First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

BAMIDBAR (NUMBERS)

Numbers tells the story of a remnant going forward while most

people backslide or lose their way in rebellion and self-will.

Israel is on her way from Mount Sinai to the plains of Moab on

the border of Canaan, where, through the temptations of the

Moabites and Midianites, many will succomb to "Balaam's error" of

idolatry and immorality (see Numbers 25; 31:16 and II Shliach

Kefa 2:15 and Jude II) and rebel against the L-rd and His leaders

and die in the wilderness. "Balaam's error" surely turned the

L-rd against Israel then and it will turn the L-rd against the

Brit Chadasha kehillah today, though many who are lukewarm in the

Brit Chadasha kehillah think such sins are not so serious. But

Phinehas was the zealous minister (he was a kohen and, as the

grandson of Aaron, he serves as a "military chaplain" in Num.

31:6) who put to death Cozbi the immoral Midianite woman and her

Israelite lover (25:1-15), because of this same kind of sin,

which precipitated the holy war against the Midianites. Num.

10-21 tells of the 38 years, almost 40 years (1447-1407 BCE) of

wandering that the rebellious Israelites were divinely

sentenced to, wandering not only in the Transjordan but

particularly in the five different wildernesses of the Sinai

Peninsula: the Wildernesses of Zin, Shur, Etham, Paran, and Sin.

In eleven days they traveled from Mt. Sinai (Horeb) to the hill

country of the Amorites, Kadesh-barnea, which is about 40 miles

south of Beersheba. G-d had given the Amorites over to them, but

this became the fateful turning point of unbelief, and it was not

till near the end of Moses' life, some thirty-eight years later,

that these Amorites (both Sihon and Og were Amorite kings--see

Deut. 3:8; 4:47) were defeated. The people of Israel were so

close and yet so far from the Promised Land, but it was at this

time that they rebelled and were defeated by the Amalekites (Num.

11:39-45). It says these latter defeated them because they

"presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even

though the ark of the covenant of the L-rd, and Moses, had not

left the camp." If we run ahead of the leadership the L-rd has

assigned over us, we run the risk of spiritual defeat as

believers.

From the book of Numbers we can learn much about the function of

administration (Greek diakonia), meaning the spiritual authority

to rule or administer a ministry--see Romans 12:7). Those who say

they lack this gift (and can therefore excuse themselves) are

wrong, because the Parable of the Talents emphasizes that we all

will have to give an accounting for our stewardship of our

talents (Matt. 25:14-30; Rom. 14:10; II Cor 5:10) and this would

include the way we administer the ministries G-d entrusts with

us. The message of Numbers is that we must humbly learn to

administer our assigned duties, because unclean rebellion will

bring chaos and death in the wilderness.

Num. 1:2 says, "Take a census of the whole Israelite community."

A first principle of Brit Chadasha kehillah growth strategy is to

count what you've got, and then to count what you've had, and

then to see if you are growing, and if so, at what rate. Here it

is ominous statistics gathering indeed, because we know from

14:29 this is in reality a body count of those rebels who would

be put to death in the wilderness for failing to carry their

burden of obedience in order to see the Promised Land (see

26:63-65). Compare the army muster in chapter 1 with the army

muster in chapter 26. In the L-rd's march to victory, the rebels

fell out of step with their G-d and were "numbered" for death and

were not called out to be part of the victorious assembly (kahal

or ecclessia from the root meaning "called out," that is, a

congregation called out from a world alienated from G-d, the Brit

Chadasha kehillah, the community of the elect, the chosen

people). G-d "had their number." Moses makes the first count

with Aaron and then, a generation later, shortly before his own

death, makes the last count with Aaron's surviving son Eleazar

(Aaron's generation having died off) serving as kohen gadol.

When you look at the white hair of the aging Moses and when you

look at Joshua and Caleb, you see that only non-rebels live to

see the promise fulfilled. The rebels lose the vision and perish

in the wilderness (Prov. 29:18). This is an important theological

idea in the book. The Levites are numbered in chapters 3 and 4,

and they are literal stand-ins for the Firstborn of Israel who

were in turn given to the L-rd in exchange for the Firstborn of

Egypt (see 3:11-13). Chapter 2 shows the "decent and in order"

way the tribal camp was masterfully arranged and administered by

their true Leader, the L-rd of Glory.

