envy and emulation.

John speaks of Messiyah’s increase and his own decrease, not only as necessary and unavoidable, which could not be helped and therefore must be borne, but as highly just and agreeable, and affording him entire satisfaction.

He was well pleased to see the kingdom of Messiyah establish in his life time. "He must increase. You think he has gained a great deal, but it is nothing to what he will gain.’’  The kingdom of Messiyah is, and will be, a growing kingdom, like the light of the morning, like the grain of mustard-seed.

He was not at all displeased that the effect of this was the diminishing of his own interest: I must decrease. Created excellencies are under this law, they must decrease. I have seen an end of all perfection.

First, The shining forth of the glory of Messiyah eclipses the luster of all other glory. The glory that stands in competition with Messiyah, that of the world and the flesh, decreases and loses ground in the soul as the knowledge and love of Messiyah increase and get ground; but it is here spoken of that which is subservient to him. As the light of the morning increases, that of the morning star decreases.

Secondly, If our diminution or abasement may but in the least contribute to the advancement of Messiyah’s name, we must cheerfully submit to it, and be content to be anything, to be nothing, so that Messiyah may be all.

John Baptist here advances Messiyah, and instructs his disciples concerning him, that, instead of grieving that so many come to him, they might come to him themselves.

Joh 3:31 “He who comes from above is over all, he who is from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from the heaven is over all. -  He instructs them concerning the dignity of Messiyah’s person : He that cometh from above, that cometh from heaven, is above all.

He supposes his divine origin, that he came from above, from the heavens, which speaks of His Spiritual nature or divine extraction, but his divine nature. He had a spiritual being before his conception, a heavenly being. None but he that came from heaven was fit to show us the will of heaven, or the way to heaven. When YAHVEH would save man, he sent from above.

Hence he infers his sovereign authority: He is above all, above all things and all persons, YAHVEH over all, blessed for evermore. It is daring presumption to dispute precedence with him. When we come to speak of the honors of the Yahushua HaMashiach, we find they transcend all conception and expression, and we can say but this, He is above all. It was said of John Baptist, There is not a greater among them that are born of women. But the descent of Messiyah from the heavens put such a dignity upon Him as He was not divested of by his being made flesh; still he was above all.

This he further illustrates by the meanness of those who stood in competition with him: He that is of the earth, is earthly, He that is of the earth is of the earth; he that has his origin of the earth has his food out of the earth, has his converse with earthly things, and his concern is for them.

First, Man has his rise out of the earth; not only Adam at first, but we also still are formed out of the clay, Job 33:6. Look to the rock whence we were hewn.

Secondly, Man’s constitution is therefore earthly; not only his body frail and mortal, but his soul corrupt and carnal, and its bent and bias strong towards earthly things. The prophets and apostles were of the same mold with other men; they were but earthen vessels, though they had a rich treasure lodged in them; and shall these be set up as rivals with Messiyah the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth; but let them not cope with him that came from heaven.

Concerning the excellency and certainty of his doctrine. His disciples were displeased that Messiyah preaching was admired, and attended upon, more than his; but he tells them that there was reason enough for it. For,

He, for his part, spoke of the earth, and so do all those that are of the earth. The prophets were men and spoke like men; of themselves they could not speak but of the earth, 2 Co. 3:5. The preaching of the prophets and of John was but low and flat compared with Messiyah’s preaching; as heaven is high above the earth, so were his thoughts above theirs. By them God spoke on earth, but in Messiyah he speaketh from heaven.

But he that cometh from heaven is not only in his person, but in his doctrine, above all the prophets that ever lived on earth; none teacheth like him. The doctrine of Messiyah here recommended to us,

First, As infallibly sure and certain, and to be entertained accordingly: What he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth.

      Messiyah’s divine knowledge; he testified nothing but what he had seen and heard, what he was perfectly apprized of and thoroughly acquainted with. What he discovered of the divine nature and of the invisible world was what he had seen; what he revealed of the mind of YAHVEH was what he had heard immediately from him, and not at second hand. The prophets testified what was made known to them in creams and visions by the mediation of angels, but not what they had seen and heard.

John was the crier’s voice, that said, "Make room for the witness, and keep silence while the charge is given,’’ but then leaves it to the witness to give in his testimony himself, and the judge to give the charge himself. The good new of Messiyah is not a doubtful opinion, like an hypothesis or new notion in philosophy, which everyone is at liberty to believe or not; but it is a revelation of the mind of YAHVEH, which is of eternal truth in itself, and of infinite concern to us.

His divine grace and goodness: that which he had seen and heard he was pleased to make known to us, because he knew it nearly concerned us. What Paul had seen and heard in the third heavens he could not testify (2 Co. 12:4), but Messiyah knew how to utter what he had seen and heard. Messiyah’s preaching is here called his testifying, to denote,

The convincing evidence of it; it was not reported as news by hearsay, but it was testified as evidence given in court, with great caution and assurance.

The affectionate earnestness of the delivery of it: it was testified with concern and importunity, as Acts 18:5.