Num. 1:16 speaks the chieftains elected by their tribes, so the

election of zekenim (elders) and leaders by ministers and

congregations is not the injection of unbiblical politics into

Brit Chadasha kehillah polity or government. Therefore, we are to

be members of a congregation, having been "enrolled" or "counted"

or "numbered" [PAKAD] for war (1:3). The idea here is of a group

of troops divinely summoned into assembly to be counted and

enlisted by means of a military roll call and we are not to sniff

at or run from congregational business meetings and elections as

beneath us, though the danger of overweening bureaucratic control

and politicking in the L-rd's body is real.

Num. 1:47-53 shows there has to be a set-apart leadership to

protect the purity of the faith from the distortions of the

ignorant and the unqualified. The ministers literally camp around

the Word (the Aseres Ha-Dibros or Ten Commandments are in the Ark

of the Covenant) to protect sound doctrine. Therefore, semicha or

ordination is G-d's will for those accountable for sound doctrine

and the care of souls. Aaron and his sons (the kohanim descended

from Levi through Kohath and Aaron--see Ex. 6:16-20; Num.

4:5,15,19; 18:1-20) are distinguised from the Levites, who do not

touch the holy things or enter the sacred areas, on pain of

death, but assist the kohanim (see 1:47-53; 3:5-37; 18:2-7),

which non-Levites are not permitted to do. This is important to

keep in mind to understand the sin of Korah because as a Levite

he tried to usurp the kohen's authority. This was also the sin of

Antiochus Epiphanes who allowed the kehunnah to be usurped. "He

has allowed you to approach him, and all your brother Levites

with you; yet you seek the kehunnah as well" (16:10). Every

minister-baiting rebellious layman, every false teacher and false

prophet commits the sin of Korah (see Jude 11).

Chapter 2 highlights the wisdom of G-d as an administrator with

each tribe given its own position, each person his own clan,

family, and tribal grouping, each tribe its own order of breaking

camp, its own assigned leadership hierarchy, its own identifying

banner, its own order of march, its own position relative to the

mobile central sanctuary, with the Levites in the middle

protecting the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and with the tribe of Judah

(the tribe of G-d's anointed leader, the Moshiach) leading out as

the vanguard and with the tribe of Dan coming last as the

rearguard. Here is a place where the Word of G-d and the Moshiach

are connected in the Tanakh, as in the Logos-Moshiach in Yochanan

chapter 1. Judah is the tribe of the Moshiach (Genesis 49:10)

and is therefore the first to break camp (Numbers 2:3,9) and

makes the first offering (7:12) and sets out first in the march

from Sinai (10:14). See Proverbs 8:23 where G-d's Wisdom, His

Word, is "first" as well as Judges 20:18, where the Moshiach's

tribe is likewise called "first."

Notice in 3:5-10 there is full delegation of the work of the

ministry throughout the tribe of Levi, just as there should be

today in the Body of the L-rd. 4:16 says, "Responsibility shall

rest with Eleazar son of Aaron the kohen for the lighting oil."

Each believer has a responsibilty in the ministry that should be

delegated to him. Shliach Sha'ul says, "See to it that you

fulfill (the responsibilities) of your ministry (Col. 4: 17)."

In 3:11-13 we see the Levites as a type of the elect, those

called to be G-d's own possession, those who are not their own,

but have been bought with a price (3:44-51). However, since they

have no land and receive the MA'ASER (tithe) in compensation

(18:21-24), there is a definite corollary between them and the

L-rd's ministers.

In chapter 5 we witness a trial by ordeal for an allegedly

unfaithful wife that points forward to a better kind of probe,

the word of knowledge, a spiritual gift that has replaced this

Sinai Covenant lie detector test and, moreover, has made it as

applicable to men as to women. (See I Cor. 12:8)

In chapter 6 we see an example of a vow of commitment that the

laity, men or women, could take, the ascetic NAZIR (Nazarite)

vow, where they set themselves apart for temporary withdrawal

from the world unto G-d and this included avoiding intoxicating

beverages, contact with the dead, and cutting the hair.

Chapter 7 emphasizes that when one initiates any type of new

ministry one should first dedicate it formally to the L-rd.

Moreover, every Sabbatical year (seventh year) the unfarmed land

rested (Lev. 25:1-7 on Shemittah, see also Deut. 15:1f) and the

children of Israel rededicated themselves by gathering on Sukkoth

(the Feast of Tabernacles) and publically reciting the covenant

provisions of the Torah to which Israel under Moses had committed

itself (see Deut. 31:10; 15:9-18.). Also at the end of seven

Shabbaths of years of seven times seven years, the so-called Year

of Jubilee [Yovel] the Hebrew slaves went free, debt was

forgiven, and land was returned to the original tribal occupants

(Lev. 25:8-54). The poor were liberated from the debts and the

enslavement to the rich into which they had fallen, and the rich,

who had accumulated vast land acquisitions, were divested of some

of their filthy lucre. All this happened on Yom Kippur every 49

years (Lev. 25:8-9) and such is the essential background for

understanding Isa. 61 as Moshiach Yehoshua quotes it in Luke

4:18. This was theoretically how the law worked, if it were

actually enforced, which would keep too much wealth from falling

into the hands of a few. Unfortuately evil rulers do not always

enforce just and merciful laws, and the period of the 70 years of

Exile was actually a punishment for violating this part of the

Torah, as G-d said in effect, "I am not mocked: if you will not

give me my Sabbaths and let the land rest every seven years, I

will take my Sabbaths anyway and you will sit in Exile waiting

for the land to rest until its appointed Sabbaths are completed"

(see Lev. 26:34-35; II Chron. 36:20-21).

Chapter 8:6,15,21,22 show that your ministry begins with your

water initiation, and therefore we need to create pre-tevilah

instructional materials and classes so that we give Moshiach's

tevilah only to serious people willing to became serious talmidim

and lay ministers, not double-minded people intent on

backsliding. This means we must have pre-tevilah as well as

post-tevilah classes.

Chapter 8:19 shows where Shliach Sha'ul gets his ecclesiology.

He sees ordained ministers as MATANOT (gifts) to the Brit

Chadasha kehillah in Ephes. 4:11.

Chapter 9:15-23 shows that we must stay deep in prayer in order

to discern when the L-rd is moving us out in a new venture and

when he is encamping us. Many prayerless grumblers, their

feelings or their pride hurt by some imagined slight, stay with a

congregation only until their patience runs out or they get bored

and then they drift to something else, which instead of another

congregation may be the world, because these malcontents often

backslide completely. They moved without looking for the cloud

ascending from the Mishkan, without watching for the place where

it settled down (9:15-23). Their ears were not attuned to the

sound of the two silver trumpets, one blowing to assemble the

leaders (which departing backslider cares if he is a leader?) and

both trumpets blowing to assemble the whole congregation to move

out together (10:1-10). See I Thes. 4:13-18 on how our ears are

to be tuned to the rapture's trumpet. Read Ps. 90 to see the

wrath of G-d being revealed from Shomayim (Rom. 1:18) against

Israel in the wilderness.

Chapter 10:8 says that the Israelites didn't make war without

music. This shows how important the ministers of music are in

the L-rd's body. From 10:11 to 14:45 we march with the

Israelites from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, which takes us no more

than 2 months. The complaining started here in the wilderness of

Paran and the Israelites provoked G-d to anger (11:1-3,4-35; Psa.

78:26-31; 106:13-l5). But, when Moses is rebelled against, we are

told that Moses is greater than a prophet and in this sense a

unique mediator of revelation (12:6-8); it surely is in this

sense that the Moshiach will be "like me" (Deut. 18:15), but he

too will have his Shliach Kefa's and his Judas's rebel against

him.

Chapter 11:25b says of those set apart for ministry with the 15th

century BCE lawgiver Moses, "And when the Spirit that was on him

(Moses) rested upon them, they prophesied but did not continue."

Is this unfortunate situation also true of you? Yehuda 1:20 says

that we should continue to daven in the Spirit (meaning leshonot)

as we build ourselves up in the most holy faith, studying and

meditating on the Scriptures.

In chapter 12 Miriam the prophetess has to be physically healed

to cure her of a rebellious mouth. Her offense was that she

slandered G-d's leader. 13:32 says that 10 of the 12 spies

slandered the vision of G-d's prophet and so turned the people

away from it, refusing to urge the people to conquest. For that

crime a whole generation wandered in the wilderness under divine

wrath and a death sentence (14:21-23, 34-35). Let us not give an

evil report by saying, "It can't be done here, the giants are too

big!" Such an unbelieving leader will be doomed to become a mere

caretaker of wandering dead men walking in their own blind flesh.

Numbers is a book that shows the folly of wandering in the lusts

of one's flesh. Num. 15:1-21:20 tell the story of this wilderness

wandering. And, lest the backslider harden his heart and go all

the way and apostatize, Num. 15:22-31 warns (along with Heb.

10:26) that there is no kapporah for deliberate, defiant sin. The

wilderness period was remembered by some of the prophets as the

time of Israel's apostasy (Amos 5:25-26), when she did not keep

covenant faithfulness with her L-rd (see Josh. 5:2-9 and compare

Acts 21:21). The TSITSIT (Num. 15:38) were to be worn to remind

the Israelites not to forget the word and follow their own lusts.

But the final refutation to the folly of the old-timers who focus

on the "giants" and say "it can't be done" is that it in fact was

done, with 1,820 fewer people the second time around, when the

Israelites finally went in and possessed the Promised Land

(compare the census in 26:51 and 1:46).

Chapter 18:21-32 says that not just anyone is to receive the

MA'ASER [tithe] but only G-d's ordained leadership. Some love the

tithes but not the years of ministerial training and the

accountability of ordination that goes with them.

Chapter 19:1-10 shows that because of our uncleanness we must

have faith in the kaparrah of Moshiach and have a tevilah into

him, for he is the antitype of the red cow who died outside the

camp and became the tevilah that cleanses us from our sins

forever.

Chapter 20:12 gives the ominous warning that even Moses would die

outside the Promised Land like Miriam (20:1) and Aaron (20:22)

because, although he was beseiged by rebellion from his own

mishpochah and others, Moses did not trust G-d enough to keep his

head in all situations (II Tim. 4:5) and did not obediently honor

the L-rd who delivers us from all our critics and slanderers.

Moses did not honor G-d as holy before the people and so he too

lost a blessing (27:14) Moses should have known that no weapon

formed against us will prosper. Then he would have honored G-d

as holy before the people no matter how they taxed their leader's

patience. The disobedience of the people does not excuse the

disobedience of the leader.

Notice that bitterness against G-d's leaders is just a step

removed from bitterness toward G-d himself (21:5).

Chapter 21:8 points toward the One who, though He was the Ben

HaElohim and without sin, yet he took the form of the likeness of

sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), the flesh of the corrupt children of

the Serpent (Gen. 3:15; Yochanan 8:44), and was lifted up, so

that men might look on him and live. See Yochanan 3:14-15. The

snake Moses lifted up on a standard at the end of the wilderness

wanderings, before the the conquest of the Transjordan began,

points to the Ben HaAdam Moshiach being lifted up and drawing all

men unto himself (Yochanan 12:32).

Balaam's donkey speaks because "the L-rd opened its mouth"

(22:28). The Syrian prophet Balaam with his talking donkey

points toward Saul the persecutor, who, on his horse on the way

to Damascus, wanted to curse the people of G-d, the Messianic

Jews, but could only bless them (24:9). Like the talking snake in

Gen. 3, this talking donkey is placed at a cross-roads as far as

human destiny is concerned. Those who make the decision of faith

will be blessed (24:9; Gen. 12:3). Balak (bah-LAHk) is king of

Moab (his G-d is Chemosh--Num. 21:29). And he looks down from a

mountain and sees Israel camping tribe by tribe on his territory

as they are passing through on their way to the Promised Land.

He in league with the Midianites, whom Moses will defeat in Num.

31 and whom Gideon will have to fight later in the time of the

Judges. King Balak knew he needed divine help to oppose Israel,

so he looked for the type of professional preacher who is always

harshly denouncing everybody, so he could unleash such a maggid

on Moses and the Israelites and defeat them with curses. So

Balak begins by trying to tell Balaam what to preach and what to

prophesy and attempts to persuade this Gentile prophet Balaam

(beel-AHM) to curse the chosen people. Of course, we know that

Balaam will be killed later (31:8) and G-d knows that even his

donkey knows the fear of the L-rd better than Balaam, but for the

moment money does not corrupt his ministry (22:18). Later, even

illicit sex will become a source of corruption to the true faith

as well (25:1). The most important prophecy Balaam utters is

24:17 which is the KOKHAV (star) that shall come out of Jacob and

shall become the star of David, the Moshiach.

Notice how Korah starts a rebellion against Moses in chapter 16

even though Moses has taken nothing for himself (16:15). It is

important to note that the only thing that keeps the people from

going down to Sheol is that they do not rebel against G-d and his

leadership (16:26-34). Our muttering can be the death of us

(17:25). The battle cry of Brit Chadasha kehillah-splitting

rebels is Numbers 12:2-3.

Chapter 27 (also 36) speaks of the equal inheritance promised to

women, so the laws of inheritance included provisions for

daughters. This should be seen within the larger context of the

book as a whole, since Israel was herself nearly disinherited as

a nation on at least two occasions (see chapters 11 and 14).

Moses had married a non-Israelite (12:1) woman, a fact that might

have set a bad example for the people about the sanctity of their

inheritance, but this was actually just a pretext Aaron and

Miriam used to challenge the authority of Moses for the sake of

their own personal ambitions. We see that G-d grants us our

inheritance as a gift, but we still have to fight the good fight

and seek first the kingdom in order to enjoy it (note the tribes

of Gad, Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph

received the Transjordan land as a gift but they still had to

fight with the other tribes first before, they could enjoy their

inheritance--see Num. 32).

Chapter 27:15-23 teaches that leaders should have assistants they

are equipping to take over their ministries (as Moses equipped

Joshua). The ministry can continue in a manner that is decent

and in order only when these transitions are anticipated and

prepared for.

See chapters 25 and 31:15-16 on the consequences of sexual sin.

Notice the Levites were given 48 towns but no land allotments.

Would it be a bad application of exegesis to say that the

Levitical towns and pastures (chapter 35) might be warrant for a

congregation providing its spiritual leader with a place to live

in?

In 35:13 we see there were six cities of refuge. Even today,

people who have disagreements in one congregation seek refuge in

another. But where there has been a case of unrepented sin and a

person flees one congregation to join another as a kind of "city

of refuge," spiritual leaders should co-operate in matters of

intra-congregational discipline.

Notice that the kohanim and Levites are responsible to Aaron

(18:3). A congregational board and its shammashim should be

responsible to the congregational leader. A "board-run"

congregation is not Scriptural, because they can make the

congregational leader a mere errand boy to do their bidding, and

he loses his prophetic voice in the body. However, leadership

must be shared, as Jethro emphasized to Moses.

Yehoshua (Joshua) (called Yeshua in Nehemiah 8:17) is called the

Servant of the L-rd in Numbers 27:18, "the man in whom is (the)

Spirit," making him a prophetic sign of the One who is to come,

the Servant of the L-rd filled with "My Spirit" (see Isaiah

42:1). See also Zechariah 3:8; 6:12 where another later

Yehoshua is similarly pointed to as a portent or ominous sign of

the Moshiach.

The Bible of the Jewish Diaspora from the third century B.C.E.

until the Messianic era of Moshiach Yehoshua was the Greek, the

Septuagint. In Greek the name of Joshua/Yeshua/Yehoshua in

Nehemiah 8:17 and in the Torah is IEsous or Moshiach Yehoshua.

G-d always has his two witnesses because Deuteronomy 19:15 says

that everything has to be supported by two witnesses. So at

crucial junctures, like at the transition from the wilderness

into the Promised Land or at the return from the Exile, G-d had

as his two witnesses one man from the tribe of the Moshiach and

one man bearing the personal name of the Moshiach: that is, Caleb

from the tribe of Judah and "Yehoshua" (Joshua) entering the

Promised Land; and Zerubbabel from the tribe of Judah with

"Yehoshua" (the Kohen Gadol Joshua) returning from the Exile (see

the book of Zechariah). One set of two witnesses were raised up

from the "tomb" of Egypt and the wilderness, and the other set

were raised up from the "tomb" of the Babylonian Exile. Wherever

at least two witnesses meet, there is the L-rd with his true Brit

Chadasha kehillah in their midst.

Notice the elaborate dedication of the altar HAMITZBE'ACH in

Numbers 7.

The Israelites leave Mt. Sinai and eventually arrive in Moab

(Num. 22-36), with major stops at Hazeroth (10:11-12:15), Paran

(12:16-19:22), and Kadesh (20:1-21:4). There are some 18

encampments from Kadesh-barnea to the wilderness and back to

Kadesh-barnea (33:18-36). It is in the wilderness of Zin, at the

end of the wanderings, that Moses and Aaron anger G-d and are

also sentenced to die in the wilderness. Moab is the last stop,

where Moses' last will and testament, the book of Deuteronomy,

will be delivered. G-d commanded Moses to keep this travel diary

(Luke kept one undoubtedly in writing the book of Acts), and you

may wish some day that you had kept a spiritual diary. How could

Wesley have benefited the Brit Chadasha kehillah as he did with

his writing gift if he had not kept his journals?

Notice the L-rd speaks from the Mishkan in Numbers 1:1 and not

from Mt. Sinai, so the Word emanates from the tabernacle where

the glory of G-d resides. The Word of G-d will likewise

"tabernacle" in the Moshiach (Yochanan 1:14) and emanate from

Him. The Heavenly L-rd is travelling from Egypt to Israel

embodied in the tabernacle. The people, by murmuring against

Him, are opting out of being His heavenly fellow travellers. So

this paradigm will speak its object lesson for all time to Ideal

Israel.

Kadesh-barnea, (kah-DESH bar-NAY-ah) an oasis at the southern

edge of Israel, is the area the Israelites used as a staging

arena for their conquest of Canaan (Numbers 13:26), encamping

there while their spies scouted the land (13-14; Deut. 1). It

was from there that Moses tries to have a successful "kehillah"

business meeting to vote to take the land, a vote that took 38

years to attain, because the rebels were wandering in the

wilderness until they returned to the same place nearly forty

years later (33:36-37). Aaron died there. It was also at this

place that the Israelites complained about the hardship of their

wanderings, so angering Moses that he struck the rock (Num.

20:1-13; Exod. 17:1-7) and forfeited his own marching privileges

with those who went in and possessed the land.

We can conclude our services with the Aaronic benediction

(6:24-26) remembering, if a woman lights the Shabbos candles,

that the Aaronic kohenim lit the seven-lamped menorah (8:1-4).

We need to approach the study of this book with "fear and

trembling" and with Rom. 15:4 and I Cor. 10:11-12 in mind.

Notice the death of the Kohen Gadol provides release for the

guilty (35:25) just as the death of the Moshiach-Kohen (Psalm

110; Isaiah 53) provides release for us.

"There was an order of march for the Israelites, company by

company, when they set out," (10:28) and so there is for us.

Know your leaders and loyally hang tough with them.

Important verses to meditate on: Num. 32:23. Are you qualified

for work relating to the OHEL MOED tent of meeting (see 4:35)?

You have been charged with a literal responsibility to carry

(4:47); do you know what it is, and are you doing it? The

Israelites all had people over them in the L-rd (7:2); do you

(Heb. 13:17)? They brought to the Lord's House talents and

valuable things that could be used in the service of the L-rd

(7:4-5); what are you bringing to the L-rd? Look at 10:10. Some

live in New York City, the largest Jewish city in the world, and

feel no obligation whatsoever to remember them with a messianic

congregation or a messianic calender. Hobab a relative of Moses

by marriage, is offered a blessing for continuing in Jewish

ministry (10:32): that blessing is offered to you. 10:33-34

speaks of seeking a resting place, and how G-d does this for

us--compare this theme in Heb. chps. 3 and 4. Compare Moses'

question in 11:13 to Moshiach Yehoshua's question to Philip in

Yochanan 6:5. Some get out of step with G-d because of a good

thing; but if we put a good thing before G-d, He may give us too

much of a good thing, until it becomes loathsome to us, even a

plague--11:20,33.

It says the Spirit rested upon them and they prophesied--11:25.

Compare Acts 19:6 and the tevilah in the Ruach Hakodesh. Meditate

on Num. 14. So often we have heard, "They will never be able to

start a messianic congregation. They are Gentiles. Jews will

never go for this. It's going to fall apart. There are two many

giants againt them!" See 16:13-14. Men blame leaders instead of

their own sins--16:14. Men make false accusations--16:15. Avoid

the waters of Meribah ("Quarreling")--20:13. We need a different

spirit, the spirit of Caleb -- 14:24. The rabbis say that the

Gentiles can be righteous by following the laws of Noah, but

15:15 says the same sacrifice is necessary for both Gentiles and

Jews.

See 18:16 where you see the words PIDYON HABEN (the redemption of

the son) a ceremony on the 31st day of the firstborn Jewish boy's

life when five shekels (or silver dollars) are given to a Jewish

person, a Kohen, who buys the boy back or redeems him from the

L-rd, since all firstborn males of Israel belong to the L-rd.

This ceremony is not performed on a Shabbos and/or to the

firstborn of parents who are Kohens.